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Keep it simple stupid.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about breaking things down to get a better understanding of what works and what doesn't. This could be misconstrued for making things more complicated. Couldn't be further from the truth. The art of breaking things down to actually make things simple (otherwise known as the KISS principle) is a sound one if you get it right.

Make sure you are thinking about your training and racing.

Thule "Bike Spot" from Nathan Avila on Vimeo.

The second half of Febraury looms and with it all the big races. If you're a Junior, the National Sprint Champs are next week in Sandringham. If you are a long courser, then Husky next week and/or Ironman. If you are Olympic Distance you have Newcastle and Mooloolaba.

Coaches have one eye on those big races but also have dreams of a big uninterupted winter where all the athletes can build a huge base to launch from.

This one is from a mate of mine, Dave Collier

As a coach, all that seems to be on your mind is getting an athlete to go faster. It seems funny but to get faster you are going to have to accept you will go slower and feel slower. Such is the game of overload. We have to break you down to build you up.

What does breaking you down entail? It involves more than the physical overload of putting you through the hard work. It actually entails breaking you down into what pushes you along. Technique, attitude, aerobic capacity.... we have to break them all down and peel back the layers to see what the foundation is upon which we build.

If you want to have a strong mental approach, as a coach, I am going to have to see what motivates you , what you like, what you dislike and what will make you crack. Then I can work from that knowledge and build sessions from a strong mental game.

Technique is likewise a factor that needs to be broken down. Is your stride weak in the support phase or the drive phase. We need to break it down to see what the weakness is. Then we give the weakness a little attention and work on it using drills or specific workouts that will strengthen it.

When you look at your next race and where you can get better - break it down, peel back the layers to see what lies beneath. Be open and honest with yourself and your coach to see how we cn get better. To say that your run needs work is like saying the Sistine Chapel needs a repaint. There's a bit more detail to it than that.

Peter Clifford
Coach

It's been an up and down time for the crew after the Melbourne camp. Foxy, Sal and Rob Dog have all had a pretty hard-core virus that's doing the rounds. We have had to knock back all intensity for a while to get them back on deck. Bit of a shame as it's in a critical time of the season. This has knocked around our planned race schedules as well. Still - it aint all bad - with Sash getting the all clear from the heart doc to resume training and Alex getting his running back on deck. He's up to about 3 x 4km runs a week now.

Dylan and Andrew are now back after their trips to the states. Will be great to have them back.

The Euro trip planning is going well and we look like we will stay in france somewhere. Probably near Aix. The last race for the trip will be Alpe De Huez - should be fun times.

PC

From consistency we will build into volume, from volume we will build into intensity. From consistency, volume & intensity we get results.

High Performance Tri Blog General

Endurance ..... that's what it's all about. If you can't endure the speed of the race, the power out of the turns, the pure distance of the race then you need more endurance sets. What's an endurance set? A set where you do something time and time and time again. No power up the hills in the ride? .... do 15 hill reps up your nearest hill for 4 weeks in a row.

Have a look at the set above in the pic. It was designed to be able to go the distance and then kick up the pace to another gear. We did this 3 times through on this particular day.

PC