Coaching Smarter Triathletes: Brian Maiorano

Training Consistency and Incremental Improvements

Big Success through Baby Steps

Since last year I've had the pleasure of coaching two fantastic athletes (Riikka and Rachel) who have had phenomenal races this spring. I'm certain their success has come from incremental improvements gained through consistent training. Not killer workouts, monster training weeks, or go-so-hard-that-you-puke track intervals. Don't get me wrong: they worked super hard. But it was the day-in, day-out kind of hard work that mattered—not the “I'm going to kill myself this workout (or this week) and then lie on the couch for a few days and moan” intensity and duration.

Some Background

Riikka was training for her first half-ironman (Super Frog). Last season in her first year of triathlon, she was strong in all three sports and had some age-group success at smaller local races. But she needed more speed and more endurance to compete at the 70.3 distance. We knew she was capable of an overall podium.

Rachel was training for her first ironman (St. George). She started off as an elite swimmer and a strong cyclist.  But her running endurance and speed was...well, pretty non-existent. A 6 mile run counted as a long run for her, and she'd never before run longer than 30 miles in an entire month. Word on the street was that at St. George she'd kill the swim, do really well on the bike, and walk most of the marathon.

Their Successes

Riikka has had fantastic success. At her first half-ironman (Super Frog), she won an overall podium (third amateur woman), finishing just a few minutes behind some pros. And her raw speed has also improved —a few weeks later at the hugely competitive Wildflower Olympic-distance, she took 2^nd age group and 11^th overall (out of 800).

Rachel has had similar success.  At Ironman St. George, she did indeed kill the swim (first amateur woman out of the water) and rode strong (top 25% of the women's field). And to the surprise of all but a few of us, she ran the entire marathon (all 2400 vertical feet of that hilly course), with a run split in the top quarter of all women. It gave her a finish in the top 15% of the women's field—quite amazing for a first-timer.

Training Secrets that aren't Secrets

Their successes have some common threads. It's what I call training smarter, not harder—but they're really just basic training principles:

• Consistency
• Incremental improvements
• Adequate rest and recovery
• Staying injury free

Training Consistency

Both of their training consistency was remarkable. They seldom missed workouts. Even so, sometimes life gets in the way of training. I tell them them their key workouts each week; if they need to miss a session, we try to make it one that's not so important.

But neither one was obsessive over it.  Over six months, each had a handful of weeks where health, travel and/or work situations caused them to largely miss 4-7 days of training. We didn't stress about it, and simply adjusted their training plans. We didn't try to “make up” missed sessions with monster weeks or double-hard days.

Incremental Improvements

With that consistency comes incremental improvements. On a week-to-week basis, they're barely detectable. Over a month they're noticeable. And over six months, they add up to huge gains.

Riikka focused a lot on speed gains, so she did a lot of interval work. They were very hard efforts, but not so hard that they made her miserable, or so wiped her out that she'd miss the next day's workout. Speeds increased gradually, as did how many miles she did speed work. Baby steps. 

Rachel's focus was increasing her endurance. Starting from pretty much a zero-miles-per-week run base, we knew that getting her to run the entire marathon would be a challenge. And increasing her training while keeping her injury free would be an even bigger challenge. So weekly mileage increased very slowly. As did speed work. As did hill work. She stayed injury free, and on race day was in the minority of racers who ran the entire ironman marathon.

Rest and Recovery

Everyone has heard of the importance of rest, but yet few of us take it seriously. I insisted on it. On a weekly basis, they almost always took at least one rest day. When doing a lot of speed work, they'd intersperse those sessions with easier days. And every three to four weeks they'd take a full week of recovery, with training volumes 50% to 60% of normal.

They also learned to listen to their bodies, and back off when they were overly tired, or skip a workout when they were exhausted.

Staying Injury Free

The first three principles are key to staying injury free. Consistency keeps us strong and limber. Incremental increases in speed and duration allow our bodies to adapt slowly to stress, strain, and pounding. And rest allows minor traumas to heal, and muscles to grow stronger. And this comes full-circle—time lost to injury means huge losses in consistency and fitness.

