Triathlon: CTS MultiSport - Off Season

By Lance Watson

As the chill in the air begins to settle into your bones, and the frost glistens as you head to out for your morning swim, the realization that the racing season has ended takes root in the back of your mind…and you wonder: what am I doing out here at 5am; the cold weather is coming and there are another five months before the early season races begin? If you have ever had those thoughts (and who hasn't?), I am here to tell you that the winter is not the time to listen to them and slack off. Rather, the winter is a great time to work on some of the little things that will help you to make those improvements that you are looking for next season.

When we consider that there are about as many months training in the winter as there are in the summer, we begin to see the importance of using the winter as a time to develop ourselves as athletes. With this recognition also needs to come the realization that if you train hard all winter you will begin to burnout when the summer rolls around. This is the art of winter training; how to improve while staying injury free and maintaining the fire within.

Training through the winter is something that I have been doing with my athletes for some time now. However, it isn't just some harebrained scheme thought of by sadistic coaches…it is a proven training regime thought of by sadistic coaches. That is not to say that I believe that you should immediately go from the race season back into hardcore training. I prescribe a period of unstructured training, which I call "active rest", for each athlete at the end of his or her race season. This unstructured training block allows for mental regeneration while maintaining fitness levels. Active rest means the athlete has 1 unscheduled, short, aerobic workout per week in each sport, in addition to at least another 3 "other" sessions. The "other" sessions can be of any activity as long as they stress the athlete's energy systems in some way. This ensures that the athlete doesn't take complete time off while still having fun and relaxing while. This active rest period can last anywhere from 2-8 weeks, and is followed by foundation period of 8-12 weeks.

By continuing to do unstructured training in the active rest phase, an athlete can begin structured workouts again in their foundation period without having to waste time reclaiming fitness. I encourage my athlete to take up an alternative activity during their active rest that will help their performance in the long run and they can continue doing in the foundation period. Two such activities that I feel would be beneficial to most triathletes in the active rest and foundation periods is strength work and flexibility work.

Although strength workouts may not be ideal for draft legal athletes, I think it can pay big dividends for age-group Olympic distance racers and all long course athletes. By putting time in lifting weights, you are able to increase both range of motion and strength throughout that range of motion. These are important factors when we consider that limiting factors for both the bike and run are strength and range of motion. The smaller your range of motion, and the less strength you have, the slower you will be able to race. My long course athletes work to increase range of motion and strength during the fall and, coupled with sport specific resistance (ex: on-the-bike), they try to increase peak power output. By starting with a broad range of motion and gradually using more sport-specific movements, we are able to transfer gym-gained strength in a sport-specific motion. For example this means mimicking the knee angles you exhibits during pedaling when you use a leg-press machine. For you it means that as your weight training progress, you should begin to work more specific swim-bike-run motions. For example: using stretch cords and mimicking the final push out the back in your swim stroke using a triceps extension machine would be useful swim specific strength exercises.

It is important that you start with broad exercises, but move towards the specific motions that you need strengthened as your training periods progress. Strength that is gained but cannot be converted to power is a wasted opportunity. It is important that you take the opportunity to use the new gained strength in the specific sport. Greg Bennett uses explosive cycling workouts to develop his peak power on the bike. This involves accelerating a gear against massive resistance or maintaining cadence against increasing resistance. In all cases, there is a speed component to the workout. For running, using plyometric exercises such as bounding and one-legged hops, coupled with some shorter sprints will help to develop peak power. What I term "blast speed" swimming will help to convert that strength to power as well. "Blast speed" is swimming as fast as possible for about 10-15 meters, followed by a recovery of 35-40 meters and then rest at the end of the 50m. It is important that technique is maintained in all of these conversions. Developing power with improper technique is a waste of time and energy. Always work towards perfect technique whether in strength work, regular training, or flexibility exercises.

For many, flexibility is a limiting factor in ability. Flexibility is not only important for overall health, but it is of paramount importance in preventing injuries and allowing for efficient movements during all the disciplines within triathlon. With this in mind, the fall and/or winter is an ideal time to begin yoga. Triathlon is a one-dimensional activity, with all our actions moving forward. Yoga provides a counter balancing effect to all this one-dimensional movement. Through yoga, you will learn to co-ordinate your body's movements and breathing, providing you with a more acute sense of you're the movements of your body, thus allowing for more efficient movements in the pool, on the bike and during the run. However, flexibility is not the only benefit to practicing yoga. Yoga uses your own body weight to help strengthen it. The smaller muscles that often get overlooked during the training for the three disciplines of triathlon will get strengthened during yoga practice, which will result in less nagging injuries during the summer. This is an activity that will enhance your already established skills and allow you to utilize more of your potential.

If you hate the gym, and you feel yoga is hippies, but you are dreading just hopping right back into training then you try to find some alternative activities that are fun, but will also be beneficial to your triathlon endeavors. One option is joining a water polo league. If you are looking to improve your swim over the winter, but are dreading staring at that black line for another length, then water polo is a fantastic idea. It is an aerobically demanding activity that forces you to be close contact with other people in the water (sounds like an Ironman race start to me). You will develop a greater feel for the water and your comfort level around others in the water will soar through the roof. The quick changes in direction and sprints that are in every water polo game will prove invaluable as you are rounding buoys in your open water swims, and dropping people with short bursts of speed. Additionally, making new friends and having fun will help to keep your mind fresh and all the while you are becoming a better swimmer.

Year round training has become the norm for the elite athletes in the world. It has been shown to improve performance through continual development of technique, strength and power. It is important to have a mental reprieve from the race season, but that doesn't necessitate a loss of fitness. Just because you don't have snow doesn't mean you don't have winter. There are many other activities that are beneficial in becoming a better triathlete. Experiment, have fun, and try new things, but work to maintain the levels of fitness you have gained throughout the summer. Your fall and winter training is critical to your success in July. This is the time of year when you can actually concentrate on making significant strength and power gains. So much time each year must be spent on aerobic and threshold training that it would be easy to overlook the need for resistance training and peak power development. My athlete's hard work in the winter reaps great rewards in the summer, and the same methods will work for you too.

CTS Multisport Head Coach Lance Watson is the personal coach of triathlon stars Simon Whitfield, Lisa Bentley, Greg Bennett, and Laura Reback, to name a few. He can be reached at lwatson@trainright.com; or www.trainright.com.