Posted: October 7, 2005

Multisport: Don't be a winter world champion

By Lance Watson.

How to periodize training to build fitness

By Lance Watson and John Phillips

Periodization

Consider the periodization of your training year like building a great race car. Everyone wants the powerful engine, right? But the powerful engine is worthless if the car has lousy tires, poor suspension and unreliable brakes. Drive that and you're bound to crash.

Similarly, building your aerobic foundation is like investing in the tires, suspension and brakes: it's not as exciting as the high-horsepower engine, but it's just as important. The foundation miles will prepare your body for the intervals and speed work that you will do later. Your body will be more resistant to injury and better able to handle the "bumps and curves" that life gives you throughout your season. The better your foundation, the quicker your fitness will return after time off.

The key focus of your early season foundation is simply accumulating aerobic miles. These long, slow, distance sessions stimulate your slow-twitch muscle fibers. Slow-twitch fibers use less oxygen than fast-twitch fibers, thus your economy improves since less muscle activity and less oxygen are needed to maintain a given pace. The effort for these foundation sessions should be easy; many complain that they're too easy, but you're actually accumulating more strength and aerobic capacity than you think. You should be able to easily hold a conversation at your foundation pace, and your heart rate should only be around 60 to 75 percent of maximum.

The secondary focus of this Foundation Phase should be skill and technique improvement. In the pool, you can focus on improving your body position and stroke mechanics. You should consider having yourself videoed while swimming and having your form critiqued by your coach. For running, you can include drills and strides. Like swimming, a video analysis of your run form would be a good idea.

Third, most top coaches and sport scientists agree that you should stimulate your fast-twitch fibers and race-specific biomechanics year round. This is de-emphasized in the foundation phase, but there should still be short fartlek run pickups to race pace and strides, swim "blast" accelerations for 15 to 25 meters and some mid-race pace work, as well as short bike sprints and moderate hill efforts. You can incorporate minor amounts of this kind of work into your endurance sessions, or couple them with shorter skill sessions. Your Foundation phase should last for 8 to 12 weeks. Increase the distance each week by no more than 10 percent to promote adaptation. Don't forget to give yourself a recovery week every 2-3 weeks.

Cross Training

One of the fun aspects of triathlon and duathlon is that you're cross-training year round, and winter presents even more opportunities for cross-training. Snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and mountain biking are just a few winter aerobic activities for the multisport athlete.

Snowshoeing, for example, is a great winter substitution for running. It's quite easy to learn: just strap on the snowshoes and run. Expect your heart rate to be a few beats higher than your normal running heart rate. This is due to the extra muscle required to lift the snowshoe, the softness of the snow, as well as the likely increase in altitude. Leave the heart rate monitor at home, and instead enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Cross-country or Nordic skiing is common winter cross-training for many top cyclists including Tyler Hamilton, Davis Phinney and Greg LeMond. For a well-trained cyclist or tri/duathlete, expect your heart rate to be very close to your cycling heart rate. The dual-benefit of Nordic skiing is that it aerobically works both your lower and upper body. Choose either Skating (freestyle) or Classical depending on your skill level or trail conditions. Peter Reid has enjoyed a couple of epic cross country ski weekends lately, but be wary as he also commented that they leave him feeling a little flat for his swimming, cycling and running afterwards.

Mountain biking is another great way to get in quality training during the winter. You'll find that you can stay warmer on your mountain bike when the weather is too cold or windy to ride your road bike. The trees and slower speed help to lessen the wind chill, and your continuous body English will help keep your core temperature up. Like Nordic skiing, there is a dual-benefit to be gained from mountain biking: The varied terrain improves your handling skills, and your pedal stroke improves from the smooth power application you must use when on loose terrain. If you don't have a mountain bike, then a cyclo-cross bike also works well. If you're on a budget, there are many good cyclo-cross bikes priced below $1000. Cyclo-cross racing is another great activity to improve your handling skills and also work on your bike-run transition skills.

Remember that as you move through late February and into March, you should make sure your training becomes more and more specific for your primary summer goal event.

Strength Training

If you have the time available, strength training is a key means to increase your strength and power for multisport. In addition, you will be more resistant to injury due to the increased muscle and tendon strength. You will notice these benefits from the weight room or home program primarily during swimming and cycling.

Your key exercises should include a multi-joint leg extension [squat, leg press or lunge], upper body pull [lat pull-down, seated row, or upright row], upper body push [bench press, or shoulder press], as well as core strength work [crunches, back extension, etc]. Begin your strength training with a Transition Phase to let your body adjust to the new activity. Transition should be 2-3 days per week for 2-4 weeks. Keep the volume and intensity low, with only 1-3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Following the Transition Phase is a Hypertrophy Phase that increases lean muscle mass and prepares you for the next phase. The Hypertrophy Phase should last 4-6 weeks with 3 sessions per week. The volume is high and the intensity is moderate; 3-6 sets of 8-12 reps.

Next comes the Strength Phase with the goal of increasing your maximum strength. The Strength Phase should last 4-6 weeks with 3 sessions per week. The volume is moderate and the intensity is high; 3-6 sets of 6-8 reps. You should expect to notice a lack of "zip" during your swim, cycle and run workouts during this phase.

At the conclusion of the Strength Phase, you should also be at the end of your Foundation phase of aerobic training. At this point, your body is now ready for sport-specific intensity. You can continue to lift weights, but only as a maintenance workout. Let the weights take the back seat to your sport-specific workouts. Cut the weights to 1-2 sessions per week at a low volume and moderate intensity; 1-2 sets of 8-12 reps is all that is necessary. Focus on the maintenance of your core strength and address muscular imbalance issues instead.

If your time is limited, then you will do well by focusing primarily on your aerobic workouts and including some basic strength work. Two or three days per week include some core strength work, pushups, pull-ups, and lunges or body weight squats. Consider doing some of your strength (core work especially) on a Swiss ball (or physio ball), to stabilize and use your proprioceptors while you strengthen. These basic movements will serve you well for maintaining basic strength.

Be a Worker, Not a World Champ

You should treat yourself more as a worker than a world champ during the winter. Focus on consistently doing the appropriate workouts within your periodization plan to achieve your season goals. With a strong aerobic foundation, you will be able to go faster and farther when your specific-intensity sessions come due. Then, when you begin your race-specific intensity training with the solid foundation under your belt, you'll be like that ideal race car: great tires, strong brakes, solid suspension, and completely ready to build that monster engine.

Over the past 17 years LifeSport president Lance Watson has coached a number of Ironman, Olympic and age-group champions. He enjoys coaching athletes of all abilities who are passionate about sport and personal excellence. For more on Watson, or to check out his coaching packages, visit LifeSport.ca.

Posted with permission from WatsonLifeSport.com.

© Copyright 2005 Lance Watson Professional Coaching Inc.