Endurance Nation | Online Triathlon Coaching & Community

Here is another weekly installment of updates from our Team members who use Twitter. If you’d like to be considered, be sure to write really cool or witty stuff and include the hashtag “#workworks” into your tweets! Go Nation, Go!

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We get email and Twitter questions regarding our training plans all the time. We strive to answer each one, and it occurred to us that maybe sharing this information could be good for other self-coached triathletes out there. Enjoy!

Rich and Patrick

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Looking for info on pedal stroke technique. ½ iron athlete and have always kept an even down/up power stroke and sliding across top/bottom of the stroke. Trying to keep circles but seems something is missing. Seems that there would be a hole in the power in  the top/bottom…Any references / thoughts/ suggestions ???
Thanks!
Ron

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Ron, there are tons of great resources out there on proper pedaling techniques and drills. A quick search of YouTube should give you more than enough fodder. The particular deadspot you are talking of is pretty common for triathletes, especially in the aero position. Good on you for noting it’s top and bottom…most only notice it on the bottom side. These folks are forgetting that the cranks are fixed, and that your ability to pull through the bottom of the stroke is only as good as your ability to push the other foot over the top of the other side!

This could be a flexibility or strength related issue (or a combination). I suggest two approaches.

#1, work on hip flexor flexibility. Consider doing some lunge stretches, where you really push your hips forward to open them up. Perhaps even consider arching backwards to really do a number on your hips. You can also do this as you stretch your quad on that side. Holding your heel to your butt, stand erect and push that hip forward as you hold the stretch. You’ll feel it!

#2, work on strengthening the area. The hip flexors and psoas muscles can be a bit weak and fatigue easily, especially if they are tight. Once you have started stretching, consider adding in some cycling-specific strength work. I prefer to do single leg pedaling while on a trainer at about 60-70 rpms. Load the wheel up to the point where you really need to slow down – but not so hard so as to put undue strain on your body. Work on a smooth transition from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock. As you build up confidence and skill, add more speed (less resistance). Do this each leg for 45-60 seconds, alternating sides. So six minutes of that plus 4 minutes of regular pedaling with both legs as recovery, done a few times a week, should help you out!

Keep us posted!

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The Endurance Nation Tour of California is four years old. Endurance Nation itself will mark it’s three year anniversary at Ironman Couer d’Alene, born over coffee, beers, and brainstorming between Patrick and me in 2007. The two have grown together to become two very, very cool halves of the same coin.

The Tour of California Training Camp is probably the coolest training camp you can do. Some camps offer more volume and cater to an “elite” crowd. Other camps charge you a ton of dough to train on your Ironman course or to teach you skills. This camp, by contrast:

• Is an all abilities experience, with campers ranging from 15hr+ to sub 10hr Ironmans.
• Let’s you experience the incredible variety of terrain and riding that California has to often. The pictures speak for themselves.
• Puts you on a pro tour course, 2-3 hours ahead of the race, complete with sprint towns, KOM’s, and cheering fans.

There is just no other camp like it and we are proud to offer this as a natural step in the evolutionary progression of our athletes.

As a three year old long course triathlon team, we have seen many of members progress from wide-eyed first timer to veteran Kona qualifier or “I want to do something cool with my fitness.” The Tour of California is the ultimate definition of cool stuff.

The net is that our Tour of California has assumed it’s place on the top step of many members’ goals, right up there with qualifying for/racing Kona. For our 3+ Ironman finisher athletes looking for the next challenge to experience with their Team, ToC is it.

And it really is about the Team. As the primary organizer and leader of the camp it was very powerful to be able to say “I’ve coached, trained, and formed friendships with every single one of the campers getting in the vans with us in Sacramento. These are great, great folks and the people in the camp are truly going to make the camp for the campers. The riding and training will be bonus.”

For many of the campers themselves, ToC was a reunion with old friends. For others it was a chance to add a physical dimension to the internet friendships they had shared for years. And that’s exactly how it all worked out — the people made the camp. Overhearing the conversations and watching friendships made and strengthened on the bike, over dinner, and in the vans, was the highlight of the camp for me. I’m already looking forward to next year’s tour and we are scheming to bring our stoopid-logistically-challenging-training-camp expertise to bear to create similar camp opportunities for our members and the public.

The lesson is this:

Your fitness is a vehicle for doing cool stuff. Build that vehicle, put cool stuff on the calendar, find cool friends to do it with you and call it training.

In a couple days on I’m on a plane to Lake Placid to offer a free training camp on the course to our athletes and the public. Just another example of how we do things differently in here.

–Rich Strauss

The Endurance Nation Tour of California is a members-only event. Please join our waiting list to receive an invitation to join TeamEN as space becomes available.

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photo credit: akunamatata

In a previous post we outlined our recommended means of building run fitness across a triathlon season by emphasizing the importance of building fast over far. If you read that article, then you learned about the hidden cost of volume, velocity vs volume, and the importance of benchmarking. Or perhaps you have reviewed our online training manual (free, here) and seen how we build a season.

