Sponsored by:
Spartan Canada's Trifecta Weekend in Mont Tremblant was a massive race weekend for Canadian racers. Athletes not only came from across Ontario and Quebec, but we had appearances of athletes from out west as well as Nova Scotia! It was an epic and brutal weekend regardless of how many races one participated in. Now that it is over, what should you be doing now? When should you get back to hard training? How much recovery do you need? How do you improve on the weaknesses that presented themselves this weekend? Read below to find out our top 2 tips on what you should be doing in the days following this Trifecta weekend:
RECOVER, RECOVER, RECOVER
After a weekend of adrenaline and excitement you may find yourself with renewed motivation after either placing well in your division or discovering some weaknesses that need to be addressed. Following such a weekend, it's very tempting to throw ourselves immediately back into hard training at the beginning of the week but this is a recipe for under recovery, over training, and burnout later in the season. I have personally been guilty in year's past of racing hard on Saturday/Sunday and then getting back to high intensity-quality training by Tuesday despite the red flags (immense fatigue despite good sleep, residual soreness/stiffness, struggling to hit training paces, etc), and it derailed my entire season. Here are some recovery recommendations to consider in the days/week immediately following your Trifecta weekend in order to avoid destroying the rest of your season:
1-2 days OFF per 5km raced: this isn't a scientific rule. This is a general guideline that many coaches and athletes adhere to be conservative with their recovery. If an athlete did the entire trifecta weekend (~36km), this would equal ~7 days off. This doesn't mean you absolutely have to be off your feet for 7 straight days, it's just a recommendation that you should ease back your volume and intensity for 7 days (longer if you still feel that you are not recovered). We can see that for an athlete racing a Spartan Ultra (50km), they may have 10 days of easier training or longer if they still feel they are not recovered. That being said, it isn't a horrible idea to take Monday and/or Tuesday entirely off training following a Trifecta weekend.
Introduce low impact exercise: if you have done all 3 races, this is an immense amount of impact on the body (especially in the mountains the the multiple very long descents). When you start reintroducing exercise on Tuesday or Wednesday, consider starting with a low impact form of cardio (rather than running), such as rowing, biking, or swimming.
Reintroduction of intensity: when it comes to knowing when you should start doing intervals or higher intensity conditioning again it would be safe to follow the above guideline (if you have completed the Trifecta, introduce intensity back into your training up to 7 days after the final race). Above all else you need to listen to what your body and mind are giving you as feedback. Do you feel ready to push hard? Do you feel ready to suffer? If your mind is ready but your body is not cooperating-wait a few more days. If your mind is not ready-wait a few more days. Be flexible when it comes to your upcoming training calendar. Move things around and adapt based on how you feel, not what your training plan tells you.
If you are adhering to the general guidelines above and your recovery is going well, it's time to reflect on your race weekend and complete your race report (see our previous blog for a more detailed explanation).
RACE REPORT The purpose of the race report is to review what went well and what did not go well in each event. By reflecting on the positive and negative takeaways you will be able to determine areas of strength as well as areas of weakness in your training, preparation, and racing strategy. Areas of strength are things you might need to focus less time on in future training, but that you can use to your advantage in your next race. Areas of weakness are things that need to be improved upon in order to develop into a more well rounded athlete, to finish races faster, and to finish with a better overall placement (keep and mind this process of improvement is not an overnight phenomenon and can take months and years of work). For example: Strengths: if the carry obstacles seemed light, easy, fast, and you were passing/gapping your competitors, this may be an area you will focus less time on in training in order to focus your time on the weaknesses listed below. That being said, you will know for the next race that the carries are a strength and that when you arrive at these obstacles you will need to push hard and use these obstacles to your advantage. Weaknesses: Mont Tremblant had some long downhills as well as some very muddy and technical downhill sections. If you noticed that you felt slow and tentative and found that your competitors pulled away during these sections, this is an area you will want to focus more of your time on in the coming weeks/months. It's always fun to practice/work on things we are good at, but if you spend less time on your strengths (above) and dedicate more of that time to your weaknesses you will become a more well rounded athlete for your next event.
TAKEAWAYS A Trifecta weekend is a massive stress on the body and mind. Even for the Elite division athlete this is numerous hours of racing within 2 days. Therefore, it is only natural that it should take a few days (even weeks) to recover from this stress. Although you are likely excited to get back to training, resist the urge to jump right back in as doing so one too many times can end your season before the major races in the fall. Experiment with the recovery guidelines above to see what works best for you. Take this downtime to write your race report and start coming up with a plan to build yourself into a better athlete once your recovery period is over in a week's time.
Just completed your Trifecta and want to improve before your next race? Click the link below to check out our 1 on 1 personalized running and OCR training plans and let us help take your training the next level!
Have questions about recovery or how to improve for your next race? Send us an email: outlawocr@gmail.com.
Comments