Wko+ for simpletons

After my last blog entry, my buddy Jaakko advised me to use my skills in translating the complex math of wko+ into terms that the layman can understand, to write a book on wko+ for Dummies. In fear of copyright infringement, I elected to go with today’s title :-)

There is also a little hidden meaning to today’s title. Truth is, there is no negative intent to my use of the word simpleton (or Mr Gump). Au contraire, I deeply admire simplicity in all senses of the word.

As much as I love to deal with numbers and complex theories, the truth is, I abhor complexity. Whenever looking at a data set or a new theory, my driving motivation is to reconcile it with my current view of the simple truth, i.e. to break down complexity into simplicity.

We are all familiar with the term ‘paralysis through analysis’. The corollary to this would be ‘action through simplicity’. In other words, those who most embody action (and who, consequently, generate results) do so through a simple approach – a focus on spending their time DOING the essentials rather than analyzing the inessentials. So, this brings us to today’s blog.

Somebody whose approach I deeply respect is athlete, Tim Luchinske. It seems that the bulk of Tim’s actions are put in place with the aim to bring the essentials more into focus and I’m not talking along the lines of what logbook he selects. Check out his blog to get a feel for what I mean.

In fact, it was reading his blog over the last couple of weeks that partly prompted this post. I want to distance myself from my recent posts that seem to suggest that fulfilling your potential in sport is a mathematical problem. It is not. In order to actually ‘do the math’, requires tuning out the noise and tuning into your passion throughout the day, throughout your life. So, I write this post with that intent.

That said, there are some simple key essentials that have been known to elite coaches for decades and recently confirmed by (and elaborated within) the studies on mathematical modelling of the training process on which wko+ is based. These key principles are so key, in fact, that I have witnessed, on numerous occasions, very passionate, action oriented athletes who fail to observe them consistently perform below their potential.

So, in this post, I want to provide some of the key ‘take home points’ that I have learned from wko+ that can be applied to all athletes, irrespective of whether their training log consists of a docking port for every speed and power measuring device known to man or a writing pad sitting on your bedside table.

1. Every individual athlete has an optimal ‘chronic training load’ for any one season that is the result of their training base and constitution, not their aspirations.

In other words, every athlete has a limit to the training load that they can absorb at any one point in the training season. It is important to note/realize that this number, of what the athlete can absorb over a long term period is significantly less than what the athlete can do over a short term period. It is only through long term monitoring of large scale workload, e.g. month to month workload that a reasonable assessment of optimal training load can be made.

This optimal load will also change over the year as the athlete’s base improves. While a 50hr month may make an athlete tired in the prep period. At the end of the base period, the athlete may be able to absorb a 70hr month with no problem.

Irrespective, the take home message is to stick to one given training load until you have proven that you can absorb it (6 weeks or more) before deciding to up the ante.


2. Every individual athlete has an optimal ‘ramp rate’ to build training load towards this optimal level. Exceeding this rate results in failed adaptation (overtraining)

There are 3 basic scenarios that can arise from the application of a training load:

a) Too much load



If the athlete digs too deep a hole for themselves at the start of the season, by ramping up the volume/intensity too quickly, they will exceed their adaptation reserves and fail to supercompensate, i.e. too much load will make the athlete slower rather than faster

b) Too little load



If the athlete digs too shallow a hole for themselves at the start of the season by ramping up the volume/intensity too gently, they will receive full benefit from the load very early in the training season, i.e. they will ‘peak too soon’. Obviously this is preferable to the first option as it is much easier to maintain a given level of fitness through to competition than it is to shed fatigue, get healthy and get fit if too much load is undertaken.

c) “Just right” load.



Optimal load will have the athlete arriving at maximal fitness shortly before their peak race of the year, with just enough time to taper and freshen prior to the competition.

Fitter athletes (athletes with a stronger consistency base) will generally be able to tolerate more aggressive ramp rates. However, the only way to not risk the fitness that you have accrued in the last block is to plan very moderate volume jumps from month to month until you have a proven baseline ramp rate that you have sustained over the course of a season.

3. Every individual athlete has an optimal season length before load makes them more tired rather than more fit. Exceeding this optimal season length results in failing adaptation (overtraining).

The other time of the season that the athlete risks failing adaptation is in a season that extends too long. When performance begins to drop late in the season in spite of maintained/increasing load, it is time to shut her down and take a worthwhile break. This optimal length also depends on the base of the athlete and how deep the initial hole is dug. Generally, this time period will be in the vicinity of 3-7 months.

4. It’s a lot easier to get fast by getting ‘fresh’ than it is by getting ‘fit’.

While the seasonal gains that an athlete can expect from appropriate tapering are less than those that the athlete can expect from training, the relative benefit makes allowing time for an optimal taper a key inclusion within the training plan. In a wko+ sense, an athlete can, under a good case scenario, expect a 10-20% improvement in fitness (CTL) from month to month. However, freshness (TSB) can improve almost 200% within 1 month of reduced training! This is worthwhile remembering when considering ‘doing a little more’.

*********

Wko+ is a tool that enables athletes and coaches to reconcile the relationship between training load and relative performance. It is especially useful as summary statistics for those athletes who experience frequent fluctuations in training load to keep track of expected fitness and to forecast what load modifications will lead to the best result. However…..

For the serious athlete, controlling variables should always be a higher priority than measuring them.

Train Smart,

AC

Living the Basic Week 1: Big Rocks First

“Scheduling is how we manifest our intent on the world”
- Stephen Covey

Those of you familiar with Stephen Covey’s great read, “First Things First” will recognize the reference to placing your big rocks first. The story goes:

I attended a seminar once where the instructor was lecturing on time. At one point, he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” He reached under the table and pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar. He set it on the table next to a platter with some fist sized rocks on it. “How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?” he asked.

After we made our guess, he said, “Okay, let’s find out.” He set one rock in the jar… then another….then another. I don’t remember how many he got in, but he got the jar full. Then he asked “is the jar full?”

Everybody looked at the rocks and said “yes”.

Then he said, “Ahhh”. He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar and the gravel went in the little spaces left by the big rocks. Then he grinned and asked once more “Is the jar full?”

By this time we were onto him. “Probably not,” we said.

“Good!” He replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went in all the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel. Once more, he looked at us and said, “Is the jar full?”

“No!” we all roared.

He said, “Good!” and he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in. He got something like a quart of water in that jar. Then he said, “Well, what’s the point?”

Somebody said, “Well, there are gaps, and if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life.”

“No,” he said, “that’s not the point. The point is if you hadn’t put the big rocks in first would you ever have gotten any of them in?”

