New Method - Whichever Comes First, Time or Distance

This training method was designed to help the athlete to achieve their fitness goals through a proper adaptation using the ONLY 2 things our body understands - Time and Effort. Our body only cares to know how long (in time) and how hard it has to work. Our body does not know distance, power or speed.

This method will also help the athlete to clearly see the progression, creating a “sustainable load (of volume and intensity)” he/she can do consistently week in week out, without dragging themselves into a hole. I also use cautious and well planned training sessions, to adapt slowly to the energy systems need it for the training Foundation while avoiding injuries. 

As the name implies, the athlete will be executing the training sessions and will stop whenever they achieve first, either the time prescribed or the goal distance/time.

Biggest mistake I see in athletes of all levels is to rush fitness (doing too much too soon) based on an upcoming race. Or when trying to get back in shape, want to train like "used to" when fit.

“You can not rush fitness! Your body needs time to adapt to load, rushing adaptation will lead to overtraining, performance plateau or to underperform in races (you need to be fresh on race day)”

Tip - Even if you have a race coming up,  you can NOT rush fitness and try to do long sessions because you are “running out of time” . This is THE biggest mistake athletes do. For example, I’m sure you will not be in your peak shape in 7 weeks, when you have a race, especially coming from a low 6-7 hour/week training but I know that you will be healthy, avoid burn out and fresh for race day!  You might even surprise yourself  in terms of performance.

How to Plan your Training on this Method

#1 - Determine current AND the goal total training hours per week.

“Endurance improvement comes from the highest sustainable load (volume and/or intensity) you can do consistently”  

• I will use myself as an example. Current training hours : 6-7 hours/week . Goal training hours : 14-16 hours/week depending on work and body adaptation. NOTE  that this is VERY important! You might “think” you can do 16 hours/week of training but once you get there, either life get in the way or your body it’s just not ready for the load (volume and intensity) required and there’s NOTHING wrong with that ! Your body might take a year or more to adapt to the load goal you want. ?

NOTE : As you get fitter and faster and able to perform sessions at higher quality, the volume in hours might DECREASE as you might achieve the distance before the time - “Whichever comes First, time or distance”

Also you will note on this method that once you reach the total distance of the quality sessions, the increase in load will be on the endurance sessions only, preventing you from doing too much intensity (cause of injuries, decrease in performance and overtraining) and increasing aerobic capacity when it matters - close to race day.

“Higher training volume does not mean higher performance”

• I have decided to start with 8.5 hours/week as I know I can easily do it based on my history and background.?

“Do not be afraid of starting conservatively! You can always add more, but first you need to see if you can do the volume and intensity consistently!”

• If you have been training consistently, keep same total training hours you have been doing for the last 6 weeks.?

#2 - Determine the number of sessions you can do per week - I recommend minimum of 8 (3 workouts of each but one is a brick so I count as one session) and for most Elite AG athletes 10 (4 workouts of each but two are brick). If you have time to add more workout(s) my suggestion is to add Weight Training, once or twice a week. 

# 3 - A progression in volume will happen every 3 weeks increasing total training hours by 15%. It’s important to understand that :

Week #1 and #2  are “Adaptation and Confirmation” -  Here is where you are first getting your body used to the volume and intensity of the sessions asked.
Week #3 is “Do it Better” - On the third week you will be repeating same sessions with same volume but you will try to do the key sessions better or be more efficient (biomechanics) during your swim,bike and run.

• Because progression is very individual and it might take longer for some people than others, if you feel like you can not maintain consistency or quality on the new block of training, DO NOT hesitate in going back a week.?
• If you have to miss training for a week or have been very inconsistent due to work, family obligations or others, DO NOT progress, repeat the week instead to assure proper adaptation.?

Tip : If you have a lot of time until you key race of the season, no reason to rush, you can repeat the weeks as often as you need

Training Goals for Olympic Distance and 70.3 races - High level Age Group

Look the the week structure planned below that I believe to be ideal. The workouts can change as long as you use same energy systems and goals. I would recommend you not to change workouts all the time otherwise you will not see full benefit of the adaptation. I’m planning on following the workouts below for at least 20 weeks before I change anything.

Total hours - Goal of 14 to16 hours/week. The total training hours will vary depending on fitness level and adaptation to stress of the athlete. One athlete might do well with 16 hours per week but other might need 3 years to get there so it’s important to observe :

• Morning energy levels (if you feel drained when wake up, you need a day off and if it persists you might be better going BACK one week in volume and repeat until you feel better)?
• Joint soreness - Especially for older athletes. If you start to get consistent joint soreness, you need most likely to reduce volume of all or maybe run training.?

