To PTS Home >
By Eric Kenney
With busy schedules, many athletes don’t have enough time to work on all the aspects necessary to reach their full potential, let alone triathletes who need to be effective in four sports. Because of this, it is of great value to combine workouts. I am not talking about a brick workout or double sessions either. Instead, I’m talking about maximizing your time. Even pro athletes who train for a living need to be effective with their time and training. Do you think Lance logged any junk miles while training for the tour? I don’t think so.
A great way to maximize time is by focusing on more than one aspect of your training in one workout. By placing workouts within workouts one can get a double whammy effect out of their training. (Consult your coach before concocting your own “double whammy” workouts.) One of the best ways to do this is to place technical drills or hard intervals into a longer endurance workout. For example, during your 3 hour ride, focus on your technique while riding up hills. Keep pedal cadence and concentrate on pedaling “perfectly”. Alternate standing and sitting: stand up on one hill, for the whole hill, sit on the next. Hone your skills. Do fast pedal drills in your long ride or strides in your long run. Another option is to do intervals or some harder efforts in your workout. If you are looking to increase your power or looking for more speed, do your intervals after a solid warm up, cool down easy, hydrate and fuel appropriately, then continue with a low intensity endurance workout. Bike example: 20’ warm up. 3x10’ level 3-4. (rest 3’). 10’ cool down, continue cool down at level 2 for 2 hours. Looking to focus on more endurance for that IM? Do the intervals after 2 hours of riding at level 2. BAM! Two birds with one stone! There are some “double whammy” workouts that are a bad idea. Examples are working two different maximal effort zones in the same work out or working long tempo cooling down then doing 1’ intervals. Please consult a coach before doing any of these as they are a bit more taxing than normal single aspect workouts that mere mortals do.
With proper planning there is no reason why anyone can’t finish an IM, be a contender in their age group, or win the big one. Happy training!
All of my training articles are also available at Endurance Nation. As a member of Endurance Nation you'll gain open access to over 25 training plans, affordable group coaching solutions, 400+ articles, and join a vibrant community of smart and supportive endurance athletes. Please visit Endurance Nation to learn more.
Close Window |