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“Train hard, rest harder, race hardest…!”

Posted by David in Triathlon, Workouts on March 15, 2008 | no responses

David and Olaf
Photo: Me and my coach, Olaf Sabatschus

“Train hard, rest harder, race hardest…!”
- Olaf Sabatschus, professional triathlete and my triathlon coach

Sage advice from one of the best long course triathletes in the world.

However, the tendency for many athletes is to: “Train hardest and race hard!” and ignore the importance of the “rest” component. The result is a sub-optimal race performance.

Not intentionally of course. No one wants to race poorly, but it’s an easy path to go down by focusing too much on the training and not enough on the rest component.

What do I mean by focusing too much on the training? Here are two examples:

  • When I trained for my first Ironman in 1997, I shared a training schedule with my friend and neighbor, Phil. We followed each workout to the letter - if a run workout said run 42 minutes and our loop only took us only 40 minutes to complete, then we ran around our townhouse cluster for 2 more minutes until we had run 42 minutes.
  • If I missed a workout during the months leading up to Ironman Canada, I became a stress case. I remember driving around for several hours on a Tuesday evening looking for a track that was both open and not occupied by a track team. I never did find one that I could use so finally gave up in frustration.

    • Not necessary!

    Did the extra 2 minutes really make a difference? No.

    Did missing one track workout really make a difference? Not really, plus I could just as easily run on the road and substituted timed intervals with track intervals.

    In both cases, I was a slave to my schedule and created extra, unnecessary stress for myself.

    Why is rest important?

    Rest is the time period during which your body adapts to the training stresses placed on it; therefore, rest, active recovery (very easy workouts) and days off from training are absolutely essential to performance gains. Not surprisingly, as workout volume, frequency and/or intensity increase, the need for rest will increase as well.

    True, consistency in performing sport specific exercises from week to week is essential to improving. Not enough consistency means not enough stimulation and not enough adaptation (i.e. stagnation or loss of fitness). However, the 80/20 rule applies - if you can complete 80% of the workouts that you set out to do, then you are meeting the intent. It’s OK to miss one or two workouts here or there – unexpected life events happen.

    The worst thing that you can do (speaking from my own experience) is to be a time slave to your schedule. It’s a plan not a mandate. If you’re tired (like I am today), cut your workout short and take the extra rest. Too tired in the morning to get up and swim? Then, sleep in and either make up the workout later in the day or skip it altogether. In other words, rest harder!

    Training should be fun and rewarding, a welcome release from whatever else you may have going on in your life, not a stress in itself.

    Train Smartly,

    David

    —-

    David B. Glover
    Experiential Writer, Elite Athlete, Coach and Race Director
    Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine
    Personal Web: www.davidglover.net
    Business Web: www.enduranceworks.net

    ©2008 David B. Glover

    

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