I’ve been asked this question time and time again. “What type of training should I do over the winter?” I’ve also even heard statements like “well, it’s winter and I’ll pick up my training again in the spring.” Most experienced triathletes know that triathlon is a year-round sport, even though the race season only really lasts about 5 months (at least here in Utah). Some of the newer folks think that their training ends with the last race of the season. I hope to enlighten some of the newer athletes and to hopefully change the way they think and train for a triathlon.

I actually look forward to the “off-season” as it gives me the time to reflect, work on my skills and technique, and work on my base training. Oh, and most importantly, depending on what distances I was racing throughout the season, it gives me more quality time with my family.

Now let’s get down to business. Let’s assume that you just finished your race season, and you are relatively new to the sport. You did a handful of sprint triathlons and say one or two Olympic distances. The first thing you need to do is map out your race schedule for the following season. By doing this, it will give you a good place to start with your winter training. If you end up doing an early half or full Iron distance, then that will obviously make a major difference on how you approach your training over the winter months. If you start with a mid-spring sprint or Olympic distance, here are some suggestions for you:

Swim – I will be talking a lot about form and technique throughout this article, and swimming is the number one discipline that you will want to focus on when it comes to form and technique. If you are a lap-swimmer and never do drills, now is the time to start! Spend at least half of your workout performing a variety of form enhancing drills. This is a great time to contact a coach and maybe spend a few dollars on a handful of lessons. You’d be surprised how much one or two lessons can improve your swim stroke. Remember, with triathlon swimming, it’s less about power and strength, and more about technique, form and efficiency. Some of the workouts to consider would be to do 30+/- minutes worth of drills, then performing several intervals for the last 30 minutes, such as 20×50 yards/meters with a 10 second rest between each set, or 10×100 yards/meters with about a 30 second rest between each set, or an 800 yard ladder (50, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 50) with about 15-30 second rest between each set. The idea is to really focus on your form right now, and not worry as much about speed. Besides, the better your form and technique become, the faster you’ll be anyway. You’ll want to swim about 2-3 times a week, at up to an hour per swim.

Bike – This is where I get a lot of questions about “spin-camps” at local gyms. While spin-camps are great for overall fitness, one really loses their technique and form if you only ride a spin bike throughout the entire winter season. My advice is to spend two days a week at a spin-camp, and then either buy a bike trainer (for indoor training) and/or ride outside about two other days per week. So many newer athletes spend their entire winter season on spin-bikes. These riders tend to develop some pretty bad habits, which is then carried over to their road biking skills in the early spring. You’ll be glad that you trained on your own bike throughout the winter once spring time rolls around. For the most part, you’re not going to be spinning or riding anymore than 45 to 90 minutes per workout. Remember, I am assuming that you’ll be doing a mid-spring sprint or Oly distance, so if you’re out there riding for 3+ hours, you are over-training! And make sure that your heart rate zone isn’t going through the roof. Letting your heart rate get higher is occasionally okay through the winter months, but we are not focusing on speed and power this time of year. We are preparing our body for more intense training with “base” training.

Run – one of my pet-peeves is that too many athletes go inside during the winter to run. While treadmills are great for foul weather, try to not spend more than 33% of your training runs on a treadmill. Staying on the open road will make you much stronger going into the spring race season. After all, there are not a whole lot of triathlons where you’ll finish the race on a treadmill, although that could be interesting. During your runs, again, you’ll stay in a moderate heart rate zones. And as far as the number of workouts (frequency) and distances (volume), you’re looking at 2-3 runs per week, ranging from 30-60 minutes per run. Winter is also a great time to work on your form and technique as well. Go out to the track and perform some running drills now and again. Take a buddy and film each other so you can see how you look when you run. And remember, speed is not necessary this time of year. Just base training and good technique.

Base training, technique and form building are your main objectives over the winter months. Training “smart” now will pay major dividends down the road. You’ll appreciate the fact that you’ve spent a few months focusing on skill development and you will be that much more ahead of the game when the season starts.

Until next time, happy (and smart) training!

Happy Training
David Pruetz
Owner/Coach,InTraining, LLC
www.intraining.biz
davidp@intraining.biz

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