This story works on so many levels and, while I am likely to go off on a bit of a rant as to how this can relate to determining session order within a microcycle, the real power of this analogy can be achieved on the most basic level with the following simple instruction:

Begin each day with a clear list of your most important action items for the day and don’t start item #2 until you have finished item #1.

This is not a particularly new idea. The steel magnate Andrew Carnegie described this very item as the #1 distinguishing action of the most successful men in the world.

Along a similar vein, Friedrich Nietzsche commented:

“When one has a great deal to put into it, a day has a hundred pockets”

But, I’m a coach and so I am apt to interpret the metaphor through that lens. So, to that end, a warning: Many triathlon training programs can become exceedingly complex and often seem to incorporate change for changes sake. In my opinion, it is crucial that the athlete and coach are intimately aware of each athletes own ‘big rocks’ and that they create each weekly training schedule accordingly.

Personally, considering the importance of triathlon in my life and the fact that my current Ironman limiters are:
- Steady state endurance (bike and run)
- Basic strength
- Bike aerodynamics/flexibility

...my general big rocks (athletic and non-athletic) for the week are, in order of size:

- 1 x 5-6hr easy-steady long ride (200-250TSS) alt w/1x3hr aerobic maint ride (150TSS) every 2-3 weeks
- 1 x 2-2.5hr steady-mod long run flat or hills (100-150TSS) alt w/90min maintenance run every 2-3 weeks
- 2x1hr of strength training each week
- 30 minutes of yoga EVERY day
- 2 days rest/recovery training (0-40TSS)
- Good nutrition each day.
- 9-10 hours of sleep each night
- 1hr of prep time before each athlete’s phone consultation each week.
- 2 x 2hrs of aerobic maintenance training w/2x20min threshold maint. (80TSS)
- 1 x 2hrs of aerobic maintenance training w/1hr of tempo/BG maint. (100TSS)
- 3-4hrs of writing each week

From a training perspective, this equates to a week of 15-18hrs or 560-740TSS (80-105ATL) for a loading week or 12hrs/515TSS (74ATL) for a recovery/maintenance week.

At a projected increase of 10-30mins of training (or 1-3 CTL) per wk, this week will represent a good loading week that addresses my limiters for the next 2-4 months. Until then, no need for change, just repeat the week. In 2-4 months time it may be prudent to re-test, reassess and identify some new ‘big rocks’ (or some bigger rocks of the same geology) to put in my jar.

Not constantly changing volume and sessions every week allows one to truly habituate the week to the point that motivation is not an effort. Simplicity breeds habit.

In addition, having an acceptable time 'range' for the week allows for high energy and low energy weeks and allows for a little wiggle room with respect to unforeseen work and family commitments.

My sand (the stuff that can potentially fill my jar before I get my big rocks in) is:
- Excessively checking my email
- TV
- Getting carried away with writing
- Being a people pleaser: On a number of fronts, refusing to say no in favor of the bigger yes.

I have to stay vigilant on this and make sure that every day I put my big rocks in the jar first, i.e. get my training done before I get on the computer, get my steady state training done before I do anything ‘hard’, 'walk my walk' (i.e. train) before I 'talk my talk' (i.e. write).

In practical terms, my personal ‘basic week’ weekly schedule for the next 2-3 months is:

As mentioned above, 15-18hrs of training (3 swim, 7.5-8.5 bike, 4.5-5 run) + strength and flexibility.

You will notice that I start the week on Saturday with my biggest rock and schedule across by priority from there.

This is the same template that I use for my weekly planner. All commitments are in ink. I treat every commitment as I would an appointment with a VIP. Everything else must fit in around these big rocks. Period. No exceptions.

For some of my other athletes, with different limiters, their athletic ‘big rocks’ may be different. For example, their mod-hard training session may move from priority #10 to priority #1.

You will notice that my loading days (the days with an ATL greater than my CTL) reflect my limiters, i.e. long aerobic workouts. For an athlete who has strong basic endurance but poor muscular endurance, i.e. high CP360 relative to CP90-180, these loading workouts may accrue load in a very different way, i.e. with the inclusion of some very long, solid tempo sets. This is precisely the profile of one of the athletes that I work with who we tested last week. Therefore, in the name of continued development, a change of training tack is due (look out Mr. Friedman :-).

For the reasons listed above, frequent testing is a must. It is less difficult than many would assume for an athlete (particulalrly a masters athlete) to become chronically imbalanced.

With the number of different training approaches out there this whole business can, at times, get pretty confusing. Irrespective of the format that you choose to use, there are some universal training steps that need to be followed:

1. Build general fitness/ability to tolerate load
2. Identify personal strengths and weaknesses
3. Construct weekly training sessions that relentlessly address your weaknesses while maintaining your strengths
4. Schedule these sessions within your week so that the important ones GET DONE!

Train Smart!

AC

Fooling Ourselves

“The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s 5:30 am on a Sunday morning and I find myself lying on my back, wide awake, with my world spinning. Surprisingly enough, my foggy head this time isn’t the result of a bike crash concussion or a big night on the town (Vegas is next week, folks! :-) Nope, I’m lying on my back with my head spinning after Sensai Gordo Byrn took me down in an Aikido match.

Let me elaborate, we all know I’m a big fan of the metaphor in my writing and in this case, Gordo didn’t really strap on a gi and a blackbelt and throw me over his shoulder. No, I chose this metaphor as representative of the way that Gordo and I tend to tackle a difference of opinion. In this case, a difference of opinion on the topic of athletic potential.

I am very accustomed to arguing. In fact, on some level, I really enjoy it. It may come as a surprise to those who know my introverted tendencies to know that I was on the debate team back in high school. In fact, it wasn’t just a case of being ‘on the team’, I hope it’s not too conceited of me to say that back in our day, we kicked ass (quarter finals at State ass to be specific :-). Anyhow, point being I have no problem drawing a line in the sand when necessary and not backing down.

On most matters, I think Gordo and I see eye to eye. In the world of elite athletics, if you talk to enough people at the top you begin to realize that the commonalities far exceed the differences. Recently, however, you may have noticed a, somewhat antipolar viewpoint in the matters of ‘hard vs. soft’ approach to goal achievement and, more significantly, the topic of athletic potential. It has always been my stance that endurance athletics is largely an area in life where you get what you deserve. Recently, I have noticed a departure in the G-mans philosophy, away from this stance (to be frank, I have a feeling that I may have been unintentionally instrumental in this departure, but that is beside the point).

The short point of my metaphorical introduction to this morning’s post is simply this – the Gman got me thinking.

