60 DAYS TO YOUR ATHLETES’ BEST SPRINT TRIATHLON


athletes utilize dose intervals (DI). This is a prescribed dose of intensity within a given workout that is designed to increase speed rather than endurance. DIs should be employed for the swim, bike and run.


THE SWIM have the athlete focus on completing


250-300 meters where they employ “all out 25s” with 30 seconds recovery between each DI of 25 meters. Another notable workout is to have athletes complete five to six “tempo 50s” where they complete each DI of 50 meters at 10 seconds faster than their planned race pace. After each prescribed 50, have the athlete completely recover prior to completing the next DI of 50 meters.


THE BIKE have the athlete warm up for 5-10


minutes with a cadence around 75-80 rpm. After warm-up, you can prescribe various modes of DIs that will help improve top-end power, leg speed and cardio efficiency. This can include matched intervals, graduated intervals and alternating intervals. here are some examples of matched and graduated intervals. Using a matched DI set, have the athlete


S


ince a sprint triathlon is typically around 450 yards of swimming, 15 miles of cycling and 3.1 miles of


running, sprint triathletes should focus more on shorter distance interval training and higher intensity — with more brick work regularly integrated into their overall training. Below are several tips and a portion of a sample program you may chose to incorporate into your athletes’ sprint training program.


FOCUS ON INTERVALS Sprint distance is about speed, so building


speed during training should take top priority for sprint-distance athletes. I have


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select a 53x15-17 gear configuration (gc). on your mark, have them quickly increase cadence from 75-80 rpm to 95-100 rpm. have them hold this cadence anywhere from 60 seconds to five minutes (depending on the athletes’ fitness level). At the end of the prescribed DI, have them return to 75- 80 rpm and recover for the same duration as the prescribed DI. If their prescribed DI was three minutes, then the recovery interval should also be three minutes. Depending on the athletes’ fitness level, total duration of this drill set should fall between 30-60 minutes. Using a graduated DI set have the athlete


select a 53x17 gc. on your mark, have them quickly increase cadence from 75-80 rpm to 95-100 rpm. once they achieve the prescribed cadence have them hold cadence for 1-2 minutes at a 53x17 gc. Then move them to a 53x15 gc maintaining cadence for


By Duston Morris, USA Triathlon Level I Certified Coach


the same duration, and finish with a 53x13 gc for another 1-2 minutes. The recovery interval should fall between 2-3 minutes using a 39x17 gc and cadence of 75-80 rpm. Again, the DI duration is based on the fitness level of the athlete.


THE RUN Matched intervals, graduated intervals


and alternating treadmill speed intervals are popular among my athletes. As the weather improves many athletes prefer outdoor workouts. have them focus on interval sets that are anywhere from 20-60 seconds/ mile faster than planned race pace. This is preparation for short distance racing so focus on having athletes do interval work near or at maximum effort. various track workouts such as 200s,


400s, 800s and 1-mile repeats can improve sprint-distance times. Many times it is beneficial to work in graduated DI sets in an ascending or descending order, moving from 200s up through the mile, or beginning with the mile and decreasing distance while increasing speed with each successive set.


COMPLETE BRICK WORKOUTS This is the bread and butter of becoming


a speedy sprint-distance triathlete. It makes absolute sense to train an athlete as how he or she is going to race. Brick workouts provide opportunity for mastery of transition and change in muscle utilization. I have athletes complete 2-4 brick


workouts per week. Some notable formats are 1) Bike x run, 2) Swim x Bike, 3) Swim x run, 4) Swim x Bike X run, 5) run x Bike x run and 6) Bike x run x Bike. Any of these formats can improve an athlete’s performance. for my athletes I prefer to utilize brick workouts that emphasize the bike x run combinations. Since the majority of the event centers around biking and running, these are the areas where most athletes should focus.


FINDING THE RIGHT VOLUME Although sprint-distance training should


focus heavily on up-tempo training, volume workouts should be incorporated into your athletes’ training plan to help build aerobic


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