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| The Italian's love their cycling |
When I was swimming, I used to love doing IM workouts on Monday's and coined the phrase: "Medley Monday". This was followed by "Turbo Tuesday", Wacky Wednesday", Thrasher Thursday", "Fun Friday", and "Super Saturday". As triathletes we compete using the freestyle stroke, but that does not mean we should ignore the other strokes. I feel it is important to train all the strokes to enhance ones feel for the water, help with injury prevention and add some variety to the training session. Now you don't have to be turning out 400 IM's like Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps, but if you do decide to embrace the other strokes, put backstroke at the top of the list. It is the one stroke that lets you unwind your arms a bit and real easy to work a few strokes in during any race to just loosen up before rolling back onto your stomach. Plus you can see who has been smacking your feet!
Taking the "Medley Monday" approach a bit further, one can apply it to running and cycling very easily. Mix up training routes into A) flat, B) rolling, C) hills, or D all of the above.
Mix up training intensity into A) easy, B) moderate, C) hard, D all of the above
Now, I am not saying you should vary your training all the time, but during different times of the year, you most certainly should include a good mix of both training routes and intensities. This will enable you to become a more balanced athlete in the 3 disciplines of triathlon and allow you some time to work on your weakest sport while maintaining fitness in you strongest.
Training for triathlon should never be boring as there are so many different ways to string workouts together and still achieve your training objective for the day. One of my favorites is a 10 minute session on the Vasa Ergometer working on technique and a few short bursts of power. Then hit the road on the TT bike for 55-60 minutes that includes 3 x 10 minutes @ tempo pace with 1 minute recovery between and finish up with a 30 minute run mixing in drills to work on foot speed.
I would enjoy hearing about your favorite go to workout or a creative workout you have done in the past, so please leave a comment below.
Make it a great week of training,
Coach Eric
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