In and of itself, this is no small feat. If you’ve been unfortunate enough to bear witness to some of my online forum debates with one or two of the well known sports scientists out there you’ll know that my general way of War, my Big-A-Do :-), if you will is, when someone pushes me, I brace myself, strengthen my position and push back ten times as hard. With the appropriate firepower, this is a great way to win an argument, but not a great way to grow. By contrast, Gordo has a knack of using your own energy against you and leaving you on your back, with your head spinning, reconsidering your approach (hence my long winded Aikido metaphor).

In this situation, my head is spinning with the question “do I show potential?”, or on another front “am I getting what I deserve out of what I am putting into the sport or am I ‘fooling myself’? I also want to challenge myself and you all by pointing out another way that as triathletes we typically ‘fool ourselves’.

I have had 3 times in my life where I would (now) consider myself relatively ‘fast’ as an endurance athlete (interestingly enough, in at least one of these cases, at the time I considered myself distinctly ‘slow’ in relation to my peer group. Relativity to your peer group is huge as Mat pointed out a while ago in his piece, ‘Fast in Indiana’.)

Being ‘Fast’ #1: The Swim

The first time was when I swam 18:03 for a 1500m Freestyle back in 1992. Not surprisingly, in the context of Australia distance swimming, at the time relative to my squad members, this felt ‘slow’. Funny how things change. Right now if I could get back to that form I’d be one of the first swimmers out of the water in most of the local races, even out here in Boulder.

So, what was I doing at that time that set me up to swim that ‘fast’? I swam this time toward the end of our summer break in 1992. At the time I was riding my heavy ‘Old School’ road bike 40mi a day to get to and from my morning and evening swim practice. I was swimming 5-7km in the morning and another 5-7 in the afternoon.

So, am I fooling myself as to my potential as a swimmer? I don’t think so. Am I fooling myself as to the price I have to pay to get back there? Yes.

Being ‘Fast’ #2: The Bike.

The fastest that I have been on the bike was 58min for a hilly 40K Time Trial back in 2003. It was a pretty solid course that I would do each week as a benchmark ride. I was consistently under 1 hour. At the time, I was also doing some training rides with the Division 1 University cycling team. I was placing top 5 in their weekly Time Trials and was holding my own on the weekend group rides.

The Cost:

At the time, I had just broken up with my wife and cycling was my outlet. In a 3 month period, my smallest week was 313mi, my biggest was 404mi. I would regularly ride my bike from Gainesville to Orlando (~120mi), crash at a Days Inn near Disney World and then ride back the next day.

Am I fooling myself as to my potential as a cyclist? I don’t think so. Am I fooling myself as to the price I have to pay to get back there? Yes.

Being ‘Fast’ #3: The Run.

The fastest that I have run was a 2:53 Marathon back in 2003. At the time I also ran several 5K’s in and around 18 minutes and a 37min 10K.

The Cost:

Still a little psychologically screwy, after getting injured (meniscus) after my big bout of cycling, I threw my energy into two things:

a) Running a lot
b) Losing weight.

I had a 3 month block of 70-120k per week. I obsessively monitored everything that I ate and got my bodyweight (for my 6’4” frame) down to 158lbs. I was running to work and back twice most days (20K/day)

Am I fooling myself as to my potential as a runner? I don’t think so. Am I fooling myself as to the price I have to pay to get back there? Yes.

I certainly don’t present my past as an example of what to do. I have made a lot of errors along the way. However, I do present it as a bit of a reality check on the sort of volume that decent single sport athletes are doing. While my mind-set may have been a little different to the folks around me who were finishing at about the same time, I assure you my training volume wasn’t, 50-70mi a week isn’t anything ‘special’ to a runner. 400mi a week is pretty standard for a Cat 2/3 cyclist and 70K a week in the pool is nothing for a decent club level Aussie swimmer.

Of course, the challenge as a triathlete is to find the space in your life and the energy to do the requisite training volume. However keep in mind that even for you, as a triathlete, doing the work in all sports is a requisite. The notion of ‘cross-training’ is B.S. If you want to run like a runner, you must run like a runner, If you want to swim like a swimmer…. Well, you get my drift.

Sometimes as athletes, I think we (want to) forget these realities. Fool others, by all means, but whatever you do, don’t fool yourself.

The Stotan Code

I will be in the city of sin next week, if I am to be honest with you (and myself), I will probably be working out or sleeping while the rest of the city’s populous (including my brother, who is visiting from Australia) is sinning in one way, shape or form :-). I think I have always found more lasting joy in Asceticism than sin. I was pleasantly surprised, during my first road trip with the G-man, to discover that Nevada offers plenty of both. I’m looking forward to returning.

Anyhow, not sure how much time I will have to write next week so I thought I would throw up a second blog for this week. Speaking of asceticism, in this post, I am going to reproduce (blatantly copy) one of my favourite, & most inspirational pieces of writing on the subject: Percy Cerutty’s Stotan Code.

I gave a brief history of Cerutty and his ‘Stotan’ philosophy in a former blog. I was pleased to hear that it resonated with a number of readers in the same way it does me (I have highlighted some of the lines in this piece that most speak to me). I hope the following post provides more ‘fuel for the fire’ for the week of training ahead.

See you out there.

AC

*********************************

The Stotan Code
Percy Cerutty
‘Maker of Champions’

A Stotan is one who hardens, strengthens, toughens and beautifies the body by consistent habits and regular exercises, which are consciously and irrevocably made part of the life plan of the individual, as well as consciously determining that the mind will be cultivated upon such abstractions as purity, beauty and logic. Erudition, in as complete a degree as possible shall be the lifelong aim: Truth, in relation to all aspects of life, the unending search.

Stotans will, by virtue of their philosophy, be nature lovers, with a respect and appreciation of all evolved or created things. They will appreciate the sanctity of creative effort both in themselves and in others. They will strive to understand the significance implied by reality, will be able to discern the real from the spurious, and see no anomaly in nudity, either in body or mind. But neither will they cast pearls before swine.

Stotans, for all the reasons that their philosophy stands for (viz: hardness, toughness, unswerving devotion to an ideal), would look upon the sea (or mountains) as their pristine element and endeavour to associate themselves with their primeval source by immersing themselves at least once per month in all seasons of the year. No practice is disposed to toughen, both the body and the morale, more than this.

