Competitive Triathlon in 10Hours A Week

I

1 Competitive Triathlon in 10 Hours A Week

10 Hours A Week

Content copyright © 2007 Performance Training Systems. All rights reserved.

Competitive Triathlon in 10 Hours A Week 2

Foreword From Coach Patrick

As an endurance coach who deals with real-world athletes, I am

constantly striking a balance between a training schedule that is ‘doable’

and one that delivers the highest performance gains. For years I have

watched people try and fit their lives into the frameworks created by

others. And while you wouldn’t walk more than 20 feet in a pair of shoes

that didn’t fit, it’s amazing how long athletes will continue to follow a

training plan that isn’t right for them.

Competitive Triathlon in 10 Hours a Week, the product of over five years

of triathlon training & coaching experience, seeks to address the number

one challenge facing age group triathletes: a lack of time to train. As

age group athletes can attest, the multiple commitments of family, work,

and fitness are hard to juggle and are always in conflict with one another.

If so many athletes face time constraints, why isn’t there a methodology

to help them craft the training plan that’s right for their goals, their

schedule?

After searching for years – and failing –to find this balanced approach to

training, I set out to create it. The Third Way is a philosophy that puts an

end to the quality vs. quantity debate by taking the best of both

approaches and condensing them into a manageable structure that

generates results. Many of our athletes at Performance Training Systems

have used this approach with great success, and with this book I hope to

bring this philosophy to the larger public.

Built on the Third Way, this book is the ultimate tool for the self-coached

triathlete. There are three distinct elements to this text: Methodology,

Planning, and Resources. The Methodology section outlines the concepts


10 Hours A Week


and practices behind the 10Hours A Week approach to triathlon training.

In the Planning section, you will go step-by-step through the process of

developing a training plan for your next race / event, identifying your

Critical Success Factors and determining your Key Workouts – athletes

pressed for time should begin with this section. The Resources section

contains workout examples, exercise routines (with photos), and a

glossary.

For those of you who have not had a specific training plan before, my

hope is that you will discover how reassuring it is to look ahead at the

upcoming week and know exactly what you will be doing on each day –

and how each workout will help you reach your specific goal(s). For those

of you who are time-challenged, I hope you will find balance and

improvements in the simple framework I have created.

I strongly believe that the principles for planning and execution in

Competitive Triathlon in 10Hours a Week will help you achieve your

athletic goals without forcing you to put your life on hold.

See you at the races!

Coach Patrick


Who is Coach Patrick?

I completed my first sprint triathlon in the summer of 1999 while on

break from the Peace Corps. Since then, I have transformed my interest in

triathlon from a part-time hobby into Performance Training Systems

(PTS), an online coaching enterprise. I live and train in Boston, MA with

my wonderful wife and beautiful baby daughter, where I:

! Have coached over 100 athletes to the Ironman finish line, including

the World Champs in Hawaii.

! Have published my writing and blogging on triathlon, training and

the endurance lifestyle on 10hoursaweek.com , eTips, TriFuel.com,

BeginnerTriathlete.com, Xtri.com, TransitionTimes, Active.com and

in Inside Triathlon magazine.

! Have competed in nine Ironman races, from Panama City to

Klagenfurt, from a low of 11:44 to a personal best of 10:01, earning

a Kona slot in 2006.

! Serve as the Head Coach of Fuel Belt Training ( Fuelbelt.com ), where

athletes of all abilities can purchase triathlon and run training

plans.

As an age-group triathlete for the last seven

years, I am acutely aware of the time demands

on fellow age-group triathletes. An advocate

for planning and training smart, I am most

proud of my ability to develop effective,

timesaving training protocols for athletes that

help them achieve their triathlon goals.


10 Hours A Week



Disclaimers and the Legal Stuff

This is a book for the Self Coached Athlete!

You are actually required to do some work; this means reading the text,

filling out the associated forms, selecting key workouts and tracking your

progress. If you are looking for a plan that just tells you what to do and

when, you have come to the wrong place – this plan requires you to think

about who you are as an athlete, to determine what type of work to do to

be ready for race day and to analyze your progress.

Do not purchase this book if you want the “12 Weeks to a Half Iron PR”

training plan. If you are looking for a training plan or one-on-one

coaching, visit www.performancetrainingsystems.com .

Physician Approval

Triathlon is more than a sport; it’s three thrown together. And of all the

sports to choose, swimming, cycling, and running are some of the most

dangerous ones out there. Before you undertake this, or any training

program, your physician should approve you for physical activity.

Some of the risks you take in training and racing might even be life

threatening. By taking certain precautions, you should be able to

minimize your risks. For example:

• Always wear a helmet when riding a bike

• Avoid heavy traffic areas whenever possible when riding or running

• Ride and run only with safe groups; avoid groups that do not obey

traffic laws


10 Hours A Week


• Never swim in open water alone

• Make sure your bike is safe before starting every ride by checking

the tires, quick-release levels, bolts, etc.

