Speed – the edge to a personal best. By Bruce Thomas.

 Speed – the edge to a personal best.

The goal in any race is to get to the finish line as fast as possible. In the last couple of issues we have been laying the foundations of aerobic fitness and strength to enable us to compete at new levels. For an athlete new to the sport, consistent aerobic training will result in improvements in times for the races in which they are competing. An athlete who has been training consistently for some time may find that the aerobic training that they are doing does not return the improvements that were originally apparent. In this case speed training is a useful device in taking an athlete to the next level.

Speed training can take a number of different forms. The one thing that all forms of speed training have in common is that it hurts! As has been discussed previously, the human body adapts well to stress. The idea behind speed training is to put your body under new forms of stress so that it adapts and results in a stronger, faster athlete. Before discussing the various types of speed training that an athlete might employ, it should be noted that an appropriate training history is essential if an athlete is to gain the most from speed training, specifically, a solid aerobic base. Without a good aerobic base, the added stress of speed work will simply result in injury and a subsequent loss of training time. Consistency is the secret to long-term improvement and being injured certainly undermines an athlete’s ability to train.

 

" Without a good aerobic base, the added stress of speed work will simply
result in injury and
a subsequent loss
of training time"

Last issue I discussed strength training and its importance in assisting a triathlete to develop. Having spent some time strength training an athlete will develop better neuromuscular skills for each discipline and will also have improved their strength. In so doing, the triathlete will probably notice an improvement in overall strength and fitness; however, it is not unusual to also feel slow: the athlete feels like they could go all day but they do not have the zip to race well. This feeling is particularly true of the run leg of the triathlon, the discipline that requires the most “weight-bearing” effort. If this is the case, do not lose heart, as the task of turning this strength into useable speed is a relatively quick (although not painless) process.

Triathlon is an endurance sport and, as such, sustained speed is a major goal. How does an athlete develop sustained speed? The simple answer is to practise. This, however, is a little too simplistic. Yes, if you practise swimming, running and riding at race pace for extended periods then surely you must adapt, but the human body (and more importantly, the mind) will not cope with continuous overload. Injury and
disillusionment will occur sooner or later. The trick is to play with intensity, volume and recovery to achieve the adaptations from your body without causing injury or depression.

Some methods of speed endurance training are:

• Sustained Speed: race distance training at sub-race pace.
• Race pace: training over intervals shorter than race distance.
• Over race pace: training for short intervals with recovery.

These types of training address different aspects of being able to maintain a good pace in the race.

Sustained Speed training develops your mental confidence that an athlete can go the race distance at a good pace and also improves the athlete’s cardio-respiratory system. Athletes are often seeking to know how they can swim, ride or run faster. Often my first response is: “believe that you can”. Athletes think that this is a trite remark because, if it were that simple, everyone would be fast. In fact, it is not that straightforward to believe you can go fast. It is a real mental battle to overcome an innate belief that our ability lies at one level and the only way it will jump to the next level is through more training. Certainly, training and fitness play a large part in improving speed; however, proving to an athlete that they can maintain a level of intensity beyond what they believed they were capable gives them a new confidence that translates into new personal bests. Training over longer distances at paces close to race pace is one way of developing that confidence. Under this style of speed work an athlete would select a distance close to their race distance and swim, ride or run the distance at a solid pace. Obviously the distance used for this training will depend upon the race distance an athlete is preparing to race. For Half Ironman and Ironman athletes, the distances would not be at race distance for the ride or the run as the required recovery time from attempting such a distance would outweigh the advantage of doing the session. Swimming, being a non-weight-bearing sport, allows the athlete to attempt longer intervals at or near race pace in training.

Sample speed sessions in this category:

It is worth noting here that ironman race pace, particularly for running, is something that athletes find challenging to replicate in training. There are very few triathletes in the world who can run at 4min/km pace in an IM and yet there is a multitude of triathletes who will attempt to run a sustained speed session of this nature at that 4min/km pace. Athletes need to recognise the goal of a session and tailor their intensity to get the desired affect from the session.

Race Pace training teaches you pacing so that you know the pace that you can maintain for extended periods of time. Under this style of speed work an athlete runs at the pace they are aiming to race at for a distance less than race distance. Since this should still be an aerobic workout, the athlete would presumably be able to maintain this pace for the race distance under competition conditions. Often, with well-trained athletes, the interval at race pace may be repeated in the same session after a recovery period. Apart from teaching an athlete pacing, running in this way will also develop confidence.

Sample speed sessions in this category:

Over race pace training works on adapting an athlete’s aerobic efficiency so that the athlete can work at a greater percentage of their VO2 Max. This is achieved by performing shorter intervals at a pace a little faster than your current race pace. Usually an athlete will base their repetition times on a goal time for the race distance. Obviously, this goal time needs to be realistic. Often a training session at over an athlete’s current race pace will give the athlete an idea of what is realistic and what is not. If an athlete cannot complete a session at the target race pace then they are probably being unrealistic with their goal times. It should be said that the first few intervals in this type of speed work will feel relatively easy if performed at the correct pace. The real appreciation for the session comes from trying to maintain the times/intensity at the back end of the session.

Sample speed sessions in this category:

These are just an example of some speed sessions that an athlete might utilise. One important consideration in any athlete’s training program is finding new ways to stress the body to attain new adaptations. Obviously, time availability will make doing all the above sessions impossible in one athlete’s training program. The idea is to select the sessions that are most appropriate for a particular athlete at a given stage of their training.

The most crucial consideration when embarking on speed work is to factor in time for recovery. Speed work will only be effective if the athlete allows their body time to absorb the hard work. Often athletes adopt the more is better philosophy and end up dumping on themselves. Their training sessions drop off in quality and their mental attitude will also suffer. Be smart when you train, allow your body the necessary time to recover, and you will gain the edge over your competitors.