Stotans believe that neither the body nor the mind can be maintained at a high pitch of efficiency unless sufficient and regular rest is obtained, and aim at a daily average of of 8 hours sleep. Stotans, also, will not be found in social places after midnight. Stotans shall so regulate their lives that at the end of a period, varying with the intensity of effort, each shall realize that they have attained, without conscious striving, to a state of knowledge, and a position of leadership within the community. It is axiomatic that only the pure can understand purity, only the cultivated appreciate beauty, and only the strong truly measure their strength. Therefore, only the self-disciplined can command genuine respect.

A program shall be aimed at which shall be designed to [train each Stotan]:-

(a)… to withstand physical hardship, to accomplish feats of strength and endurance, to understand orderliness, and the true meaning of intelligence.

(b) To know himself as an organism and a personality

(c) To emerge, eventually emancipated, from all dogmas, creeds, and beliefs, as well as worldly and unworldly hopes and fears.

(d) To habitually function upon the highest planes of thought and physical effort.

(e) To place the objective of an alert, informed intelligence, and a perfected body, as primary in Life. And to arrive at the conclusion that all else will follow on.

(f) To learn that on this basis, the whole world, and all that it has to offer, opens out as a vision, splendid, normal and realizable.

(g) To understand that Past, Futures, Fates, Fears, Death, Selfishness, Egoism, Pride, Envy, Hate and Prejudice can be replaced by Intelligence that controls emotion, dominates destiny, manifests completeness and exults in Life.

(h) To understand that, in actuality, evolved man is a King, but without the trappings. That Kingship is his right and his destiny. That we can make ourselves, in time, all that we would. That we honour real men but are subservient to none.

In addition, Stotans shall train themselves to withstand, stoically, personal criticism, also, scepticism as the necessity or wisdom of such a Way of Life. In this regard, Stotans soon learn that they command knowledge, experience and ability not available to the prejudiced, the ignorant or the slothful.

Also, having embarked upon the Stotan Way of Life, like the Spartans, one must go through with it to the end. There is no giving up throughout life. The first pre-requisite for a Stotan is tenacity. The next is to understand that his loyalties are towards making the most of the material that is his, to the expansion, or at least the manifestation of the Life Force, and a constant identification of himself with his Life Force through his Way of Life.

To live this Way of Life is hard. It is not for weaklings. It is the Way that is travelled by all the truly great ones. It requires strenuous effort of body and mind.

*********************************

The passage above is taken from the Graem Sims biography of Percy Cerutty, entitled “Why Die”. It is one of my favourite reads.

Onward Stotans!!!

AC.

Consistency

“Duncan Armstrong (1988 Olympic Gold medallist in the 200m Freestyle) had witnessed the ruthless dedication displayed by Jono Sieben in his quest for his Olympic Gold (1984 200m Butterfly). In 12 months of training he did not miss one day, one session.”
- Lawrie Lawrence (coach of multiple Olympic champions)


“Give me 1000 x 6000m swim sessions without missing 1 and I guarantee you an Olympic Berth”
- Brett Sutton
Note: The athlete in question missed his first session after the 500th, his second was 870 session after starting. The day after his 3rd missed session he destroyed the national record and made the Olympic Team.


“The only secret of those of us who were training at Caulfield and Ferny Creek was the consistency of our training. None of us ever missed a day, as a result, we were all improving. Although each of our sessions would physically stretch us, we never finished a day so exhausted that we were not able to train to the same standard the following day.”
- Ron Clarke (19x World Record Holder)

There is a great quote (I think it’s Mark Twain) that comes to mind:

“He who picks up a cat by the tail learns something that he can learn no other way”

The point, of course, is that sometimes it takes a serious physical or emotional punch in order for us to truly learn, on the deepest level, a simple lesson. This is particularly appropriate to this week’s post because, as you probably read in my last update, I have recently had a week off and a week of very light training following my last crash – lots of time to think (& mope) about lost training.

Of course, we read about the importance of consistency again and again, but for some of us (e.g. me), we don’t truly realize just how important consistency is until we are forced into a period of inconsistent training. I’ll chat about my experiences over the past couple of weeks in a bit, but first a little background reading…

There are a number of studies out there that have demonstrated the immediacy of detraining upon cessation of training. Detraining occurs as quickly as 3 days after training ends and within 1-3 weeks, performance can be expected to drop by 25-30%. If you are unfortunate enough to be forced into a 1-3 month period of no training, expect a loss in performance of 40-50%. For all but elite athletes, this kind of loss will bring most athletes back to pre-training levels (McArdle, Katch and Katch, 1996). When one looks at these numbers, the importance of doing whatever it takes to keep the engine ‘ticking over’ becomes readily apparent.

The mechanisms behind these fitness losses are equally interesting: In just one week of training, athletes can lose 50% of additional mitochondria produced during 5 weeks of training. Once lost, up to 4 weeks of additional training are needed to regain this mitochondria (Olbrecht, 2000). This 4:1 rule is pretty commonly touted among coaches and seems well supported by the literature and my own personal experience, (as I have outlined below).

Similarly, glycogen stores rapidly decrease upon cessation of training, with losses of 40-60% to be expected following 4 weeks of de-training (Wilmore and Costill, 1999). This has direct implications on the athlete’s work tolerance upon resuming training. Even following 1 week of de-training, the athlete will often not reach pre-break training volume until 1 month or more of training resumption.

As mentioned above, my own experiences over the past couple of weeks are tying in well with the literature (I have actually had this blog in the works for a couple of weeks now. I was hopeful that I would be able to show data from my training break through to the return to my normal training/performance levels, but I am afraid, despite my wishes, I am falling in line with what the literature suggests and don’t expect to be back to this level for at least another week!)

My session by session average power and heart rate (from the session before my break through to now) is shown graphically below:

The 2 red lines represent my average training power and heart rate from my last month of training. As you can see, if my average power continues it’s trend, it will be July 1st before I am back to my average power output (201W) for the month of May. In other words, after 1 week off, it is taking me another 3 weeks to just get back to ‘normal’ training levels. This has huge implication for those athletes who have regular 3-7 day breaks in their schedule, e.g. travel for work etc. It is imperative that some level of maintenance training is done even during these relatively short time periods to ensure that the athlete is not continually playing catch up.

For athletes who are forced to take longer periods off due to injury, the importance of maintenance training becomes more pronounced. After reading about just how aggressive Floyd Landis was in his return to training after his hip fracture and comparing it to my own conservative approach (that resulted in being confined to a wheelchair for the better part of 3 months), I realize the importance that elite athletes give to ‘keeping the engine ticking over’.

In the end, as the elite coaches and athletes quoted at the start of this piece have concluded, CONSISTENCY TRUMPS ALL!

****************************************

Maintenance Training

Jason asks:

"Just wondering what kind of guidelines there are for maintaining one's current fitness level?"

