Category: Training

Recovery from a workout, especially a hard one, is when you grow stronger and faster and develop more stamina. In essence, recovery — not your cool-down — is the true final step in your workout. Treat it as such, and you should be able to accelerate your progress and make your next training session more productive. 

How seriously should you take workout recovery? Consider Tour de France veteran cyclist George Hincapie. During the long racing season, he was famous for never taking the stairs when an elevator was available, never walking anywhere when he could drive, always looking for a place to sit if he was standing, and if he was sitting, he’d look for a place to lie down. That’s how seriously he took recovery.

While Hincapie’s approach was extreme, his mindset was correct, and it’s one you can easily adopt and tweak to work for you and your life. Try the tips below, starting with your next training session, and see what works for you. With Humango’s coaching help, you’ll figure out what works best. Who knows, you may find that an evening walk accelerates your post-workout muscle recovery better than doing nothing. Or, you may find that a nap is vital to setting you up for tomorrow.

Within 1-2 Hours of Your Workout

• Hydrate. You lose water in any workout, but especially during high-intensity cardio workouts. Refill your tank as soon as you finish exercising. You need to replace whatever fluids you lost and supply your body with enough extra fluids to help flush toxins out of your body. Aim to drink at least 16-20 ounces of fluids, or roughly a cycling water bottle’s worth. This is on top of whatever water you drank before and during your workout.
• Eat. Reload your energy stores quickly so your body can get prepared for the next round of exercise. You want to consume simple carbs from bread, rice, and fruits. Don’t worry too much about protein immediately after training, but be sure to eat 20-40 grams of protein at your next meal. Delaying your protein consumption until mealtime will allow your gut to focus on replenishing spent glycogen stores first. 
• Skip the long shower. Ice baths, cold showers, massage, stretching, and foam rolling are all viable options for speeding recovery. But the long shower (or whirlpool, hot tub session) will leave you feeling more tired than before and can wreak havoc on the rest of your day’s recovery cycle. Get in, clean up, and get out as quickly as possible.

Rest of the Day

• Take it easy. You don’t have to copy Hincapie’s approach, but be aware of your body’s need to recover. By this, we mean don’t ref your child’s soccer game hours after you ran 15 miles as part of your marathon training plan. Or, if you’re going to install a backyard fence, don’t do it on the same day you completed an intense brick workout as part of your triathlon training.
• Do some active recovery. The note above doesn’t mean you should lie on the couch, though. Research suggests that a brisk walk or easy bike ride later in the day or the day after a tough workout serves as a recovery hack, lubricating the joints, preventing stiffness, and flushing toxins out of your muscles. You want to exercise hard enough to feel your heart rate rise but not enough for the active recovery workout to feel “hard.” Humango’s coaching app does this automatically, building a workout schedule that accommodates necessary recovery time based on your current fitness level.

Prepare for Sleep

• Watch what you drink. Setting yourself up for a good night’s sleep starts hours before you crawl under the sheets. Try not to drink coffee, tea, or caffeinated beverages after lunch. The same goes for alcohol (if you can, cut alcohol from your life completely). But do drink a glass of water an hour or so before going to bed. This will top off your fluid intake for the night and help you wake up less dehydrated than usual, which will prime your body for that day’s exercise.
• Avoid late-night snacks. Stop eating two, ideally three, hours before you go to bed. This break will give your stomach enough time to digest your meal and shut down for the night. It’s hard to fall asleep when your stomach is hard at work digesting a meal.
• Skip the screens. Put your phone, tablet, or laptop away, and turn off the TV when you get in bed. You’re there to sleep, not stimulate your brain.
• Follow a routine. Go to bed at the same time each night. This consistency will train your body’s circadian rhythm to go into sleep mode more easily. Humango’s app can track your sleep cycles, which can help you figure out the optimum time to hit the sack and how long you need to sleep to maximize your recovery.

Triathlon distances appeal to different types of participants. Some people love biking, running, and swimming equally. Some love the challenge of pushing themselves outside of their comfort zone. Others would get bored just training for one discipline, like running, all the time. Still others dream of conquering Ironman distance races. Then there are those who think a sprint distance is plenty. The point is that triathlon is a big umbrella that accommodates a wide field of endurance athletes.

But despite different goals and preferences, triathlon training is similar for each athlete. Everyone has to do swim sessions, bike rides, and distance runs each week. And that’s where Humango’s AI coaching guidance can play a vital role in your success, both in training and your life.

Sprint Distance: Better Time Management

This distance is perfect for newbies to give tri a try. It takes a small time commitment, and there are usually more sprint races than Olympic or Ironman-distance events each year, so the races are easy to slot into busy schedules. Still, the first key to a successful triathlon training schedule is to make the schedule fit your life instead of trying to reschedule your life around training. 

