Coaching Update - October 2008
Hi Zoomers,
Many of us may well be forgiven in thinking that Autumn this year kicked off in June! In some respects now that the real Autumn weather is here its a bit of relief as at least its supposed to be cold and we know the clocks are due to go back, so we expect it to be darker sooner!
If you have not started to think about changing your training programme now is the time, if you have been blazing away all year its a good time to gear down, take some recovery time and let your body recover for a few weeks. If you have had an injury or inconsistent season now is the time to start building a consistent programme of training. Notice I said consistent not 'hard'. Sometimes when we feel good its tough to reign our efforts back in, or we get a little competitive with our mates, just check your self and remember 3 consecutive sessions can be better than one hard session and two days not training because you feel tired.
This time of year is perfect for work on developing skills and improving technique, as we go about this work we will also be starting to build some base endurance work, which forms the cornerstones of the training and racing year. Many athletes neglect or pay very little time focusing on technique believing instead that if they just work hard up and down the pool or putting the miles in on the bike and run they will get better. At first as with most endurance sports just getting out of the door creates success and you will see improvements just through regular training. Once that plateau is reached then comes the inclusion of different forms of training, a few intervals and brick sessions, finally we start to look at eeconomy of effort. Improving our skills to go faster. This become most obvious in the pool because of the resistance of the water and the nature of that part of our sport but equally attention to both running and cycling skills will improve eeconomy, reduce effort and help us go further and faster.
To this end each Monday until the new year we will be focusing our Swim Session on Skills Acquisition.You will notice that the sessions will incorporate lots of drills, kick and other skills that traditionally triathletes avoid yet need to develop. These are key skills that improve swimming over time, as golfer Lee Trevino once quipped ' the more I practice the luckier I get' (Good point Lee - Now put that kebab down, stop acting like a tub of lard and get in that pool!)
Tim has developed our Run programme on Tuesdays and Thurdays and we have been working on a 10k build programme towards the AECC 10k, after which we will be developing a Base endurance and technique development programme. Running economy is critical to faster off the bike run splits, as we get to the run section already fatigued. Get along to the run sessions when ever you can, and make the most of the free coaching that is available to you.
Lets start to lay the foundation for a great season ahead, if you have any questions please feel free to contact any of the Coaching team (Me, Tim, JJ or Lawrence)
Rob
