Gray Guys/Girls Masters Focus Triathlete Forum--OPEN! (Page 39)

Scott,

There are a couple things here I would like to comment on.

You said, "I ask this because of my recent experience. I joined a masters swim team which lead to a big jump in both volume and intensity of my swim. For the first month or so I was struggling just to maintain the volume of my run when I really should have been growing it."  The experience you describe in that statement is why we do base training followed by a proper build into peak training.  Let me try and explain by using your swim experience as an example.

The goal of base training is to develop an athlete's aerobic potential to its maximum before adding anaerobic training.  When you jumped in with the Master's team, as you said, you increased both volume and intensity.  The volume increase was likely to much too soon, but the main problem was you went from aerobic training to anaerobic training literally overnight - with no or insufficient aerobic base to support it.

Anaerobic training is a valuable tool, however used incorrectly or introducing it too soon can do more harm than good. Excessive intensity and abrupt changes in training volume can increase the risk of injury. Overtraining also becomes an issue. Overtraining is a slippery slope leading to chronic fatigue and poor exercise performance. Sound familiar?  Obviously low intensity aerobic training can bring the same risks; however on the whole, it puts less stress on the body and promotes recovery. You slowly adapt, preparing for the higher intensity work ahead.

By dramatically increasing both volume and intensity when you joined the masters team, you essentially set yourself up for the classic overtraining scenario.  It took a month to get "caught-up" in the pool, and during that time you effectively sabotaged any cycling and run training, at best you were only maintaining fitness on the bike and the run.  I submit you may have actually lost bike and run fitness over that span of time.  Brought on by a dramatic increase in both volume and intensity in a single sport.  I recall that we had a discussion about this when you joined the masters team and this is why sometimes you have to look at triathlon training from the 35,000 foot perspective to see how everything interacts with everything else.

Now, on to your question of, "Do you build volume (or intensity) for all three sports simultaneously? Or, do you focus on one or two sports at a time while holding the volume (or intensity) of the others steady?

In the perfect world, it would be, "Yes, build all three simultaneously."  In reality, the answer to your question is, "It depends."  I know, not the answer you were looking for.  It depends upon what your race schedule looks like and what your race goals are.  I will use myself to try and explain what I mean.  My "A" race this coming season is Ironman Louisville, October 2015.  Along the way, I have a number of Sprint and Olympic triathlons that I classify as "C" races.  I am not going to make any changes in my training leading up to those races.  Here is where my alterations come in.  I am not a good runner.  I hear people like Steve say I plugged along at 8:45 and I cringe.  If I ran at an 8:45 pace I would likely retire thinking it would never get better.  In an attempt to make the run my friend I am running several stand-alone running events this coming season leading up to the Ironman.  I have a marathon in May that I classify as a "B" race.  My problem is that I don't have until October to be ready for a marathon, I only have until May.  However, I am training for three sports simultaneously and have a "cap" on how much I can build week over week.  So in my case, I am focused on the run while also building the other two.  Week to week, my run volume will increase more than the other two and if need be, my run volume will always build (except recovery weeks) and one of the other may stay the same.  All of that while maintaining the "cap" imposed in the formula I talked about in an earlier post.  A couple of weeks out from the marathon I plan to do some running speed work.  During those weeks my run volume will drop significantly while swim and cycling volume will continue to build.  After the stand-alone marathon leading up to the Ironman, my run volume will fluctuate up and down as will my intensity as I spend more time working to build speed.  That is what I mean by "it depends."  Your race schedule and goals are going to directly impact your training plan.

As to the intensity.  I ALWAYS include some intensity in each and every workout - long run, short swim, long bike, short run, tempo run, long or medium swim, it doesn't matter - I always have some intensity.   Now, don't take intensity to necessarily mean all-out intervals and early in the base or build phase, intensity may not even mean anaerobic - it merely means a bit harder effort.  On a long run I will include some fartleks.  During a swim I will raise the pace of a 25 every other or every third repetition.  On the bike I will do a "bike fartlek" every now and again.  I don't do intervals but I do want to get my legs turning over faster, or my arms moving faster or raise my cycling cadence.  That is EVERY workout.  As I get near the end of the base phase I will introduce actual interval training or in the case of swimming increase pace.  The point is that I don't add significant intensity until I have the aerobic base to support it.  Once I have built that aerobic base, my body is better able to adapt to the small to moderate increases in both volume and intensity.

Now, for raising the intensity of an entire workout.  You should understand the "textbook" version of how training works.  Base phase (6-12 weeks), build phase (12-20 weeks), peak phase (4-8 weeks), taper (1-2 weeks).  During the base phase you are doing primarily endurance work.  Long and slow.  During the build you are long and slow but begin to introduce intensity into sets in the last 4-6 weeks.  The peak phase is all about intensity and speed.  The taper is planned rest for a race.  The idea is that when you are approaching the end of your build phase, you are nearing your maximum volume so the intensity builds would theoretically not interfere with volume builds.  At the start of my build phase my plan might look something like this, 90% endurance work, 10% intensity.  By the end of the build phase those numbers would have changed to something like 75% intensity, 25% endurance.

One final thing to remember about the build phase - you should have some short hard days, and you should have some long easy days.  The mix of your hard and easy days goes towards the volume/intensity build.  A mistake people often make is they go too hard on their easy days, and too easy on their hard days.  They end up training all season in the ‘grey zone’ of zero improvement. They are not training easy enough to get the benefits of aerobic training, but not hard enough to induce significant anaerobic adaptations.  In doing so, they negate the whole point of having long easy days and short hard days.

Hopefully all of that didn't confuse things more and raise more questions than it answered.

Hey Karl,

That sucks.  But it would have sucked a LOT more had you continued to run on it and done more damage.  Glad you went to the doctor.  January 7th isn't that far away.  A few spin classes and a couple laps in the pool and you won't lose too much fitness.  You'll get through this!

Steve, really?  8:45 is slow?  Not in my book my friend.  My goal is 9:00 by October.  I would give my left arm for 8:45.

Showoff!

Stu,

Sorry to hear.  Sounds to me like the watch spring was wound a little to tight and finally snapped.

Sounds like it may not be too serious since you were able to walk back.

You know the drill.  Let it heal, don't come back to quick.  Amazing what a couple days of complete rest can do.

Daniel,

The longest swim begins with a single stroke!  Great to hear you are in the pool!

I know this has little to do with Triathlon training but this is a sad day.  The Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach, CA has been closed for a couple years due to age, deterioration and seismic concerns.  They have begun demolishing the facility.  The pool was used for an Olympic Trials, a couple of National Championships, and countless other swim meets of all levels.

On a personal note, I can't begin to recall the millions of meters I swam in that pool.  I won the Moore League 100-yard Breaststroke Championship in that pool way back in high school.  I was on two American record setting relays in that pool.  From age-group swimming, through high-school and then onto National competition, whenever I had a meet there, I always seemed to have multiple PR's.  I was fortunate to have won more hardware at that pool than any other pool anywhere in the world.  There was just something about the place.  It's like a little piece of my swimming career has been suddenly grayed out.

They say they are building a new complex that will be the modern day equal of Belmont Shores.  My hope is that indeed, the legend that is Belmont Shores continues on and provides as much inspiration for the next generation of swimmers as it did for me.

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Merry Christmas everyone!  Hoping you all have a happy 2015.

Happy Holidays to all you gray guys and gals!!  Enjoy the time with your families and take a little time out every now and then to log a kilometer or two running, cycling or swimming.