Scheduling is one of Humango’s superpowers. When you plug in the days and hours you can train, Humango will build a progressive plan that takes you right to race day. Miss a workout or two because of illness? Have an extra day or two to train next week? Tell Humango to rework your training plan, and it will.

Olympic Distance: Money Better Spent

The amount of specialized triathlon equipment available can be intimidating, especially those pricey tri-bikes and wetsuits. But here’s a reality check: Your race day performance depends more on how well you followed your Olympic triathlon training program (or any triathlon program) than whether or not you have a $7,000 tri bike. 

Focusing on your engine (your body) pays greater dividends than any amount of gear. Humango’s AI coaching for triathletes only costs $348 a year. With it, you get a bespoke training plan that maximizes your performance in each sport. After a couple Humango-coached training cycles under your belt, you’ll know if that tri bike is worth the investment.

Half-Ironman Distance: Look Beyond the Half

There are two types of half-Ironman triathletes: those who have finished one and are now thinking of trying the full Ironman, and those who completed an Ironman and want to use the shorter race to get stronger and faster. If you’re the latter, Humango will guide you through a half-Ironman triathlon training schedule that builds on the work you put in before. Humango’s AI will take you to a higher fitness level, creating a plan that pushes you to better performances instead of simply repeating what you did the last time. The key here is to see the half-Ironman as a step in the multi-year progression, not as a single, isolated goal.

Training Tip: Schedule your training runs to sync with the time of day you expect to be running during your half- or full-iron distance race. That means late morning for half-Ironman triathletes and mid-afternoon for full-Ironman competitors. This way, you get used to running in the heat. 

Ironman Distance: Master Planner Needed

There’s no way around it: It takes a full year to adequately prepare and train for an Ironman. Knowing this, you should choose which race to enter based on when you can manage the 3-5 weeks of extreme training leading into your taper for the event. During these weeks, you will swim, ride, run, and sleep more than you ever thought you could. If you’re a parent, you want those weeks to fall during a period when your kids are still in school and busy with homework and activities, not during the summer break. A late spring Ironman would work best. However, this wouldn’t be the case for a tax accountant. A late fall event works better. It’s also important to consider the climate you’ll train and race in. Residents in the desert or tropical south might train through winter for a spring race, while those in the frozen north might train through summer for a fall race. 

The point is that where you live geographically and where you are in life play a critical role in determining which Ironman you can enter. But regardless of your schedule, 12 months is a long time to follow a training plan. And unless you’re a pro triathlete, it’s almost impossible to prioritize your training over anything else in your life. (Even pros have trouble making this happen.) This is why all pros have coaches. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a pro triathlete to benefit from expert coaching. You’ve got Humango. A lot of life can happen in a year, and Humango can help ensure that any setbacks come with pathways forward to keep you on track. 

The perfect 5k training plan will vary from runner to runner. Some are natural sprinters for whom a 3.1-mile race will feel like a painfully long run. Others are born marathoners who treat a 5k race like an arduous all-out sprint. Unfortunately, many 5k race plans are designed with a one-size-fits-all methodology. They personalize them by using training paces based on a person’s race pace goal. Well, who truly knows their race pace goal?

Experienced runners will have a pretty good idea of a reasonable race pace based on their training runs, as many of their runs cover more than a 5k. But if they’re only using training run data, they’re still guessing. Only a race will tell them what their true race pace is. Fortunately, there are plenty of 5k’s throughout the year for them to enter and determine their actual training pace. Armed with this data point, they can then use it to guide them to their goal race several weeks down the road. Google “5k run near me,” and you can do the same. Or … you can skip the guesswork and use Humango’s advanced AI to know that your 5k running plan will be optimized for you and only you.

Let Humango show you how to train for a 5k.

Whether you consider a 5k a warm-up for your marathon training or a long run as part of a general fitness goal, Hugo, Humango’s AI-powered digital coach, can tailor a program that meets you where you are and builds a training plan based on how much time you have available to train (and recover), what types of cross-training options you have available (strength training, or cycling, for example) and when your race is scheduled. When you enter your training data into the app (mileage, pace, heart rate data, cadence, elevation changes, etc.), Humango can adjust your training progression to match your progressive improvements in running speed and stride efficiency.

Within a week, Humango will tell you whether you’re falling behind, staying on track, or moving ahead of schedule with your training regimen and adjust accordingly. For you, this could mean a different interval structure or workouts at varying intensity levels. It could also translate into an unexpected extra day off to allow your body to recuperate from a hard block of runs. What’s unique about Humango is that it utilizes vast data sets of past runners and the practical experience of Master Coaches to determine which training option or change will work best for you. The app taps into the science of endurance training to prescribe the precise workout you need that day to maximize your potential.

