I’ll start by saying I am intentionally keeping these pillar-specific posts on the short side. They are simply meant to serve as a primer on each component of a holistic approach to training. If you want more detail, I highly recommend that you visit the purplepatch fitness knowledge page where there is an extensive amount of excellent material.
Sport-specific training, or endurance training, is obviously fundamental to an endurance athlete’s progress in the sport(s). I hate to say it, but anyone who says that you can become a better runner without running is wrong. So, while a large part of your training should be running (I use running as an example from here on out, but for triathletes, the same goes for swimming, biking, and running), the type and timing of your runs matter more than most think.
Type: Without being overly long winded, simply “running” is not enough. In order to improve as a runner, you need a good mix of endurance runs, pace-particular runs, long runs, hill-repeats, speed sessions, and recovery runs. The key here is that every run should have a purpose: from building strength and form (hill repeats) to building muscular endurance (long runs) to building speed (speed-sessions) to building feel and confidence (pace-particular runs). Making sizeable gains (especially for those already more advanced in their training) requires a shift in thinking from “going out for a run,” to “doing hard hill-repeats to build strength followed by two recovery run days to trigger physiological adaptations from the hill-repeats.” To enable this shift in thinking, it’s critical that the athlete has an understanding of what different runs accomplish, or is confident in a coach/program that does.
Timing: Once an athlete has mapped out all the different types of sport-specific workouts (e.g., the running examples listed above) the timing of when to complete these workouts becomes critical. Timing can and should be designed on a micro and macro level: For a triathlete doing a 2-a-day, should the bike or run come in the morning? What days of the week should my hardest workouts be on, and what days should my active recovery be on? At what point of my season should I be doing hill-repeats vs. speed sessions? Much like I mentioned above regarding the type of run, it takes both a thorough knowledge of sport-specific training, as well as a 30,000 foot view of an entire season to be able to time workouts properly. And one more additional note here; timing should not only consider the other sport-specific workouts, but also fit and align with all the pillars (functional strength, nutrition, recovery) of performance.
So, to summarize, with sport-specific training, the type and timing of workouts are very important, and always work together. Once an athlete understands that every training session has a purpose, the key becomes to balance those sessions and time them correctly to allow for the best physiological and psychological gains. Well this seems complicated enough for the running example I follow above, it becomes exponentially harder for multisport athletes, who must balance and integrate the 2-3 sports (love to Duathletes out there!) that comprise "sport-specific" training.
To that end, I think it takes one of two things to make all this work. 1) A lot of time and passion about the sport(s) to do the research and develop one’s own training plan...and also, a lot of discipline to stick to it and evaluate the results objectively, something I personally find impossible to do... or 2) A good coach or program, and a lot of trust and confidence in that good coach or program.
Personally, I take the later route (I have a pretty good knowledge of this stuff, but lack the ability to evaluate my own results objectively) and recommend it for almost everyone that is serious about improving as an endurance athlete. If you think this is some kind of “sales pitch,” re-read the above, remember that there are subsequent posts coming on functional strength, nutrition, and recovery, and then try to honestly tell me that you can integrate all of this on your own, and stick to (and also adjust at times) what you come up with. I would be hard pressed to find anyone that can do that.
So, with all of that in mind, I urge you to evaluate your current sport-specific training. If you are considering incorporating/using outside resources to enhance your training, for runners, check out the newly released purplepatch running plans , which I can personally vouge for. Furthermore, if you want more information on additional programs and coaching options, just reach out to me - I am familiar with many.
Next week’s post will focus on the second pillar: functional strength. In the mean-time, if you like what you are reading and want more in the form of very short blurbs, follow me on twitter.
Until next time, live hard, train hard!
Type: Without being overly long winded, simply “running” is not enough. In order to improve as a runner, you need a good mix of endurance runs, pace-particular runs, long runs, hill-repeats, speed sessions, and recovery runs. The key here is that every run should have a purpose: from building strength and form (hill repeats) to building muscular endurance (long runs) to building speed (speed-sessions) to building feel and confidence (pace-particular runs). Making sizeable gains (especially for those already more advanced in their training) requires a shift in thinking from “going out for a run,” to “doing hard hill-repeats to build strength followed by two recovery run days to trigger physiological adaptations from the hill-repeats.” To enable this shift in thinking, it’s critical that the athlete has an understanding of what different runs accomplish, or is confident in a coach/program that does.
Timing: Once an athlete has mapped out all the different types of sport-specific workouts (e.g., the running examples listed above) the timing of when to complete these workouts becomes critical. Timing can and should be designed on a micro and macro level: For a triathlete doing a 2-a-day, should the bike or run come in the morning? What days of the week should my hardest workouts be on, and what days should my active recovery be on? At what point of my season should I be doing hill-repeats vs. speed sessions? Much like I mentioned above regarding the type of run, it takes both a thorough knowledge of sport-specific training, as well as a 30,000 foot view of an entire season to be able to time workouts properly. And one more additional note here; timing should not only consider the other sport-specific workouts, but also fit and align with all the pillars (functional strength, nutrition, recovery) of performance.
So, to summarize, with sport-specific training, the type and timing of workouts are very important, and always work together. Once an athlete understands that every training session has a purpose, the key becomes to balance those sessions and time them correctly to allow for the best physiological and psychological gains. Well this seems complicated enough for the running example I follow above, it becomes exponentially harder for multisport athletes, who must balance and integrate the 2-3 sports (love to Duathletes out there!) that comprise "sport-specific" training.
To that end, I think it takes one of two things to make all this work. 1) A lot of time and passion about the sport(s) to do the research and develop one’s own training plan...and also, a lot of discipline to stick to it and evaluate the results objectively, something I personally find impossible to do... or 2) A good coach or program, and a lot of trust and confidence in that good coach or program.
Personally, I take the later route (I have a pretty good knowledge of this stuff, but lack the ability to evaluate my own results objectively) and recommend it for almost everyone that is serious about improving as an endurance athlete. If you think this is some kind of “sales pitch,” re-read the above, remember that there are subsequent posts coming on functional strength, nutrition, and recovery, and then try to honestly tell me that you can integrate all of this on your own, and stick to (and also adjust at times) what you come up with. I would be hard pressed to find anyone that can do that.
So, with all of that in mind, I urge you to evaluate your current sport-specific training. If you are considering incorporating/using outside resources to enhance your training, for runners, check out the newly released purplepatch running plans , which I can personally vouge for. Furthermore, if you want more information on additional programs and coaching options, just reach out to me - I am familiar with many.
Next week’s post will focus on the second pillar: functional strength. In the mean-time, if you like what you are reading and want more in the form of very short blurbs, follow me on twitter.
Until next time, live hard, train hard!
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