Ask the Experts: Joe Friel on Peaking for Triathlons
4 September 2008
Many qualified experts on training and nutrition use TrainingPeaks to help manage their business. Now, a select few are offering professional training and nutrition advice on our blog. Read on to learn what Training Bible author Joe Friel has to say about peaking for different distances of triathlons, and submit a question of your own below!
Question: How does peaking/tapering differ for an Ironman vs a half-Ironman vs an Olympic-distance triathlon?
Answer: There are three major ways that training differs in the Peak period for athletes racing these distances.
1. Generally, the longer the race is the longer the Peak period should last. The reason for this is that with longer races the athlete has typically been doing more volume for a longer period of time and is likely to be on the precipice of over-training and injury a few weeks before the race. So with that in mind, peaking for an Ironman will often take longer: more than likely a full four weeks. The first week of this peaking period for an Ironman will be primarily devoted to rest and recovery. This helps to ensure that the athlete avoids breaking down in the next two weeks in which he/she will be doing mini-race simulations every 72 to 96 hours. And again, the longer the race, the longer these simulations will be. (For all distances, as the Peak period progresses the length of these simulation workouts decreases.) When peaking for a half-Ironman the athlete is less likely to need four weeks, although this may still be done. For an Olympic-distance race two to three weeks devoted to peaking may well be adequate.
Besides the type of race for which the athlete is training, another consideration in determining the length of the Peak period is level of fitness. Should fitness be lower than it needs to be a few weeks out from the race, say due to a late season illness or injury, the Peak period will need to be shortened and the Build period extended regardless of the race distance.
2. Of course, the intensity of the Peak period mini-race simulations will also vary widely between these three distances. Getting the goal pace/power right is a major focus of the Peak period. In the mini-race simulations I have Ironman athletes do long intervals at just above race pace/power followed by a long, steady-state effort right at goal pace/power. Half-Ironman athletes also do long intervals at about the same work level as Ironman athletes during the Peak period but they dont do the long, steady-state training. I like to have Olympic-distance triathletes also do intervals but these are relatively fast done at goal pace/power. In all cases the recovery intervals are longer than in the Build period for the same type of intervals. And also similar among them is that as the Peak period progresses fewer intervals are done in each of these race simulation sessions.
3. For the longer events race-day nutrition is a much greater issue. In the Peak period race simulations Ironman and half-Ironman athletes will continue as they did in the Build period to rehearse their refueling strategies, which should be well-defined by now. Refueling is considerably less of an issue for Olympic-distance racing so much less attention is devoted to following very specific and complex details, certainly nothing on the order of what the Ironman athletes must be prepared for on race day.
About the author:
Joe has trained endurance athletes since 1980. His clients have included elite amateur and professional road cyclists, mountain bikers, triathletes, and duathletes. They have been from all corners of the globe and included American and foreign national champions, world championship competitors, and an Olympian.
Joe is the author of The Cyclist’s Training Bible, Cycling Past 50, Precision Heart Rate Training (co-author), The Triathlete’s Training Bible, The Mountain Biker’s Training Bible and Triathlon: Going Long (co-author), and The Paleo Diet for Athletes (co-author). He holds a masters degree in exercise science, is a USA Triathlon and USA Cycling certified coach, and is the past Chairman of the USA Triathlon National Coaching Commission. He is a featured columnist for Inside Triathlon and VeloNews magazines, and writes feature stories for other international publications and websites. He is also the founder and President of Ultrafit Associates, LLC and Training Peaks, LLC.
Ask a question of your own! If you have a question for the experts, submit it here either by emailing asktheexperts@peaksware.com or by posting it on our message boards. Your question could be featured in our next blog!
No comments yet