With your 5k training regimen set, focus on the details.

Since you don’t have to wonder how or if you can do your workouts from Humango, you can turn your attention to race day details and strategy, focusing on finer points like food choices and warm-up routines. 

What (and how) you eat and drink before the race is paramount to a personal best. You don’t necessarily need to down a sports gel or chug a sports drink before a 5k. Your body should have plenty of stored energy to see you across the finish line. If you overdo it on the pre-race diet, you can end up with an upset stomach during the run. So, use your weekend runs to test out and dial in your pre-race diet protocol. Figure out what foods to eat and how much to drink before the race. 

Eating a plain bagel with peanut butter (or butter) and drinking 16 ounces of water an hour before your run is a good start. This will give your body enough time to metabolize the bagel and top off your fluid levels. (Pro tip: Make a quick bathroom stop before you run). If the bagel/peanut butter suggestion isn’t appealing, experiment with foods and timing to find a pre-race snack that works best for you.

Warm-ups are not optional. 5k races start fast and stay fast for the duration. If you haven’t sufficiently warmed up your muscles and joints, you risk an injury, and a performance below your best is almost guaranteed. Spend 6-8 minutes jogging lightly, then work through a full-body range-of-motion warm-up. These aren’t static stretches where you pull your muscles. These moves — deep knee bends, leg kicks, hip rotations, and arm windmills — are all about getting blood into your joints and lubricating them for the work ahead. 

Millions of runners around the world complete half-marathons and marathons successfully each year. Many are gifted natural runners who’ve been running since elementary school. Others never ran until a year or two before their first marathon. But regardless of their backgrounds, they all benefit from years and years of evolving training guidelines for distance runners. You, too, can tap into that expertise with Humango’s AI-powered endurance coaching app. With the app’s connectivity with Garmin and Suunto GPS watches, you can put that expertise to practice and accelerate your long-distance running progress.

Tune Your Body to Run Far

Training for distance running events starts with developing a fine-tuned aerobic engine, the cardiovascular system that keeps your blood pumping efficiently to your running muscles mile after mile. And as your engine becomes more efficient, you can go farther while putting in the same effort. 

By tracking your runs with a GPS sports watch and heart rate monitor, you can avoid a common trap that trips up many new — and even experienced — runners: running slower or faster than they should. Those who run slow are certainly improving their cardiovascular fitness, but they’re also teaching their body how to run slow. Those who run too fast may feel like they’re doing the work. And they are, but they never really give their body a chance to recover. It sounds counter-intuitive, but by running too fast too often, they prevent themselves from running even faster.

A training app like Humango will set your running paces according to your current fitness level, prescribing workouts that are neither too easy nor too hard when the goal is aerobic efficiency. 

Run Fast the Right Way

To run faster, you need to, yes, run fast. But you need to run as fast as possible for 1-8 minute intervals as part of your training, even for marathon distances. Speed work forces you to run with good form and cadence. The American College for Sports Medicine recommends all runners shoot for a running cadence of more than 170 steps per minute. Today’s GPS watches can measure your cadence to tell you if you’re on pace. Taken together, this focus on top-end, all-out speed will improve your running economy, which saves energy and trains your body to run faster for longer. 

Speed work and long-distance running sound like oxymorons, but the combo works. The tricky part is finding the right time and place for it in a multi-week training plan. Humango’s coaching app will know where to insert these workouts. Once they’re downloaded, Humango’s AI will adjust your future workouts accordingly. Nailing every interval? Expect to see harder ones in the future. Struggling to finish the last workout? Humango will schedule easier workouts that meet you where you are on your running journey. 

Schedule Time for a Strong Foundation

Strong runners with legs built to last require a rock-solid core to give their legs a solid platform to drive them forward. A strong foundation is also a key to stamina and endurance; the more stable the core, the more energy your body can redirect to your legs. A basic core-strengthening routine that targets your stomach, back, chest, shoulders, hips, and legs is all you need, and you can get a quality core workout in as little as 20 minutes. But knowing when and where to schedule it in between your runs can be difficult. That’s where Humango steps in, scheduling strength-training sessions for times when they complement, not interrupt, your plan. 

