After breaking the ice with this new data analysis/training tips segment, I think I'm ready to start unloading some of the things I've learned this season. I'm more or less wrapping up dedicated tri training for the year, so I will likely find more time to wade through the backlogs of topics I've accumulated. I will be presenting topics in no particular order, and again, I do not claim any sort of divine knowledge on the subjects covered here. Rather I am offering some anecdotal tips and whatnot explained the best I can through the lens of articles and books I've read.
Strength training seems to be a fairly controversial topic with endurance athletes, and rightfully so since clearly there is no one size fits all answer. In fact, I would hesitate to say there is even a one size fits most answer. However, I believe I've found the current fit for me, for next season. That's another thing. I think your strength training needs to be assessed every year, especially for time crunched athletes. One year shoring up on a specific weakness might be all you need before being able to dedicate all of your time to swim-bike-run.
So, step one I guess is to determine if you think you need any strength training at all. Of course if you find muscular force, high-end power, pull sets, low cadence/stroke and hill climbing tough you may benefit from some time at the gym. Another thing to consider is your predisposition to injury. If you find you're unable to put on the miles without an overuse injury, you may be suffering from some kind of muscular imbalance. Get that checked out and consider some time to correcting that. In my case, I'm a very ectomorphy-type guy, and a runner-turned-cyclist. As is probably common with my type, I suffer on the bike due to lack of strength. I would consider myself a fast runner, not a strong one. To illustrate the difference, the former would excel at a race on the track or a flat road course. The latter could whoop you off-road, through sand, in ankle-deep snow, etc. So assess your weaknesses and decide if that weakness would be helped by getting a little more strength. And don't assume you will put on weight. You might, but if you're a triathlete... I doubt it. If you're not sure, I'd say pepper some strength training in your earlier cycles of the year and record how it makes you feel. Who knows, you might need it and not even know it.
You have decided to take me up on strength training! Awesome. Here the topic diverges for me based on your reasons for making this choice - to go faster or to be less injury prone. The latter is a shorter topic so I'll hit that first.
Let's play sports doctor. Rewind to 2006. I am in grade 10 (I think) and believe I'm going to be a runner. I start putting on more milage but once I start hitting 30km/week I begin developing shin splints. I assume it's just a normal part of building up milage and train through it, despite every run starting with an agonizing 10 minutes or so of warming up my shins, and steady pain walking around day to day. They get worse and worse and I can hardly lay my hands on the insides of my shins without wincing. I go to physio and whatnot... Nothing helps. I show no signs of unusual biomechanics. "Coincidentally" I also develop anaemia and am sidelined for a couple months. Sounds like overtraining right? Here's the kicker - I never even hit 40km/week. All of this was happening at very low milage. So what was happening? This final clue should drive the point home. I was 6'2" and a bit under 140 lbs. Throughout the rest of my high school years I slowly managed to put on some weight, and all my problems began improving. However, it wasn't until my first year of university where I was introduced to the UWO Triathlon club and full body, balanced training. Blam, all my leg problems disappeared and I managed to increase my weekly volume by probably around 100%. Agreed, this is an extreme case, but at the very least it demonstrates the point that if you're injury prone perhaps bulking up a little will help. On the other hand, too much weight will make every footfall harder on your joints and ligaments so keep that in mind as well.
For the record, I am still 6'2" but peak at about 160-165lbs.
As for speeding you up, this is probably the least agreed upon aspect of strength training. However in my case, I have definitely seen an improvement in cycling from strength training. In the last two years I have dedicated 2-3 months in the winter to focusing on in the gym, actual weights training. Four weeks of low weight, high rep work to get the skeletal system and ligaments ready for real training, two weeks of low reps, building weight, then two to four weeks of low reps, low weight extremely explosive movements as well as on-bike sprinting. The goal of this last phase is to translate the raw strength gains into on-bike power gains. I did a similar though reduced routine for the upper body. This progression would usually finish around March and I would go into a strength maintenance phase until about May. Through the summer I would completely ignore strength training and go exclusively swim-bike-run. I believe this is the typical way triathletes go about strength training. In my first two years I saw big gains. In the last little while I found myself reaching peak fitness on the bike around June and slowly losing my ability to put out power as the summer progressed. This does not seem to make sense as I increase volume and specificity of cycling training during these months, so I should be seeing an increase in power. Since the only other change is removing strength training all together, I can only guess that this is what is draining my power. It is this reason that I plan on making strength maintenance a part of my training year-long. I have proven to be a sub-par cyclist so I will be putting an emphasis on maintaining strength all year.
I will be doing this in two ways - weekly bodyweight circuit sets during the summer, and sport specific strength workouts. The first is simple enough. Squats, lunges, pushups, etc. This can be done on a recovery day. The second will be things like sprinting on the bike, paddles and elastic bands for swimming etc. This should help me maintain my hard earned strength and not take too much time away from swim-bike-running.
In the winter during my in-gym strength building phase, I stick to the basics. Multi-joint lifts that simulate movements I will be doing in my sport are emphasized. Bonus points for free weights. Squats, leg press, lunges, leg extensions and hamstring curls I find are enough for the lower body. Bench press, lat pull downs, seated rows, shoulder press for the upper body. For all of these exercises, if you push, make sure you keep it balanced with a pull. As in, bench press coupled with seated row. You should work to move the same weight for leg extensions and hamstring curls. Core work I keep as bodyweight with many reps.
Hopefully this is helpful.
Adam "Get swole" Fortais
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