Key Workouts
Brad Kearns, 38, of Auburn, California is noted
speaker, author and coach for both endurance athletes and corporate employees.
During his nine-year career as a triathlete, he was one of the world's top
ranked professionals, amassing over 30 wins worldwide on the pro circuit. He is
also a great friend of the Mad Cows. Visit Bradventures.com
The Key Workouts Strategy is a simple, effective training philosophy that will enable you to avoid setbacks in training, enjoy tremendous breakthroughs in your performances and still lead a balanced lifestyle.
Triathlon training is fraught with challenge - you have to spend many hours training in a physically demanding sport to be competitive. The challenge is such that the many endurance athletes tend towards obsessive/compulsive behavior - you feel like you can never get enough training in, you're constantly stressed for time and you're never quite in the shape you want to be. Not to mention the intimidation factor of the 'average' Ironman participant swimming a reported 15,000 yards a week, cycling 250 miles and running 48 miles!
Focusing on results like weekly mileage and workout times leads to compulsive behavior and burnout. The Key Workouts Strategy will allow you to break through your performance plateaus and revitalize your athletic career. It is a training philosophy whereby the entire focus of your training shifts from weekly mileage, consistent schedules and other factors of dubious value to simply completing a small number of Key Workouts successfully.
Key Workouts are defined as workouts that are difficult enough to stimulate fitness improvement. These workouts can be of varying types, long or fast.
A successful Key Workout is achieved by following two important rules:
- Conduct a Key Workout only when 100% rested and motivated
- Allow for complete recovery after every Key Workout
Implementing the Key Workouts Strategy means you must reject obsessions like weekly mileage and the need to do some form of productive training every day - a major change in philosophy. Instead of doing what your mind wants to satisfy ego and obsessive/compulsive tendencies, you will focus on what your body wants - stress and rest to reach higher levels and health and fitness.
Additionally, Key Workouts prepare your body for race conditions much better than "consistent" mediocre training. Races push your body to the limit; you need to approximate these stressful events in training if you want to compete successfully.
Following the Key Workouts Strategy means your training log may actually have blanks, that the majority of your workouts are easy, enjoyable and energizing and that you can have a "life" in addition to your athletic passion. Vacations, illnesses, time considerations and other real-life factors that interfere with your carefully planned training regimen are of little consequence compared to the big picture of ongoing successful Key Workouts.
It is time to reject the robotic obsessive/compulsive zombie training approach that seems to be an accurate characterization of today's highly motivated amateur triathlete. Take a page from the lifestyle of a top professional and focus more on rest, leading a balanced life and pushing your body hard at the appropriate times.
My best season of 1991 coincided with some major changes in my training routine. I moved from Los Angeles to a rural area in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. I trained alone at a slower pace, slept more and took two days per week where all I did was eat, stretch and watch videos. I was insecure with the new routine at first - surely Mike Pigg and the other competitors were logging more miles while I was watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High on Wednesday morning! Totally untested against relevant competition, I flew to the first race of the year, the Bud Light USTS Phoenix with a strong field of 35 pros. I had no clue if I would contend or finish 10 minutes back. When I won easily, I figured I was on to something.Oh, besides the extra sleep and movies, I increased my weekly long ride from 4-5 hours of moderate hills to 8 hours of brutal climbing in the high Sierra - the Key Workouts Strategy at its finest.
Key Workouts in Practice
What does your schedule
look like then? Well, 1-2 Key Workouts per week is the most triathletes can
really absorb and benefit from. If you find yourself doing more than 1-2 "Key"
workouts per week, re-examine your definition of Key Workout - a workout that
is difficult and challenging enough to improve your fitness level that you only
undertake when you are 100% rested and motivated.
Note: Swimming, because it is much less physically stressful than cycling or running, is not factored in here. I'm talking about an ideal week of one key run, one key ride and perhaps 1-2 swims where you push yourself.
Picture a training week with only a couple workouts that really matter - it drastically reduces the stress of needing every workout to be productive or meeting predetermined weekly mileage goals regardless of external variables. Recovery and workload are individual - it takes trial and error to figure out what's best for your. With all the training information at our disposal, scheduling Key Workouts can be difficult and confusing.
Scheduling Key Workouts
When you follow the Key
Workouts Strategy you will automatically arrive at a schedule that is best for
you. Use trial and error to determine how much rest you need between Key
Workouts and which days of the week work the best for important training.
Always begin the season with an aerobic base building period of at least two months where all training is aerobic. All your Key Workouts during this period will be overdistance rather than race pace or anaerobic training.
During the competitive season, remember that a triathlon is a Key Workout! As you need to maintain your aerobic base at all times, include both overdistance and fast non-race Key Workouts during the season according to an efficient periodization plan. Remember that stress and rest matters on a daily, weekly and annual basis.
When you implement the Key Workouts Strategy, you evolve your triathlon career from the typical compulsive approach to an athletic approach, where every workout has a specific purpose progressing toward peak performance in competition.
Brad Kearns is a former national champion and #3 world-ranked professional triathlete and popular author, speaker and coach in the fitness world for the last 16 years. Brad's Power Month book/CD offers a focused, 30-day program with daily Action Plans to improve dietary habits and food choices, goals and heart-rate based periodization training schedule, general health and stress management and personal growth issues. His www. Bradventures.com offers a healthy, holistic approach to performance nutrition and healthy, balanced lifestyle practices.