Know When To Take a Break

Recovery and rest. Everyone knows these are vital to improving any athletic endeavor. Yet, it’s so hard to deduce how much is too little or too much. (Oddly, the result is a fitness plateau followed by slowly eroding fitness in both cases.) Knowing how much rest you need to optimize your running progression is as easy as downloading your runs and strength workouts to Humango’s app. It’ll take your results and schedule an extra day off if needed. Or it could accelerate your schedule if it sees you crushing — not merely finishing — your workouts. Thanks to Humango, the guesswork that goes into figuring out how much work is too much is gone. Now, you can learn your limits without years of trial and error.

Strength training is an oft-overlooked super-supplement for cyclists. It develops the power used for sprints and muscling over hilly terrain. It fends off the muscle fatigue you feel at the end of a long ride. Strength training exercises with weights promote bone density, which can be a problem with the non-weight-bearing nature of riding a bike. And it helps neutralize muscle imbalances that can develop from the fixed position of cycling.

Before you get too concerned about bulking up or losing flexibility, the good news is that strength training for cycling is different from traditional weight lifting. The goal is to integrate this strength work into your bike training to make you a better, stronger rider, not a bodybuilder. As such, you can do most of the moves detailed below at home without weights in 30 minutes or so, 2-3 times a week. 

Don’t worry; you can still do your hard cycling intervals since resistance training focuses on muscles, not your cardiovascular system. For help adding a strength routine to your cycling program, you can enlist a coach such as Humango’s AI coaching app. It’ll integrate strength sessions into a weekly program, adjusting your cycling workouts to build off the strength work instead of leaving you to guess when you should do it.

Basic Stability Program

Cyclists need a powerful platform to push against as they drive the pedals through the pedal stroke. That platform is your core. So, the stronger your core, the harder you can ride. Fortunately, it doesn’t take squats and deadlifts with heavy weights to accomplish this. Bodyweight exercises will offer impressive gains, especially if you’re starting from zero. 

Back expert Stuart McGill, PhD, came up with three simple core exercises to shore up core stability in people with back pain, and they work for cyclists, as well. You can also complete one rep of each exercise as part of your daily warm-up.

Modified Curl-Up:

1. Lie on your back and bend one knee while extending the other.
2. With your hands underneath your lower back and your back in a neutral position, brace your abdomen, then lift your head, shoulders, and chest. Avoid tilting your head back or tucking in your chin.
3. Hold this position for 10 seconds, then lower your upper body back down slowly to the floor. Repeat with the opposite leg bent and the other leg extended. That completes one rep. Work up to completing 3-4.

Side Plank:

1. Lie on your left side, with your left elbow under your shoulder, forearm on the ground, and left hand on your hip.
2. Keep your legs straight with your feet stacked on top of each other.
3. Without twisting or leaning forward, lift your hips off the floor and hold your body straight for 10 seconds, then slowly drop to the floor. 
4. Repeat on your right side to complete one rep. Work up to complete 3-5 reps.

Bird Dog:

1. Position yourself on your hands and knees with hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. 
2. Raise your right arm straight forward and your left leg straight back while keeping your spine neutral (no twisting).
3. Once the arm and leg are fully extended, hold for 10 seconds.
4. Lower the arm and leg and repeat with the opposite arm and leg. Work up to complete 3-5 reps.

Power Moves

The following exercises target the key cycling muscles — quads, glutes, and hamstrings — with help from your core to keep you stable (stability again!). Remember, you don’t need to win these strength sessions by busting out your personal best in reps or weights. You want to complete each exercise with enough left in the tank to complete no more than two more reps. Two caveats, though. First, do a warm-up set of each exercise with no weights. Second, if you feel your form is not perfect due to muscle fatigue, stop and try again the next workout. The last thing you want to do is injure yourself.

Lunges:

1. Take a step back. Brace your torso and lower your body with your torso upright, hands by your sides. Make sure your forward knee doesn’t lean over your toes. Slowly press yourself back upright when your forward leg reaches a 90-degree bend.  
2. Switch legs and repeat.
3. Start with 10-12 reps of each leg, working up to 3-4 sets.
4. Keep progressing by holding a light dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand.

Single-Leg Deadlifts

1. From a standing position, slowly bend forward from your waist, keeping your back straight, while you lift one of your legs straight behind you simultaneously.
2. Your planted leg should be slightly bent, and you should feel the tension in your glute and hamstring muscles, not your back.
3. Once your torso is level with the ground, slowly raise it back up, focusing on your glutes to do the work, not your back.
4. Repeat with the other leg to complete one rep. Repeat for 8-10 reps. Work up to 3-4 sets.
5. As you grow stronger, add light dumbbells or kettlebells to each hand.

Front Squats

1. With your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, hold a dumbbell, kettlebell, medicine ball, or weight plate at chest height with both hands.
2. Slowly lower your body, keeping your torso as upright as possible. Stop when your legs reach a 90-degree angle.
3. Quickly raise yourself to standing.
4. Repeat for 10-12 reps and 3-4 sets.

