Most of
us will have days, and sometimes weeks, where life, work and
family duties demand a lot of our time and energy. You
might be traveling for work and engaged with clients from sun-up
to sun-down; your children may be out of school and you need to
keep them entertained while also logging 40+ hours of work, or
your dog is sick and you can't leave her alone for too long.
Let the fun begin!
Whatever
the cause, you find yourself overwhelmed, stressed out, and just
generally unable to get much time to yourself. You might be
tempted to just chuck all your training and sit on the couch in
those few moments you do have to relax. But if you really
are goal oriented and in training for some big event down the road...don't give in.
This is
where short workouts come in. I call them 30 minute survival
workouts. Why? Because those 30 minute workouts will help
your fitness survive until you have the wherewithal to get back
out and about for your 'real' training sessions.
The
validity of this has been researched quite a bit, and some
further reading links are provided at the end of this
article.
To sum
the research up: If you stop exercising, you will lose fitness.
Surprise! The longer you go without any training, the more
fitness you will lose. The newer to the sport you are, the
quicker you will lose that fitness. The reverse here is also
true: The longer you've been in a sport the slower you will lose
that specific fitness. However, 2-4 weeks for just about
everyone means you will lose a lot of fitness - reduction in
V02max, threshold, maximal power, strength, and so on.
Any amount
of training during this busy time will help maintain some of your
fitness gains. And including just a little bit of higher
intensity training (near lactate threshold and above) will help
you maintain a lot
of the fitness you gained previously. Any by a little bit, we're
talking about 5-10 minutes worth.
All
jokes about 8 minute abs aside (I can't be the only one who
thinks that's the funniest part of the movie There's Something About Mary),
you really can keep that fitness rolling if you just get yourself
moving.
So, what
to do? From a triathlon perspective, you want to hit your
personal weaknesses first during times like these. If you
come from a swimming background, that
will be the last skill you will lose. So go run. Or ride. Or do a
quick plyometric/body weight strength routine. You should have a
pretty good idea of what you're good at and where you need more
work.
To
reiterate, any training will help. So if you're stressed and
tired and don't have the mental energy to do harder sessions,
just get something in. 20-30 minutes easy jogging. A few hundred
yards swimming. Anything will help.
If you
have the energy, you can include a few short intervals,
even if you're overall training goal is a long distance triathlon
or run. Here are a few workout ideas that are in the 30 minute
range.
Run:
warm up 10 minute
quick
dynamic stretch (drills/plyos)
6 x 1
min at or near threshold / 1 min easy
5 minute
cooldown
Run:
warm up 10 minute
quick
dynamic stretch (drills/plyos)
5 minute
steady
10 x 20
second over-threshold / 40 second easy
5 minute
easy
Bike:
warm up 10 minute
stretch
or stand/sit a few times to loosen up
3 x 20
second hard (100%+ FTP) / 40 second easy
4 x 2
minute sub-threshold (90-100% FTP) / 1 minute easy
5 minute
easy
Swim:
warm up 300 yards
100 kick
(unless your kick takes 10 minutes - work on that)
4 x 50
build each from easy to fast on 15 sec rest
300
steady pull with paddles
6 x 100
mod-hard to hard (sub threshold to threshold) on 20 sec rest
100
easy
All
disciplines:
Warm up
10 minute easy
build
into mod hard / tempo for 10-15 minutes
5 minute
or so cool down
I know
it can be tough, but like anything worthwhile in life, high
aspirations like completing your first triathlon, running a
marathon, or qualifying for Ironman World Championships, require
time, discipline, hard work, and consistency. The links below are
worth a read if you ever find yourself asking "why should I
bother?"
Pub Med
Abstract: The effect of detraining and reduced training on the
physiological adaptations to aerobic exercise training - Neufer
PD
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2692122
Pub Med
Abstract: Detraining: loss of training-induced physiological and
performance adaptations. Part II: Long term insufficient training
stimulus.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10999420
Fitness:
Use it or lose it - Elizabeth Quinn
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/Deconditioning.htm
How much
downtime is too much: The concept of detraining - Melissa
Mantak
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/how-much-down-time-is-too-much-the-concept-of-detr