NOTE : You HAVE to obey the intensity ESPECIALLY on the long endurance sessions not to jeopardize recovery and progression. So for example, if your 10k pace is 4:00/km, your endurance long run, should be at least 1:30-1:45/km slower !!! So plan on running at 5:45/km or slower !

Weekly Structure - With goal time and/or goal distance

Note : You will ONLY do the total time described for the day for each session (See sample training progression table below). You will initially NOT be able (and you should not) to finish the entire session planned for the day.

Monday : BRICK

Bike Strength Session (For OD and 70.3 races)

Warm up - 20 min. Easy spin (build cadence from 75 to 85rpm),
Main Set : 18 x 1 min. HARD at 40-50rpm with 1 min. Easy spin, 4 min. Cooldown

Straight to run !

Run : 

OD Race - Goal distance 12km as 3km* build to race effort + 9km as 1 min. at faster then 10k effort, 1 min. easy + 3 min. easy walk cooldown.
70.3 Race - Goal distance 15km as 3km build to race effort + 12km as 1 min. at 10k effort, 1 min. easy + 3 min. Easy walk cooldown

* After 6 to 8 weeks you can reduce the initial build to 2km as your body will be more adapted to handle more intensity sooner.

Tuesday : Long Endurance Swim + Weight Training (Optional)

OD Goal distance : 4,000m/yds with main set of 3,000m/yds 
70.3 Goal distance : 4,000m/yds with main set of 3,000m/yds

If you’re not an experienced swimmer or it’s out of shape I recommend keeping intervals short and no longer than 100yds/m so you can keep a good stroke quality throughout the session. VERY important to keep intensity LOW and rest SHORT (no more than 10s). You can be as creative as you can here and use paddles and buoy as much as you wish.

• If you think you can add one more session a week, best would be a Weight Training session this day and/or Friday (after long run), start with 2 to 3 weeks of light weight adaptation (2 sets of 10 repetitions) and build to heavy/anabolic set (i.e. 3-4 sets of 6 reps increasing). Recommended exercises: Squats, Lunges, Deadlift, Calf Raises, Lat pull down or Rowing and Core (obliques, lower ab and lower back). If you do not have time for Core here, do it after your bike sessions. I recommend core 2 to 3 times per week. Have extra time ? Add Glute Bridges and triceps/stretch cord ?

Wednesday : Swim and Run

Swim : OD and 70.3 (Total goal - 2,900m/yds)

Warm up - 4 x 150 (swim/back/kick) w/ 15s rest. 
Pre Main Set - 12 x 50 alternating 15 Fast, 35 easy, 25 Fast, 25 easy with 15s rest. Use paddles and fins. 
Main set - 15 x 100 as 1 Easy, 1 Moderate, 1 Fast all with 15s rest, paddles, buoy and band. Cooldown - 200 choice

Run: I like to do this running session on the treadmill so I can get more quality with less damage on my joints. Also the leg speed part “forces” you to be honest. The beauty of this running session is that you will not do any leg speed until later in the progression (due to total time prescribed) so it gives your body time to adapt and get stronger before adding speed!

OD - Goal distance 10km

Warm up - 15 min. Easy job
Strength - 15 x 1 min. At 5% grade (mod/hard,  build effort at every interval) with 1 min. Easy Speed - 10 x 30s Fast (quicker than 5k effort, it needs to be challenging to promote increase in leg speed and biomechanical efficiency) with 30s rest. 
Cooldown - 3 min. jog, 2 min. Walk.

70.3 - Goal distance 12km

Warm up - 15 min.
Strength - 15 x 1 min.(*) At 5% grade (mod/hard effort) with 1 min. Easy
Speed - 10 x 30s (*) Fast (quicker than 5k pace, it needs to be challenging to promote increase in leg speed and biomechanical efficiency) with 30s rest. 
Cooldown - 3 min. jog, 2 min.  Walk.

(*) - After you can do the entire session as is, you can continue progression a bit longer by increasing the strength part to 20 x 1 min. And the speed part to 15 x 30s.

Thursday: Swim and Bike 

Swim:

OD - (2,000m/yds) 40 x 50m/yds with paddles and buoy and 15s rest as 4 easy, 1 fast.
70.3 - (2,500m/yds) 50 x 50m/yds with paddles and buoy and 15s rest as 4 easy, 1 fast.

* Make sure you do the easy easy enough so you can do the fast, FAST ! This session is a staple session I use with all my athletes as has many benefits, here just a few :

1 - Lower cardiovascular taxing due to short interval,longer rest and use of paddles and buoy
2 - Work upper body strength, giving legs a break as you will use on bike session later.
3 - Great to focus on technique due to short length of interval and the repetition.

