A Need for Speed
In order to go for my time goals for my races this year, increasing my running, biking, and swimming speed has become a top priority in training. During May and June, I focused my training on building my aerobic endurance base, but in July, my attention has turned to speed.
This effort to boost speed centers on 5 main strategies:
Strength Training
High-Intensity Interval Training
Tempo Workouts
Focusing on Technique
Recovery and Diet
Strength Training
The majority of my strength training over the past few months was with Coach Kevin Dilworth. Dilworth is a motivational force of nature (check out his instagram account, @momentofpower74) and pushes me to maximal intensity in our strength workouts. The workouts that he designs are focused on full-body, light-weight exercise that builds muscle while also hones cardiovascular fitness. This style is similar to what would be called a "HIIT" workout, which stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. I will discuss that training style in more depth in the next section as I use that style of workout for building faster pace on my swims, bikes, and runs as well.
Having a coach for strength training has been a game changer. Over the years, I have developed the discipline to push hard on a weightlifting workout on my own, but I reach an entire new level of intensity with Coach Dilworth. Our workouts only take 45 to 50 minutes to reach near exhaustion. Each workout will have a unique twist, but frequently we complete circuits of multiple exercises (i.e. 3 sets of 4 different exercises with minimal rest in between sets). This has been most impactful for the strength of my leg muscles, which are critical for increasing running and biking speed as well as injury prevention. Now with stronger legs, I can add explosive bursts of speed on bikes and runs and can hold a faster pace for longer periods of time. For example, I can now hold a pace on the bike over 25 MPH for 5+ minutes, and hopefully I will soon be able to reach that pace for much longer periods of time. Injury prevention is also of critical importance for my training. I had a serious knee injury from skiing in 2019, so I always have to be mindful of keeping my knee healthy, especially with 5 big endurance races on the calendar (I added a 5th race, a 2nd Half Ironman, in December!). The added strength from Dilworth's sessions help to bolster the muscular support to keep my knee healthy and pain-free.
High-Intensity Interval Training
A time-based athlete cannot expect to get faster without training at close to max speeds, so that is why high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is critical. My high school swimming and water polo career taught me the significant training impact that HIIT-style workouts could have. My coach for both sports, Mihai Oprea, would emphasize training sets of very short distances but maximum efforts. Oprea's go-to set for this for swimming was 30 repetitions of a 25-yard freestyle (one length of a typical competition pool) with 15 seconds rest in between each one. At my peak swimming shape during Junior and Senior year, I could swim each 25-yard length between 12 to 14 seconds for the entire set of 30. Despite the short length and time of each rep, those all-out effort swims were one of the hardest workouts I have ever done in my life.
This style of exercise is almost completely training the anaerobic system to prepare your body for short bursts of speed and power. This anaerobic training builds the muscle reflexes and strength to withstand maximal speed, building "Type II" or "Fast-Twitch" muscle fibers. Even though using "Type I" or "Slow-Twitch" muscle fibers is more important for endurance racing, the only way to boost speeds is to spend a portion of training time focused on the anaerobic, fast-twitch system.
Another important biological metric that HIIT works on is the speed of at the VO2 Max pace. The VO2 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen you breathe in when exerting maximal effort. Training at a pace the nears your VO2 Max threshold will help to increase that threshold over time and accustom your cardiovascular system and muscles to intense effort. By pushing the body to its physical limits, an athlete forces an adaptation in physiology.
For example, my goal for the Olympic Triathlon was to race a 10K at around 6:10 pace. I missed this goal by quite a bit, but that just means there is room for improvement! In my HIIT workouts or VO2 Max training sessions, I will run 400 or 800 meter sprints at max effort. Right now, my best 400 meter time is 1:05 and my best 8:00 is 2:33, and hopefully, I can get below 1 minute on the 400 as I work on this exercise style over time. My best mile time this year is 5:21. I have confidence that I can cut a good chunk of time off my mile as well.
Tempo Workouts
A Tempo workout is a medium-distance run or bike that comes close (~85-90 percent) of race pace. For my tempo runs, I am now trying to go about 6:50 pace or below (with 6:10 as the race pace goal) for 1 to 4 miles. I also usually practice my tempo runs after a ride on the Peloton, so I am becoming accustomed to fast-paced runs after biking. As I shift into solely marathon training after the Triple Bypass bike race at the end of August, I will gradually increase the distance of my tempo runs, eventually reaching 6 to 10 miles.