And if you are a follower of our blog, then you know we think running a marathon in the off season is one of the biggest multisport sins an aspiring triathlete can make.

This raises the inevitable question: At what point in your year can you actually go long with your running to get better?

Here are some macro level pointers on how we suggest you proceed.

1 — Separate Running from Your Triathlon Training

You can’t just add more running your triathlon training program and expect to see results. You’ll see change for sure, but most of those improvements will be short-term. Other deltas will most likely include sub-par cycling performance and increase levels of mental and physical fatigue.

Start the cycle off right by taking a training break before becoming a runner. Starting a major run block just two weeks after your last race is a recipe for trouble.

At the same time, we encourage you to leave the “Fast then Far” mentality behind for this run focused block. As you’ll only be running, you’ll have plenty of time to rack up the miles and hours. More time spent training means the intensity must come down if you are to absorb it all.

Instead of two hard runs (out of four) in a week, this might mean cutting back to just one short interval run at threshold pace (5 x 3 minutes at Threshold with 2 minutes of rest after each, for example) with the remainder of your runs done in zones 1 and 2. Or perhaps you hold the intensity for the latter stages of your program; maybe you skip it entirely. Only you know what’s best.

2 — Define Yourself As A Runner

Part of the separation process listed above is about finding your own identity as a runner. The running game is different than triathlon in that the type of recovery required is significantly more intensive. The fueling needs are different, both within your workouts and across your day. Take the time to find this niche, as what you think you’ll need (when you start) will ultimately be different than what you’ll actually need (as you evolve).

You should also consider a review of your running technique. After all, if you are going to spend 100% of your exercise time doing one thing, you want to be good at that thing! There are tons of resources available online, from clinics to coaches, from DVDs to mp3s. Explore what resonates for you and spend some quality early time building your new skill sets.

3 — Conservatively & Consistently Conquer Volume

A mouthful for sure, but if you can remember the mantra you’ll be much better off. As a “new” runner the temptation will be there to cook yourself. Road races outnumber triathlons as much as 8:1 in most areas, meaning you’ll have weekday and weekend options to put the hammer down. Resist.

Start your new program with the same number of runs you’ve been doing as a triathlete. Add time to each run then condense that time into a new daily run; then repeat. Good running form is like wine, the longer you give it, the more robust it will be. Once you have been at the new running game for 6-8 weeks, you can begin thinking about doing some longer runs. By longer I mean anything over 90 minutes.

Try not to go crazy. The average triathlete, regardless of goal race distance, spends anywhere from 8 to 14 hours a week training across all three disciplines. By comparison, a high volume running week doesn’t take a lot of time, and it’s tempting to add more to the mix. For someone who averages 8:30/miles, putting in a 50 mile week is only a seven hour undertaking.

4 — Pick A Goal, Not A Race

It’s easy to drop a marathon on calendar in five months, it’s another thing to train for it. All of a sudden you’ll have a goal time and a goal pace. Next thing you know, you are measuring every run against those metrics. Before too long you are burned out and the run project’s a bust.

Instead of just racing, choose non-performance related goals that are consistent with your new approach to running. Maybe aim for a 30-days/30-runs challenge; or maybe try to run a set number of miles for a set number of days (8 miles a day for 8 days). Perhaps there’s a local hill you want to conquer or maybe you want to explore every trail option in the nearby state park. Whatever your goal, make it both challenging and fun.

There’s nothing to stop you from jumping into a race on short notice should things work out, but don’t let it be the carrot/stick that gets you going.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how an Ironman athlete might proceed with a four month run-focused block of training. In this case the athlete builds from four weekly runs with a max duration of 60 minutes for the longest run up to six weekly runs topping out at 2 hours and 20 minutes. It’s assumed that the individual runs will increase in duration each week, save for every fourth week where the volume cuts back a bit to allow for some recovery.

Per the guidance above, this runner doesn’t get really serious about long distance work until after 8 weeks, and any major volume goals (or racing) wouldn’t really happen until that last block.

Week	# of Runs	Longest Run	Goal(s)
1	4	60 mins	Easy start.
2	4	65 mins	Add time, but conservatively.
3	5	70 mins	Add one more run, cut times off all runs to compensate.
4	5	75 mins	Recover, consolidate.
5	6	80 mins	Bump to six runs.
6	5	90 mins	Cut back but add volume.
7	6	90 mins	Keep volume & add 6th run back in.
8	5	90 mins	Recover, consolidate.
9	6	105 mins	Move to longer runs.
10	6	120 mins	Continue longer runs.
11	6	140 mins	Longest run reached.
12	5	90 mins	Recover, consolidate.
13	6	120 mins	Long runs with hills.
14	6	140 mins	Biggest week #1.
15	6	120 mins	Long runs with hills.
16	5	140 mins	Biggest week #2.

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