HOW TO HOLD ON TO END-OF- SEASON SPEED

Try these two speed sessions to keep you race sharp until your very last event of 2018

Coach Richard Smith provides two speed sessions designed to keep you race sharp to the end

As you approach the tail end of the season, it’s all too easy to feel tired, fatigued, and for motivation and racing speed to drop off. But focusing your end-of-season training on lower-volume and high-quality speed work is a great way to stay sharp until your last race.

As you’ll discover from completing the two speed sessions to the right, working on fast limb movements, high-cadence and short sprints helps to ‘fire up’ the neuromuscular system, keeping you fast through the water. Many elite triathletes swim open water with a higher cadence to maintain momentum through the water, and to accelerate at starts and into turn buoys, especially in sea swims – and this is equally applicable for age-groupers.

Speed sessions can also be great fun and motivational, if done with training partners or in a training group. Include mini relay races, head-to-heads and handicapped sprints to spice up sessions and keep them focused.