The Tritaan & Corona – A HJD perspective

Monday evening we had an ‘open hour’ with our cyclingtrainer Henk Jan about the Tritaan, Corona, and cycling! Of course this was done via an online platform. Here you will find a summary, the questions and answers, and the link to the slides. Haven’t read the guidelines with regard to Corono yet? Then this might interest you first 😉 LINK

The current situation is of course strange: no training moments, no event, very sad.
But just like Bob Ross said this simply means you have an empty canvass in front of you! Plenty possibilities for new plans, or continuing and enhancing your old plan, consider it an extension of your preparation time before the races to come. Here we could consider two approaches:
-Task-oriented: working on your skills and condition;
-Laissez-faire: a more relaxed approach, do what you enjoy.

Of course a combination of the two is possible, but for now we consider these two.
With a few ground rules you can maintain your current shape, for either approach.

What you should NOT do:
-Train too hard and/or too often, and
-Don’t get enough recovery time
–>This leads to fatigue, and thus fatigue of your immune system = more susceptible to viruses.
-Going from zero to a big training (e.g. a random 180k cycling tour, when you’re not used to such a distance), this also lead to fatigue.

Different types of training
-Skills, technique
-Endurance (1-? Hours, Z1/Z2)
build up with 10-20% exter per ride
-Longer intervals (intervals Z3)
Recovery at least 48 hours
-Short intervals and peak power (Z5/Z6)

If you take enough time inbetween intervals, and have a GOOD recovery, then the intervals won’t be less. However, you really need to listen to your body and know what you’re doing.

Q: How long do the longer intervals need to be?

A: Depends on your level. Say that you can do 3 hours of endurance easily, then your interval can be 3 x 10’. A way to control this is to check your heart rate. If your heart goes up, but your pace does not, or even goes down, then it’s time to stop.

Q: What if you would like to do a cycling tour in august if september?

A: Make a lot kilometers, and build up the distance step by step. And if you really want to go fast you also have to play a bit with your food.

Q: And in what steps would you build up to something like that ^?

A: Say the tour is in the beginning of September, that’s when you need to fast. So a distance of 120k shouldn’t face you. So 6 weeks beforehand you would want to be able to cycle for a longer distance already. For this you can easily apply basic math to determine with increases of 10-20%  when you should be able to do what distance (see slides – different types of training). Additionally, it is of importance to stick to a format of 2 weeks building-up, 1 week considerably less distance. In the ‘rest’ week you can do a distance similar to the one you started with.

Q: What could be a ‘standard’ format within a week? 1 endurance and 1 interval workout?

A: That would be a fine structure. Remember to tackle the intervals responsibly. In general (especially now) it is important to use your common sense.
Also couple your training structure to achievable goals and expectations.

Q: How about swimming?

A: Swimming is of course difficult right now. Mobility & core are indeed important. Now would be a good time to work on your shoulder mobility to increase stroke length. Yoga is also a good one, also for running and cycling.

Find the slides on spordaten!

We also took a look at the current situation (for inspring content, keep an eye on the social media of Triteam), but also a look at the future! We’ll have to wait a bit for that though, all we can say is that we’re already excited for the execution of certain ideas!

Thank you Henk-Jan!