All great feedback! As you can see, there are so many ways you can keep training interesting and purposeful.
For Jorge, he is focusing on his swim technique even when not in the pool. Googling good form so you know exactly what it should look like when you can get back in the pool/open water. Stick on top of dryland work and incorporating planks (with good form) will continue to maintain his swimming strength.
For Jason, he is safely adding in some easy saddle time as a fun challenge with friends. If it’s recovery like, this is a great way to gain the extra saddle time that we all need to take our cycling to the next level. (Note that this is likely a little too advanced for most of the ODP participants as it could lead to overtraining). That said, listen to your body and if you need extra rest or sleep or a day off, your body knows best (and it always trumps any challenge you do with your friends).
For my individual coached athletes, we have been creating all kinds of challenges for them to work on their weaker areas or areas desiring extra focus. It’s been amazing to see how so many of them have stepped up and made good use of this time. Now is the time to do it when you don’t have a big race looming. As an example, one of my guys wanted to get faster and really dial in optimal pacing (as he always goes out a little too fast on his running). So we did an April 5k Challenge. Here was our focused game plan.
5k #1: Baseline
5k #2: Negative split
5k #3: PR (of course with a negative split)
He enjoyed this challenge so much that we are doing a similar 10k challenge in June. For May, he is doing a run/bike/run challenge with a focus on not going out a little too fast on his first 5k as he knows he will pay for it on his second. We dialed it in with the 5k challenge and now we are working to translate this now to triathlon.
I have another athlete that just wants to run an easy marathon per month. 😉 She takes a video of her efforts and shares it on social media to show all of the open spaces available to get out and stay active.
So while the race season remains uncertain, your training does not need to. So here’s to your own challenge (focus in on running mechanics, heart rate zone training, more saddle time, fine tuning swim technique, etc) and making the most of this season!
