MAXIMISING OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHLON PERFORMANCE ...

year I was ranked sixth in ITU WorldRankings. I raced more and myperformances improved. But I believethere comes a time when you have tostop racing, rest and build base again.In the Tour de France, the athletes raceevery day for three weeks over massivedistances and mountainous terrain.Compare this to an elite marathonrunner who would only run twomarathons a year. An acceptablenumber of races in triathlon to maximiseperformance and remain free of injury isnot clear to me. This may be anindividual thing but more likely sportsscientists, coaches and triathletesthemselves should know better as thesport progresses further.6. The Other Session –Rest/RecoveryRecovery between sessions is vital tomaximising training performance and Ihave no difficulty doing this after eachsession. Recovery is the session whereit is most difficult to measure its value. Iam currently allowed one day off perweek. My performances have beenbetter having the day off and my injuryrate has been much lower. Prior to thisI would not have a day off but my trainingwas not as high in intensity. Prior towinning the Junior WorldChampionships I was having onemorning rest/recovery per week.Often it can be difficult to reconcilewhether you should be getting a fewmore “miles” in the legs rather thanresting. I am sure some coaches woulddefine resting as under-achieving. Isuppose the effect of additional trainingcompared to resting can only bemeasured in the longer term.7. InjuryTo maximise performance I have tendedon the safe side with injury unless mycoach has insisted I train through. Priorto the World Juniors in 1995, I had anITB problem which lasted forfour weeks. I trained during this time.This injury came after an all day sessionat a much higher increment than theusual training miles. It was one of thefew times I trained through an injury.Early in my career I would rest for 48hours after an injury and this fixed mostproblems. I have relied onphysiotherapy for all my serious injuriesfrom the best physios. I now usemassage on a regular basis as aprecaution against injury.I have had three a major bike falls intraining which unfortunately goes withthe territory. Each time I have receivedimmediate medical attention andconcentrated physiotherapy. Coacheshave different approaches torecognising and treating injuries. Thelong term effects of injury should not bediscounted. Obviously maximisingperformance in Olympic Distance racingcan only be achieved when injury free.8. The Ideal Body Shape forOlympic Distance TriathlonFor me, the signs were clear early in mysporting life that I never had abundantspeed. My body size, weight and genesmeant that I was probably more suitedto longer distances. This makes mewonder what the essential aerobic andphysical characteristics are formaximising performance over theOlympic Distance. I believe a triathleteshould not be too big in the pecs and38