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I think
a lot of competitive triathletes take for granted that
you need to work out everyday, twice per day. And 1
day of rest per week is sufficient.
I believe
that this mentality comes from trying to adapt the single-sport
regimen over to the multisport arena. Let me explain
by speculating on the history of the pro pioneers. You
see, initially most of the top triathletes came from
either a competitive running or swimming background.
As such, they were used to practicing twice a day in
their college years; in fact, two-a-days were necessary
in order to be competitive. Just look at any Division
I school and you'll find swim teams doing two 8,000yd
practices a day. With respect to running, here at the
U of Wisc., where there are many elite runners, they
have "morning runs" followed by afternoon
practices. I personally came from a D-I rowing background,
and can attest to the two-a-day, (sometimes three-a-day)
practices.
And for
years I tried to adapt that workout ethic to my triathlon
training. I always trained twice-a-day, six days a week,
40 weeks-a-year. And now I'm here to say that it
was all overkill. (No, not the collegiate years.)
It dawned on me a couple years ago when I was training
with a kid who had just graduated from a DI swim team.
This kid had tons of talent, and ya know, he could have
taken a YEAR off from swimming and still been
in the lead pack of ANY triathlon swim. And yet, he
retained that collegiate obsessiveness about his swimming
which poured over into his running and cycling workouts
as well. He'd complain at the pool if he hadn't swum
in like 4 days, saying he was losing "it."
(Then he'd crank out sub 5 minute 500's.)
Now I'm not trying to pick on him -I like him alot
and we're friends- but I think there's something we
can all learn from this. To wit: what makes us successful
single-sport athletes when we're 19 year old college
kids most likely ISN'T the formula for trying to master
the three sports in triathlon as adults. Sure, it
worked from ages 14-22, but who's to say the body can
maintain that pace for another 2, 4 or 10 years?
Eventually, the body needs rest and recovery. And as
you get older, you'll need more and more. Still, you
may find it too risky to mess with the old college formula
(three-a-days.) Well, I'm here to tell you that you
should discard the old college formula, it doesn't
work for triathlon. In fact, I've found that the more
rest I take, not only can I recover (regenerate muscle
tissue) better but more importantly, I can train harder!
My preferred style of training (and what I propose
to my athletes) is the following type of workout plan:
3 days ON
1 day REST
3 days ON
2 days REST
Repeat in that order.
That gives you 3 (!!) rest days every 9 days.
Think about how your body heals; and more, think about
how your psyche heals! I mean, when you know you're
got 2 solid days of rest coming up, you're not afraid
to "bust it" at a higher intensity that you
would otherwise. No more slogging through a tough week
of workouts. No, instead you'll just jam for 3 days
and then take a 1 or 2 day break.
This will require some flexibility in your schedule
(oh heavens, not that!) Yep. Your long run may fall
on a say, Tuesday. Still, at least one of the 'ON' days
will fall on a weekend so you can get the long ride
in.
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