The scientific underpinnings of triathlon training would be excellent if they were clear, but they are not. The wide variety of methods and coaching philosophies stems from this. Physiology is a subject we are well-versed in, but the art is in applying it. Achieving athletic potential without compromising one’s health is possible when the two are combined.
As Mitch Vanhille advises, here are some go-to techniques for successfully increasing speed and body economy. You can train and race quicker at the same heart rate, whether swimming, cycling, or running if you’re more efficient.
Muscle balance
Your muscles enable you to run efficiently, propel you forward while riding bikes, and move you through the water. But even a minor change in your gait brought on by a muscle imbalance can make you move more slowly. This might be brought on by improperly fitting cycling and running shoes, a poor diet, or over training.
Strength is a related muscle problem. Traditional weightlifting regimens can frequently worsen aerobic function, affect gait, and weaken endurance, which results in a poor economy and slows us down. Instead, focus on exercises that don’t cause you to feel particularly exhausted, like weightlifting, which strengthens without adding mass or compromising your aerobic system.
Triathlon twitch
The aerobic system uses fat as fuel during triathlons and provides almost all the energy for an athlete. A person may win an IRON MAN race while operating at about 70% of their maximum oxygen uptake. Even in short triathlons, it may be 85%, and it might be about 75% in IRON MAN 70.3 races. Training the aerobic muscles is essential for improving speed for these sports; for example, running 5,000 meters would entail using almost all of one’s VO2max.
Healthy diet
The food we eat directly impacts our speed since it enhances fat burning, balances muscles, boosts circulation, and aids in developing a healthier aerobic body. The most significant impediment to this endurance capacity is refined carbohydrates, such as processed bread and sugar. If you want to accelerate, keep away from them.
This does not imply that eating carbohydrates during a race will speed up the process of burning fat. The likelihood that your body may be slowed down by indigestion, diarrhea, or other GI disturbance decreases with the less food in your stomach during a race.
Additionally, the greater aerobic function and fat-burning capacity you acquire, the fewer nutrients you’ll need during a race since you’ll be able to access more of your body’s fat reserves.
Your brain
The brain is the most underappreciated and misunderstood organ in an athlete’s body, yet it controls all of the aforementioned aspects directly or indirectly. Additionally, a healthy brain helps the body function more effectively, and a person who works smart produces the greatest improvement.
Conclusion
While some athletes require more time, these elements can quickly increase endurance speed. It relies on the person, their discipline, and the artistry with which it is carried out. With discipline, you can boost your triathlon time significantly.