Whatever you’re training for there are often some common training mistakes that we can fall into with Triathlon Training.
Often, we tend to make the same mistakes because we fall into a pattern of what we like doing, what we’re afraid of doing or what we’ve always done.
I tend to notice three typical ways of triathlon training and three types of athlete. They all have their pro’s and con’s.
The Sufferfest
Some people are very good at going hard!
They like the buzz of the workout, the endorphins and they’re very good at suffering. They might be super competitive and super busy people with a fast paced life.
These are great characteristics for racing and of course you need to work hard and suffer in order to get fitter. For these people their superpower is their ability to suffer.
However, if you always go hard they’ll never be any room for recovery. A common mistake is to make the whole session hard rather than going hard on an interval and easy on the recovery. This means that the intervals are likely not as hard as they could be because they haven’t recovered enough from the last repeat.
Making every session hard in a triathlon training programme will soon lead to injury, fatigue and possibly over training.
BUT there are also physiological adaptations that are beneficial from training at lower effort levels.
These people are often worried that training slower at easier effort levels means they’re not trying hard enough or that they’ll lose their fitness if they’re not trying hard all the time. So it’s useful to remember that the actual fitness gains and adaptations happen when the body can have some recovery.
These people will also benefit from mapping out their training in a structured triathlon training plan so it’s clear which sessions need to be hard and which need to be easy.
Duracell Bunny
Some people just love long runs or spending hours on their bike. They can go easy for hours and they love the meditative feel of steady easy paced sessions. For these people their super power is their endurance and the ability to keep going which are great characteristics for very long events.
However, if all you do is train long and slow, you’ll get very good at going long and slow. And it’s quite likely over time you’ll get slower.
You’ll also miss out on building strength, speed, fast twitch fibres and the other physiological benefits that can be gained from going faster. And without these benefits you might find that gradually the long and slow pace you’ve been doing starts to feel harder.
You might also miss out on some of the mental toughness and focus that is required with harder intervals.
These people often fall into the habit of doing junk miles and just doing miles for the sake of it or because they always have. And it is this high volume that can also have a high risk of injury.
These people might not like the feelings of working at high effort levels so part of the job is to learn how to tolerate the feelings. It’s also common for people in this group to lack confidence in their abilities to finish a session. I always used to worry that I wouldn’t make it to the end so spent a lot of time working out a lot easier than I needed to.
Middle Medio
These are people that do everything at a middle of the road pace and effort level. They sometimes do intervals but the difference between their hard and easy sections isn’t a lot. You might overtake them in the intervals but then they pass you on the easy sections.
I’ve also noticed that often these people are quite good during training but sometimes aren’t so fast on race day because they’re not so keen on putting it all out there during a race.
These people are making an effort to vary the effort levels so they’re not making the same mistakes as the other two types. But they’re also missing out on the benefits of hard intervals, and slow long sessions.
If you fall into this category, it might be because you’re not quite sure what your training zones or effort levels need to be or you might not be clear on the purpose of each session.
Another issue I see is that often it might be because you’re not really focussed on what you should be doing during your session and your mind is somewhere else.
Effective Training
To make training effective so you get the most out of it we want a mixture of sessions. Some long and easy, some with intervals of different lengths. The is to include variety but to also make sure the hard sessions are hard, and the easy sessions are easy. This also includes the work and rest periods in each specific session.
Of course, I’ve made a lot of generalisations above and no one fits neatly in to a box or a label! But it’s useful to reflect on your own training.
Can you identify yourself or anyone you know in any of these categories?
If you need help to make your training more effective then get in touch to find out how my coaching services could help. You can book in for a FREE Let’s Chat or send me a message.
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