Accomplishments...

Measuring success.....


Racing is actually a very small part of the multisport experience.  In fact, for an age-group athlete, racing is usually less than 5% of the athlete's time spent swimming, cycling, and running during the year.  However, none of us like to do poorly in a race or on a fitness test.  Measuring progress is an absolutely essential part of structuring a training program that works well.


Many of us continue to train and wonder if we've made any real accomplishments.  We judge our pace on various courses under various conditions, compare our race placing against those around us, and end up confused and mystified by the world of structured endurance training.


"Gee, Mark.  Last year I finished 346th and this year I was 311th, so I must be improving," uttered Ivan as he looked over his race results.  "I got my speed average up to 18.3 mph over last year's 18.1, so the plan must be working," he gleefully exclaimed.


Does this conversation sound familiar?  These external measurements are not a fixed point by which we should measure, yet it's uttered frequently on message boards, blogs, and frustrated athletes trying to define their progress.


Thanks to the age of GPS watches, heart rate monitors, power meters, and other data collection devices, it has become easier than ever to figure out if the training plan is working well.


It has also become easier than ever to get lost in a sea of misinformation.


The Team's Successes...


The athletes at Nice Tri Multisport Coaching have just completed a 20 week training period known as the "Breakthrough Season".  Breakthrough training is usually conducted during what most people refer to as the "off" season.  Typically, offseason training consists of long, slow, aerobic miles done in an attempt to build an aerobic "base" with a much lower volume than peak season training.  The goal is to build an aerobic base, but what actually happens is that the athlete detrains, loses conditioning, and starts the season with quite a bit of work to do in order to try to get faster.


Not at Nice Tri Multisport Coaching.


Our "off" season is actually spent concentrating on improving pace and power at lactate threshold - the hallmark of an endurance athlete.  The athlete will enter a long course build season with very high levels of fitness, and they can then begin to add endurance to their newfound speed.


Our team has been extremely diligent on completing their workouts.  You could almost count on one hand the number of missed workouts per athlete over the last 20 weeks.  Their consistency has been a key ingredient to their success, and we have the PR's and new Vdots to prove it.


Statistically speaking...


Enthralling listeners with tales of newfound speed is one thing, but it is largely anecdotal.  Unless you've been tracking your progress to the "nth" degree, your improvements may go by unnoticed.  It may also slip by you that the plan is not working.  We track progress because we care!


Our run performances increased in speed an average of 9%.  The average athlete increased their Vdot score by 11%.  The average athlete took only 13 weeks to experience these gains (some athletes started the season later than others).


The largest time savings over a 5k run was 2 minutes and 47 seconds after 11 weeks of training.


What does all of this mean in the real world?


These figures mean that the average athlete at Nice Tri Multisport Coaching reduced their 5k run time by 2 minutes and 4 seconds in 13 weeks of training.


Taking credit...


I am very grateful to have such a hard-working team that is dedicated to their training and nutrition.  If they had not put in the work, they certainly would not have experienced the success that they did.  They should all be extremely proud.


I've also had a lot of feedback throughout the period about how the training was progressing and when a rest day might be due.  Communication is one of the most important parts of a successfully-coached training program, and the team was outstanding with this as well.  


I've also received suggestions and advice from team members about the plan, and for that I am grateful.  If the plan worked well, it is largely because of the help of others as we've gone through the program.


Athena Visel is Nice Tri's Registered Dietician and Sports Nutritionist.  She has been an extremely important element in the program, and has helped athletes modify their daily nutrition in order to meet their weight loss and performance goals.  She has also put a large amount of work into research and blog posts, which have proven very insightful.  She also deserves a hearty "thank you" for a job well done.


Looking forward...


We all know that long course training does not consist entirely of Vdot tests, FTP numbers, equations, derivatives, and algorithms.  The world of long course does not exist in a vacuum, but exists in the very real world of hills, winds, bonks, dog chases, chirping birds and everything else that goes along with training outside.  We couldn't be happier about it.


And we're ready.


Train Hard.  Race Easy.