With the warm winter that we are having it feels like spring is just around the corner, but unfortunately it isn’t; it’s only the beginning of February! Sorry to be the party pooper! With that in mind it is important to be patient with your training plan. It’s easy to get excited about your level of fitness and perhaps overdo it with your intensity. Stay the course. Some intensity is absolutely a good thing but save some enthusiasm for closer to race time. If you feel strong right now, that’s great; it’s even better if you feel strong when it’s race time.
What is the impact of too much too soon? Risk of injuries and mental fatigue. Simply put, speed work (race pace or faster) is hard and therefore puts more pounding on the body and requires more mental energy. The injury issue applies to running more than swimming and biking, but mental fatigue applies to all three sports.
This is an excellent time to work on your strength in the gym and include strength sets in your workouts – run hills, low gear/low cadence work on the bike, paddles and band work with swimming.
All of that being said THE most important thing that contributes to a successful race season is consistency. Do what you need to do to be consistent with your training; week in and out. Make it fun, however you need to.
