Winter Training Programs: Addressing Your Limiters

author : acbadger

comments : 0

This is the time of year where you focus on your ‘weakest’ event and practice your drills, techniques, form, etc. Here I list some BT training plan options to get you through the off-season.

Question:

I'm a relative “newbie” with a portion of this season under my belt. Now that the off-season has begun, I am finding it difficult to keep my focus and train as hard as I was during the season. I was thinking of putting together a program where one week was an easy week, and the next a difficult week and just rotating between the two (or something along those lines).  Does anyone have any thoughts on this, or examples of such a program?

Answer:

Congratulations on making through your first triathlon season. I hope you had a GREAT time and learned a lot! I’m always amazed at how much I continue to learn, just by participating in triathlons! Keep it up!

Now, as far as your off-season training goes, here is my recommendation. Keep in mind that this is your “OFF” season and you should take advantage of the fact that you don’t HAVE to be training for anything. This is the time of year where you focus on your ‘weakest’ event and practice your drills, techniques, form, etc.

Beginnertriathlete.com has some fabulous detailed off-season workouts that you should take advantage of. The programs are even broken down into what discipline is the focus for an 8-week period. How much easier can it get?

You can even substitute the free 'focused' plans where you focus on one sport 3x per week while the other two are held at a maintenance level of 2x per week.  You can even add-in another 'medium' workout to those plans for extra attention during the winter for four workouts total in the 'focused' sport.

My recommendation would be to take the event you feel you struggle in and start there.

I also recommend that you do a little weight training. It is important to maintain the muscle mass you have put on during your training while increasing your strength and stamina. Yoga and Pilates can be a triathlete's best friend as well. Strengthening your core and working on your flexibility will help prevent injuries during the season. I know I tend to neglect stretching unless I’m sitting in a Yoga class focusing on stretching, and stretching only. Believe it or not, Yoga can also help with your breathing while swimming, biking and running!

That being said, you also have to remember that this is your time to REST your body. Continuing to ‘train’ and work out is fabulous, but just remember to listen to your body! It’s amazing the sign/symptoms that our body gives us that we ignore. That is when we get injured. The human body is an amazing thing…take care of it during this time and it will perform amazingly for you during your next, even more successful, triathlon season!

Be Well, Train Safe, Train Smart and HAVE FUN!

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date: December 8, 2006