Triathlon: Shifting Focus to Late Season Races

By Lance Watson, CTS Multisport Head Coach

The heat of the summer is waning, and the days are ever shortening. As night approaches earlier with each passing day, and the mercury steadily falls, the desire to keep training and racing begins to slip away. In years past, this has not posed a problem, but with the ITU World Championships and the XTerra Championship both occurring in November, a unique obstacle has presented itself. How do you focus on a late season race when nature is telling you to wind down your season?

Set a Goal

When focusing on a late season race, it is important to place the race as a high priority within your race schedule. If the race is just for fun and you don’t place much importance on it, then the desire to continue training may not be strong enough to get you out the door on those cold mornings in October. Try to imagine going out to the pool morning after morning without having a goal in mind. It becomes difficult after the first couple of weeks have gone by. By having the race as an important part of your season rather than an excuse to take a vacation, your motivation to train will remain high. Going to the pool and doing those long hard sets will have purpose and you will see the benefits starting to show themselves.

Single Sport Focus

Another way to break up the season so that you can remain mentally fresh is to throw a “single sport focus” into the middle of your season. Take your weakness and really focus your training on that weakness for three weeks in the middle of the season. For instance, if swimming is your weakness, then add two or three extra swims per week and drop the number of bikes and runs you do. If you don’t already have one, get a coach and work on stroke technique and endurance. Have video done of your stroke and work on the necessary corrections. You will find that after the focus you will be anxious to see your improvement in a race situation and you will also be happy to be training the other two disciplines more often.

Active Rest

Continually racing between May and November is hard on both the mind and the body. Therefore, if you have a major race late in the season it is important to take a small break during the course of the season. This time will give your mind a break from the racing mentality, and it will allow your body to recover from any nagging injuries that have been acquired throughout the season. Taking a week of active recovery about 8 weeks out from the major competition will help you to train stronger leading into the late season race. Continue being active, but cut back by at least 50% in your training volume and intensity. Try other activities such as hiking or Frisbee golf – activities that get you outside and moving, but that are not going to risk injury or cause you to go lactic.

Periodize

After you have completed your week of rest, begin training again by entering into a mini-base phase of training. Build up your endurance again through longer, aerobic activities. Follow that with a preparatory phase of training consisting of more threshold training with shorter rest – fartlek and tempo workouts are good examples of styles of workouts that you can do. After the preparatory phase you should move more into speed work – above anaerobic threshold with lots of rest – to regain the high end fitness needed to compete at the level you are about to enter into. Finally, the taper into the big event should begin about 10-14 days before. Each taper is individual, so follow what works for you and have a great race!

Late season races are a great excuse to keep training for a longer period of time, but make sure that you don’t burn out over the course of the summer. There is nothing worse than going to a race that you don’t want to be at. Take a break, choose a focus, and have fun throughout the summer – do whatever you need to maintain your high motivation your competitive edge!

TriathlonGold Head Coach Lance Watson is the personal coach of triathlon stars Simon Whitfield, Lisa Bentley, and Steve Larsen to name a few. He can be reached at lwatson@trainright.com; or www.triathlongold.com.