There is good news on this front. Generally, studies show that performance can be maintained (or in the case of tapering, improved) with reductions in training volume of 80-90% of peak seasonal volume for 7-10days of training or 65-80% of peak seasonal volume for longer time periods (up to 4 weeks), providing intensity, particularly intensity in excess of the lactate threshold is maintained at normal levels. (Anderson et al., 1992, Costill et al. 1985, Mujika et al. 1996).

Because it's there!

“Unless you push the limits, you stagnate. Only when you try to go way beyond where you’ve been before do you really grow. That’s when you’re alive. That’s when you’re really living.” – Mark Allen.

I have a couple of blog posts in the works that are more in line with my typical genre of exercise physiology and training prescription (one on the final phase of annual periodization – The Race Preparation Phase, and another on the realities of de-training), but after reading Gordo’s latest blog, I had a bunch of thoughts swirling around that I wanted to put on paper. I hope you find my catharsis entertaining :-)

In said blog, the g-man asks the question:

“What is the point of achievement if we need to damage ourselves in the process?”

Gordo goes on to point out something that, while the masses may not understand, something that, as athletes, we all (eventually) get: Athletic achievement and personal wellness are not synonomous. In fact, at the highest elite level, they are completely incongruent.

And so, as athletes, as people, we ultimately must answer the question “Why on earth would I choose to pursue an activity that may shorten, if not prematurely end my life?” For some, the answer is simple, “I wouldn’t” and so triathlon is pursued only to the extent that it enriches their health and the rest of their lives. They hike the small peaks and turn around when the footing becomes a little loose.

Others, perhaps the majority of athletes out there secretly enjoy the challenge, but rationally convince themselves that their level of involvement in triathlon supports their health and greater goals. As renowned exercise physiologist, Cooper, concluded back in the day, physiologically this is not the case: ‘If you are training more than 5 hours a week you are doing it for reasons other than health.’ For these athletes, drawing that fine line between achievement and wellness is a constant struggle.

For others, like the climber who inspired the title for today’s piece, the answer to Gordo’s question is just as easy (while perhaps not as rational) as the first group. When, in 1924, George Mallory was asked “Why would you want to climb Everest (when there is every chance of failure/death)?” he simply, and definitively replied “Because it’s there!”. Soon after, Mallory and his colleague, Andrew Comyn Irvine disappeared on the mountain and were not seen again until an expedition discovered their frozen bodies in 1999, 75 years, and some 1100 successful summits since Mallory made his decision.

In my mind, the perspective you take on Mallory’s quest, whether an ill-thought decision that resulted in failure or an inspiring example of ‘going for it 100%’ and living without fear says a lot about your potential as a triathlete.

We all choose (if and) when we turn around on the mountain.

Decisions, De-cisions

“Do or do not. There is no try.”
- Yoda

The pic above is of Hernan Cortes. Cortes’ greatest claim to fame (at least from my perspective) was the famous incident at Vera Cruz, when, during his attempted Mexican conquest, after landing on the shore with his armies and hearing of the might of the local ruler, Montezuma, he made the decision to eliminate any chance of retreat by burning his army’s ships.

The word decision comes from the latin roots ‘de’ meaning ‘from’ and ‘caedere’ meaning ‘to cut’. In other words, making a true decision means to physically cut yourself off from the possibility of failure.

Do not fool yourself, we all have limits to our will power, as Gordo points out in his latest blog. It is not superior willpower that separates champions from the rest of us. I spent a good amount of time with the Aussie national swim team when I was back in Australia. Like any sample of society, there are a number of different personalities within the team. Some are “hard” as a rock, completely unyielding, thinking about swimming and their goals for the sport 24-7. Others are more ‘soft’, more ‘yin-yang’ athletes, a balance of ‘get down to business’ attitude when they hit the water and ‘regular guy time’ when they hit dryland. Personality is not the distinguishing factor that separates those who make it from those who don’t. So, what does separate achievers from non-achievers? Achievers put themselves in a position to make habits of the things that failures won’t do. To be real, in the world of swimming, it is often not the athlete who must summon the daily willpower to make these decisions.

I never really ‘made it’ as a swimmer. I was an above average local swimmer. I’d pick up some medals at local meets. I made a couple of representative meets but there were certainly other swimmers in my own squad that were at that next level. Some went on to make the Aussie national team. When I look back to what the difference between them and me was, I am forced to conclude that the biggest difference wasn’t in their own obsession for the sport. Rather, these athletes had parents that were OBSESSED with the sport. On occasion, when one of these swimmers put in an effort that was deemed to be ‘sub-par’, I have seen his mother slap the kid across the face when he got back from his race. When I started coaching elite juniors in Sydney (8-12 year olds that were the superstars of tomorrow) this level of parental ‘commitment’ was no longer the exception, it was the rule.

It’s an interesting position to be a coach in this situation. While I knew that these kids were missing out on having a loving, caring, soft parental figure, they were gaining something that I never had, the joy that comes with being the very best, but more than that, the joy that comes with becoming your very best.

Now, I want to make clear that I am in no way condoning corporal punishment, especially in this circumstance. However, I do want to say that in some ways I wish that my parents would have pushed me more to stick to a commitment that I made.

This reminds me of the story of world record marathoner Toshiko Seko. After a particularly tough stretch in (his coach) Nakamura’s training camp, in which Nakamura put Seko on a diet of a piece of toast and a piece of lettuce each day (notably, in an effort to lose the weight that he had put on after spending some time in the US college system), Seko broke and ran home to the perceived security of his parent’s abode. When he got there his parents closed the door on their son. The sent him back to Nakamura with a message “Do whatever you must with him: He’s yours”.

OK, so maybe we aren’t all willing to make those decisions; to convince one of our family or friends to beat us up every time that we don’t make a performance benchmark or to live on lettuce and toast in an effort to lose a few pounds, but the point remains that the laws of cause and effect apply to us all and that if you are not receiving the results that you want in your life, it is because you have not made the decision to put these causal, environmental factors in place.

A true decision is marked by a physical action, the physical action to, all extents possible, block off any source of retreat. This may mean throwing all simple sugars in your home in the bin. It may mean selling your car so that you are forced to commute by bike. It may mean joining a masters swim program so that you have a social burden to show up to your swim sessions. Whatever the action, it is important to note that we live in a society in which retreat is both easy and, to some extent, expected (think divorce rates), and in which a decision, like a New Years Resolution is rarely worth the paper it is written on (if indeed we even get to the point of writing it down). It is not a true decision until it is backed up with massive, immediate action.

