Coaching & Sets

I'm currently working through the Level 2 Triathlon Coaching award, and should have this completed by the summer of 2015.

We offer a bespoke coaching service to athletes of all abilities, both locally and Nationally on a face to face and multimedia basis.

Every plan is unique and centred around the personal circumstances and individual goals of the Athlete we work with. Whatever you are looking to get out of Multisport, The Working Class Triathlete Program has the ability to help you develop those goals through a variety of manageable weekly training sessions.

 

Please feel free to contact me on martin@workingclasstriathlete.com with any questions.

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I want to use this page to share sets in all 3 disciplines and will post them below in the order I mention them in my blog posts.

23.11.2014 2Hr BRICK.

 

• 10 min warm up spinning legs at around 85 to 90rpm focusing on smooth movements through out.
• 50 minutes at zone 5a. This zone is the point at which your heart rate is working at maximum capacity on a sustainable basis. Any harder and you will break the aerobic threshold and begin to work anaerobically, and begin to build up lactic acid in your muscles and fatigue. Training at this point for long periods of time is essential at this time of year for building endurance and the ability to delay fatigue come race day. (If you would like more information on any of this please feel free to get in touch.)
• 1hr of interval sets set out as:
• 4 minutes at zone 5a (as above).
• 1 minute at Zone 5c. This is the maximum possible effort you can apply, and you should fatigue over the 1 minute. Try to push as hard as you can through out.
• Return to the 4 minutes, dropping to zone 4 for 1 minute if necessary, where you are working just below the sustainable threshold mentioned above. Try to move back up to 5a for as much of the 4 minutes as you can.
• After 1 hour of interval repetition like this you should be very tired. Warm down for a few minutes and recover.

ZONE WORK CAN SEEM DAUNTING & EVERYONE'S ZONES ARE DIFFERENT
IT IS HONESTLY VERY EASY.
WORKING OUT YOUR ZONES ONLY NEEDS 30 MINUTES TO DO A SIMPLE TEST.
ALL YOU NEED IS A HEART RATE MONITOR.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GET IN TOUCH IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANY HELP WITH THIS.
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As The Outlaw is my A Race next year, and the main focus of the majority of my training right now I will start with a swim set I am using during this base period to build solid endurance ready for July. It is important to remember this is only 1 of 3 to 4 sessions a week, is part of a group of weekly sets incorporating balanced and technique driven aims, which are as important as stamina and pace.

Endurance Focused Swim Set

• 1600m timed from a cold start. Depending on how used you are to swimming longer distances, try and find your 400m pace, minus 5%. 5% doesn't sound much of a decrease in effort, but if you are hitting 6min 400s, that will run you down to 6:18's. You should aim to hold this evenly for the full 1600m. Once that's achieved in the set, next time try and knock 5seconds per 400m off the time until you are able to swim at full pool sprint 400m pace for the whole mile. Keep going.....
• 200m kick.
• 200m paddles and pull.
• (If the full 200m distances at max pace are too much, you could try building pace on each of the 200m above per 50m, from 25%, 50%, 75% to 100%)
• 10 x 100m sprints. I am currently swimming these and trying to hold 1:20 100s off 1:50min per segment. You will need to adjust this to what you feel is your maximum sustainable effort. Give yourself 30seconds in-between each 100m. If you come in over the target time then lower the bar by 5 seconds each time. As an example if I swam 6x100 inside the 1:20, but then the 7th was a 1:22, I would then move the 'off' time to 1:55, instead of the original 1:50. Make a note of the point you had to lower the bar, and use this as a bench to measure future improvement. When you manage all 10 at the target time, raise the bar 5seconds next time you repeat the set and so on...
• I have a friend who is an GB Age Grouper at Sprints, and he does this part of the set as 20x50m instead of 10x100m and works to his absolute maximum possible pace. It helps him a lot.
• Finally some hypoxic work, swim 400m easy, study technique and form throughout, make the stroke as efficient as possible, and breath 3/5/7/9/9/7/5/3 up and down the scale per 50m.

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1 Hour Brick Session.

 

This is a handy little brick session I like to throw into The Program to keep things fresh and break up the monotony of the long easy miles over the base period. Its great for a quick and meaningful session before work.

 

• 40 minutes on the Turbo to start, broken down as:
• First 10 minutes warming up, high cadence, around 85 to 90 rpm.
• 20 minutes at your lactate threshold. Try and hold your maximum sustainable pace throughout.
• 10 minutes at max effort. You will deteriorate. Work as hard as you can through out.
• Off the bike and straight into a 3+ mile run. (but not over 4miles)
• Mile 1. Out the blocks at maximum race pace. Really sprint it out. Let those legs and lungs burn.
• Mile 2. Ease off, catch your breath and focus on technique. Think about posture, breathing, cadence and economy of the run. Study your leg movements, and concentrate on every aspect of your technique to make this mile as efficient and technically clean as you can. Expect to be a good minute slower than the previous mile. That's fine.
• Mile 3. Whatever your split was on mile 1, BEAT IT. At all costs beat it, sprint like your life depends on it. After mile 3 use the last bit of the run to ease off and stretch out.

This is a short, sharp, high intensity brick. Don't do it too often, but use it sparingly to shake things up and remind your body what the training is for, and what you expect from it.