5 tips to successful training

With about nine month to the start of the first annual Challenge Copenhagen, it is about time to begin the structured training, towards the final goal. It is easy to get lost in the information and advice on how best to prepare yourself for the competition.

 

In the following you get five short and practical advices on how to get a good start at iron-distance training.

The five tips are released one at a time for you to digest one at a time

Tip 1 - Simple and foreseeable training

An iron-distance race is an endurance competition that demands that you are capable of swimming, cycle and run with low to moderate intensity for many hours. This has to be reflected in your training. This is why the greater part of the training has to be long-distance training with moderate intensity.
A simple, easy and foreseeable plan is often the best recipe for successful training.

Depending on the number of times you have time to train a week, you can choose for the below listed things. The first training pas is the most important, after that the passes are prioritised. This means, if you have the possibility of training four times a week, you choose the top four training passes.

1.    Combi pas – Bike followed by running
2.    Distance running
3.    Distance cycling
4.    Swimming 1
5.    Swimming 2
6.    Distance running 2
7.    Weakest link – a training pas dedicated to training your weakest discipline.

Plan your training weeks so that the weeks look alike; you train the same thing each weekday every week. Increase the training hours for each training pas a bit from week to week. How much depends on you starting point, but around 5% per pas, per week is a good basis

At first you have to increase until you reach a level of 90 min running, tree hours of cycling and 75 min of swimming, this amount of training is then stabilised and upheld until 8-12 weeks before Challenge Copenhagen,  at this point you again gradually increase your training hours.

Plan a restitution week every four weeks, where you half the number of training hours for each pas, and half the number of training days. Start the following week with the same distances and hours as the week before the restitution week.

Are you having trouble overcoming the training and how to schedule it in the optimal way? Seek help and counselling at a personal trainer or generate a training schedule via the Internet on one of the online training sites.

Tip 2 - Listen to your body

Listening to your body and taking all signals on fatigue and overload seriously is key. Iron-distance training contains many hours of training, and you easily get lost in the training schedule and on finishing it week by week without looking out for if your body is ready for more training.

Feel tired, lethargic and without motivation is often the first sign that the body is feeling an overload. Muscle soreness and low heart rate during training is also signals that your body is giving you when it is feeling overloaded.

Is this the case, you will benefit more from skipping a few training passes, and then continue with the schedule when you feel fresh and motivated again. If you take the break, just when you start feeling these symptoms, then it will typically take around 2-3 training free days.

Accept the lost training days and do not try to catch up later on. Simply follow the plan from the day you start again. Typically this will happened 3-5 times in course of training. Should it happened more than once a month, then you should take a look at your training schedule and consider if it needs a nod down in intensity.

3)    Learn the right technique

You can save a lot of energy and avoid injuries, if you have the correct swimming, running and cycling technique. Energy saving is key during a long competition as an iron-distance, so improving your technique is good for several reasons.

A good time is at the start of your training. Partly because the combined training hours is low, so you have the time to focus on technique, and partly because it is suitable to learn the correct technique from the start, instead of later on in the training phase. 

Optimal technique training demands that you have a competent trainer by your side, which can help you with technique. Besides that, recording your swim, run and bike technique is a fantastic tool for evaluating.

Many athletes take it for granted that swim training includes technique training, but not that many think about that this is also the case for running and cycling. 

From a running style analysis and the right running shoes in a sports shop to the correct running technique is fare. Correct techniques are about the way you run, not the way you prone or supine and therefore have use for running shoes with extra support. 

The correct ride position on the bike can enhance comfort and grant you more watts to pedal, with such measurements and settings your triathlon bike is a really good investment.

4)    Take care of the practicalities

This time of year, when training is still not demanding so many hours, it can be an advantage to take care of a lot of the practical things. Find out what kind of gear you need (bike, wetsuit and clothing) and start looking into the different options. It can be a long process to find the right bike, so take your time.You also need time to train with your new gear, 2-3 month before race day, it is a must, that you have everything ready in the training wardrobe.

If you are planning a training camp or planning to take some extra days of work, then taking care of the practicallities now can be an good idea. 



Besides that, you might as well enter yourselves to the competition, book hotels etc.

5)    Train with others

Even tough an iron-distance race is a one man achievement, where you have to fight alone from start to finish, it can still be an advantage to sign yourself to a club or form a training community with others.

When motivation is low, or the weather is bad, then it is nice to know that you have scheduled training with others who are expecting you to show up – Just as you would expect them to.

Together you can share knowhow and experiences. Discussing problems and listing to different solutions is always good. Doing so can help you find the best solutions to problems.

Many hours of training on the highway, in the forest and in the pool is awaiting, it is nice to share it with others. There will be training sessions where you train alone, with the wind blowing on your nose and with the right intensity, but they represent a very small percentage of the combined training hours.

To avoid losing the motivation in the many training hours, train with others as much as possible. Contain motivation for the long combo sessions in the weeks leading up to competition, where it is crucial that you get by, on your own.

With these five trainingadvice you are well equipped to start the vinter training, and being well prepared takes you one step closer to the finishline.

Happy training

Ole Staugaard
Multicoach