Bike : Quality (LT)

OD - 20 min. Easy warm up , keeping cadence 75-85rpm. Main Set: 4 x 1,2,3 min. HARD (cadence 65-70rpm and on aeroposition) with 1,2,3 min. Easy spin recovery,  5 min. Easy spin cooldown
70.3 - 20 min. Easy warm up , keeping cadence 75-85rpm. Main Set: 5 x 1,2,3 min. HARD (cadence 65-70rpm and on aeroposition) with 1,2,3 min. Easy spin recovery, 5 min. Easy spin cooldown

Friday : Long endurance run + Weight Training (Optional same as Tuesday)

OD : Goal distance - 14km
70.3 : Goal distance - 18 km

* VERY important to OBEY intensity here as this is where most make mistake on their training. You have to run EASY/Moderate and by that I mean 1:30-1:45min/km SLOWER than your 10k pace. Or you can calculate your Aerobic Cap and use HR monitor to make sure you run SLOW enough. DO NOT be afraid to run slow here, this is NOT a quality race pace session.

• If you think you can add one more session a week, best would be a Weight Training session this day and/or Friday (after long run), start with 2 to 3 weeks of light weight adaptation (2 sets of 10 repetitions) and build to heavy/anabolic set (i.e. 3-4 sets of 6 reps increasing). Recommended exercises: Squats, Lunges, Deadlift, Calf Raises, Lat pull down or Rowing and Core (obliques, lower ab and lower back). If you do not have time for Core here, do it after your bike sessions. I recommend core 2 to 3 times per week. Have extra time ? Add Glute Bridges and triceps/stretch cord.?

Saturday : Brick and Swim

Bike : Strength (Big Gear work)

OD - 20 min, easy warm up keeping cadence between 75-85rpm, 10 x 4 min. Mod/hard with 1 min. Easy spin at 50-60rpm , All on aeroposition (preferably done on the trainer for higher quality or hill), 5 min. Easy spin, straight to run !
70.3 - 20 min, easy warm up keeping cadence between 75-85rpm, 10 x 4 min.(*) Mod/hard with 1 min. Easy spin at 50-60rpm , All on aeroposition (preferably done on the trainer for higher quality or hill), 5 min. Easy spin, straight to run !

(*) If you have not done much strength training recently or it’s new to the concept, best is to start with intervals of 2 minutes long and slowly build to the 4 min. prescribed.
(**) After you achieve 10 x 4 min. With 1 min. Easy, progress to 10 x 5’ (for 3 weeks or more) , then 10 x 6’  both with 2’ min easy spin recovery.

Run :

OD 6km: 3km as 30s fast (5km effort/pace), 30s easy + 3km “as you feel” (feel good run fast, feel crap, run slow)
70.3 8km: 4km as 30s fast (5km effort/pace), 30s easy + 4km “as you feel” (feel good run fast, feel crap, run slow)

Swim: Recovery (2,000m/yds)

Warm up (600): 6 x 25 easy, , 4 x 25 easy kick with fins, 2 x 25 backstroke. REPEAT ! Do it all with as much rest as need it!

Main set (1,200): 4 x 50 buoy only 20s rest, 2 x 100 paddles and buoy, 20s rest, 6 x 50 buoy only 20s rest, 3 x 100 paddles and buoy, 20s rest, 4 x 50 buoy only 20s rest.  ALL EASY!

Cooldown (200) - Choice

Sunday : Bike endurance 

This session needs to be easy and pure aerobic. Mistakes are made when you try to ride a bit harder than easy effort. Doing so will only lead you to fatigue and overtain.

OD goal distance - 80km
70.3 goal distance - 120km

Below is a sample progression based on preparation for OD or 70.3 race(s) with goal of 14 to 16 hours per week (if body adapt well I should get to 15 hours per week in about 15 week time).

NOTE(1): If you miss sessions or you feel like your body is taking a bit longer to adapt to the load while keeping quality, it’s OK to either go BACK a week or to repeat the week for as long as need it. The progression below is only a guide to prevent you for doing too much too soon. I recommend NOT to do any more then what’s planned here as it’s important to maintain quality of the sessions when asked.

NOTE (2): You will notice that I do not schedule any Day Off because I believe that only the athlete knows when a day off is need it. Either due to work, family obligations or any other stresses, life will give us a Day Off naturally. If you feel the need to take a Day Off, do it, any day is fine (no session is more important than the other) as long as you have been consistent. If you miss any session, do NOT try to make it up next day, forget about it and back to the schedule.