If you experience any physical conditions such as chest pain, radiating

arm or neck pain, joint soreness, back pain, unusual muscle or tendon

discomfort, when training, be sure to inform your doctor right away and

stop the workout immediately.

This book is mean to be a guide to improving your fitness. Follow it’s

principles, train smart, and stay healthy and you’ll be on track for a

successful season!


PART ONE: The Self Coached Athlete

Self-coached athletes have implicitly accepted a huge responsibility. This

is not a decision to be taken lightly, as a coach has many roles –

motivator, planner, sounding board, listener, re-scheduler, strategist,

etc. And as any one of us can’t excel in all of the aforementioned areas

simultaneously and be a good athlete, parent, colleague, friend, etc., we

look externally for input on how to proceed.

The explosive growth of the Internet has made all sorts of information

about training and triathlon available to anyone with a computer. And

there is always a training buddy ready to give you some feedback on how

to improve. Unfortunately, simply combining the training advice of an

Olympic-caliber swimmer, an elite Marathoner, and Lance Armstrong’s

cycling coach will not help you to create the ideal training plan for YOU.

The worst part of this approach is that each of these people are examples

of excellence in a particular discipline – not in three simultaneously.

Combining best practices such as these can only lead to fatigue, over-

training, and potentially injury.

The 10Hours A Week methodology was designed specifically with these

challenges in mind. Within this approach, your “challenge” will lie within

the workout itself…not in how to fit it into your busy week…not in how to

put the right workout in the right place, etc. By condensing your training

week into (approximately) ten hours and giving you the basic framework

for your training, the 10Hours A Week approach should actually free you

to do more of the “important” stuff in your life.


10 Hours A Week


“You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going,

because you might not get there.” – Yogi Berra

Accept Your Athletic Self: Be vs. Have

When it comes to triathlon training, there is a lot of room for debate on

what constitutes the best training methodology. From my experience,

success has very little to do with the plan and everything to do with the

preparation. In other words, I can give Unmotivated Joe Triathlete the

best dang triathlon plan in the world and he still won't be successful if he

doesn't do the work. The 10Hours A Week methodology works precisely

because it begins with the “how” instead of the “what” or the “why.”

Most time-challenged athletes are unhappy with their training situation.

These athletes are jealous of their counterparts who have lots of time to

train, lamenting: “If I only had free time on Saturday to train…” or “If I

could run long twice in a single week I could…” These athletes are so

focused on what they think they need (external) that they are unable to

concentrate on making the most of the assets they already possess

(internal). By accepting that your time schedule is limited, you can work

on becoming the best triathlete you can be. Race day success is

predicated upon quality training, and quality training is consistent

training.

Training for world-class performance and training 10Hours A Week are

two very different things. In this program, you’ll be the best you can be,

given your constraints. If you are willing to forsake everything for training

in your quest for Olympic gold, you’ll definitely need another approach.


This approach of identifying our assets and becoming better athletes is

an inherent part of the 10Hours A Week approach. Just as you will start

with the end in mind by planning your training around your goal

performance in your next A-level race, so too can you begin to mold

yourself into a lean, mean, time efficient machine!


10 Hours A Week



Coach Thyself

The most challenging aspect of the 10Hours A Week program--or any

exercise in self-coaching--is acting as your own coach. While the

10Hours A Week program will give you a training framework, it will not

make any decisions for you. It will not get you out of bed, it will not take

your splits at the track, it won't give you feedback on your running

technique. These are all aspects of your training that fall under your

jurisdiction; it's up to you to decide how far you want to take your fitness.

Here are three key elements of successful self-coached athletes.

The Biggest Bang is about doing workouts that have the highest return

on your time investment. When you start your training week, you should

have a clear sense of which workouts are the key – or critical – efforts for

you to complete. While this approach is already incorporated into the

10Hours A Week methodology, there will still be times when you will be

forced to adapt or change your workout schedule. For example, a

meeting might run late, forcing you to skip that day's work out. Now you

have to decide whether you should reschedule that work out or skip it.

Since your week is already pretty packed, rescheduling your workouts

could be a lot of work. If the work that you missed was a key workout,

however, then by all means you should reschedule it in the place of a

workout that is less important. You will face this challenge repeatedly in

your training and you'll have many opportunities to get it right (or

wrong). Do your best to stick to the Biggest Bang theory and you'll be

okay.

Know Your Numbers means staying on top of your training. This means

tracking the time, distance, and effort for each workout. Having this


10 Hours A Week


information is critical for your training success. After all, in order to plan

a successful week or month, you need to know what you've already done.

The 10Hours A Week methodology includes a framework for tracking

your data but you should know that there are many other options

available to you including online training logs and Excel spreadsheets you

can download right to your computer. Whatever tool you decide to use,

you must use it consistently in order for it to be useful.

