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Returning to Training...

Saturday, 11 February 2017 23:10

By Chris Foster (triathlete.com)

Getting back to training can be the best—or the worst. If you’ve been putting it off, you’re probably already closer to your race date than you’d like, and there’s some nervous urgency around the first week. Will I be ready in time? How will I feel?

If you’ve been taking forced time off—for an injury or an end of season break—there’s probably excitement in the air. It’s like the first week of school: seeing old friends (goggles, bike, shoes) and finding out what everyone (your body) has been up to (Surprising speed, yay! Extreme soreness, boo!).

While the first week can loom large mentally, the way you approach this transition into the season can set you up for success or failure....

“[The first week back] is a time to hit the reset button and do the things properly that you’ve never done properly before,” says coach Gareth Thomas of Los Angeles-based TRIO Performance Labs. “Ask yourself, ‘What training did I do last year, and what could I have done better?’”

For some people, it could be not enough volume—for others it could have been too much intensity. The one constant is that every athlete is coming back a little bit older. “You almost need to forget about past glories,” says Thomas. “Not where you were before, but where you are now.” Thomas suggests anyone who is aging (that’s all of us!) needs to focus increasingly on injury prevention and recovery, and the first week is the best time to do it.  READ MORE