bschulte mentor Group - Closed (Page 4)

Hey folks,  Thanks for the the responses about HRM's and your self assessment of how to use them for training.  As you have read, the responses have a pretty broad range.  I think the best way to proceed is to cover the material.  If you use a HRM and have a pretty good understanding of how to use it, you may not get much out of the discussion, but you never know.

This subject is a big one, so I would like to take a chunk of it a week.  I plan on covering the different phases of training, The different training intensities and their benefits, and determining the different levels of intensity (this is where the HRM and Power Meter come in).

So let's start off discussing the different phases of training.  These phases / stages are called various different names and in some cases different theories challenge the effectiveness of some of the phases.  This material is ever changing and continuously being challenged, which is a good thing.  It's this continuous challenging of the theory which has led to the increasingly remarkable race times at all the various triathlon distances.

So you have figured out by now that the training season for triathlon is quite long.  At the Iron distance it is pretty much year round, but you don't train the same way year round.  Even for triathletes not racing at the Iron distance, many train most, if not the whole year.  So this material will apply to all here.  Off season, or what is referred to as recovery training is less structured and certainly less intense.  So let's consider we are going to train, in some fashion the entire year.

The first stage of your active training year (when you start your structured training) is called the Base stage.  Again don't get hung up on the actual name as it can be called different names, but they all me the same thing.  The base stage, depending on when you start your active training and when you racing starts, can last as little as 8 weeks and as long as 16 weeks or maybe a little more.  This stage consists of a high percentage of low intensity training.  We'll get to exactly what this is when we cover the different intensities and how to determine them.  For now let's just say they are EASY workouts.  High intensity training, let's say HARD workouts represent a very small % of workouts / training time in this phase.   What you are mainly doing in this stage is creating what I call your aerobic engine.  Some say you are "building the plumbing"  You are building your ability to get through the longer training sessions later in the year.  Some of the physiological changes which are taking place are:  

1.  lowering your resting hear rate as your fitness improves

2.  Teaching your body how to burn fat as fuel (we'll cover this topic later)

3.  Teaching your body how to get more oxygen to your working muscles

4.  Teaching your body how to store more glycogen in your muscles (again later topic).

5.  Gaining muscle strength

The base stage is an important one for sure.  Just like a house, it is the foundation of what the rest of the training year will be built off of.  Weak base could mean the house comes crashing down, or maybe just isn't as strong as it could be.

The next stage is intensity.  This stage still has a pretty high % of training volume at the Low/EASY level, but you start to increase the total training volume as well as the % of training time doing higher intensity workout / HARD workouts.  These longer and higher intensity workouts take the benefits of more oxygen transport and glycogen storage and begins to teach your body how to do these things while going faster, an important thing when you get to racing .  this stage can last 8 to 16 weeks.

The next stage is called peak (again called different things sometimes).  The triathlon racing season is pretty long, as long as 6 months in the South and West.  This stage is designed so you can do racing and stretch your fitness level for racing out.  This stage typically lasts 4 to 6 weeks.  Total training volume decreases in this stage but A pretty high % of the training is still at the EASY level to maintain your base fitness.  HARD intensity training sessions are more frequent but shorter.  These short HARD workouts, if done right, are tough.  You will need the EASY workouts in between these workouts to help you recover.  You are basically fine tuning your skills and working out the kinks in this stage.  Your body is learning to adapt to racing intensity.

The next stage is the Racing stage and can last up to 12 weeks.  Again, about 50% of the training in this stage is EASY to maintain the aerobic base, as well as to recover from HARD workouts.  There are lots of race simulation type training in this stage (some in the previous as well, but more here).  For example I do 4 brick workouts (bike then run) a week and 1 swim, bike, run workout, in addition to a recovery run workout in this stage.  Total training volume is lowest in this stage.  You've built the spear the previous stages and you are just sharpening the tip here.  If you build your year correctly you will be able to race a lot in this stage.  Your body will be able to recover quickly and there is plenty of recovery time built in already.  The races can really take the place of your HARD workouts.  Theoretically you could race every weekend here.  If you have "pointed" your season to an "A" race you want that to fall in this stage.

The final stage is called recovery and is when the racing season is over.  This stage needs to be at least 2-4 weeks and fills the time between when your next season's base stage starts.  Training volume is low and relatively unstructured as well as consists of alternate activities.  Still do some swim, bike and running here, but way less.  Folks in the North substitute X-country skiing in here to maintain some aerobic base.

That's quite a bit of material.  The next big topic we will discuss is the different EASY and HARD workouts.

Let the questions fly!!  

I have never seen an aide station for an olympic either.  I would not use the aide station if it were me but everyone is different.  I only go through one bottle of liquid total on the bike during an olympic ride and like my own mix which has worked great for me.  What exactly is being provided - just water, gatorade, gel??  If you are just looking to take in some extra water should not be an issue but make sure your stomach is comfortable with other things being offered in a training environment prior to racing with it - that is a consensus on the board.

Ryan