Whether you’re a strength training rookie or a seasoned cyclist who’s rediscovering the benefits of basic resistance training, incorporating these simple but effective strength exercises into your training routine will help you build a stronger engine capable of powering your cycling performance to the next level.

We get it. It’s hard to motivate yourself to train through cold and dark days. You have to pull on all your winter running gear for even a short run. If you’re a cyclist, you need even more gear, especially if it’s raining. But when you brave the chilly temps, you get a fitness boost and a mood boost, as well. Instead of hiding from winter, own it. Consistency is the number one, most effective pathway to running, cycling, or doing anything faster year in and year out. Humango’s training app will help you maintain this consistency by designing and managing a winter training plan that builds you up for the spring. Below, we’ve shared our favorite tips for getting the most out of winter.

Winter Running & Winter Cycling

Traditional off-season endurance training for runners and cyclists usually features slow miles and long distances. It doesn’t have to be that way. Shorter, intense workouts can generate similar adaptations — and more body heat to keep you warm. These aren’t necessarily all-out sprint workouts. Instead, they involve several multi-minute race-pace intervals spread over an hour or so. With Humango, you can plug in the number of days and hours a week you have available to train and let Hugo, your AI-powered digital coach, do the rest.

Winter is the perfect time to address your weaknesses. If you regularly slow to a walk on hills, use this time to do hill repeats to build more power. Is running downhill problematic on your knees and back? Hit the weight room and shore up your stabilizer muscles and tendons to better handle the impact. Those weight-room workouts count toward your consistency. Plug in strength days into Humango, and let it adjust your cardio workouts to account for strength work. 

Your weakness can even come from running the same routes repeatedly, so much so that your body’s been trained to run them efficiently. This approach is great for training but not for race day, where the course is unfamiliar. So, use your winter training sessions to explore new routes. 

While we all adapt to and deal with chilly weather differently, air temperature and humidity require special attention. First, cold air is usually drier air, and as such, it sucks moisture out of our bodies with every breath. So work to consciously keep yourself hydrated, even if you don’t feel cold. Second, it takes practice to pull off max efforts in sub-freezing temperatures. Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow until you figure out what works for you:

• If above freezing (32°F), max efforts are okay on a winter run or ride. 
• Between 22°- 32° F, steady-state intervals are ideal. Steady-state translates to the pace you can sustain for an hour max.
• Below 22° F, stick to a conversational pace.

Cross Training for Runners & Cyclists

Cross-training is a fantastic way to maintain your fitness consistency. Plus, it gives you a mental break from your core sport, mixes up the environment, and speeds your development by providing something new to learn. Triathletes can substitute Nordic skiing for their long weekend rides. Live near a ski hill? See if they’ll let you climb the ski hill on alpine skis or snowshoes as a substitute for hill repeats. In a snow-free region? Cyclists can sub in mountain biking to keep their cycling legs in shape while honing their bike handling skills on the trails. Runners can try swimming or cycling to give their bones and tendons a break from the pounding.

Weight training will work to correct any muscle imbalances from all those months on the bike or running with no upper-body conditioning. Free weight lifts will help all athletes strengthen their core, which will translate into being able to apply more force to a stride or pedal stroke. For cyclists, weight training will improve bone density lost from all those days on the bike.

Winter 101:
Overdressing is a common mistake for many winter outdoor athletes. If you’re going on a run, it’s best to start moderately uncomfortable in terms of clothing so you don’t end up with a sweat-soaked top that turns freezing once you stop. You’ll heat up fast once you start moving. The same goes for cyclists, although you may want to wear a jacket to start a ride. You can stuff it in a jersey pocket once you warm up. You’ll also want that jacket if your route includes long, fast downhill stretches.

When regulating your body temperature, take care of your extremities first: bundle your feet in warm socks or cycling booties, pull on gloves, and then cover your head. Still cold? Pull on a warmer top or jacket. Still feeling the chill? Time for leggings. If you start to sweat, take your gloves off before your jacket. The hands feature a massive surface area of skin criss-crossed with blood vessels (aka heat) close to the skin’s surface. Exposing your hands will help you cool off faster than taking off your jacket. 

When To Take It Inside

Let’s face it, it can be downright dangerous to train outside in the winter. A blizzard, cold driving rain, or sub-zero temps are good reasons to play it safe and train indoors. When you do, use the opportunity to do a short, sub-one-hour set of max intervals on the treadmill or indoor bike trainer. With Humango’s AI app, changing your workout on the fly is easy. Log your indoor workout data in the app, and it’ll adjust your successive workouts accordingly, scheduling the appropriate recovery time and modifications to your workouts so you don’t burn out.

