Off Season Triathlon Training

I had the opportunity to enjoy the training seminar put on by Boulder Parks and Recreation and hosted by Barry Siff of 5430 sports. It was reasonably educational and not a full-fledged pitch for the presenters coaching services. There appeared to be about 120 people in attendance with some folks standing in the back.

Scott Fliegelman (Fast Forward Sports) spoke first about Planning and Scheduling. I had heard about categorizing your races, but did enjoy hearing about warm up events such as the Haystack Time Trial and Stroke & Stride series. I also enjoyed the quip on tapering. As the story goes Czech runner Emil Zatopek had some bad goose and could not train for 2 weeks prior to a 10K event. At the event he set a World Record and since then endurance athletes have attempted to balance fitness and freshness.

Mike Ricci (D3 Multisport) spoke second about training blocks and reinforced that the offseason is a nice time to build an aerobic base and concentrate on your non-core discipline. For me I had considered my core discipline to be running with cycling as a close second. I am re-evaluating that right now, but could certainly stand to strive for 5 days/week in the pool. Unfortunately that will mean AM workouts, but we will see how it goes.

Craig Howie (Howie Endurance Project) spoke third and he was very entertaining. During his introduction it was noted that he was hit by a car 1 week before the Ironman World Championship in Kona. He still flew out to compete with a wired jaw and broken ribs. After a personal best on the swim he had to abandon during the bike with the pain just too excruciating. His strength talk was very tactical and went over aids in the pool, core training while biking and bounding and plyometrics to complement running.

Jared Berg (Tri Endurance) spoke fourth on strengths and weaknesses. His talk was a little soft, but he really stressed aerobic efficiency which I had not heard much about. He was certainly very knowledgeable on physiology and works with the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine.

Finally Dave Scott was up and in addition to elaborating on questions during the previous speakers, he fielded Q&A as well. These included everything from “most memorable ironman?” to “number one triathlon tip?” Dave is a very entertaining speaker and recalled the 1994 5th place finish in Kona and mental conditioning as a key to success. I was fortunate enough to corner him afterwards and get a circa 1988 Triathlete Magazine signed.