How To Train - Chapter Six
First Year Lessons
The video clip is a favorite memory from Chapter Five.
Axel sprinting me off at the end of the Borås SwimRun then running over Rufus, Colting’s oldest son.
I stagger in and get my finisher’s medal from Tudor, Colting’s middle child.
If I could hammer one point home: the 1,000-day mindset served me extremely well. I ended part one of our story injured, but on a high. I was in good spirits because I had exceeded my expectations, made new friendships and returned to a lifestyle I love.
My goals, to the extent I had any, were process oriented. I was playing a long-term game of doing my best. This mindset was similar to the joy I had in the early days of my elite career. Then, and now, my primary focus was getting the volume done. The difference in my 50s versus my 30s was the hard constraints I bumped into with my biomechanics and fatigue.
Being honest with myself, and you, the races I added to my first year had no performance benefit. I hurt myself at half my events. That said, my injuries accelerated the process of getting expert PT help, which got me back to full function.
It’s a tough call:
Wait until you’re completely ready to go?
Sign up for something that’s a bit of a reach?
The personalities attracted to endurance sport are not great at gradually building up capabilities. To limit the potential for unforced errors:
Make sure you have six-months of consistent, injury free (run) training completed before signing up for a (running) race.
Choose local races, with weaker fields.
Choose shorter races.
Treat the races as intense training sessions, rather than best effort situations.
I did all that and still got hurt. Perhaps earlier use of expert PT would have avoided my injuries. Honestly, we’ll never know. The key thing, for you, is backing off at the first sign of trouble. Protect your ability to train and use cross training so you can continue to compound training volume.
When the inevitable setbacks arrive, stay calm. I had covid, plenty of niggles, one proper injury and two minor illnesses – and yet I still improved.
When Performance Matters
Major events are expensive in time, money, and recovery, especially if we get injured If your ultimate goal is a marquee event, then spend the time and money to learn about lactate testing. The test results will help target your training and give comfort that you’re training appropriately. This is even more important for mid-pack athletes. You have the most to gain from getting your endurance zones dialed.
When testing, and training, focus on the bottom end of your curve. You will hear a lot (of noise) about training VO2 max, sprinting, double threshold sessions, tempo singles and whatever comes into fashion after I publish this chapter. At this stage, all that stuff is misleading. For best results, focus on building the capacity to be extremely consistent with your easy volume. Define easy with respect to how things feel and your consistency. If your endurance training feels comfortable and is enjoyable, then you are winning. You’re also doing what it takes to improve.
We Each Get Our Own Results
In the chapters that come, I get a lot better. There’s even an argument that I have improved faster than when I was in my late-20s and started triathlon.
My improvement is a mixture of:
Knowing how to train.
My personal response to training.
My physiology from more than 20,000 hours of aerobic exercise.
The compound benefit from exercising, most days, for 30 years.
A 40-year commitment to consistent strength training.
As you read on, remember, it’s you vs you (not you vs me).
Just like when I started, my expectations were low, so my enjoyment was high.