ironguides

At this time of the year, unless you are based in the tropics or south hemisphere, it’s the off-season. Especially a few days before the end of the year holidays, most of the athletes are already planning their 2009 racing and training calendar. The conventional approach to sports training says that this is the time to develop your BASE. But what exactly is the BASE training in triathlon and how should you do it?

First important aspect, is that BASE is a term that comes from traditional sports, such as track running and swimming, lets not forget that those races are usually only a few minutes long, and not HOURS as triathlon. Base training in swimming and running usually starts with a build up in volume, followed by strength/speed work, and finally tapering to race fast and rested. In other words, first you train your OVERALL fitness, and later the SPECIFIC aspects of your race.

But what about triathlon? The shortest event is 1h+ long, the Ironman 8-17h, does make sense to train volume first then speed? What would happen if on race day you were FASTER than FITTER? Basically you would feel GREAT in the swim, especially at the start, same story in the early stages of the bike, just cruising fast with a very low effort, then out of nothing KA-BOOM, you just bonk and struggle to run. You were feeling great, going fast, but “something” didn’t work.

Now, if you do the other way around, work on your OVERALL fitness first then go to the SPECIFICS aspects of the distance?In that case, on race day you would be FITTER than FASTER, and by race day you would feel stronger and stronger as you progress into the race. It is very common to hear athletes mentioning after their PB’s in a triathlon, that they didn’t feel good in the water, or felt that they could have pushed harder on the bike. This is how a FIT athlete races. He just gets stronger and stronger as the race progresses.

If you are a long-distance triathlete, forget those hours and hours on the bike early in the year. Instead of the usual 4-6h rides with your group or on the trainer, how about a Time Trial with some training partners? Or a strength oriented set in a bigger gear and low cadence? Same with the run and swim. Focus on speed, strength, and holding a perfect technique while doing this, then once the racing season gets closer, shift your training to a specific plan.

Short-Courses athletes are a bit different. Since on the racing season they will be doing super fast and hard workouts, work on your weakness, develop your overall fitness, a continuous moderate long bike ride in a bigger gear is usually challenging enough for those sort of athletes that lack the endurance. Or a longer run in a moderate pace on the treadmill (or flat surface) at 90+ steps per minute.

As far as racing goes, pick an event that is NOT what you are used to do early in the spring. That could be your turning point. If you are a short-courser, a Half Ironman in March or April is perfect and after that you will have a new level of strength and endurance.

But if you are racing Halves and Ironmans later in the summer, a draft-free Olympic distance race also early in the spring is a nice way to start a breakthrough year, when you will start your ironman training, already with a faster engine, all you need to do is to shift that fitness to your IM pace.