MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME LIKE A PRO

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One of my main goals is to slash your learning curve and get you training with maximum efficiency right from the start.

Training correctly for an endurance sport requires attention in many different areas. In addition to the cardio training that you do there’s recovery techniques, strength work, injury prevention, gear prep plus nutrition and fueling to consider. Use these tips to optimize all that you do and watch your performance soar.

 

FOCUS ON TIME

Instead of thinking about training each discipline (like, swim, bike or run), shift your focus to maximizing the amount of time that you have available. Traditionally you might think about, say, swimming in the morning and running after work but that mindset doesn’t really help you get everything done. Instead focus on BLOCKS OF TIME.

Ask yourself, “how much time can I commit to my workouts on different days of the week”? Ask, “is my life better if I do one block of training per day or do I feel better with more rest between sessions”? This will help you structure your days and training far better

 

BACK TO BACK

You can really optimize the time that you have if you do more back to back training. One of the key factors that help you improve as an athlete is TRAINING FREQUENCY, so for example, even short run after every bike session can help you not only improve your transitions but also increase the number of run sessions you get in each week. This is particularly useful for swimming, where “feel on the water” can be maintained much better with a higher frequency of training. The extra swim doesn’t need to be long, even 5 minutes will help!

 

GET THE ORDER RIGHT

The main focus of endurance training is to build aerobic speed and this requires you to train at low lactate levels and access fats for energy. Therefore, do the easy training BEFORE the more intense training especially when doing back to back sessions and training just once per day. This has several benefits in that you control the intensity of the easier training more accurately and by the time you get to the higher intensity you are nicely warmed up and ready to go for it. So, bike or run before you swim (most of the time) and do weights AFTER everything else.

 

BE ORGANIZED

Endurance sports require lots of gear so make it easy on yourself by creating ONE location where you store everything related to your training (if you can). Having everything in one place means no more running around trying to find the charger for your heartrate monitor when you should already be out of the door! Keep all your bottles, drink mixes and gels nearby and even consider a small fridge stocked with water so that mixing a carbo drink or recovery formula is that much easier.

 

STACK

It may seem simple but you can get more from a single discipline than you think. For example, a 60 minute Zone 2 run could just be an “easy run” for 60 minutes or it could be….

·       Foam roll

·       Jog 5 minutes to warm-up

·       5 x (30 seconds of a technique drill/ jog 30 seconds)

·       Run 40 minutes at the correct target heartrate and during that time focus on your leg speed/ strides per minute. At the same time, internally affirm “I am getting stronger every day” and picture yourself crossing the finish line of your next race in a PR time.

 

FUEL SMART

There are many ways to train depending on your home life, work and race goals but a key trick is to pre-plan  your nutrition in to the day. You want to time it so that your workouts and recovery are optimized by what you eat and when. Here are a couple of detailed plans to help you ….

2 workout blocks in a day

·       Snack / Session #1 with fuel/ Breakfast/ Work/ Lunch/ Snack 1 hour before… / Workout #2 with fuel/ Dinner

·       Breakfast/ Session #1 with fuel/ Lunch/ Snack/ Session #2 with fuel/ Recovery drink/ Dinner

1 workout block in a day

·       Larger snack / Session #1 with fuel/ Recovery drink/ Session #2/ Brunch/ Snack/ Dinner

·       Breakfast/ Session #1 with fuel/ Recovery drink/ Session #2/ Lunch/ Snack/ Dinner

·       Breakfast/ Lunch/ Snack/ Session #1 with fuel/ Recovery drink/ Dinner

And finally, here are some real-life examples to make APPROXIMATELY ONE HOUR work better for you ….

1.     Drive to the pool. 5 minutes mobility, Run 30 minutes, Swim 30 mins, 5 minutes stretch, Shower, dress, work

2.     Foam roll for 5 minutes, Indoor Ride 40 mins, Run straight off the bike for 20 minutes, 5 minutes of leg weights, 5 minutes stretch

Both of these examples show just how much you can achieve in a short space of time.