Keep The Balance is about, well, staying balanced. The whole point of

the 10Hours A Week methodology is to give you access to high-level

athletic success without steep personal or professional sacrifices. Self-

coached athletes are notorious for seeking out extra work to ensure

success. What starts out innocently enough as 10Hours A Week can

quickly devolve into an over-training fiasco. Regardless of who you are or

what your goals are, you have a set of priorities outside of your training.

Perhaps your family is the most important thing to you; maybe it's your

job. Whatever your external priorities may be, it's important to keep them

in mind as you plan and execute your training.


Equipment

Truth be told, having an effective methodology—and actually following

it—is only half the battle. There is also a particular set of equipment that

will make your 10Hours A Week training experience very effective. The

following is a list of things that will help you set up the optimal training

environment. While none of them are mandatory, each is a part of the

overall plan and I will refer to them later in the book. I recognize that

each athlete has a different budget, so do what you can. In many cases, a

lot of these items are available online for a significant discount / used. To

make things easier, I have listed the items in order of Mandatory /

Strongly Recommended / Optional.

! Mandatory : heart rate monitor, swim cap, goggles, swimsuit,

running shoes, bicycle, bicycle helmet, cycling shoes, cycling

shorts, flat repair kit.

! Strongly Recommended : kickboard, fins, hand paddles, swim cords,

cycling jersey, sunglasses, aerobars, indoor bicycle trainer,

treadmill (or access to one)

! Optional : drag suit, bicycle powermeter.

The ideal 10Hours A Week athlete would have the following fitness setup:

• Swimming : Access to a 25-meter/25-yard pool with plenty of lap-

or open-swim time slots, option for Masters swim workouts.

• Cycling : A bicycle power meter (for Watts indoors and out) and an

indoor trainer for the shorter workouts (or the really inclement

weather days).

• Running : A treadmill - or access to one - for the winter months,

unless you have no fear of the cold or inclement weather.


10 Hours A Week


• Access to Cross Training equipment such as spin bikes, elliptical

machines, Stairmasters, etc.

Joining the local gym or YMCA is an easy way to gain

access to a large variety of equipment / facilities without

breaking the bank!


Third Way Methodology

There is constant debate over what constitutes an effective program: tons

of miles (volume) or miles that hurt tons (intensity). The folks on either

side of the line have been battling for so long that the true nature of the

argument—what is the most effective training protocol—is almost moot.

Most people are more fired up about the type of training they do than

they are about the results they are getting. In other words, being able to

say you did a 7-hour ride is more important than whether the ride

actually resulted in any tangible training benefit.

The most effective schedule is one you can actually complete.

The Third Way is all about the appropriate application of time and effort

to get the desired fitness outcomes. While long-term endurance fitness

gains are most certainly made by executing macro cycles of long-

distance/steady-state training for many years, the issue here is that the

majority of age group triathletes simply don't have the time to make that

kind of investment. And even if they can find the time to put in this

mega-training, most don't have the time to invest in the recovery needed

to properly absorb their training load.

There is most certainly a time and a place for high-volume training within

an age grouper's training regimen – and within the 10Hours A Week

program as well. Of course, this volume is selectively placed at critical

points within your training cycle, giving you the greatest return on your

training time investment without sapping your other life commitments.

What the 10Hours A Week program does not allow for, however, is

training for the sake of just training. You can talk about back-to-back

weekends century rides as much as you want, but the reality is that only


10 Hours A Week


5% of the age group triathlete population actually has the time to

complete that type of training. And maybe only 1% will actually benefit

from that type of double session.

Sample Scheduling Framework

So how does all this actually translate into a plan? Depending on an

athlete's goal race distance, particularly for the half- or full-Ironman

races, the 10Hours A Week program will allow for some high volume

work. A sample Half Ironman program could be built on the following

six-week macro cycle:

Sample Half Iron Macro Cycle*

Time Week Type Total Hours Focus

Weeks 1 to 4 Standard 10 hours Quality workouts with

intensity and recovery.

Week 5 Endurance 14 hours Long, steady state efforts to

boost base fitness.

Week 6 Recovery 6 hours Recovery and testing time to

monitor improvements.

* repeat cycle as needed.

The four weeks of training targeting 10Hours A Week enables the athlete

to work on their high-end fitness and technique in a controlled manner.

By scheduling one week of endurance training, the athlete has time to

plan -- personally and professionally -- for this part of the cycle. It is

within this endurance week that the athlete puts his/her 10Hours A Week

fitness to the test in conditions similar to their Key Race. Total training

time during an endurance week is up to each athlete and their individual

schedule. At a minimum, a bit more time on the bike is recommended.


The final week of recovery and testing allows for the consolidation and

benchmarking of fitness gains. More importantly, this recovery week is

the time for the athlete to excel in other areas of his or her life.

Documents

Competitive Triathlon in 10Hours A Week