New Triathlon Training and Coaching Tools for 2013

150 150 Rich Strauss

EN LogoEndurance Nation trains age-group triathletes looking to excel at triathlon. You have a job, a family and lots of stuff going on…and you want to be a triathlete too. We can help. Our time-efficient methodology and focus on quality over quantity means less training hours without sacrificing speed. Over the last five years we have helped thousands of triathletes be their best…and in 2013 we are going to take it to the next level.

TeamEN is the community side of our coaching services, a virtual triathlon team with a unique real-world presence — the numbers of EN athletes racing with each other and training together at our training camps create powerful opportunities for our members to come together and meet each other after months of training side by side in the virtual world.

In our last update, we told you about TeamEN’s focus on four key events for the 2013 season. That shift has precipitated many changes back here behind the curtain, as we are focused on continuously improving our tools and membership experience.

#1 Dividing the Team into Pre- and Post- August 1, 2013 Race Groups

When you read our 2013 update, no doubt many of you thought “that sounds great…but I’m not racing any of those races so how does this apply to me?” Our solution is to divide our team into athletes with A-race before or after August 1st, 2013, and creating “Master Season Plans” for each group. These plans are our best case scenarios of how we would like to see our athletes move across their race calendar using our training plans.

In addition to the above Coach Rich creates a customized Season Plan, with screencast, for every single athlete who creates a trial membership. He will update that plan at any time for members of the Team. And Coach Patrick calls every single athlete, to discuss season planning as well as outline how Endurance Nation can help them achieve their goals.

#2 Two Main OutSeason® Start Dates

The OutSeason® — the focused period of hard work between about November and March where we make our athletes much faster — is an extremely powerful tool for our team. The noise of having to prepare for a race goes away and hundreds of TeamEN athletes are on the same training schedules, and learning about and experiencing the same challenges at the same time.

In order to maximize the mojo and accountability potential of our OutSeason, we will have two main OutSeason® training start dates:

  • October 29th, 2012, for athletes with A-races before 7/31/2013
  • January 7th, 2013, for athletes with A-races after 8/1/2013

We are looking forward to the energy created when hundreds of athletes start the hard OS work at the same time, and keep that energy rolling across mostly-synched 2013 seasons!

We expect it to be so big that we are closing the doors for the month of September, not allowing new athletes to join the Team, so we can focus on retooling our coaching services.

#3 Shortening the OutSeason® from 20 to 14 Weeks

Next, we are shortening our OutSeason® training plans from 20 to 14 weeks. Within these OS plans:

  • We are changing our bike power testing protocol.
  • Changing the nature and scheduling of the Vo2Max work on the bike, based on Patrick and Rich’s training experiences in 2012.
  • Adding run guidance to make the plans more applicable to athletes targeting a half marathon at the end of their OutSeason, a highly recommended course of action.

Changing the OS plans from 20 to 14 weeks also allows us to make a few other key changes.

#4 Single Sport Focus Training Plans (NEW, for members only!)

We are creating an entirely new suite of training plans to help our athletes focus on their weak sport and dramatically improve it in advance of their 2013 season. This block of dedication will yield performance and skill-based improvements before the real “work” of race preparation begins.

Most EN athletes will start this focused block either at the end of the 2012 season, before starting their OutSeason, or at the end of their 2013 OutSeason, before dropping into their training plan for their 2013 A-race.

#5 PreSeason (NEW, coming to EVERYONE in September!)

After the need to prepare our athletes for a race goes away with the end of the 2012 season, and before we start to build their FAST in the OutSeason® in preparation for 2013, we will create a PreSeason opportunity for them…and for you, our fans! The PreSeason will consist of a:

  • A detailed debrief and assessment of your 2012 triathlon season and fitness.
  • Outline goals for 2013.
  • Four weeks of drills, skills improvements, and learning on a variety of endurance training and racing topics.

In short, after the noise of building FAR goes away and before the work of building FAST begins, it’s time to step back, assess your current season, and to learning all the stuff you couldn’t find time for during the season.

Interested in Joining Endurance Nation for Your 2013 Season?

Please sign up for our weekly updates using the sidebar to your right.  –>

You’ll receive a limited-time-only invitation to join the team at a significant discount when we open the doors again on October 1st.

