What Is Training?

"Sports training refers to specialized strategies and methods of exercise used in various sports to develop athletes and prepare them for performing in sporting events." - Wikipedia

I can't believe it has been months since I wrote my last post! Where did the time go and what was I doing during that time? Well, as this post is titled "What Is Training?" that is exactly the question I have been asking since the Ironman. Training was pretty much non-existent for me. Sure I was still doing some weight lifting, running, swimming and cycling but it was all in a fashion that really had no structure. For once I could now classify myself as one of the legions of people who simply "workout" with no focus or direction. I had no goal to work towards so my focus was simply not there which led to many a missed day of "working out". You should gather by now that I view training as a much directed process with an end goal in mind.

As I mulled over my thoughts as to what I was going to train towards in 2011, I had stated a number of times that I wanted to do an XTerra off-road triathlon along with some sprint and maybe an Olympic distance triathlon event. But there was just no fire in the belly. I still am excited about the prospect of doing an XTerra or two but as of late what has been consuming my all thought is the prospect of getting back into road and mountain bike racing! Why?

Here are a few items that have prompted me in this direction;

1. This year I turn (gulp) 40.

2. Due to reason #1 I want to do something different this year than the standard fare triathlons I have done the past 5 years.

3. My plan in the fall was to build my running but my Achilles has kept nagging me to the point I cannot put in enough mileage to see benefit.

4. Due to reason #3, why fixate on an event that relies heavily upon running when I can't train it??

5. Face facts, I have demonstrated the running prowess of a sea turtle. (Mainly due to reason #3).

6. Coaching has really taken off for me this year which is fantastic, but what comes with the territory of added work responsibilities is a lack of training time.

7. With time being a factor I feel it would be easier to focus on a single sport in training versus juggling 3 as well as consistent two-a-day training sessions. These tend to really get in the way of a productive career long-term. I don't have to feel guilty leaving mid-day to get in a swim because the pool lanes are plentiful at that time.

8. A number of my clients are focused on the bike as are a number of my friends and peers and it would be great to get out and train and race with them again. They have motivated and inspired me to do so.

9. After my IMC experience, I was a bit let down by the sport and feel the need to step back or away from it for awhile and recharge. Perhaps burned out from it all is a good summary. I won't abandon triathlon as I do deep down enjoy it but something about the commercialism of it all has really frustrated me.

10. My wife got into cycling two years ago and I think it is totally cool. I enjoy riding with her and showing her new routes and it is a sport that we can connect with together. (She will roll her blue eyes reading this).

Wow, I came up with 10 reasons and I didn't even think about making a list of 10 items.

With that update out of the way, I did want to discuss what I feel training is. This was prompted by a recent discussion with someone who I will classify as a "talkative rider". "Talkative rider" really got to me when I joined a group cycling session in order to do my 3min and 20min time trials. As I finished the 3min effort with my common slobber-fest, vision in blackness and freight train breathing, "talkative rider" and a few others had promptly engaged in a discussion of where they would have lunch after the session. Fast forward to the finish of the 20min TT and having crumpled onto my top tube and handlebars, the discussion once again quickly began but I was not coherent enough to keep up to the content. "Talkative rider" was then producing excuse upon excuse as to why they never got better at their time trials and chalked it up to just not being good at them. In probing what they did for training it became quite clear that there really was no direction they were headed in. No actual program to follow but hoping that the process of “working out” would somehow lead to an increase in performance. Without going into the details of this discussion let's just say that this person will never improve with their current attitude and perspective.

It is sad really that this attitude permeates society in the sense that people are not striving to better themselves but are quite capable of rattling off excuse after excuse. There are many who seem to not want to face a challenge, commit to overcoming that challenge and growing as a person. This doesn’t have to be solely about sport either but could be related to marriage, relationships, career etc. I watch the Biggest Loser and get inspired watching people grow as they are pushed first by the trainers, then by their peers and finally by themselves. I admire the "fight" they develop and the desire to overcome what at one time seemed insurmountable. They no longer have fear or are scared to push themselves. They no longer have fear to challenge themselves and now seek out new and exciting challenges. Look how many past contestants on the Biggest Loser go on to do things that people with perfect health/wealth and physical abilities would never do or more specifically don’t believe they can do.

What I believe has helped transform people on the Biggest Loser has been the guidance given to them and the process of training each of them undergoes. This encompasses the nutrition, the medical, the psychological and the physical conditioning. Much like the training athletes undertake albeit their physical capacities are vastly different. There is a process in place that we often don’t see on the T.V. that the contestants follow so don’t think that it is always a “last chance workout”. The unfortunate thing is that the world sees this and then goes on a high intensity training binge day after day. Not realistic in my opinion.

Many people approach training more from a "I do a workout every day approach" which can be composed of doing a series of random sessions spread across activities like yoga, a spinning class, a weekday jog, weights, elliptical and "swimming" or as I classify them "bathers" or something else in the outdoors. When I speak of training I mean a more methodical approach towards a goal or series of goals and objectives. Cold hard facts and numbers coupled with an athlete’s perceived feeling of improvement. Specific assignments or daily prescriptions that are meant to see the attainment of our stated goals. These goals may be performance markers but what we are really looking to see is if performance in events or races matches their expectations and goals.

One of the key factors Jon Bird spoke of that he learned when I coached him was to focus on the details of the training and understand why I prescribed him a series of workouts. He learned to understand the big picture and how each workout was like a brick forming a solid structure. Each workout had a purpose in the grand scheme of things. I can honestly say there was nothing random about his training program.

I witness so many people who do a series of group training sessions in swimming, running and cycling but there is no overall structure in a manner that will yield results. How can it? I have no issue in people doing a couple of group training sessions weekly but I always ask the groups I lead to think about how this session impacts your overall training program. Did it address your specific limiter that you should be improving in the off-season? Did it or will it impact your next training session(s). Is your recovery impaired by it? Did the group sessions simply meet a social need? Are the sessions congruent with your training phases and build up towards your event? I have heard of groups training towards one goal event late in the season but there were athletes who were training towards an event earlier in the season and were prescribed the same training when they required a different training approach.
I have witnessed athletes who did 4 group cycling sessions a week, two at one coaching group and two at another. They should have got better at their 3min and 20min time trials but they in fact got worse. Why was that the case? How about too many hard sessions a week and not enough recovery or focus on training their aerobic system. Not a structured build-up and too long a period of time doing too high an intensity. Non-compatible zones and assessments where one used power and another perceived effort or heart rate. Poor scheduling of recovery periods will also impact performance or the readiness to perform.

The act of flogging someone takes no art or science and in fact has led to the proliferation of coaches and personal trainers making huge sums of money by tearing someone up once a week. Someone riding next to me last week fell victim to this as he had been pummelled in the morning by a personal trainer who knew the client would be doing a 2 hour cycling class in the evening. The client concluded that a weight training session and a cycling workout on the same day don’t mix well. I disagree and have seen a positive effect in my cycling performance within a 12 hour period of a specific and sensible weight training workout. However, beyond the 12 hour window there is a drop in my cycling performance but by properly structuring my workouts (and those of my athletes) I can account for this and build upon these sessions.

The take home message from this post is to be more cognizant of structuring your training in order to see improvement and the achievement of your goals. Know what it is you are training towards versus hoping something good comes from it. Randomly working out will not lead to long term improvement but rather frustration. Goal setting itself can provide more guidance and direction for an athlete or even someone looking to attain better health and fitness. This is another topic altogether but is imperative to the process of training. Remember “failing to plan is planning to fail”.

I look forward to training and racing on the road and mountain bike again this season!

JVD