Last year, I had a strong season, and wanted to pick up where I had left off this season. I trained a consistent 5 days a week over the winter, plus weights. I worked on the TB weight plan, but only did squat, chest, and tricpes. I got up to about 1.3-1.4x bw. on my squat.
I started track about a month and a half ago, and so far, I am doing terrible. Last season, I ran a 2:02 800m, and this year my best was 2 2:09, which I did once. I am having a serious problem recovering for other events, and I am concerned with the possibility of this slump carrying over to the tri season. Was there something wrong with my offseason training, or is it just a bad year.
I am about getting ready to pack it in for track, because I have no shot of any awards, and I don’t want to comprimise tri season.
My first race is June 15, and track districts are May 13. Should I get back into tri training now or wait a month, because my bike and swim training have dropped dramitically.
Any advice on why this is happening, and if I should be able to recover on my run leg for tris? BTW, my swim bike is solid. Thanks guys, sorry for the long post.
Bob
Sounds to me like you are in serious need of some time off. For an old guy like me it would be several weeks, but you sound like a kid who would probably recover in a couple of weeks.
You should try lots of sleep, exercise only with girl friend, and make sure you put on at least five pounds, maybe 10. If you do that now, you can get some light exercise before your big track meet and I will wager you will have your best race of the season.
Dan had a fantastic article a few weeks back tiltled Closed for Remodeling. That is where you are right now. I know because I am remodeling more often than training.
The best race I ever had as a kid was the NYC marathon. I had the good sense to get tendonitis 7 days before the race. I could hardly walk until the day before when I did an easy three miles. Best race prep I ever did.
I second that idea… how much time did you take off after tri season, did you go right into x-country? and then did you take any time off after that? I know i’m having similiar problems to you, I raced tri all summer… took maybe a week off… started training x-country and then switched to swimming 5-6 times a week. This is really the first year that I’ve worked out consistantly over the whole winter, in a tri discipline sport, last year I had at least 3 months off due to a knee injury, and every year before that I use to wrestle in between x-country and track/tri… (I sucked…lol… it was hilirious to watch me… this tall lanky runner…man) but i know that totally mentally and physically recharged me for running again. While it probably didn’t help my times at all, I know i definatly felt healthy. In my very limited medical experiance… I would say take two weeks either completly off, or very easy… or play sports totally unrelated… (I break out my mountain bike, and play tennis) and see how you feel after that. I know that I’m also feeling bad because i’m in the middle of exams, and my sleeping patterns are all messed up… which is also messing with my recovery. But, if you don’t have that… go for the break, and see how you feel.
Just a guess, but did you gain weight from your winter weight training? That’s just a shot in the dark…since you were working out enough (5 days) to keep the pounds off and the weight gain shouldn’t hurt your swimming. So I would heed the others advice and get a little sleep and examine your diet, but don’t give up. Never give up. It’s too easy.
i did go right into cc after last season. I actually had a tough time there as well. That ended in October, and I took off until about xmas/new years. I definately hear you on the mental aspect; I am drained after every season.
actually, yes i jumped from 165lbs to about 177, and i have since got down to 172. I put most of the weight on in my legs, and it is all/mostly muscle mass.
Thanks,
Bob
P2kman, You are way too young to be taking things quite so “seriously”. Finish out your track season, and enjoy it for what it is, whether you meet expectations or not. Then take a week or three off and hang out with your friends, without even so much as thinking about training. Don’t waste your young years tracking the minute fluctuations of your HR and a handful of seconds over 800m down to a knat’s ass. For one thing, you are still growing…a LOT. I’d bet that your weight gain was a lot more than just leg muscles. You are going to fill out a lot over the next few years. The key for you is to remain consistent in training over the next five or six years, as you meet the challenges of independence, college life(?), and the real world. Train with consistency, with a purpose, and with a plan. And training with consistency doesn’t mean EVERY DAY, and without a few weeks off per year.
