So, my hope is like I said in Part 1 of this series, you have taken or are taking the first step in your fall/winter training schedule = recovery.
I like to give athletes a bit to breath and regroup after a long season. Here in Texas, if we really wanted to, we can race up to 8-9 months a year of triathlon alone... yes, we are freaking lucky! So where should our focus be right now....
ADDRESS MUSCULAR & METABOLIC IMBALANCES- IMMEDIATELY!!!
NOW it's time for an assessment of how your body has compensated for repetitive motion, stress, breakdown, compensation, injury...
You get it- imbalances are inevitable.
There are so many assessments that coaches, trainers, physical therapists like to perform on clients.
The goal here is not simply to get the testing done- but you should expect an easy to follow and repeatable program to build on roughly every 6 weeks.
When testing clients, I like to incorporate the following into their personal program:
A. 5-10 minutes of foam rolling & lengthening exercises
B. 10-12 minutes of core and activation exercises
C. Added bonus: I like to educate the client on a 5-8 minute dynamic functional warm up/ movement to get the client 'going' prior to their workouts.
NEXT, athletes need to readjust their daily nutrition and caloric needs!
I am not talking about restricting here... but rather, you should consider pulling out the majority of the simple sugar sports nutrition and opt for real food / nutrient dense sources for energy and repair.
3 ways I personally monitor my clients metabolic needs and follow through:
A. Body composition testing (every 6-8 weeks)
B. Resting Metabolic Rate testing (every 12-16 weeks)
C. Reviewing daily food logs to ensure adequate nutrition and proper macronutrient timing around workouts and recovery
Time to set out some time for testing, analysis, and application to the details!
If you are interested in scheduling your muscular and/or metabolic testing- please contact me at Amari@playtri.com.
Look forward to hearing from you.
HAPPY TRAINING!