SURVEY SAYS…
Thanks to more than 1,800 of our readers who took last week’s 1-minute survey that asked about your focus during the coming off-season.
47.2% of you plan to prioritize functional bodywork to improve triathlon-specific strength. We think you’ll especially appreciate a few of this week’s featured articles, below.
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DON’T KNOW SQUAT
In this brilliant 2-part video series, coach Nate Helming shows us how to properly introduce squats into our training program. Best of all, his instruction is designed for endurance runners (like us), not bodybuilders.
When you think about it, running is a repetition of single-leg squats. Adding squats to your training will help build the body you need to handle the volume required for faster running.
Squatting engages the glutes, stabilizes the hips and improves range of motion in the ankles. This results in better motion control and solid running form late in your race.
If you suffer from poor mobility (common among triathletes), coach Nate explains how to get started with squatting, and how to progress while maintaining good mechanics. He even prescribes the frequency, sets and reps that will deliver the best results. You can watch Part 1 and Part 2 here.
STACKING TEMPO
Running at threshold pace teaches your body how to burn lactate more effectively and is a proven method for getting faster. Threshold — or tempo — running is an important component of training, but it’s hard. Fit triathletes can hold tempo pace in training for up to 40 minutes.
To increase your time spent at threshold pace, you can break your workout into tempo intervals. 3 segments of 20 minutes each delivers more cumulative time at threshold speed than one sustained run.
Learn how to implement tempo intervals in your own program by reading this comprehensive post by coach Jeff Gaudette. Start stacking tempo segments and soon you’ll see big jumps in your run performance.
FREE GEL
As a regular reader of TriathlonWire, you already know about the benefits of UCAN nutrition, and how it stabilizes your blood sugar, provides spike-free energy and promotes steady fat burning throughout your longest endurance efforts.
Now, for a limited time, you can tap into the power of UCAN with an incredible discount — plus get a free Edge gel.
Start elevating your 2022 race day nutrition strategy now!
Use the code TRIWIRE at ucan.co to get 30% off the full range of products. Additionally, receive an added bonus of a FREE Strawberry Banana Edge sample with your purchase. Offer only valid with our code TRIWIRE. Expires 11/30/21.
THIS SHIIT WORKS
Coach Taren Gesell is known for his creative, practical, and well-researched approach to training for age group triathletes.
In this video he offers a strategy that’s often overlooked, but can be immensely beneficial to time-crunched athletes who might have only 10 hours per week to train. In fact Taren used it to attain his own PR for IRONMAN 70.3.
Super High Intensity Interval Training (known by its unfortunate acronym “SHIIT”), has been proven to deliver superior improvements in body composition, top-end speed and neuromuscular firing as compared to the more popular HIIT.
Learn more about this high-performance training method and how you can include it into your own program.
WHEN & HOW MUCH?
Nearly all triathletes acknowledge they need strength training, but many truly don’t know how to fit it in.
According to strength & conditioning coach Kriss Hendy, 2 to 3 sessions per week are required for meaningful benefits. Fortunately he also offers various ways to include bodywork into your busy schedule.
Hendy answers questions about if you should strength train before or after your swim, bike and run workouts, and whether you should strength train during race season.
By adopting the advice in this guide, you’ll seamlessly integrate strength work into your triathlon training.
QUICK HIITS:
- Swim Variety
If you’re looking for a bit of variety in your training, then you might like these 5 efficient swim workouts by coach Craig Lewin. Each can be performed in less than 1 hour, and can be adapted to swimmers of all abilities.
- Profile of a Champion
Go behind the curtain for a glimpse of a day in the life of the greatest marathoner in history. This revealing and intimate account of Eliud Kipchoge can be appreciated by all endurance athletes. There are lessons to be learned from his devotion to health, fitness and the precision of his training.
- Transitions
Triathlon recently lost one of its pioneers with the passing of Jan Caille. A cofounder of the Bud Light Triathlon Series, Jan was best known as the original race director of the Chicago Triathlon, now in its 38th year. Read Dan Empfield’s moving tribute to one of the legends of our sport.