The alternative is to continue down the somewhat obsessive track you are on. Here’s what will happen if you continue that track: You will obsess over trying to see constant improvement. In doing so, you will certainly learn a lot about training, and probably a hell of a lot about what NOT to do. You will constantly strive for the “next level”, and end up training more and more only to see ever diminishing results. If you are lucky enough to run for some college you’ll fall right into the track coach’s mindset that somehow 90-100 mile weeks are necessary in order to win at 1600m. You’ll buy into that mindset and let it trickle over to your bike and swim. The next thing you know you’ll be doing 80mi run/300+mi bike/20000+m swim weeks in pursuit of ever diminishing improvement. You’ll get pretty damn good, win a lot, and start to think you’ve got this thing all figured out. Of course that’s only if you don’t injure yourself from overtraining, because you WILL be overtraining. Then you’ll wake up one day when you’re 23 and think, “Damn, my ‘whole life’ has passed before me and I’m tired!” You’ll decide to skip a run. Then a bike. Then a whole week. Next thing you know you’ll skip a few months for a trip to some far off place to “get real” again. Or you’ll finally meet a significant other and get wrapped up in that, marry, and have a few kids. The next thing you know you’ll wake up somewhere in your 30’s 50lbs overweight, smoking, with three kids, a dog, an SUV and a BMW, a huge house (because you are always driven at something, but now its your job), a wife you hardly know, and with someone you hardly recognize staring back at you in the mirror. And you’ll decide to get in shape again. And you’ll obsess AGAIN. But you’ll never be as good as you once were, no matter how hard you work at it. You’ll obsess over the same handfuls of seconds here and there. You’ll worry about a lb here or there. I know this because I’m at that age where I have a lot of friends who are waking up to this reality. They used to be decent athletes, but let it slip after college because they were burned out and wanted to enjoy life for a while. That enjoyment ended up being 10 or 15 years of slugo living. Now they struggle to be MOP athletes when any one of them could have smoked me in their prime. Meanwhile, I’ve remained fairly consistent (as much as military deployments have allowed), and have consistenly improved. I’ve seen my share of podiums over the years, but I’ve also seen my share of MOP finishes when I’ve been off enjoying other areas of life. I’ll be 35 this year and I expect that I’ll hit my “fast” peak over the next year or two. Hopefully that means I’ll meet my life goal of 9:30 for IM. I could probably have been there some time ago if I’d sold my life to triathlon. But the journey has been much sweeter this way.
So what am I talking about? I’m not saying you need to slack off, or forget about becoming good. What I’m saying is that you need to enjoy the journey. Take your development slowly, and surely. Sometimes you’ll get faster, sometimes you’ll slow down a bit. But over time, with moderation, you will consistently improve. Look into Tim Deboom’s history and you’ll see a bit of what I mean. He didn’t just get fast all at once. He’s gotten to the top of the triathlon game by consistency over years of training. Or look at Siri Lindley. She didn’t burst out of the blocks at 22 as a blazing tri-goddess. Slow, sure, consistency over years got her to the top of triathlon. Take a look at the best in multisport. How many of them are 20, or even 25? How many are 30+? See what I mean? You’ve got plenty of time (like double as long as you’ve even been alive!) to get fast. Even if your goals are shorter races, it is the consistency over years that will give you the greatest fulfillment from your tri-life. Sure, if you have a chance at real tri-glory, go for it. But enjoy life as you go. Don’t sell out your life over a few seconds over 800m!
thanks,
that was some really great advice.
Bob
I second that… nice post
David
Just to add to and expand on a few things that TriBriGuy said. I can relate to you a little bit. I started triathlon in my high school days and swam for my high school and college. Triathlons are great, but even if it is your first love, you can never beat the comraderie of being on a team. Track may be something you do to get better in triathlon or it may not, but hanging out, competing and training with teammates will always be something I’ll miss. That comraderie and the friendships are hard to duplicate later in life. I brought a room full of college swimers, their parents and my coach to tears when I mentioned that in my senior year’s swimming banquet…that I’ll always have triathlon to look forward to, but I will always miss my teammates. Also, triathlon will always be there. Those slowtwitch fibers aren’t going anywhere and you still have years until you hit your peak in anything from Olympic and especially Ironman distances.
"put most of the weight on in my legs, and it is all/mostly muscle mass. "
that’s likely your problem right there. Big muscles slow you down (internal resistance), and your squats will have built big muscles. At a young age, there is IMO no reason to do weight training for running. Running is the best training for running. Weight training at this stage is useful mostly to address specific weaknesses.
Also, if you’re still growing (under the age of 20) then remember that there may be significant fluctuations in performance year-by-year, depending on whatever hormones are currently flooding through. I had one good year in high school, followed by four lousy ones where I didn’t improve at all…
finally something Not a PCer and I agree on completely. I think it shows the futility of weight training on getting faster for endurance events (although 800 isn’t strictly an endurance event it sure isn’t a sprint). Also, it is quite probable that all that new muscle has very poor capillary beds for aerobic endurance compared to what you had last year.
while I agree that the “thunder thighs” weight training can hurt one’s running if there is a weight gain, I think he was looking ahead to his tri season and doing it for his biking. But you’re right, he can’t do that and not expect his running to suffer.
It can also hurt his cycling if he concentrated on gaining muscle and lost aerobic capability. Only time will tell and if so, it will be a good lesson learned for the future. good experience is best gained through mistakes.
Excellent post that chronicles my life to a T. Well done.
Another explanation would be the increased diffusion distances from the capillaries to the furthest mitochondria in these muscles. Increasing this distance by increasing muscle mass without increasing or keeping capillary density the same will result in the runner reaching anaerobic threshold earlier than before. So whether this is a direct result of increased weight (4% increase in weight equals 5% decrease in capability as you pointed out) or, rather, a reaching anaerobic threshold earlier (5% increase in diffusion distance equals 5% decrease in aerobic performance) or some combination, weight training seems incompatible with good aerobic performance.