BURN THOSE SHIPS!!!

Calling all STOTANS!!!

"You only ever grow as a person when you spend time outside your comfort zone"
- Percy Cerutty
The pic above is of one of my all time heroes, Aussie track coach Percy Cerutty, leading one of his charges, a young guy by the name of Herb Elliott (who went on to hold the world 800m record!!) up one of the sand dunes that made up Percy’s ‘international athletic center’, in reality a couple of shacks on a beach in Portsea, Victoria.

Percy’s athletics was backed up by a fundamental philosophy that resonates loudly with me. He even had a name for his philosophy and accompanying code of conduct. He called it the STOTAN code. The word stotan is a composite of two words:

Stoic: A philosophy based on deriving pleasure from virtue and being unmoved by necessary hardship.

Spartan: An ancient greek culture based on loyalty, discipline and acting for the greater good.

I have had some recent conversations with Gordo that have forced me to look at what motivates me both as a coach and an athlete and I keep coming back to these principles.

I recently had an athlete put in a breakthrough performance and qualify for Kona. Of course, I was eagerly watching the web on Sunday, checking out his performance and I knew he was on the verge of something special. When he finished the race, I was excited to know that he was on the cusp of a Kona slot, and even more excited the next day to hear the news that he had secured one. But the real ‘lump in the throat’ moment for me came when I read his race report and realized just how much tenacity he showed out there, how deep he had to dig and how far into himself he had to go to reach a level he had never reached before. A level of athletic achievement? Yes. But it’s more than that, to me, in a lot of ways, it is those moments of pushing your previous limits that personally define us.

When Gordo asked me why I was in the sport, my initial knee-jerk was “to get better, to improve my performance.” But, the more I think about it, the more I realize that, while I want to get better, in the end, the thing that keeps me going is, as Pierre De Coubertin suggested, not the triumph but the struggle. It’s a weird thing isn’t it? But it’s almost common for athletes, especially truly great athletes to have a penchant for “the hard way”. If my time in Aussie swim squads taught me nothing, it taught me that the smile that creeps over the coach on pool deck often has nothing to do with faster times for a set or the thought of a possible medal at the next meet, the smile is all about those principles that I mentioned above; an inspiring display of loyalty, discipline and athletes who are unmoved by the necessary hardship of athletics.

On the surface, there is obviously a certain joy that comes from knowing that you are doing something that others aren’t willing to do. On the deeper level, I think that this emotional satisfaction stems from something that the Eastern religions realized long ago, that to become an individual with a soul, a spiritual entity independent of our brain and material shell, occasionally we must act independently of them. We must do things that challenge our body, we must do things that challenge our rational thoughts, e.g. jump on our bikes and ride 5hrs up a mountain despite the fact that we know rationally that with a base of 2x1hr trainer rides a week, it’s probably not a smart thing to do :-), just to prove that “I” am more than my rational thoughts. For whatever reason, call it God, call it destiny, call it whatever, some cosmic force has determined that “I” am an athlete.

It is also probably fair that I let my athletes know that this is also what motivates me as a coach. Of course I want you to get better. I want you to achieve your athletic goals. I want you to get healthy. All of that. But I also want you to experience those moments where you bust through your own self concept. Those moments of self-control and fortitude that show you that you are so much stronger than your emotions and your whims. You are so much more. Every time you complete a basic week. Every time you get out of bed and get ready to train as soon as your alarm clock goes off. Every time that you hit the supermarket instead of hitting Mickey D’s not only makes me proud of you as an athlete, it also fulfils me to know that I am helping you discover a self that is independent of your thoughts, your whims, your cravings. I am helping you discover your true self. In answer to Gordo’s question…. THAT is why I am a coach.

In retrospect, the title isn’t totally apt, I’m not calling all Stotans, just one :-) I have one slot left for coaching over the next year. If what I have said strikes a chord, drop me an email.

Also, I just headed over to my buddy Chuckie V's website and he posted an awesome blog along a similar line. Talk about cosmic force!!

The Ultimate Success Formula for Triathletes

Part 1: The Theory
Alan Couzens MS (Sport Science), CSCS, PES

“The only secret of those of us training at Caulfield and Ferny Creek was the consistency of our training. None of us ever missed a day. As a result, all of us were improving. Although each of our sessions would physically stretch us, we never finished a day so exhausted that we were unable to train to the same standard the following day.”
- Ron Clarke (18 time World Record Holder in Distance Running)

I just got back from a trip to Australia to visit the folks and see my sister get married. It really is a long, awful flight and even now, 4 days back I am still feeling the effects. On the positive side of things, I did get a lot of reading done on the long flight. One of the books that I re-read was Jack Canfield’s Success Principles. I am a big fan of the personal development genre and within this genre, Canfield’s book has to be one of my favourites. When reading one of the chapters on “paying the price” it got my mind thinking about the similarities between Canfield’s message and that of another of my favourite authors in this field, Tony Robbins.

Tony Robbins has to be one of the most well-known success gurus of this century. I am a big fan of his in general, but one of my favourite Tony Robbins’ principles is something that he calls the “Ultimate Success Formula”. The thing that I really love about this formula is it’s simplicity. Basically (paraphrasing), it goes something like; there are 4 key steps to success in any endeavour:

1. Define your outcome
2. Model the behaviour of those who have achieved your outcome
3. Take MASSIVE ACTION
4. Develop the sensory acuity to know the results you are getting and modify your actions accordingly.

In my opinion, this formula can just as appropriately be applied to the field of triathlon as it can to anything else, business, relationships etc. As a coach, the thing that is striking to me is the rarity that most athletes actually follow through with the most important step - #4. Just about every semi-serious triathlete out there has a goal of some description. Many of them have also sought out a mentor, in the form of a book or a coach, to help give them some clues of how to go about achieving their goal. The serious ones also don’t have a problem taking ‘massive action’. Some also do a fantastic job of obsessively logging the details of their workouts. However, the air is starting to get pretty thin when we look at the peak triathletes who actually analyse and use this data that they collect to determine the future direction of their training.

For many of us, the process of devising a training plan is analogous to the following scenario: You decide that you want to take a trip from Orlando, FL to the tiny mountain town of Nederland, CO. So, being a relative novice traveller, you go to the map store and buy a large scale map of the continental US. You set off from Orlando and follow the interstates on your way to Colorado, but when you reach the border, you are shocked that you can’t find Nederland anywhere on your map. So, rather than taking stock of where you are and pulling into a gas station to refine your search with a smaller scale map, you decide that Rand McNally doesn’t know what he’s talking about & you go searching for a different map of the continental US from a different publisher. Of course, this map doesn’t have your final destination on it either. End result, you jump from one guys large scale map to the next without ever paying attention to where your current route has landed you or refining your search to determine your future direction and you never make it to your destination.


