training profile
Cover all your
vital areas with
of the group. Brian was expecting it. He slowed down a few times to tell
Joe to join the group, close the gap and stay relaxed.
Certified Woolie™
Brian watched how Joe held himself on the bike, how he pedaled
and how he reacted to situations. Like most new riders, Joe’s mistakes
were common. He overreacted, either braking too hard or too light.
accessories.
He had difficulty sitting behind the rider in front of him and tended to
allow gaps to open up in front of him. He was always in too large a gear.
All of this due to a lack of understanding in how to effectively use the
bike.
But instead of making demanding corrections of Joe, Brian’s
approach was to simply point out what was happening along the ride.
He used the other riders in the group as examples. He told Joe to keep
his eyes open and watch what was going on around him. It was easy to
UnDWool™
see that Joe was learning, and he was soaking up hours of endurance
Merino Wool
training along the way.
Base Layer
Brian recalls that the adaptation was remarkable.
“Joe took the info and ran with it. More than anything else this
season, his success was mostly about how he used information,” he
said. “He’s strong and we worked on building his fitness, but we’re not
Merin0 Wool
even close to hitting his potential in those areas.”
After the first few months of intense focus on skills, they added in a
DuraGloves™ bit more intensity on building some specific fitness. Joe started racing
with frequency. Brian entered him in triathlons as often as possible,
and gave him his racing wheels and a power meter so that he could
collect racing data. Joe went through repeated physiological tests and
field tests. They experimented with positioning on his bike and pedaling
efficiency. His thresholds went up. When we finally fit him on his new
bike, Joe was leading the way up the hills on the Saturday group ride
that often brought out some of Brian’s other pro cycling tour athletes.
Through all of the increasing specificity of his training regime, Joe
Merino Wool
remained a quintessential athlete. He entrusted Brian with the data,
measures and training, which allowed him to focus on just one thing:
Armskins™ winning.
At a training race in New Jersey, I asked Joe afterward how he paced
the race, and more specifically, the ride. He gave me a puzzled look and
asked me what I meant.
“I just rode as hard as I could,” he said.
Step three: reveal the run
Of the three sports, the least amount of attention was spent
progressing Joe’s run training. Joe successfully ran cross country and
track in high school, so Brian’s focus was simply to keep him healthy
and keep him running. Other than that, it was a very conservative
approach that was kept with the overall theme in Joe’s first year – let
him demonstrate his capability.
“We just wanted to build up a base with his running,” Brian said. “He
lost some of his swimmer upper-body weight, which helped his run a
1
.
8
Merino Wool
bit. I only cared about keeping him injury-free.”
0 They were completely successful in this goal and were even able to
0
Kneekers™
.
6
get into some minor track intervals and pace definition work toward
8
the end of the year. Most significantly, as the season wore on, one skill
8
.
became an increasingly important part of his training.
3
0
“The 3-hour Brick,” is how Joe described it to me. “For a while, Brian
6
7
had me doing it pretty much once a week. I used to dread going into
-
this workout. The first couple of times I started it, I would just think
Merino Wool
D
‘Okay, its 6 a.m., I’ll be done by 9.’ When I thought like that, the brick
e
Classicos™ would seem insurmountable. After a couple of workouts when I just
F
e
wanted to quit, I realized I would need to change my goals or change
e
t
my attitude. I started to jump into the brick. I started to look forward to
.
c
the 3-hour journey, not the 9 a.m. finish line.”
o
m
Holden Comeau has worked for the past three years as head
triathlon coach under Brian Walton, at Cadence Cycling and Multisports
in Philadelphia. He is also a professional triathlete and a former world
ranked competitive swimmer. For a complete biography or to contact
him directly, please visit
www.cadencecycling.com.
Joseph Welsh
2009 USA Triathlon 18-19 National Champion
USATTriWinter10pgs50-90.indd 68 12/14/09 2:38:21 PM
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