Coaching Lessons 2013

by Gordo Byrn

With most everyone’s season winding down, at least in the northern hemisphere, I thought that I’d share three lessons that I picked up from our team in 2012.

The Off-Season Marathon is an event that I typically don’t support. For most athletes, there is too much of a drop in bike volume and the training is too fast relative to triathlon race pace. However, I advise a speedy athlete who doesn’t give me veto rights over his race schedule. So I had the opportunity to coach a winter marathon (New York 2011).

My athlete didn’t peak for New York but he raced well for the time of year. Relative to his marathon potential, he underperformed a little but:

The run fitness he built was sticky across the entire season (topped up with a mid-season ultra)
He was able to “coast” on his run training as he prepared for IM Texas (where he qualified)
Aside from Texas, he remained mentally fresh by shifting between run and bike events (he did Leadville Trail 100 MTB with me in August)

Recently, I was reminded of the benefit of a late-season swim camp with an athlete’s prep for Kona. If you’re an experienced athlete racing after September then, odds are, you’re in great bike and run shape. Something I like to include is a three-week swim camp that ends one week out from your AAA-race. Structure:

At least five swims per week
At least 20,000 meters per week
Three key swims per week with two of them done on consecutive days
Key swims focus on sustained distance freestyle
One or two swim events (open water swim racing and/or group TTs)

The swim camp keeps highly motivated athletes from over-cooking themselves with bike/run load prior to their late-season events.

This year, I tweaked my bike prep approach and used sustained cycling intensity within our team. Three specific workouts showed excellent results:

3x40 minutes flat TTing seeking to hold more than 90% of functional threshold power (FTP) (smaller female athlete, mid-40s)
60-minute climbs as close to functional threshold power as the athlete could manage without fading (midsize male athlete, mid-40s)
2-3.5 hour sustained tempo riding averaging 80% of FTP (not normalized) in rolling terrain (large engine male, cat 1 cyclist)

The sessions required extended recovery for the athletes but targeted a strategic limiter in their athletic toolkits. The sessions were only completed three to five times across the season and had a great return on investment. You don’t need a lot of the tough stuff to see significant results.

When you’re doing your strategic planning for 2013 -- remember to keep what worked.

Gordo is the founder of Endurance Corner. You can find his personal blog here.