Short Course RacingTraining

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Short Course Racing/Training

• Coach Intro.

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Defining Short Course International distance and
shorter

• Iron Distance (140.6)
• 2.4m S (1.5)
• 112m B(79.5)
• 26.2m R(19 )
• Half Iron (70.3)

• Sprint, odd distance, international
• 1.5k S(3) , 40k B(78),10k R(19)
• .75k S, 20k B, 5k R
• .5m S(3), 13m B(79), 3m R(18)
• .5m S, 17m B, 4m R

3
Its legit!

• I believe the average age group triathlete
  looks down on the sprint triathlon with naive
  eyes.  I find most age group triathletes believe
  a triathlete receives more street credibility
  with the longer events they complete.  They see
  the Ironman as a way to prove themselves, while
  at the same time giving sprints the stigma of an
  "easy race".  I would argue that top sprint
  athletes work harder than most Ironmen.  I would
  use athletes like Hunter Kemper and locally Brett
  Lovaas as examples of athletes who have never
  raced long, but work harder than anyone I know to
  be fast. Coach Kris Swarthout

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Assumptions

• Youve chosen short course because
• You are good at them or
• You lack the time or desire to go long or..
• Its your first race and/or you lack experience
• You desire the shortest swim possible

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PLAN YOUR SEASON!

• Determine training objectives
• Determine race schedule
• Determine individual strengths and weaknesses
  (Evaluate Technique)
• THEN develop a periodization strategy
• INDIVIDUALIZED ( age, experience, time,
  importance)

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Periodization

• A method of manipulating training variables in
  order to increase the potential for achieving
  specific performance goals
• Training Cycles
• Microcycle (days)
• Mesocycle (weeks and months)
• Macrocycle (The grand Plan)

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Possible Mesocycles

• Base, Build, Threshold, Competition, Off-Season
• Swim focus, Bike focus, Run focus

• What is standard and what may change?
• Weakness specific
• Race specific (Short course for starters)
• -Ex Alcatraz ( includes sand runs, strength, top
  end power on the bike, cold open water swims)
• 8-10 day weeks?

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Meso/Macro Cycles

• Base Training
• Build Phase
• Threshold Work/Pre-Competition
• Taper/Competition Phase (depending on peaks)
• Off-Season
• These may all look a different depending on
  experience, skill level and strength/weaknesses

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Zones for zone sake

• 1 EZ aerobic
• 2 aerobic
• 3 strong aerobic
• 4 threshold
• 5 vo2 max
• Sprints etc

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Training Variables

• As we learn more about training, it could well
  be that it doesnt matter what sort of order you
  put a training emphasis- only that you change
  it. (Niles,USAT Level II Training Manual)
• Keeping the Balloons Up
• Duration, Intensity, Frequency and Volume may all
  look different from a standard program.
• Looking for VARIED progression
• SPEED KILLS

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Base Phase

• Variety

• General Preparation
• -Basic strength training
• -Building up volume
• with 90-95 ez and aerobic levels, 5-10
  speed/power, small doses of tempo
• -Use a variety of activites
• -Emphasize technique and economy
• dont forget the fun!

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Sample Different Base Workouts

• Swim all ez except sprints
• 500 warm
• 5 x 25 drill / 100 free 10sec rest
• 5 x 50 kick / 50 free 10sec rest
• 10 x 25 Build to sprint on complete recovery
• 250 Mixed cool

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More Base

• Run 30 min. aerobic building the last 5 min. to
  mile race pace

• Bike
• 1hr aerobic with (6x30sec hi-rpm/30 sec. soft
  pedal
• 1x90 second Big Gear Strong)
• with 3 min. ez between each set

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Build Phase

• Speed/Power, Strength, Threshold, Endurance
• -Strength training becomes more specific to each
  discipline of the sport with higher intensities
• -Volume and intensity may go up together
• -Systematic use of hills, intervals, length of
  speed work and density of training (progressive
  overload)

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Build Workouts

• Swim all ez except sprints
• 500 warm (Including 4 x 25 build to sprint)
• 5 x 25 drill / 100 free 10sec rest
• 5 x 50 kick / 50 free 10sec rest
• 10 x 50 sprint / 50 ez on 30 sec. rest
• 5 x 75 jump in and power out to sprint get out
  and walk around to start next interval
• 250 Mixed cool

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More Build

• Run 40 min. aerobic
• With 3 x ( 15 sec., 30 sec. and 1 min. bursts)
  45, 60, 90 sec. rests
• building the last 10min. To high end Storong
  aerobic
• Standard Track Work

• Bike
• 1hr aerobic with (6x30sec Single Leg big gear
  sprints/1 min. soft pedal
• 1x 3 min. Strong Aerobic
• with 3 min. ez between each set

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Threshold Work

• Threshold, Speed/Power, Strength,
  Endurance/Recovery
• -Increasing the length and/or frequency (shorter
  recovery intervals) of LT efforts
• -Time Trials (1k, 40k, 10k)
• -Race specific courses and combo workouts

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Combo Ideas

• -Transition practice with short swims, short
  bikes and short runs then repeat. 2 xs around
  the block bike/ 1 time run xs 20
• Favorite combo is the 10-15 mins trainer with
  last 5 mins at race pace followed by 1/2 mile
  flat out run x 3.
• Bricks at the Lake ( 5 xs tri start with sprint
  into 5 min. race pace swim T1 20 min. TT T2 into
  10 min. run) repeat

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Taper

• Short Course Taper
• -Reduction in training volume (s?)
• -Maintenance of training intensity in
  significantly reduced amounts. Increase the
  frequency of alactates (strides, builds,
  accelerators)
• Classic 3 day taper

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• The unique challenge of short course racing
  is that if you are having a tough day and not
  feeling well, most likely thats how you will
  feel the rest of the day. This may not be the
  case for Long Course racing where an athlete may
  experience several periods of physical and mental
  difficulty and then feel renewed at others. I
  feel the best approach to short course racing is
  to train yourself to handle vast amounts of
  discomfort for short periods of time (2-3 hrs).
   Go as hard as your body can go and use your mind
  to go a little further. Accept that there will be
  some races where things dont go as planned. Race
  often and to the best of your ability in short
  course races. You will benefit  by increasing
  physiological and psychological thresholds,
  self-confidence, and technical racing skills.
   Because of the distance, I dont necessarily
  feel Short Course should be labeled into A, B, C
  races as this may automatically hinder your
  ability to make improvements. Instead, pick
  several races and  go hard at each one with an
  understanding that a couple races may not go as
  planned. If there is a particular race that you
  want to Key On, make sure to allow for a solid
  week taper. You can be assured that because you
  raced several times with heart and passion on
  each occasion, your  Key race preparations are
  complete. DC

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Competition

• Putting it all together
• Reduced training volume and frequency (?)
• Continued use of alactates
• Dont forget aerobic recovery!
• Race strategy

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Writing it Down!

• Do this to avoid pitfalls of over or under
  training
• Decide what a month or meso cycle will look like
  ( ex 3 on 1 down, 2 on 1 down, speed, endurance,
  swim, bike, run)
• Write a Microcycle weekly
• KEEP THE BALOONS UP IN THE AIR!
• (vary your training frequency, volume and
  intensity)

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Final Short Course Thoughts

• All or nothing? Speed or base
• Swim importance (position, its what you start
  with)
• Creative Combo Work
• Get to the point of wanting to stop on each race
  and get through it!
• Bench Marks (USAT Example)