My Tempo bike rides are now at a speed of ~22 miles per hour for 10 to 20 miles (30 to 60 minutes). My goal speed on the bike portion of the triathlon was greater than 23 miles per hour, which I was not able to hold for 24.8 miles in this race. I will push my hardest, but my next triathlon will have to be the time when I hit a more ambitious pace goal. (Getting a faster bike may make that goal more attainable as well, but top-tier bikes are quite pricey...)
For my swims, I cannot as easily track my exact speed during a Tempo-style swim. Instead, I go at a strong pace based on feel and calculate my average speed at the end. I will do swims of 500 meters, 1,000 meters or, 1,500 meters for the Tempo swims, but these swims are slightly different than an actual triathlon race because they are not in the open water. The walls in a pool make it easier to swim faster times than open water because each push off the wall provides a boost of speed. That said, my pool speed is about 1:25 per 100 meters as I swam a 21:30 1,500m last week. This is an excellent pace, but my speed pales in comparison to my swimming and water polo glory days! Because I used to be in the pool often 5 days a week for 2 hours, I likely will never match that time commitment again. However, I think that I can match or maybe even beat my "glory days" swim speed (especially at long distances) for a few reasons:
I trained mostly for short-distance sprints in high school—my best events were the short distance 50 yard and 100 yard Freestyle and 100 yard Butterfly (ironically, I dreaded the long-distance 500 yard event).
I weigh ~20 pounds less than I did during Junior and Senior year of high school; I would estimate that I ate close to triple (I'm not joking) the total calories back then and my muscle mass was higher with a higher body fat percentage. The size paid off for water polo, but more mass means more weight to propel forward in a pool.
I train smarter now—I am much more focused on ideal technique to maximize swimming efficiency (more on that in next section)
My strength training more deliberately focuses on the critical swimming muscles (lats, shoulders, triceps, and core).
Focusing on Technique
During my competitive, high-school swimming days, our team worked on technique but my personal focus directed toward technique was suboptimal. I developed into a strong swimmer through intense effort and determination without leveraging a deep commitment to excellent form. My technique was solid, but I may have reached even more lofty swimming prowess if I had been more dedicated to the subtle nuances of form.
My appreciation for swimming technique did not develop until I became a swimming and water polo coach while working for St. Mark's. As is the case for any skill or subject, teaching swimming to others forced me to gain a fresh perspective on optimizing performance in the pool. I had a big "shoulda coulda woulda" moment when I realized as I coach that I should have paid closer attention when my coaches were teaching us about technique.
Now that I am once again an athlete, I have a second chance to pursue training with the wisdom gained from my coaching experience. I do my best to approach my workouts with a coach's mindset, fine tuning effort and technique with precision. This training approach is beginning to pay dividends in the form of increased endurance, speed, and injury prevention across all three triathlon sports. And I likely am only accessing the tip of the iceberg for improved performance. As I continue to invest time and focus toward this coach's mindset, I have confidence my capabilities as a triathlete will compound.
Recovery & Diet
With so much time and attention dedicated toward highly-specific training, having the discipline to recover properly and eat well is difficult. The consistency of my sleep & diet has ebbed and flowed during periods of my training, but overall it is very strong. I am lucky to have a good work-life balance that allows me time to train and get enough sleep (most days), but I do miss out on some experiences and indulgences to prioritize recovery. During the week, I often prepare for bed around 9:00pm and try to avoid watching TV late in the evening. If I make social dinner plans, I try to do them early or on the weekends. More recently, I mostly cook healthy meals at home (also to save money).
The most important factor for consistent recovery and diet may be avoiding alcohol. Some people feel pressure to drink at social gatherings, but learning to enjoy parties and events without feeling the need to drink is a valuable skill. After gaining this "no-drinking" experience a few times, the pressure to drink with your friends subsides. Sure, I have to explain myself a few times why I don't "just have one drink," but each time I stay firm on my commitment, I develop more confidence on sticking to the decision to limit drinking. It is amazing how much better I sleep each night that I avoid alcohol.
The intricacies of how I manage my diet are far too involved for a thorough discussion in this post, but I do focus on what I eat with careful attention. I also treat myself with several "cheat meals" throughout the week, but that is not a problem with the amount of exercise that I complete. I will cover my diet in-depth very soon, and my diet is also an element of my health regime that I consistently tweak and adjust.
With strong recoveries and a (mostly) clean diet, my muscles and cardiovascular system have the rest and fuel needed to continually strengthen after meticulous, intense training. As with all elements of being a triathlete, my sleep and diet have room for improvement, and I will keep working toward dialing in those important health and fitness levers.