by Coach Mark Kendall 

Welcome to the Portland Triathlon Club!  As a benefit to you SpeedSHOT Racing is proud to present this ongoing set of articles to help guide you to a successful season of training and improvements.  Each article will provide you a chance to better understand the components of training and fitness necessary for success in the season and in the current period of training.

We hope that you find the following information helpful in developing your program and staying on task to achieve your goals for the season.  As you have questions, would like further guidance in your training, or would like help in developing a training plan specific to your goals and events, please feel free to contact SpeedSHOT Racing.

Chances are that many of you have ‘officially’ started your training programs and are building toward the coming year’s goals of racing your first half iron-distance race or just looking to complete a few of the local races here such as Blue Lake, Pacific Crest, or the Luna Triathlon.

Whether your goals are simply to complete the event or to push yourself to an improved finish and placing in your age group the training principles are going to be the same to build improved fitness.  At SpeedShot Racing I focus on having athletes develop the foundational skills and building block well prior to stepping into race pace training.  While this must include a solid volume of steady aerobic hours, miles, and yards it must also include a dose of high intensity training (yes – above and beyond what you might otherwise race at).  Interested?  Read on..

Train First for Economy
While you can’t argue that in order to swim/bike/run 81+ miles in an event you should be able to complete at least that in training it also makes sense that if your biomechanics are shaky that you’re better served (if possible) to spend a solid chunk of time in the early season shoring up this limiter.  Poor mechanics (due to coordination, limitations in flexibility, and lack of strength) are the limiting factor of the economy of a majority of athletes out there.  I often see clients athletes come to me with great engines but poor economy – for any given speed the energy cost is far higher for them than that of a more efficient athlete.  Additionally, by first developing these components you’ll find that the risks of increased mileage will be minimized and the chances of getting to the starting line healthy will be vastly improved.

What does this mean?
Weight room time and technique work are big keys here.  On the bike you might make use of isolated leg training and high cadence drills to develop a smoother pedal stroke.  In the pool – drills intermixed in swim workouts and eventually paddle work (if your form is good).  Running – working on stride mechanics and leg turnover are key.  Weight room work should start with a solid focus on the supportive and stabilizing muscles of the hips and back before progressing to heavier weights.  As well, common limiters or tight muscle groups should be addressed to ensure there are no imbalances of strength or range of motion.

Why Speed Work..
Okay – you’ve started your program and are slowly building up the volume that your body can handle.  You’ve started to get time in the weight room and are working like crazy on your technique.  What next?

By incorporating small portions of speed work within your workouts on a frequent basis you can avoid some common early season pitfalls that later limit athletes in their development.

Training fast can be highly beneficial to developing a strong base and maximizing your aerobic potential.   How?  First and foremost – improved economy of movement provides two direct benefits: decreasing the overall cost of a given workload (allowing you to work at higher levels with the same fitness) and decreasing the chance of injury due to poor or inefficient mechanics and subsequently fatigued muscles.  Secondly, athletes that maximize muscular recruitment (as can only be done with high intensity or high load efforts) will develop the ability to utilize a larger number of muscle fibers for any given endurance effort.  By recruiting additional muscle fibers you increase potential capacity and allow those fibers increased rest time between contractions while the body utilizes the additional muscle you’ve trained to participate.  The greatest benefit – decreased muscular fatigue over time (i.e. increased endurance).

What Kind of Speed Work?
Initially efforts such as high cadence spin-ups on the bike or developing the ability to run with a stride rate of 90 strides / minute +/- is a great start.   Beyond these I recommend that athletes include within their programs short 15-20 second strides (efforts that build to a fast or 90-95% max speed), short sprints, or 25 or 50 yard repeats in the pool. 

Finally, Developing Your Aerobic Fitness
The early season is a great chance to rebuild that aerobic engine after the holidays or down time.  By spending increased time at your aerobic threshold you’ll find that you’ll soon be able to hold higher paces with the same given heart rate.  Additionally, the time that you spend developing your base has a direct benefit of gradually adapting the joints and muscles to the loads of training for injury prevention.

You can establish your training zones initially through field tests or recent race results or by getting an assessment via VO2 testing.  The former are the easiest to complete and only require a heart rate monitor and your time.  The latter is a bit more extensive but also provides athletes with very specific upper and lower threshold points for their training zones and an understanding of their primary limiters.   The VO2 testing provides us an opportunity to look at your fitness and use multiple data points to develop a working profile of you as an athlete and determine where you might achieve the greatest gains in your training program for the time that you spend.

Coach Mark Kendall is Head Coach and owner of SpeedSHOT Racing and Coaching Services.  He currently coached Masters Swimming at ClubSport Oregon and has worked with athletes of all abilities to further develop their skills and speed for all distances of racing.

For more information on coaching services, VO2 testing, and a current schedule of clinics you can go to www.speedshotracing.com or contact him directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 503-222-1203.