The best athletes around get this. I first met Gordo at Epic Camp 2006. I was coming off a couple of pretty solid months of training, including 2 x 30hr weeks and I was feeling pretty good about my ability to keep working with a high volume approach. At the first opportunity I had, I spoke with Gordo about my recent training and where I should go from here. His first question and one which, to a large extent, inspired this blog, was “is it working for you?” It shocked me, but I really didn’t have a solid answer to the question. Sure, I was obsessively monitoring the details of every workout, but I wasn’t, at least in any measurable way, taking the time to analyse the data to determine what training stimuli yielded the greatest improvement and, whatsmore, my plan for the future was based strictly on my assumption that more volume = more results. I was following 2 of the 3 steps in the Training Peaks ‘monitor, analyse, plan’ credo, but my plans, in no way, shape or form were influenced by all of the data that I was monitoring.


Even now, the tendency is always to believe that I could do more than I currently am, if only....

For a good portion of the past 12 months my basic goal has been 3 hours a day of training. Did I base this on my average volume for 2006? Nope. Did I take into account that I was little more than a month out of a wheelchair after my hip surgery when I set these lofty goals? Nope. My plan was based solely on the volume that I believed I would need in order to be competitive in my age group over the Iron Distance in 2007 and 2008. This is one of the most common and harmful mistakes that I come across as a coach on a daily basis. Type-A age group athletes typically let their goals for the season dictate their rate of improvement rather than letting their rate of improvement dictate their seasonal goals. This is one of the reasons that it is so difficult to develop over the long term as a self-coached athlete. It is true that, as a society, we have a tendency to greatly overestimate what we can accomplish in a year, while grossly underestimating what we can achieve in a decade purely by applying unrelenting patience and persistence.

Hopefully by now, I have convinced you that in order to ‘train smart’ in ’08 and beyond, it is important to determine the efficacy of your training plan to this point. In order to do this a couple of questions need to be answered:

1. What was your training methodology in ’07?
Pay attention to the word methodology, as opposed to plan. What you intended to do at the start of the year is far less important than what actually got done.

Note: With improved sensory acuity the gap between what you intend to do and what you do will shorten. This can make a big difference to your confidence and your belief in yourself as an athlete.

2. Did your training methodology bring about the desired results?
The 2 results that I definitely want to achieve for each and every athlete, each and every year are:
a) A rise in the athlete’s ability to tolerate work, measured by an increase in volume AND intensity from year to year.
b) An improvement in the athlete’s performance standards from one year to the next.

Stay tuned for part II of this article, where I will outline some of the specific numbers that you can track in your log on a daily basis in order to effectively answer these questions and how to track these metrics over time to determine what is working for you.

Top 10 Action Items from the USAT Level 1 Coaching Clinic

Those of you who have seen my book collection will attest to the fact that I have a voracious appetite for the acquisition of knowledge. However, as Bruce Lee once said “Knowledge is nothing without action” and so, I have made a commitment to devote this decade of my life to transforming my core paradigm from the acquisition of information to the application of information. I went into the recent USAT Level 1 Coaching Clinic in Clermont, FL with this objective in mind and came away with some key 'action items' that I plan to apply to myself and the athletes that I work with. Hopefully, you will find some value in them too.

Before I get started, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the presenters at the clinic. I was surprised and impressed by the depth of information presented at a level 1 event. The following key points represent a mix of almost direct quotes from the presenters with a sprinkling of concepts that, while inspired by the topics presented may run almost counter to the presenter’s opinions. I want to make it clear that these conclusions are my own and do not necessarily represent the intent of the presenter. Either way, I wish to thank Tim Boruff and Linda Cleveland of the USAT and all of the attending presenters for the many ‘light-bulb moments’ that I experienced over the course of the weekend. My top 10 'action from the weekend are presented below:

1. Know the price of your athletic goals and if you can afford them (Psychological Aspects of Coaching – Dara Wittenburg)

Unfortunately, we live in a country where the majority of individuals commit to having what they want before deciding whether they can truly afford it. In my experience, this mentality also runs over to triathletic goals. Typical first conversation with a new client goes something like this:

“I want to race Hawaii”
“OK, my current athletes at that level are doing……..”
“Sounds good, sign me up”

In other words, much like Maverick in Top Gun, committed age-group athletes have a tendency to ‘write checks that their bodies can’t cash’. It is a ‘cart before the horse’ mistake to commit to a race, a time goal, and a training load before looking at your current training load and rate of improvement to this point. Rather than the car sales showroom paradigm, where you sign off on a Hummer with all the options when all you can really afford is the used Dodge Aries on the other side of the street, you should approach the goal setting process more like a kid taking his pocket money into the candy store “OK, this is how much I have (time available, training volume to date etc), what can I buy with this?” A coach can help greatly with determining the price (based on previous experience with other athletes and data from your own logs) and giving you a reality check on what you can afford & the time it will take you to save for what you really want.


2. Have clear, written goals & a session plan for every key session that you do

Know the purpose of each of your key sessions and write down a simple action plan of the 3-5 things that you are going to focus on out there in order to achieve your bigger goals. Rather than labelling all of your sessions “training sessions”, it is sometimes better to take on the paradigm of teams sports and consider some “practice sessions”, i.e. sessions in which you have an opportunity to drill the psychological, technical and tactical objectives of preparation in addition to the physical. A big part of this is having a written “race plan” for each of your key sessions. Creativity is your only limit in how far you go in simulating the demands of your event.


3. Think like a Body Builder when planning your strength training (in fact, all of your training).
(Strength Training – Dara Wittenburg).

Those of you who have spent a good amount of time in a gym know that the serious lifters are intently aware of both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of their training and their rate of progress in each. Serious lifters know not only how many sets they plan on doing for the week, but also what load they are going to use for each exercise and if (heaven forbid), they only get 6 reps at 350lbs instead of their usual 7, tears may be shed, questions will be asked and changes will be made. This obsession with monitoring all of the variables of performance, while common in some endurance sports like swimming and track has escaped the easy-going world of triathlon. To describe and evaluate your training in terms of volume alone is only giving you part of the picture. In the gym and on the road, pay attention to both the quality and quantity of your training and change one or the other if an extended plateau occurs.

