All Pros Lie
What follows is a favorite article from Justin. His concept of when to engage a “playoff mentality” is one you should incorporate in your annual planning. - gordo
On the last night of a recent training camp many of us were sitting in the hotel bar chatting about all things triathlon or otherwise. Eventually one of my good friends (and faster Age Grouper) began to explain to me that all the professional triathletes that he has sought advice from have told him to essentially “take it easy” and to avoid too much hard training. He then proceeded to tell me that these athletes say one thing, but do another. In other words, when left to their own accord, all pros drill themselves silly (even if they say they do otherwise).
Now this whole conversation involved lots of laughter and was really more of a reflection of Mr. Fast AGer’s excellent sense of humor. However, it does lead to a more serious question: How much intensity should be placed within your week, month or season? The simple (and best) answer to this question is in an article that Chuckie V wrote. He explained that you can train as hard as you can recover from. If you can absorb that statement, it will go a long way for you.
Over the years I have experimented with different types of workouts, weekly structures, volume, intensity, etc. I, like you, want to maximize the quality of training (quantified both by volume and intensity) that I can continuously do. I want to know how effectively I can train and still recover. Here are some things that I look for:
1. The 48 hour recovery. I personally think you should limit the amount of training that you do that takes more than 48 hours to recover from. Sessions that take this long to recover from should either be placed sparingly, or eliminated (especially if you are limited on time). If it takes too long to recover; you might as well have raced and gone ‘on the record’ because your fitness will suffer over the long term.
2. When you do a session, do it again. When I complete a key session successfully within a training block, I like to repeat it before I build on it. This gives me a better idea of what I have adapted to, as opposed to what I am breaking through to do.
3. Avoid the ‘dig.’ This is probably the most subjective component to my training because my opinion of what a “dig” is might be an average day for some! The point I am trying to get across is this: be wary of doing things in a training session that are forcing you to tap into your mental and physical reserves. Pushing beyond what your body’s limitations should be saved for race day. This is similar to what Arthur Lydiard said: “Train, don’t strain.”
Finally, I just want to add that the body is incredibly responsive to what you make it do. At the beginning of the season you should make a conscious decision about what time of year you want to be the fastest. Take that into consideration as you place more stress on yourself for the sake of speed. You want to make sure you are “strong when it counts.”
2024 Update
I believe the article above was written in March or April of 2010 (given the context). Reading it over 14 years later, I think those basic principles have stood the test of time and so I will leave those words as they were written by 29-year old Justin.
That said, I am willing to add additional thoughts from the other side of pro triathlon, which ended for me at the close of 2020.
The Healthy Plan is The Best Plan
This concept primarily refers to running (within the realm of triathlon), given the ubiquity of injury there versus swim or run. I think there has always been a general acceptance that “injury is just a part of running” and I hope that my own experience can help disabuse anyone that is firmly attached to that belief.
I raced triathlon from 2000-2020 and I never took off more than two weeks from running from an injury/pain (and both times I took the second week off out of precaution). I absolutely had to manage a lot of challenges to stay healthy, but it never resulted in prolonged time off from serious injury.
In 2005, I had a session with a PT who told me I would be plagued with injuries throughout my career because of my low arches (flat feet), morton’s toe (second toe longer than first), unstable right ankle (someone checked me hard for a rebound during 8th grade gym class) and something about my right knee that I can’t even remember.
I think I managed to avoid injury out of spite.
But seriously, of all the three sports, I believe it pays to prioritize consistency in running through consistent health. I always tried to keep a running plan that I believed was slightly under my max capacity. Max capacity can, and will, become greater over time, but if you can consistently leave 5-10% on the table, you can continue to stay in the game.
This is not meant to be an unfun-mongering[1] perspective, I just believe that the biggest gains in running come from always running and that becomes difficult when you’re injured.
Managing For A Season vs For The Playoffs
When Gordo sent this old post over to me, I mentioned that I often use a baseball analogy when I talk about training management. Managing a 162-game season in baseball requires a long-term view that only seeks to be aggressive at the right time, in the right circumstances, in order to do just enough to make the playoffs. However, once a baseball team is in the playoffs, it often requires a mentality of doing whatever is necessary to win today and any consequences will be dealt with tomorrow.
Now the thing is, to win a championship, both have to be done. Each style has its time and place.
When I look back on my own career, I think I sometimes started to manage myself a little too often with a playoff mentality when a season mentality was more prudent. Sometimes the opposite was the case. Other times, I got it just right.
So I would challenge you to ask yourself how you are managing your training? Is it the regular season or the playoff season at the moment? And whatever it is, is your training aligned accordingly?
Justin is a former professional triathlete and current endurance sports coach. You can find more of his writing here and coaching details here.
[1] I think a lot of fitness/training advice comes across as only being helpful if it is at the expense of having fun.
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