Alex

Background

Alex is a 34-year-old age group triathlete targeting qualification for the age group world titles in Switzerland next September. He aims to improve his performance to secure a spot in the top three.
He achieved 9th place in the Australian Duathlon Championships last October and 5th in Challenge Melbourne this year within his age group, indicating strong potential but a need for improvement.
His primary goal is to enhance consistency across all triathlon legs and elevate his placement to the top three to qualify for the world titles.

Challenges and Limitations

Time Constraints: Alex's full-time job presents significant challenges in dedicating sufficient time to training, affecting the balance between work and athletic preparation.
Training Schedule: His routine involves long, slow-distance training in the morning and high-intensity workouts after work, potentially leading to fatigue and hindering recovery.
No Rest Days: Alex trains daily unless injured, lacking scheduled rest days or cross-training activities, increasing the risk of overtraining and injury.
Limited Training Records: His training records are not comprehensive, relying on a Garmin heart rate monitor and GPS. Although he owns a Stages power meter, its inconsistent use limits data-driven insights.
Resistance Training: Alex avoids resistance training due to concerns about adding muscle bulk, which he fears would negatively impact his swimming, biking, and running performance. This avoidance may limit strength and power gains.

Performance Issues in Each Leg

Swimming

Encounters difficulty matching the pace of leading swimmers, affecting his overall race time and energy expenditure.
Feels compelled to exert extra effort to maintain position, leading to increased fatigue that impacts subsequent race stages.
Perceives a deficiency in upper body strength, causing him to conserve leg strength for the bike and run, which compromises his swimming performance.

Biking

Struggles to maintain pace with other cyclists during accelerations out of corners, affecting his competitive positioning.
Exhibits a tendency to rock on the bike when applying maximum effort, indicating inefficient power transfer and potential instability.
Reports inadequate upper body bracing, which compromises stability and power output on the bike.

Running

Identifies running as his strongest leg, providing a competitive advantage in the final stage of the triathlon.
Demonstrates a tendency to drop his hips, particularly when fatigued, affecting running efficiency and increasing the risk of injury.
Experiences pain on the inside of his right knee when pushing his limits, suggesting potential biomechanical issues or overuse injuries.

Proposed Solutions

Record and Monitor Training Load: Implement detailed tracking methods to monitor training intensity, volume, and overall load, enabling data-driven adjustments.
Reduce Overall Training Volume: Decrease the volume of swim, bike, and run training to allow for adequate recovery and reduce the risk of overtraining.
Incorporate Resistance Training: Integrate resistance training sessions to address musculoskeletal imbalances, enhance strength, and improve power output across all triathlon legs.

Rationale for Changes

Potential Overtraining: Suspects Alex may be experiencing overtraining due to continuous training without rest, impacting performance and increasing injury susceptibility.
Musculoskeletal Imbalances: Identifies potential imbalances and weaknesses that could limit performance and increase the risk of injury.
Injury Prevention: Focuses on reducing the risk of injury by addressing imbalances and managing training load effectively.
Data-Driven Adjustments: Aims to empower Alex, his coach, and the advisor to make informed adjustments to training load using recorded data, preventing overwork or injury.

Hi Alex, how are you? In the email you sent me a few days ago, you mentioned you're looking to improve your sports performance. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah, for sure. I'm a 34 year old age group triathlete.

I'm looking to make selection for the age group world titles in Switzerland next September. Well, that's an impressive goal. How far off that level are you now? Well, pretty close. I finished ninth in the Australian Duathlon Championships last year in October.

Managed fifth place in Challenge Melbourne this year in my age group. I probably need to gain a few spots and a bit of consistency to to place in the top three, but I'm I'm pretty pretty close. Okay. There's still really impressive results. Well done.

What do you feel has been holding back for competing in that level before? Mostly time. I work full time and try to squeeze my training in around that. So unfortunately, jobs are sports is only a hobby, so I can't pursue it as a as a full time career. Yeah.

I see that will be challenging to manage. How have you been trying to manage that so far? I typically try to get my long slow distance stuff in in the morning and then try and get the intensity stuff after work. It's certainly challenging. I recently hired a coach, so hopefully that will change a few things.

Yeah. Great move on hiring a coach. So how many days a week do you train now, Alex? Every day. Well, unless I'm injured.

Yeah. Okay. And do you schedule any rest days or what about cross training? Oh, rest days. No.

I'm a really tight kind of schedule. The last thing I'm I'm kind of training is less training, more rest days. I don't have any other kind of training outside my typical swim, bike, run. Yeah. Okay.

And do you keep a record of your training or do you monitor your training intensity and load at all? Look. I don't really keep a training record. I do wear a Garmin heart rate monitor, a GPS sometimes. I've won a Stages parameter recently, but I've never really used it on my rides.

Okay. Thanks for the detail about that. Just out of interest, why haven't you tried any cross training? Have you thought about doing any resistance training? I've never really considered it.

I don't want to get too bulky. I kind of take that extra mass when I'm around the course fiddling on swim and on the bike and the run. So I've kind of generally avoided the gym. Look, that's a fair concern, but if managed properly, then resistance strain can actually improve your performance without adding much extra mass. So what else do you feel might limit your performance in each leg of the race?

Well, it's a fair bit actually. When I'm in the water, I feel as if I can't match the pace of the best guys. I really have to work out on my comfort zone to keep up and that can cost me later on, putting on the on the bike and the run legs. If I don't have the strength of I just feel like I don't have the strength in the water, and I try to avoid using my legs too much because I obviously want to spare them for later in the race. What about the bike and run legs?

Again, I've never really felt I can match the pace the other riders I accelerate out of corners. Some people have said that I tend to rock around on the bike when I push too hard. I do feel as if my upper body doesn't brace me as well as perhaps it could. Yeah, okay. And the run?

Run's definitely my best leg. Look I come from a running background my only issue with running is that I tend to drop my hips a little bit, particularly when I become fatigued, and as I mentioned earlier if I keep pushing then I can sometimes cause pain in the inside of my right knee. Yeah. Okay. This is really good information, Alex.

Is there anything else you'd like to share? No. Don't think so. Yeah. Okay.

Well, look, I'm going to suggest that we look at some ways to record your training and monitor your training load. And I also think it would be great to reduce your overall training volume for the swim bike and run lakes and actually add some resistance training sessions in. How does that sound? I'm a bit skeptical. Why should I kind of cut back on some training and and add others in?

Yeah. Look. That's a good question. Honestly, I suspect you might be a bit over trained and it sounds like you've got some musculoskeletal imbalances and weaknesses that could be limiting your performance. And we'd like to address those in order to actually reduce your injury risk and improve your performance.

In addition to that, we also wanna know exactly how hard you are training so that you, your coach and I can adjust the training load without causing you to become overworked or injured. Okay, that sounds logical enough. I'm keen to see how it plays out. Great, let's get started.