Riikka and Rachel both learned to listen to their bodies and distinguish between pain and the normal discomfort/fatigue/soreness that comes from training. When they did have pains, we'd back off either some or a lot. Maybe by reducing intensity. Or using an elliptical machine instead of running. 

But mostly I think the lack of injuries came from the consistency, incremental improvements, and rest & recovery.

No One's Saying It's Easy...

Even though these principles are easy to understand, they're not easy to follow. Especially the consistency. Riikka and Rachel are two of the toughest, most determined people that I know. It shows in their training and racing, when they push through fatigue and discomfort, and train on days they'd really rather just stay in bed.

But that motivation and drive can come with a cost: it's hard to keep from going too hard, for too long, without enough rest. It's where my biggest role as a coach comes in. In addition to helping them set reasonable goals and helping to motivate them, my greatest challenge is reigning them in.

Competitive athletes want to do more than their bodies can sustain. I think it's why so many self-coached athletes have a lot of injuries. An outside, objective eye can moderate over-enthusiasm and make sure the whole season is great, not just a few weeks of it.

So I've Started a Coaching Business

Triathlon Lifestyle Coaching

I've tossing about the idea of coaching triathletes for the past year.  But really wasn't sure what I wanted to offer, or who I should target.  Spending the year with the fine folks in the Triathlon Club of San Diego answered both of those questions.

I've met a lot of beginners who are just overwhelmed with the logistics of training for three different sports.  And some of these "beginners" are already great athletes in at least one sport, and no stranger to training.

I've met a lot of people who've injured themselves by making poor training decisions.  It's seemed that a lot of those injuries can be explained by looking at their training schedule--"too much, too soon".

I've met experienced triathletes who have reached a plateau, and need something new to kick them over to the next level.

And I've met a lot of people who spend A LOT of time training without seeming to get much faster.  If spending six hours per week on a bicycle is an end in itself, then fine--but manyof these folks have ambitious race goals that they aren't getting closer to.  They're literally and figuratively spinning their wheels without a clear idea of how best to get what they want.

And in this past year I've had the great fortune to train alongside amazing athletes who know how to meet their goals and even win races--and yet somehow they balance their training with the rest of their lives.  I've learned what works for them, and also that it's usually much different than what works for some other top athlete. 

All of which explains how I discovered who I want to coach, as well as how I want to coach them.  And it all fits in with the notion of "Train smarter, not harder".

Coaching San Diego's Finest Triathletes

It crystallized toward the end of the summer after a ride with my friend Rachel.  She is a top athlete, but new to triathlon and with extremely little running background.  She had signed up for Ironman St. George, and I felt the need to just once try to talk her out of the race--my concern was that she would injure herself by ramping up her running mileage too quickly.

Of course I knew that I wouldn't talk her out of it.  So a week later I asked if I could at least be her run coach to guide her toward an injury-free finish.  She said yes, and as we were developing her running plan I asked how we should mesh it with her bike plan.  She responded, "What bike plan?" and suddenly I was her ironman coach...

I quickly discovered how much this is, and really can't imagine a better job or a more fun group of people to work with.  I've spent the last month teaching myself website design and getting everything about the business launched.  Check us out at Triathlon Lifestyle Coaching.

How Valuable is my Swim Coach? At Least 5 Seconds per Lap.

How I Learned to Stop Whining and Love the Swim
Here's a timeline of my swimming progressions.  A lot of triathletes have a similar experience.

• November 2005. Take a swim lesson and swim my first 25-yard length.  Think I will die.  I have to swim 40 of these for a sprint triathlon?!?!?!

• January 2006.  Swim my first continuous 1000 yards.  Buy a pair of jammers.

• Summer 2006.  My swim time is middle-of-the-pack.  "That's okay, I'll just 'make up' time on the bike."

• Fall 2006.  Attend Masters swim sessions.  Hear this from the coach: "Uhhm, Brian, you swim like, well...a barge.  But we can work on that."

