top of page

Single-Stress-Training. Impactful take-aways for endurance athletes.

Dear Athletes! Being passionate about weight lifting and triathlon alike, I applied some highly unusual training methods in my athletes IRONMAN plans. It worked. Yours, Coach Katharina 🌺


Impactful strength sessions for endurance athletes.
Impactful strength sessions for endurance athletes.

Important disclaimer: I do not have any scientific proof. I do see great results though. What I did: I have chosen 5 athletes, all starting at long distance Ironman races within June and July, for whom I decided to try something, that I have learned and experienced from heavy strength training: Single-Stress Training: Maximizing Adaptation and Recovery.


The idea is simple: you only train for one specific kind of training stress within 24 hours.

What does that mean? If you go to the gym for a max strength session, you are mainly training your neuromuscular system (efficient innervation of muscle fibers, recruitment, synchronization, intramuscular coordination). The body adapts to these specific stimuli and simply spoken: does not want to get interrupted while recovering. A 60 minute recovery bike ride after gym session is not recommended. Another example: Incorporating VO2max sessions leads to greater improvements in aerobic power because the body adapts specifically to the demands placed upon it. You wouldn't go for a long jog after a VO2max session either. Right? So far so good.


Long distance triathletes always face the challenge on how to get all necessary training sessions in a fully packed week. Coaching is mainly about managing fatigue and recovery efficiently. Therefore I started to put TWO VO2max sessions in ONE DAY. One 60 minute ride in the morning, one 60 minute run in the evening (slightly adapted due to individual training history, goals, etc). For the day before and the day after I planned low heart-rate, base tempo, long distance sessions. Mostly a very long swim session with lots of leg kicking showed up in their plans the day after the VO2max day. Important note: I asked to have at least 6 hours of 'rest' between the morning and the evening session and specifically advised to take care of proper food and water intake.


What happened?

Two women and three men have easily digested those VO2max days and never complained. Not once. Specifically asked for feedback, regarding mood, sleep, soreness, etc. they all were absolutely positive about this VO2max day. All of their VO2max figures increased, their 400m, 1000m run splits got better, their watt figures as well as their base endurance numbers increased, but without being stressed as much during the week with tough bike and run sessions being split up in 2 or more days.

 

Engaging in one type of training stress per session can help manage fatigue more effectively. But using this principle also for 24hr frames seemed highly effective. Isolating stress types within 24hrs seemed to help athletes to avoid the compounded fatigue that might occur if multiple systems are taxed in a single training day. This targeted approach allows each system adequate recovery time, which is crucial for the maintenance of high training quality and for preventing overtraining. Isolating specific training stresses allows for targeted recovery strategies, making it possible to tailor nutrition, rest, and active recovery activities to the specific systems that were stressed. This can enhance overall recovery effectiveness and help maintain a higher level of consistent training performance.

 

Overall, stress management within a typical training week got better, mentally it got easier knowing that you have this one 'crazy day', figures improved and feedback was throughout positive.

 

3 views0 comments

Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet

Add a rating
bottom of page