In the end, the goal is to keep moving and build fitness through the winter. And when the weather plays nice and makes it possible to enjoy winter outdoors, even better.

At its absolute most basic, triathlon training breaks down into a repeated cycle of swim, bike, and run workouts, in that order, twice a week. That’s it. This simple approach works for any of the triathlon distances. You can train as little as 45 minutes a day for six days and likely finish a sprint distance triathlon. For an Olympic distance triathlon, setting aside 7-8 hours a week can do the job. Sounds easy enough, right? It is — until life gets in the way, the weather turns foul, or a last-minute business trip ruins your plan. Fortunately, some workarounds and hacks can get you back on track. We listed our eight favorites below. Use them as needed to keep your triathlon training plan on track during a hectic period or to stay in tri shape between events.

Tip #1: Consistency matters more than long workouts.

Since triathlon requires you to train in three different sports, practicing all three will yield a bigger payoff on race day. Rather than skipping three days and trying to make it up on the weekend with a long bike ride followed by a run, it’s better to spend even 30 minutes a day on one sport twice a week. If you travel and have to use a treadmill or exercise bike in the hotel gym, do it. Your goal is to train six days a week, even if some of your sessions are short.

Tip #2: Prioritize high-intensity sessions over endurance ones.

High-intensity interval training builds speed, strength, and mental toughness. It also provides a bigger fitness payoff than long rides or runs for the amount of time invested. Because of this, you want to skip your longer endurance rides and runs if you skip anything. In short, the harder the workout looks on your plan, the more critical it is to your triathlon fitness. For shorter triathlons, that means make your high intensity workouts the priority. For longer Ironman distance races, those long-distance rides and runs take precedence.  Come race day, you’ll be glad you did them.

Tip #3: Prioritize hard days on the bike over hard runs.

Biking at full throttle throughout your training — or even at race pace — will be easier on your joints than on a run. The goal is to develop your cardiovascular capacity and strength, and cycling is a perfect low-impact way to do it. Plus, the bike makes up more than 50% of a triathlon. It makes sense to prioritize cycling time and work on the bike.

Tip #4: Proficient swimming is okay.

Triathletes can spend countless hours perfecting their swimming stroke and logging hours and hours in the pool or lake to become strong, efficient swimmers. But the swim leg is only 10% of a triathlon. To save time, work to become proficient at swimming, not trying to become Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledeky. Your bike and run legs will determine how well your race goes, not the swim. So, use your swim training to find efficiency in your swim stroke. Learning how to save energy in the swim will help you start the bike leg feeling as fresh as possible. This workout will also rest your joints from the impact of your runs and to help you recover from those high-intensity bike workouts above.

Tip #5: Strength train to accelerate power gains.

A 30-minute full-body strength circuit, 1-2 times a week, targeting your back, shoulders, arms, core, glutes, and legs, will help you in all sports because resistance training fatigues your muscles faster than the pool, bike, or run. Strength training will also strengthen your core, improving stability and creating a foundation for a powerful swimming stroke, pedal stroke, and foot strike. Strength training is especially helpful at the start of a training schedule to prepare your muscles and joints for the work ahead. As you get closer to race day, you can drop the strength training and devote those workouts to your long rides and runs.

Tip #6: Use brick days to organize and practice your T2 transition.

Brick workouts, where a run workout immediately follows a bike workout, are excellent opportunities to dial in your T2 transition. Start by setting up your running gear, fluids, sports gels, bars, and other foods in advance. After finishing your ride, pull on your running gear as quickly as possible and head back out. Use these practice transitions to figure out what process works best for you. Some athletes grab a bite and down some fluids before changing. Some swap that order. Some find it better to eat and drink something in the closing minutes of their ride to set themselves up for the run. Others may find it better to eat and drink at the start of their run, taking it slow until they find their running legs. You’ll never know what works for you without practice.

Tip #7: Recover, recover, recover.

There are three keys to recovering smartly: Get plenty of good sleep. Take one day off each week with no workouts. Don’t complete two high-intensity, hard workouts in a row. Strategic recovery periods give your body time to build muscle, strengthen joints, and prepare you to work harder and longer. And the more consistently you can train harder, the stronger and faster you get.

Tip #8: Get a coach.

The ultimate hack to triathlon training is a coach. Humango’s AI coaching app was created to coach triathletes to their best performances. Whether you have four hours a week to train or 20 hours, it can design and manage a plan that fits your schedule and triathlon racing goals. Even better, it’ll schedule workouts that maximize your progress without overloading your body with more work than it can handle. Have to miss a workout or two? No problem. Humango will adjust your workouts to accommodate your life and then adjust the rest of your program to account for that missed work. When no workout is wasted, saving time is automatic. 