• Winter 2006/2007.  Do two hard Masters swim a week, learn a lot of basic stroke techniques, and gain a lot of swim fitness.  Struggle in the water.

• Summer 2007. My race swim times don't improve much from the previous year, but I leave the water with much fresher legs.  "I'm okay with my middle-of-the-pack swim time because  I love passing collegiate swimmers on the bike."

• Fall 2007.  Spend a couple of weeks in the Caribbean and think I'd become a good swimmer if I could swim in the ocean every day.

• Winter 2007/2008.  Drop out of Masters swim and spend a few months teaching myself the Total Immersion drills.  Finally start to feel somewhat smooth in the water.

• Summer 2008.  My race swim times get a little faster, but I've learned to swim almost completely without my legs (especially with a wetsuit).  This has huge benefits for my bike and run.  Maintain a love/hate relationship with swimming.

• Fall 2008.  Move to San Diego, fall in love with swimming in the ocean.  Become very comfortable in rough water and longer distances.

• Winter 2008/2009.  Cold ocean temperatures force me into the pool.  I feel frustrated because my times have plateaued. 

• Spring 2009.  Realize that my bike and run splits are now fast enough that my wretched swim times are having a significant effect on my overall finish position.

• Ten Day Ago.  Overhear that Rachel, one of the fastest ocean swimmers in San Diego, is offering swim lessons.  Schedule an appointment with her on the spot.

• Today. Having now taken two one-hour individual sessions with Rachel, I love, love, love to swim.  It's easier, I'm faster, and I feel graceful in the water.

Isn't Masters Instruction Good Enough?
In my and a lot of of other people's experience, Masters sessions are great for learning basic stroke techniques, and for vastly improving your swim fitness.  I've had two Masters coaches who taught me a lot.  But a Masters coach is likely trying to focus on 10-20 other swimmers, and can't really devote a lot of individual time to you.  Plus, there's only so much about your stroke that can be seen from on deck.

What About a Swim Clinic?
I put swim clinics in a similar category as Masters.  They're probably fine for someone in their first year of swimming.  They're really good for basic stroke corrections, but generally don't offer a whole lot of one-on-one time.  Plus there's no ability to learn something new, and then get feedback on how well you've learned it.  Bad habits are hard to break...

Here's What I Love About My Coach

• It's a one-on-one session.  I have her complete attention, and I can ask detailed questions without feeling like I'm wasting other students' time.

• She swims in the water with me, and gets an up-close underwater view of my stroke.

• She gives me very detailed instruction on every part of my stroke.  From the position of my hands, rotation of my hips, motion of my legs, and angle of my elbow. 

It Seemed Like Nothing Revolutionary
After our first session, Rachel left thinking that she hadn't offered me much.  She had said my stroke was fundamentally sound, but tweaked a few things.  Most of these were a product of the exaggerated side-swimming in the Total Immersion drills--I was still doing the exaggerated motion during actual swimming.  My biggest problem was over-rotating at the shoulders--which set in motion a whole other set of problems. 

Other things she told me:

• Snap my hips instead of letting them roll along behind my torso.
• Apply power from my core.
• Keep my hands shoulder length apart (instead of on my centerline).
• Bend my elbows a little more.
• Point my elbows out, not down. 
• After my lead hand enters water, surf it along close to the surface instead of diving it down.
• When breathing, keep my head in line with my torso.
• Change the angle of my pulling hand throughout the stroke.
• Kick from the hips/quads, not from the knees.

Again, none of these were major changes--most of them minor adjustments of an inch or two.  I still haven't pieced them all together yet, but even now the cumulative effect has been immense.  My swim fitness is fairly low right now--especially in speed (I've been doing a lot of 1-mile ocean swims at a fairly easy pace).  But just for fun I tried a couple of 50 yard sprints.  I came in at 39 seconds--which is 6 seconds faster than when I had last tried that a few weeks ago.  And even a couple of seconds faster than when I was doing a lot of pool speed work in the spring.

Most importantly, I feel fast, powerful, and smooth.  I'll keep you posted on progress...