Article by the Drummond Team

In the dark first quarter of the year, where the intensity is down and you are building a quality endurance base, it can be hard to stay stimulated whilst training.  If you are on the turbo, yes, you have music or a movie.  You might even be a fan of Zwift and ride with your online brother or sisterhood or Strava might be your preference.  Either way there is more that you can be doing to reap the rewards of this phase of your training and avoid the Winter Blues (I am writing this during a dull, snowy, rainy Sunday).

Even through winter training, it is hard to reduce intensity sufficiently to become the controller of intensity rather than the one being controlled (by the desire to bash every training session).  But this phase of deep endurance training is really important and time to embed good habits. So what sort of things can we do to achieve this?

Swimming

Identify with your imbalances/position – i.e. feel where your stroke is weaker/stronger, balanced/imbalanced.  Perhaps the use of swim equipment can help you identify with this.  If you are not familiar with using swim equipment then the link at the bottom of this article can help ……But please read on first.  Paddles, not always used as a pair, pull bouy, float shorts and ankle band to name but a few.  All of these tools if used correctly will help to focus your mind toward work that you need to do in order to refine your swim stroke.

Of course, it’s never a bad thing to engage with a swim coach.

Remember, any drills/skill work that we do are a rehearsal for the main training sets and of course competition and not to be forgotten during the higher and more intense workloads.

Cycling

Skill refinement and motor control are key components that are lost in a lot of recreational/club level cyclists during high intensity cycling.  The use of a turbo trainer to identify and address your imbalances is extremely useful.

Consider the number of pedal strokes that you do per ride.  Ask yourself this question.  Are you efficient all, some or none of the time?  Hopefully all of the answers are at the all or some end of the spectrum.  All levels of cyclists need to work on form.  Drills you may want to consider may be:

Efficiency drills

  • Endurance spinning at just a little higher than your comfortable cadence range and remaining there for a 5 min block
  • Single leg focus.  A great one to start to identify left/right balance.  Both feet remain in clipped in but the focus attention is upon the left/right side
  • Single leg drill. With one foot removed turn the pedals over relatively slowly to start and build up the cadence as you become more able.  How are you left versus right?

Remember, any drills/skill work that we do are a rehearsal for the main training sets and of course competition and not to be forgotten during the higher and more intense workloads.

If you are really struggling to find good efficiency/position on your bike.  It is really worth getting a good bike fit.  Every millimetre change of position counts.

Running

Go out and run, and then run some more.  STOP.  More volume doesn’t make you a better runner if you are embedding the wrong technique, it will merely serve as a way to your next injury.

Here are my top 3 things to consider when you are running:

  • What is your cadence count? (strides per minute).  An ideal cadence is set around the 180 mark.  Which for some will seem very high.  Try it and see.
  • Where does your foot strike the ground? For many, foot strike is too far infront of the body.  Try to pull back your foot strike so that it falls closer to your body.  This will reduce a breaking response and make you more efficient
  • Which part of the foot do you land on? A very topical subject presently and one that will continue to rage on for time to come.  Suffice to say that if you land headily on either the heel or ball of foot, you will reduce your efficiency measurably.  By incorporating the above 2 points they will significantly help a more efficient foot strike.  Practice of this should be done every step of every run.

Remember, any drills/skill work that we do are a rehearsal for the main training sets and of course competition and not to be forgotten during the higher and more intense workloads.