So I’ve not been doing much Triathlon training the past months as I thought I would test out a theory about training for older fella’s. As you age you don’t lose too much endurance power and is easier to build up conditioning, especially if you have a long background of endurance training, What you do start to lose more quickly is explosive power, strength, flexibility and agility so I decided to focus on those things. (Things that make one an athlete :o) I may have gone too long but if you are a guinea pig you should test the extreme version on yourself and then if there is success use a moderated version on clients based on their age and athletic background.
I am going into the coming season with – on average 4-5km swimming per week (I used to swim 25+km/wk and the past years 10km/wk) about 10km running per week and a 30min wattbike pump every now and then. Instead I was in my home gym, playing indoor soccer and when the local ice pad was frozen I was out skating or playing pick up hockey. My body fought against me pretty hard and my hip flexors were constantly tight and sore. But I definitely made some gains in strength, coordination and explosive power. I noticed this especially when I lifted heavy weights (working down to 3-5 reps which I’ve never done before)
Time will tell if this type of winter or ‘extended off-season training’ makes a difference. My swimming has actually been really good. I started to push harder in some sessions and I’m not far off where I was the past few years with half the pool time. Running feels terrible but springy and robust so I feel fairly confident I can build up to a decent level by summer. Cycling is similar, no rhythm or feel for the pedals but explisive power is much higher than in the past years. I did a little FTP test a few weeks back and threshold power is only down around 10% below the past few years as well.
So it feels like I’m on the right track and it will be fun to see if I can build enough condition in a few months to go full blast for 1-2hrs (no longer distances for me this year)