Periodization training has defined sports training since it was codified by the Russian Olympic coaches in the 1960s. In short, it features a progressive 2-6 week, period-by-period block of training that finishes with a rest period. An athlete repeats this schedule throughout the year, cycling through different fitness focuses (endurance, power, stamina, speed) depending on where they are in their training journey.

Figuring out what periodization plan works best for an athlete takes years, even decades of experience. And even then, the fine line between burnout or injury and falling short of one’s potential is always there. That’s where an AI-powered coach like Humango’s can step in. By leveraging sports coaching science and tracking your individual metabolism and availability, our app creates a customized training plan that propels your performance.

Periodization Training 101

Periodization works for three main reasons. First, it stops most athletes’ natural inclination to train moderately hard all the time. While that all-out approach can provide short-term boosts in fitness, speed, and power, it also leads to burnout and never allows an athlete to reach their true potential. They’re too exhausted to experience a full-power performance. And if they’re not careful, they injure their bodies from overuse since they never give themselves a chance to heal. 

A chance to heal leads to the second key benefit of periodization. It incorporates rest and recovery into each workout, training block, and training season. This time off is actually when the body adapts and grows stronger. When an athlete rests, mitochondria networks expand to move more blood through the muscles, protein synthesis goes to work to build stronger muscles, and neural pathways get a boost that translates into smoother, more efficient movement patterns.

The body needs to be “taught” what max effort or endurance feels like so it can adapt to the stress of that effort and be ready for it the next time. Because it’s prepared for it the next time, the body can then be pushed to a new max effort, which leads it to adapt to that new stress level. And so on, and so on in a progressive periodized cycle.

Third, over the course of a training program, periodization blocks will transition from longer, less intense workouts to shorter, high-intensity workouts and vice versa. For example, a marathoner might start her training with shorter, sprint-based workouts to build her speed, then transition to longer intervals that are run faster than her marathon pace. In the weeks leading up to the marathon, she’ll take that newly developed stamina to her long runs at race pace. Conversely, a runner training for a 10k race would start his training with longer, slower runs to build up a neuromuscular foundation that will be able to handle the progressively faster and shorter workouts leading up to the race.

The AI Advantage to Periodization Training

For a cyclist who wants to complete their first 100-mile century ride, a simple periodization training plan might go like this:

Week 1: Ride 4 days a week with one long ride of 50 miles. 

Week 2: Ride 4 days a week with one long ride of 55 miles. 

Week 3: Ride 4 days a week with one long ride of 60 miles. 

Week 4: Ride 2 days a week for no more than 20-30 easy miles total.

Repeat the block, but add 10% more miles to each week. 

That 10% weekly increase in mileage is safe for most athletes — but it’s also arbitrary. A 20-year-old experienced athlete could have no problem increasing their workload by 12% each week. A former smoker who picked up triathlon at age 40 may struggle to keep up with a 5% increase in workload. This variable is what makes a coach so valuable. They can spot and tweak an athlete’s plan to better accommodate their current fitness level.

Humango’s AI coach can do that, using its intelligence to notice when someone needs an extra day off or maybe one less interval than planned so they can recover, grow stronger, and keep progressing. The same goes for the athlete who’s adapting ahead of schedule. Based on fatigue, resting heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and efficiency factor (EF), Humango can tweak a training block to ask more of the athlete because it knows they can handle it. As Humango gathers more and more training data on an individual, the smarter and more individualized the plan becomes. And the chances of pulling off a personal best increase along the way.

Triathletes come in all shapes and sizes, and so do triathlon distances. From sprint triathlons to Olympic triathlon distances up to Ironman distances, the multisport event challenges participants in ways few endurance sports do. Triathletes should be strong swimmers, relentless cyclists, and determined runners on any given day during their training. On race day, they need to be all of them.

Triathletes also need to be experts at time and energy management. If you’re training for a tri, a typical week of workouts could see you swim in the morning and bike in the afternoon multiple times a week. Those other days will be for more cycling followed by a run immediately after or later in the day. As you can imagine, a triathlete’s program will look much more complex than a cyclist’s or runner’s plan. And the more complexity you bring to a program, the higher the risk that things will go off the rails. You could burn out from over-training or struggle to find the time (and energy) to complete all the workouts after managing your job and family.