4. Apply a written training diet to your basic week
(Nutrition for the Multisport Athlete - Jennifer Hutchison, RD, LD, CSCS)

Some simple applications that every athlete should apply to their weekly nutrition plan:
4-6 small meals/day
20-30g/ lean protein at each meal (1.2-2.0g/kg/day)
Emphasize a VARIETY of colorful fruits and vegetables to supply adequate nutrients and phytochemicals & 30g of fiber per day.
Add beans or legumes to evening meal 3 to 4 times each week (not within 24hrs of key sessions/races).
Moderate or no alcohol consumption
Limit refined carbohydrates and sugar (save the refined carbs for training).
Ensure sufficient daily water intake to maintain day-to-day bodyweight.


5. Apply a written nutritional and recovery plan to all key sessions
(Nutrition for the Multisport Athlete - Jennifer Hutchison, RD, LD, CSCS)

A part of the written ‘race plan’ for your key sessions should be a clear and concise nutritional plan. Below are some points to consider:
2hrs before: 500-700ml of Sports Drink or water + low-fiber meal
15mins before: 150-300ml of Sports Drink
During: 150-300ml of Sports Drink every 15-20 minutes (60-85g/L CHO concentration + 400-700mg Na/L)
Notes:
o Get to know your sweat rate in different conditions by weighing before and after EVERY key session greater than 1hr)
o Make sure you keep optimal CHO concentration when taking Gels or Blocks by drinking ~300-500ml of pure water for each gel packet (~27g CHO)
o Note: Some athletes may require up to 1500mg/L of Sodium
· After: 1.3-1.5kg/L of bodyweight lost + 1g/kg of CHO in first 30 minutes (liquid form) and 1g/kg of CHO + 0.3g/kg of protein in solid meal within 2hrs.

6. Incorporate walk breaks in your key running sessions.
(Running Skills and Economy Training …. Lee Zohlman, B.S.)

First, a couple of key reasons to consider incorporating walk breaks in your long training runs and races.
* Nutrition & Hydration: You will get in a greater volume of fluid by not splashing it everywhere while your run. In addition, letting your heart rate drop 5-10 beats will greatly help in processing the calories. In my experience, in long runs and races, the faster finish that comes from proper nutrition and hydration more than makes up for any time lost in walk breaks
* Planned v’s necessitated walking: In the context of an Ironman and Half-Ironman/Marathon for novices-intermediate competitors, being realistic, some walking will be involved at some point in the race. The quality and speed of the walk period will be greatly enhanced if you take a proactive approach and evenly distribute them through the race, rather than dealing with the psychological blow of having to walk at the end.
* Neuromuscular re-set: Perhaps the most important reason for walk-breaks. Quick experiment for you: At the half way point in your next moderately long run take the time to do 20 deep squats and 20 lunges. I promise you, that as smooth as you were feeling in your running gait up to that point, you will notice some level of tightening of the muscles. While this tightening may not be sufficient to affect your gait in any dramatic way, the increased resistance in your stabilizers and antagonists can have a large effect on the energy cost required to maintain your desired stride length & rate, this is to say nothing of the increased risk of injury from the diminished elasticity in your antagonists and the diminished capacity of your stabilizers. In my experience, by incorporating walk breaks & even some basic drills/alternative movements during the course of your run, you will feel a noticeable difference in the ‘spring’ left in your gait at the end of a long run.

7. Get a proper bike fit w/ someone who knows bikes AND functional anatomy (and how the two work together)
(Cycling Skills and Economy - Adam Baskin, M.A.)

We are all anatomically individual in a number of ways that have direct implication on the way we pedal a bicycle. Not only are there structural variations that span the gamut, including femur length, torso length, shoulder width etc, there are also many functional differences that (should) come into play when we are looking at bike fit. Keeping in mind that a muscle is weakest when it is excessively lengthened or shortened, it is important from an efficiency perspective to maintain optimal length-tension relationships in your cycling muscles. Taken to extremes, you will even see situations where a muscle is stretched so far beyond its functional range of motion that other muscles begin to contribute in ways that they were not designed to. A prime example of this is when an athlete goes for so much drop at the front-end that they close the hip angle up so much that the lumbar extensors, instead of the hip extensors begin initiating the pedal stroke. This has all kinds of nasty implications from back strains to degeneration of the facet joints of the spine. It is also not an efficient way to pedal a bicycle, i.e. it is slower.
When it comes to an effective bike fit, adjust the bike position to preserve:
* Optimal hip angle (greatest angle of hip flexion without lumbar compensation minus a few degrees)
* Optimal knee angle (greatest angle of knee extension w/hip flexed and no lumbar/hip compensation minus a few degrees)
* Optimal ankle angle (greatest angle of ankle dorsi-flexion with no knee compensation minus a few degrees)
* Roll this position as far forward as possible within constraints of geometry and comfort.
If you don’t know what I mean by the terms listed above, go to someone who does!!

8. Incorporate swim drills for ALL 3 R’s in your weekly program.
- Rhythm
- Range
- Relaxation
(Triathlon Swimming - Bill Kuminka, MS)

Don’t become obsessed with range drills (e.g. T.I. drills) to the exclusion of rhythm and relaxation drills. Use what you need. For example, many T.I. swimmers could benefit from periodic use of rhythm and relaxation drills such as:
- Straight arm (kayak) swimming (including drills with a broomstick)
- Freestyle & Backstroke with a butterfly kick
- Head up (polo) freestyle.
- Supra-rate swimming with stretch cordz or fins.
Also don’t become exclusively obsessed with what happens in the “front quadrant”, the other quadrants count too!!
Note: Stay tuned for an upcoming article that will further explore the 3 concepts listed above.

9. Set a training program that allows you to complete 90%+ of the workouts & monitor and modify accordingly.
(Periodization Methods for Triathlon - Lee Zohlman)
Whatever training program format you choose to follow, an important metric to track is the % completed v’s planned. It is no good putting together an elaborate, periodized model with macro-this and micro-that if your predicted training volume is merely an ambitious guess. For this reason, I find it useful to build the training program from ‘the ground up’ beginning with a basic week that reflects the athlete’s current fitness and progressively building in accordance with the athlete’s individual rate of improvement from there.

10. Test yourself regularly to see what works for you and when you need to change.
(Exercise Physiology - Adam Baskin, M.A.)

In other words, it is important to know your key limiters, key objectives for improvement and specific metrics for each objective and it is important to test regularly to see if what you are doing is working. Remember that each individual is an experiment of one and the only way that you will truly know if your current training program is appropriate is to identify valid tests and use them on a regular basis (even if it means putting off getting your new disc wheel so that you can get yourself to an exercise physiology lab and get some controlled, objective data).