I have wondered about this sort of thing…
In the last 6 months I’ve lost 10 pounds (approx. 6% bw) and I would argue that my training, for running in particular has been consistent and better than prior years. I did a 5k in the Fall, trained & lost the 10lbs, and then did a 5k in the spring. My improvement was only 2.5% (approx. 30 seconds). Where is my other 45 seconds??? Dang it! This was by no means a rigorous comparison, but the weather was similar, similar time of day, and I “felt” like I ran good races both times on different, but essentially flat courses.
My example aside, I’m curious whether change in % bodyweight really leads to the same % change in race time, or does the change in bodyweight so commonly accompany a change in muscle mass (or some other change) that the relationship is never one for one.
the muscle i gained in my legs, should help on the bike, right? And for running, once i can bump my milage when track is over, my body should adapt by mid-season, correct? I am not sure, and it seemed as though you and a few others may be able to answer this one. Thanks guys, I am learning a lot.
Gaining muscle will not help on the bike per se, unless you can (and do) use it. Under most circumstances the typical rider hardly ever puts more than 40 lbs force on the pedals (probably, more typically, 20). It is not clear to me that a lot more muscle is necessary for doing that as this is a small percentage of the capability of even sedentary folks. We are talking aerobic endurance sports here and the main thing in the ability to sustain vigorous activity. This is mostly related to capillary density and enzyme capabilities in the muscle which come from appropriate training, not weight lifting directed to increasing muscle mass and anaerobic strength.
P2kman, You are way too young to be taking things quite so “seriously”. Finish out your track season, and enjoy it for what it is, whether you meet expectations or not. Then take a week or three off and hang out with your friends, without even so much as thinking about training. Don’t waste your young years tracking the minute fluctuations of your HR and a handful of seconds over 800m down to a knat’s ass. For one thing, you are still growing…a LOT. I’d bet that your weight gain was a lot more than just leg muscles. You are going to fill out a lot over the next few years. The key for you is to remain consistent in training over the next five or six years, as you meet the challenges of independence, college life(?), and the real world. Train with consistency, with a purpose, and with a plan. And training with consistency doesn’t mean EVERY DAY, and without a few weeks off per year.
The alternative is to continue down the somewhat obsessive track you are on. Here’s what will happen if you continue that track: You will obsess over trying to see constant improvement. In doing so, you will certainly learn a lot about training, and probably a hell of a lot about what NOT to do. You will constantly strive for the “next level”, and end up training more and more only to see ever diminishing results. If you are lucky enough to run for some college you’ll fall right into the track coach’s mindset that somehow 90-100 mile weeks are necessary in order to win at 1600m. You’ll buy into that mindset and let it trickle over to your bike and swim. The next thing you know you’ll be doing 80mi run/300+mi bike/20000+m swim weeks in pursuit of ever diminishing improvement. You’ll get pretty damn good, win a lot, and start to think you’ve got this thing all figured out. Of course that’s only if you don’t injure yourself from overtraining, because you WILL be overtraining. Then you’ll wake up one day when you’re 23 and think, “Damn, my ‘whole life’ has passed before me and I’m tired!” You’ll decide to skip a run. Then a bike. Then a whole week. Next thing you know you’ll skip a few months for a trip to some far off place to “get real” again. Or you’ll finally meet a significant other and get wrapped up in that, marry, and have a few kids. The next thing you know you’ll wake up somewhere in your 30’s 50lbs overweight, smoking, with three kids, a dog, an SUV and a BMW, a huge house (because you are always driven at something, but now its your job), a wife you hardly know, and with someone you hardly recognize staring back at you in the mirror. And you’ll decide to get in shape again. And you’ll obsess AGAIN. But you’ll never be as good as you once were, no matter how hard you work at it. You’ll obsess over the same handfuls of seconds here and there. You’ll worry about a lb here or there. I know this because I’m at that age where I have a lot of friends who are waking up to this reality. They used to be decent athletes, but let it slip after college because they were burned out and wanted to enjoy life for a while. That enjoyment ended up being 10 or 15 years of slugo living. Now they struggle to be MOP athletes when any one of them could have smoked me in their prime. Meanwhile, I’ve remained fairly consistent (as much as military deployments have allowed), and have consistenly improved. I’ve seen my share of podiums over the years, but I’ve also seen my share of MOP finishes when I’ve been off enjoying other areas of life. I’ll be 35 this year and I expect that I’ll hit my “fast” peak over the next year or two. Hopefully that means I’ll meet my life goal of 9:30 for IM. I could probably have been there some time ago if I’d sold my life to triathlon. But the journey has been much sweeter this way.
So, I have been out of triathlon for about 7 years now, and looking back through some old posts, I came across this advice, and I can’t believe how true it is, and how I wish I listened to it sooner. TriBriGuy, I don’t think you could have predicted how things would go any better. I went all in through about half of college, burned out, got married, and haven’t thought about racing. The only difference, is my wife and I have a great relationship. Anyway, I am about to start training again, with my sights set on the Longhorn 70.3 next October. Hopefully this time around, I will take your advice. Just wanted to say thanks, a few years later.