Monday 21 October 2013

What Off Season?


For the last few years I haven't really had an off season, its been more of a " injury break". This year I have had a break for a month and find myself starting a winters block with a couple of niggles  and an improvement over the long term issues I have had.


  • Shoulder injury (Had an MRI last week)
  • Hamstring niggle
The plan for sorting these out (obviously) involves listening to advice and stepping my training up slowly and consistently. I have had a Bio-mechanical assessment with Richard Green and will share some of the feedback when I get my report.


I have believed for a long time that to get set a good groundwork and to become an efficient athlete in terms of technique is to do a little....... a lot. In other words to train for short periods but have a lot of sessions.

An issue I have previously had in my swim, run and bike has been fading towards the end of race disciplines. I chalk this up to a lack of 'base' over the winter so while being fully aware of my belief above I intend to do longer swim blocks and build to longer run blocks later on in the winter.

To support the above I will be spending a lot of time of functional development and pre-habilitation with strength work outs and development of range of movement and left/right balance.

Times.
I am setting myself No turnaround times. No expectations of times, No pace times, No power expectations in fact no measures at all at this stage. 

Quality
All my work outs are going to be based on quality and will be done for a reason. I dont agree with junk mileage. If I go for a long ride my focus will be cadence, If I go for a long run it will be turnover and body position. A long swim set will be Bi-lateral breathing (which is a major goal for my off season - stroke balance).

The Program:
For October and part of November my focus will be swim balance and run conditioning. I have cut down the hours at the weekend so I can spend more time with my Girlfriend and working on things outside of Tri. I will do events that I think will be a laugh, go to random places for a run and bike just to keep things ticking over until I feel like my run base is in a suitable place.

Monday
L/C swim session with blocks of 400 (to get more used to longer swims)
Lunch run 20-30mins focus on high cadence
Gym session. Functional strength and core work. Shoulder strengthening
1k Short swim Paddle work on weak arm (left)

Tuesday
S/C swim session Band and drill work/Kick 
Evening Run 30mins Cadence (Will develop to Efforts session late in season)

Wednesday
L/C Swim set Distance Pull (Buoy)
Lunch 20m Run
Gym session Functional strength/flexibility
1k Short swim (Kick session)

Thursday
S/C Mixed stroke set (IM 200m)
Evening run session (will develop to track work later in season)

Friday
Swim sets (Band, Bilat,Kick mix)
Easy 20min run
Gym session Functional strength/flexibility

Sat 
2-3hr Bike or 1hr run

Sun
1 hr Run or 2-3hr bike

Sat and Sun are switchable as and when it works.

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About Me

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As an ex-National League Basketball player I took up triathlon as a development from cross training. I won my first Sprint distance race and placed second in my first Olympic distance. Since then I have raced the UK Elite Superseries coming 24th in the National Elite Champs, raced Vegas 70.3 WChamps and helped Paratriathlete Iain Dawson to World, European and National Titles. In 2011 I obtained Pro authorisation from the BTF and am pushing my development by stepping up to top level competition in 2012. Aside from this I am a L1 Swim and Tri coach and Professional Lloyds Broker.