The single biggest training mistake I see triathletes make – beginners and veterans alike – is they don’t have the courage to go easy and end up going too hard on easy days. Raise your hand if you’ve done this. Really, I can’t see you, it’s OK to raise your hand and admit you’ve pushed too hard when the schedule said “EASY.” I get it, I’m an athlete too and I regularly struggle with pushing too hard when it’s supposed to be an easy active recovery day.
The problem with pushing your easy days is that you don’t allow yourself to truly recover. Meaning you can’t really push those workouts that call for going hard. What happens is you end up doing ALL your workouts at 70-85% – you’re going too hard to force adaptation to the aerobic energy pathway, and you’re not going hard enough to force adaptation to the anaerobic energy pathways. Your training time becomes ineffective and you find yourself on a plateau.
Here are some tips to help you go easy when your plan or your coach have an easy day on the schedule:
- Do you easy workouts ALONE. Doing easy workouts by yourself means YOU set the pace precisely where it needs to be. When you’re working out with others, group mentality takes over, the competitive juices kick in, and suddenly you are way over target pace/power – that’s great when you want to push hard, but it’s counter-productive on easy days.
- Leave your ego at home. When you’re out on easy days, old folks and young kids should be passing you. Keep that in mind and you’ll have the proper mindset.
- A heart rate monitor, GPS watch, or power-meter are great for telling you when you are going too hard. Set red-lines and STAY BELOW those limits.
- Remember the purpose of an active recovery workout. Rest is as important as training stress. You don’t get stronger and faster when you workout – you get stronger and faster when you recover.
- Trust your coach or the author of the plan you are following. There’s a reason the active recovery workout is on the schedule.
It can be REALLY hard to truly go easy. Fully commit to easy days and you’ll soon discover the effectiveness of hard/easy combinations. That will give you the courage to go easy the next time it says, “EASY” on your training schedule.
