Health Fitness

Triathlon Training: 2015 Low Season Plan

I certainly endured a great year of racing. I was pleased to be able to take on the heavier training load for an ironman. I was also pleased to have finished two other half ironman distances this year. All these races and the increased training allowed me to gain a lot of confidence heading into the 2016 season. I was especially encouraged by my finish in the Beach to Battleship Ironman distance race, where I finished just off the podium in fourth place in my age group and in 57th place overall. As I was finishing up the last few weeks of training for the ironman, I started thinking about what I would like to do during the off-season.

I knew I needed a break. The last three or four weeks of training became tedious and she was battling physical and mental fatigue. My 2-week tune-up plan worked perfectly and I felt good for the race, but I knew I couldn’t train again for the 2016 season. I also knew that in order to improve for next year’s races I would have to do a few things. differently to improve. Ultimately, I learned that I needed more leg strength to bike, more core strength to run and bike, and more upper body strength to have more swimming stroke strength.

I settled on a staple for myself over the last few years and that is P90X. This series of exercises involves strengthening the upper body as well as a steady diet of lower body exercises. It also has a focus on the core and abdominal areas. I wanted to do a 60 day run on the P90X after a week off after the ironman. This 60-day P90X series would put me a week away from the New Year. I knew we would be traveling during this time to visit family for Christmas and that my workouts would get messy at best.

I started with the P90X and quickly realized that I didn’t have the strength that I had at one point in that I couldn’t do the required push-ups or lift weights. I was also incredibly sore. I knew this was working the right muscles to get better at triathlon as well as building strength to avoid injury.

I will return to Triathlon training just after the New Year.

To update:

11.29.15 – I’ve now been doing P90X for 40 days or so. I feel great even though I have lost some weight from not doing all the cardio I was doing before. I figure I’ll lose some of this weight when I get back into training right after the first of the year. My shoulders feel stronger and my back is stronger which will help in swimming. I feel like my legs are stronger along with my glutes which will help me with running and cycling. I’ll be ready to finish P90X in a couple of weeks and then I think I’m mentally ready to go back to triathlon-specific training. I ran a bit during the off week between weeks 3 and 5 of P90X. I recognized a stronger rhythm and my core was stronger. I feel like this was the best way to follow my offseason plan.

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