Thanks again for reading and see you online or at the races!

10 comments
  • Michelle Andres
    REPLY

    Hi Rich and Patrick,
    I wanted to drop you a note and say I believe in your philosophy and adapted some of the EN training tips in my training this last year. I met Rich at the Wisconsin training camp and after my IMoo finish on my way to dinner with my family. I had a great race in Wisconsin. 10:05 – good enough for a new amateur female CR by 8 minutes. I think the next amateur female was 22 minutes behind me and only a handful of pros in front of me. I have big plans for the 2013 season and my first and probably only time to Kona (hello expensive). Just wanted to let you know I spread the word about EN and the work you guys do and believe in the fast then far approach and quality over quantity mind set. I didn’t follow any of your plans directly because I think I enjoy and have the time to train a lot in the summer – I needed a little more than your plans gave me. I’m a self coached athlete – never had a coach. Maybe more importantly I should say I have the time for recovery rather than a lot of time just to swim, bike, run. Take care – your 2013 ideas look great!

  • Michelle Andres
    REPLY

    Hi Rich and Patrick,
    I wanted to drop you a note and say I believe in your philosophy and adapted some of the EN training tips in my training this last year. I met Rich at the Wisconsin training camp and after my IMoo finish on my way to dinner with my family. I had a great race in Wisconsin. 10:05 – good enough for a new amateur female CR by 8 minutes. I think the next amateur female was 22 minutes behind me and only a handful of pros in front of me. I have big plans for the 2013 season and my first and probably only time to Kona (hello expensive). Just wanted to let you know I spread the word about EN and the work you guys do and believe in the fast then far approach and quality over quantity mind set. I didn’t follow any of your plans directly because I think I enjoy and have the time to train a lot in the summer – I needed a little more than your plans gave me. I’m a self coached athlete – never had a coach. Maybe more importantly I should say I have the time for recovery rather than a lot of time just to swim, bike, run. Take care – your 2013 ideas look great!

  • Carlos
    REPLY

    Hi EN,

    I have been reading all your posts and emails for tomorrow’s changes and plans.

    If I am racing Texas 2013, will your plans still give me the timeframe needed to race Texas?

    Thanks.

    • patrick
      REPLY

      @Carlos, yes totally. My quick notes: (1) I personally did a 14 week OS into a RP and had my best IM ever, winning M35-39 at IMTX with a 9:27…will never do a massive build up again (but it was my 17th IM and I have lots of base fitness). (2) The 2013 OutSeason® plans will be 14 weeks…they are in their 9th rewrite this year so lots more goodness there including merged FTP and VO2 bike workouts…very different.
      These hard copy plans will be available in early November to plan customers. (3) The Team opens this week (10/1-10/8) to add new folks for the 2013 season; this is your chance to join, create a free 14-day trial and get the newest plans online, plus all the Team goodness mentioned ^above^. Not to mention a 30-day money back guarantee, etc. (4) 14 Week OS into a 12 week build works; if you were on the Team, you’d be using one of our new Single Sport Blocks to cover the gap from the OS to the Race Prep plan, as all plans are included with the one price of membership.

  • Carlos
    REPLY

    Hi EN,

    I have been reading all your posts and emails for tomorrow’s changes and plans.

    If I am racing Texas 2013, will your plans still give me the timeframe needed to race Texas?

    Thanks.

    • patrick
      REPLY

      @Carlos, yes totally. My quick notes: (1) I personally did a 14 week OS into a RP and had my best IM ever, winning M35-39 at IMTX with a 9:27…will never do a massive build up again (but it was my 17th IM and I have lots of base fitness). (2) The 2013 OutSeason® plans will be 14 weeks…they are in their 9th rewrite this year so lots more goodness there including merged FTP and VO2 bike workouts…very different.
      These hard copy plans will be available in early November to plan customers. (3) The Team opens this week (10/1-10/8) to add new folks for the 2013 season; this is your chance to join, create a free 14-day trial and get the newest plans online, plus all the Team goodness mentioned ^above^. Not to mention a 30-day money back guarantee, etc. (4) 14 Week OS into a 12 week build works; if you were on the Team, you’d be using one of our new Single Sport Blocks to cover the gap from the OS to the Race Prep plan, as all plans are included with the one price of membership.

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