Less IS More

TRAINING YOUR STRENGTH

I was recently talking to a friend of mine about athletes that look to other successful athletes and convince themselves that they need to do what that person did in order to be successful.

This can work sometimes, but what happens if you have a tremendous swimming and cycling ability and you are looking at someone who is 10kg's lighter and pure runner? No matter what you do, u will never become that type of runner, nor will you ever have your best race trying to be. But on the flip side, they will never have your swimming and cycling ability...so what do you do?

What we have to do is evaluate ourselves and identify our own strengths....then train them and race them. Pick courses that suit you, choose a race strategy that plays off of those strengths and race in a way where you have a chance to use them.

In addition, if you are a woman that is 60kg's, or a man that it 80kg's...it does you no good to try to become an athlete that is 10kg's+ lighter. Though you may get there, you will become weak and wont be nearly the athlete that you are when you work with your body.

Just some food for thought!


SEASON UPDATE:

The shape of this upcoming season has changed many times as I put together a plan to focus on what i believe i need to do in order to take my racing to the next level.


What I have found since I have gotten back into things is that I was in a pretty big hole...one that took almost 10 weeks to crawl out of. 3 weeks almost off, 6 weeks training as I felt, then another week almost off. That is how much time I truly believe it took to get out from under the blanket of fatigue. In my mind I rested just in time. Another season of pushing the envelope in that state could have resulted in months or maybe longer to get back to good. Use that to avoid the same issues that I have run into.


Since that time, I have been training for about 5 weeks and not much more than about 15hrs each week. The quality of the sessions has been great and am starting to climb above the top end plateau that I have seen for so long.


Here are some recent highlights from the last week of my current training block.

In the pool, a set of 10x100 on 2minutes. Started at just over 60seconds and finished at 58.

On the bike, 2 sessions that stand out are #1 3x15minutes at 340w, #2 8x4min uphill averaging 380w (started at 370w and finished at 400w)

Run, my key sessions have been 30-40min tempo's at 5:30 per mile and 12x400 at R-pace(4:48 pace).


In the past, these sessions would have toasted me with higher volume. Now, I am training alot smarter and when I am not doing these sessions, I am resting. This is really allowing me to hit it hard a lot more often and my body is accepting it.

This weekend will be the first test and measure as to where I am at. I will be heading to Memphis In May Olympic Distance on Sunday and while I won't be peaked for this race, I am excited to see how things are going. I will check in after!

Have a good week!!
BB

Comments

Hi there, I'm new to your blog. Good post, interesting! It's a great reminder to work with my strengths & race my race. And that fitness is specific.
Kurt P. said…
good luck down there amigo...eat some BBQ too.
Blake Becker said…
Hi Sara, thanks for reading....appreciate the feedback...

Thanks KP, I will be hitting up Beal(sp?) Street after as well. Hope all is well!

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