Introduction
For those of you who are new to ironguides, “The Method” refers to our training philosophy that comprises of at least one training session per day. We mix up Strength, Heart Rate, Tolerance, Neuromuscular and Endurance sessions to create hormonally-balanced training programs tailored to your weekly schedule.
When executed properly, The Method results in significant and sustainable gains in fitness over the mid to long term (months to years). No shortcuts to success here, just the best use of your limited training time.
Occasionally, and unfortunately, some athletes go off the deep end and enter into a vicious cycle of mild injury / sickness to partial recovery, followed by re- injury / sickness to worsening injury / sickness, on to partial recovery and then proceeding to chronic injury / sickness resulting in a long recovery period away from sport.
I despair witnessing their frustration as they go round in circles, digging themselves deeper into the hole of chronic injury as they desperately fight to hang on to their deteriorating fitness. Despite my best instructions, they fail to accept that they are in a losing battle.
It is impossible to “train through” being over-trained and I’ve had to “let them go”, watch them fall flat before they wise up and learn how to handle their training load. With the hardest nuts, this process of achieving the right balance can take a few rounds.
This article is to guide all the passionate age-group athletes out there so that they may have a long career of training and racing hard.
Part 1 – Consistency is KEY
When an athlete first starts on The Method, they experience large and rapid gains in fitness as the new training stimuli induce big adaptations in their body. Their first misconception is that this steep gradient of improvement is going to continue endlessly; unfortunately, it doesn’t. Once an athlete approaches their potential physical peak, the rate of improvement begins to level off as they settle at a new plateau of physical fitness.
At this point, a patient and wise athlete understands—and accepts—that getting fitter after this comes down largely to a game of consistency. Each little percentage of fitness gained from here on is hard earned and takes time. There are no shortcuts; chipping away at it every day adds to their fitness one brick at a time.
Instead of giving in to their pleas for a bigger training load, I instead prompt new triathletes at this point to stay curious and ask themselves, “What happens to my body if, instead of going harder or doing more, I try to stay as consistent as possible?” I will only identify the one, or maybe two, bigger gaps in an athlete’s overall development and specifically work on these areas, while keeping everything else the same. It is also the right time to introduce the beginner to the intricacies of technique, nutrition, pacing and race-day strategy.
For the average age grouper, the demands of everyday life pose challenges and commitments that often pull in opposite directions. As a result, it is common and normal for age-group athletes to experience good days and bad days in training. However, the underlying message is that triathlon is an endurance sport and training for it is a consistency game.
With everything else being equal, consistency—doing what you can every day—without burning out, is what separates the top 10% from the mid-packers.
The Numbers Game
The Numbers Game is a simple tool I devised to encourage consistency in training and to facilitate coach-athlete communication. It motivates athletes to get something, even if it is a little bit, done every day. It works well with the typical goal-oriented, focused, PB-chasing, “triathlon”-personality type.
The aim of each round of the game is simply to chalk up as many points as possible before you hit the “reset” button and drop back down to zero.
For every consecutive day you complete on your program, give yourself 1 point. So if you have followed your training plan from Monday to Wednesday, you’re up to 3 points. If you skip a day, for whatever reason, you’re back down to 0.
As long as you head out and attempt to start a session, your score is safe. Anything less than 40% completion of your set and your score stays the same. If you only manage between 40% to 60% of the set, give yourself half a point. Anything more than 60% of the scheduled set gets a whole point—“A” for effort!
You still get a point if you had to swap sessions around to fit a different schedule. And if your plan has you on a rest day, then you get a point for resting. The higher your score gets, the more you’ll want to build on it instead of having to start from 0 again. If you reach 14 points, you’re allowed a day off without resetting the score.
The advanced setting of this game has you subtracting a point from 0 for every day that you miss after the “reset” day. For example, if you miss two days in a row, you’re down to minus-1, miss three days in a row and you’re at minus-2. This makes it harder to claw your way back up to break-even and discourages you from being lazy multiple days in a row. I like to use this additional rule when my athletes are in a race-specific phase of preparation.
For the typical busy age grouper in Singapore, juggling work and family and training, 6 is a good average score to shoot for; meaning you miss one day a week. Performance-oriented athletes and age-group podium contenders should aim for 14s and up.
The Numbers Game is a simple way to track your consistency and spot patterns in your training.
For example, if you’re stuck at 2 to 3, then ask yourself if there is a way to reschedule your weekly routine (e.g. train at a different time) or tweak your training plan (e.g. a 40-min session instead of a 60-min one) to make it easier to squeeze in a little bit on a busy day.
Or you may always easily get up to 6 or 7 points and then have to reset to 0; if so, then ask yourself why that is the case. Do you smash the weekend sessions too hard so that you’re always flat on Monday?
Or are you able to get up to 14 regularly but can’t seem to get beyond that? Maybe that means you could do with an easy recovery day every fortnight.
Try out The Numbers Game this week and see how you go