Getting The Best Out Of Your Training Programme
An athlete I had never met before approached me after one of my swims at David Lloyd recently, and asked for some advice.
He was just starting out in triathlon and, that week, had entered Ironman Barcelona 2024. Jumping in at the deep end!
Anyway, he asked for some tips to help him get started.
Always an interesting one, that. Where on earth do you start? The sport is a big one, particularly the longer distance triathlons. We all have our different starting points, strengths and weaknesses. How do you offer some key tips in just a few minutes?
We had a quick discussion and I gave him some idea of structure for the year. If he remembers nothing else from our conversation, I hope he remembers to reconsider his decision to run his first marathon in September 2024, a few weeks before Ironman Barcelona!
Where would you start? What advice would you give him in two or three minutes?
It got me thinking …
As a new or experienced athlete, what are some of the fundamentals you should adopt to get the best out of your training programme – whether you are coached, self-coached or follow a training plan?
Set Some Goals
Set some goals for the year ahead. What would you be happy to achieve next year? What would you really like to achieve. These goals will inform your training programme, the types of sessions you do and the time you need to spend training.
Follow A Training Programme
Follow a programme. That could be through coaching, a training plan or a programme you’ve designed yourself. A programme gives you structure and stops training being random. You are more likely to follow a programme that is written than leave it to a day to day decision. Just make sure this training programme fits into your life … and you’re not trying to fit your life around the programme!
Keep A Training Log
For me, I think it’s really important to keep a log of your training. You can judge progress based on similar sessions, you can identify training patterns and you can reflect.
Next, Write In Your Training Log!
Most of us probably have a training log, TrainingPeaks or similar. You probably upload your data from your watch automatically. But do you then write a note in your training log about how the session went. After every session?
It’s good practice to spend a couple of minutes thinking about how the session went. Did it go as planned? Did you feel good? Did you manage to maintain pace / power throughout? Did your form hold strong or did it suffer a little? These little notes are a big deal and make a big difference to how you view training – and how you / your coach review training sessions and training weeks.
Be Consistent
In this athlete’s case, Ironman Barcelona is 11 months away. There is no rush to be able to swim 3.8k, bike 180k or run a marathon. Most of us are in a similar position, with our races a long time in the future. Start small and build. Be consistent. Keep showing up and putting the training in. It builds. If we trust the process of our training plan, put in the work 5 or 6 days per week, we will succeed.
👉 Tips For Training Consistency
Write Race Plans & Race Reports
Fitness is one part of the puzzle, race execution is another. Before each race, get into the habit of writing a short race plan – your goals, the logistics of race day / race week, what you’re going to wear, how you’re going to execute the race, pacing etc. And then after each race, write a race report. A summary of your race and some key things that you will try and improve upon next time – either in training or racing. You will improve your race execution through this planning and reflection.
Review Your Season
At the end of each year, take a look back at your season and see how you performed. Compare yourself at the end of the season to the start of the season. Have you developed as an athlete? What do you need to do differently for next year. Again, doing this helps us to keep moving forward and not make the same ‘mistakes’ each year.
Broaden Your Triathlon Network
This is applicable to us all, but this is something I strongly advised to this new athlete. He needed to broaden his ‘triathlon network’. Join a club – I suggested MerseyTri. There, you will meet like-minded athletes, introduce you to group training sessions and potential training partners. More people to speak to and ask questions. You want to be able to ask questions and gather information regularly and from people you trust, and not rely on a chance meeting with a swimmer in David Lloyd! Many of our Swim Squad swimmers use the Squad as their triathlon network, their triathlon community and for their training partners.
There is lots more advice, lots of things that this athlete and others like him should do to improve their triathlon potential.
Where would you start? What would you suggest?
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