Robbie an 18 year old Tri-athlete asks:Hi. I am an 18 year old engineering student at N.C. State. I have been competing in triathlon for four years and have competed in about 35 races and placing within the top three in my age-group at each one. I am kind of burnt out right now and just lifting weights and running or mountain biking and swimming when I feel like it or have time. I am kind of busy until December because I pledged a fraternity and it is extremely time consuming. I like the longer races better and was wondering when would be too late to begin base work for the next season which I will begin racing again in April. I have people to work out with and next semester I will be taking 15 hours of classes with no job and a lot more free-time than I have now. I want to train for long-distance specialization but I will still compete in many short distance races. I just would like to hear your ideas.The Coach responds:I am unsure whether you want to race in tris or in bike races. For me the serious season starts in late March with some early season races in february. in summer we race crits and short road races (to escape the heat). We finish our season in late October. So right now (november) I am riding about 350 kms a week with whatever comes out the garage in the morning - that is I ride how I feel.I will keep this effort up with a race each Sunday - 60 kms about - until the third week in december. Then I go onto my Macro 1, which is not the same macro one that I put up on the WWW but along the same principles (a bit longer overall without friday rest days). Then I progress steadily through the macros and start racing open again in Feb (first week) but do not get into really good racing form until the last week of March. I then hold that through until the beginning of June, then begin a recovery phase for 4 weeks (not the same as the recovery period at the end of the season) which means I do no intervals but keep the kms up. I start out again on about macro 3 in late June and peak again in august when I am always in Europe for racing. So yes, if you progress steadily from the middle of December you can easily get very fit for April. |