Periodisation is Overrated - a podcast by Siri Lindley and Rebekah Keat, Team Sirius Tri Club

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This week, Maddy is subbing for Siri and Bek.  Today's chat is about periodisation -- planning out training blocks for your race calendar year.  There are 2 different elements: off season training and the schedule during the year.  

There are 2 kinds of athlete's during off season:
1) One that looks forward to taking the time off
2) One that struggles with having to take time off and being away from training.

Off season:
#1) Take the time off.  You need this.  TSTC recommends at one to two months off.

#2) Plan your off season during the holiday season.  This is perfect because it can get busy and you can spend quality time around the family.  Do, at least, 2 weeks of nothing.

#3) The next 2 weeks is an optional training.  Do one or two workouts a day that is super easy.  You'll still be able to focus on other things outside of triathlon.

#4) The next 10 weeks is considered as a pre-season build.  You can do sports specific blocks to focus on swim, bike or run.  You can do 4 weeks of swim block, 2 weeks of cycling focus, 2 weeks of running, and finally, 2 weeks of a balanced plan. 

#5) Focus on your techniques, addressing any weaknesses and working on resolving issues with injuries, changes in nutrition or your bike fit, etc.   

In season:
#1) TSTC tries to think about these training blocks in a 4 week cycle -- 3 weeks of hard training to build strength, speed, intensity and 1 week of a recovery.    During the recovery, you could add a training race.

#2) Then you do a one week of key brick.

Planning your race calendar:
#1) Space your races and build to your main races.  Recommended space time is one month.  

#2) Stay consistent in your training -- get a handle on your recovery.

#3) Be prepared for anything -- if you're injured, shut it down sooner rather than later before it costs you the race your training for.  Don't feel bad if you have to take 1 or 2 days off from your training.

Tapering:
#1) TSTC does a 10 day taper for a half Ironman, 7-10 days for Olympic distance race and 2 weeks for an Ironman race.  
#2) You want to taper down because you want your muscles to recover enough to prepare for the race and maintain a feel for your race efforts and keep everything active.

#3)You're going to decrease the duration of the different sports while maintaining the feel.

#4) Be sure to do the key bricks.

Run Focus -- do you pair this with the swim or the bike?
You want to pair it a little bit with the bike, but do more with the swim.  This will allow you to recover through the swim.

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