Preparing for the Pre-season - Part 2:

In Part 1 of Preparing for the Pre-season, I discussed the importance of not getting carried away with the volume and the intensity of your training too early in the Pre-season.

I also looked at the importance of sticking to the program, and not making major changes to the plan all at once.

This week I will look at another 2 pointers, important in improving your fitness and your performance, no matter what your sport.

The first is to keep working on improving your key limiters, and the second is to train at different intensities.

3. Keep working on your key limiters


Your key limiters are your main areas of performance weakness — the areas of your athletic performance that have a negative impact on your ability to reach your goals or maximize your performance. An example might be your swimming stroke, perhaps your hill climbing ability on your bike or your foot cadence in your running.

Perhaps it is something that is a little easier to remedy such as your Flexibility or your overall strength.

It is human nature to want to put more effort into the things we are already good at, but unfortunately the returns on this investment tend to be small and insignificant.

By committing additional time, energy and attention to improving your key limiters, you will see a more noticeable return on your investment - as an improvement in your performance.

At then end of the day, this is why we train - to see improvement.

4. Train at different intensities


The bottom line here is that most people who are training for an event, spend the majority of their training time working in the “No Where Zone”.

In this zone, you are neither improving your aerobic fitness base, nor are you pushing up your anaerobic threshold. If you are going to train hard, go very hard.

The goal should be to take your body outside of its comfort zone in order to elicit improvement. This Spinervals session is a prefect example of how to train harder and smarter. Give this cycling specific a try: Mental Toughness. (This name speaks for itself!)

If you are going to train long and easy, keep it easy, and there are a number of Coach Troy Jocobson sessions designed for that too. Try the Aerobase Builder I session for a taste of what Aerobic, Base conditioning is really about.

It is important not to schedule hard training days back to back and to allow at least one day between hard workouts to allow your body sufficient time to recover.

Implement these 2 pointers into your training and you will not only see the improvement, but will feel them too!