This reality makes hiring a triathlon coach a worthwhile investment, especially considering the investment in gear needed to compete. A wetsuit, access to a pool for practice, a tri-bike (and all the cycling gear that goes along with it), running shoes, and a running kit. If you’ve already spent all this money on gear, wouldn’t you want to invest in a coach to guide you to a successful finish rather than hope for the best? You can start with Humango’s AI-powered coach. The monthly cost will be less than you spend on sports gels and drinks each month. 

Benefits of Triathlon Coaching

From the start, a coach can help you see what’s possible. You may be looking to do your first triathlon and wondering if you should start with a sprint or go ahead and try an Olympic distance race. A coach can look at your fitness and endurance sports history and give you an informed recommendation on where to start. Conversely, you might be an experienced Olympic distance competitor who’s always wanted to race in an iron-distance event but never thought you had the time to train for it. A coach will show you how you can. Even Humango’s digital coach, Hugo, can do this. Plug in your goal event, and Hugo will show you your complete training schedule. If it looks like too much time to commit, simply ask it to reset your goal to a shorter distance event.

Unlike a one-size-fits-all training plan pulled from the Internet, your coach will build a program unique to your fitness and experience level. A coach will also factor in the times available to train each week. Next, a coach will address your weakest sport (Every triathlete has one, whether it’s the swim, bike, or run.) and work with you to improve your technique, form, and strength in that sport. The sport you’re best at can be used to build your overall stamina and endurance. 

The Human Coach, AI Coach Connection

Empower a triathlete coach with the automatic flexibility and adaptability of an AI coach, and you get the best of both worlds. You get a human who can easily monitor your progress in real time and use AI to help you overcome adversity and push you, likely, harder than you thought you were capable of performing. The human coach can see a missed workout or two in a given week and know that you had to care for a sick kid or travel for work, not that you were sick. And if you are ill, they can adjust your training to allow for you to recover.

Race day is when a coach — real and digital — in your corner makes a confidence-boosting difference. Thanks to your training journey and data collected with Humango, the app will inform your race-day strategy. Humango can tell you if you’re 100% ready for peak performance or short of your potential. From there, you’ll get a good sense of what you’re truly capable of, whether that’s a PR (Personal Record) or not.

In the end, the satisfaction of working with a coach is knowing that every workout will maximize your gains each day. No effort is wasted. No workout is too easy or impossible (though it may feel like it). Don’t be surprised to find yourself no longer content to simply finish the race. Instead, now you’ll find that you’re ready to compete.

For many cyclists, nothing beats the freedom of heading out the door on your own time, riding at your own pace, and enjoying some solitude after a long, hard day. For others, group rides are far more enjoyable. And while enjoyment is a powerful motivator, it’s not the only reason to ride with others. Group cycling also has the potential to unlock physical and mental benefits that elevate overall performance. 

The physical benefits of group riding

One of the main focal points of any training should be introducing enough stimuli that you can recover from. The challenge, variation, and consistency group rides offer can provide performance benefits, but be careful not to overdo it. When you strike the right balance, you should notice some gains.

Challenge

Some of us have no problem pushing our limits, whereas others prefer training at a more comfortable intensity. Either way, when we perform in front of others, we tend to put in a lot more effort.

While we shouldn’t get obsessed with the opinions of others, a little positive peer pressure can be the push we need to endure extended effort at uncomfortable intensities. If you’ve never ridden a century or struggle with periods at a threshold pace, joining a suitable group ride, like the weekend social group ride or the club weekly chain gang, could help.

Variation

It can be easy to get comfortable with the familiar and repeat the same format of ride over and over. While you might see some improvements by doing this, avoiding other intensities or training durations can limit your progress and sap your motivation. 

Joining a new group or club might be just what you need to add more variety to your training. Many clubs will have weekly training sessions, regular races, time trials, or other options for longer group rides to suit every ability.

Consistency

Consistency can be a challenge we all face from time to time. Whether from a lack of motivation or external factors, such as time limitations due to work or family commitments, we can all struggle with missing training sessions. One missed workout might not matter, but the more you miss, the easier it becomes to skip the next session. This can dramatically reduce your training, causing significantly worse performance on the bike.

Group rides can help you stay consistent because you’re far more likely to keep an appointment to ride with someone. Being part of a regular group ride will help you be intentional about setting aside that time. You can even organize your own group rides or play a role within your local group.

The mental benefits of group riding

The physical benefits of implementing group rides into your training are significant; the mental benefits are equally impressive. While it’s hard to quantify how much those benefits will improve your physical cycling performance, you might see substantial gains if you struggle with any of the following factors.

Motivation

If you can honestly say that you haven’t experienced a period of low motivation in your cycling training, please let us know — we want to know your secret! For the rest of us, motivation comes and goes, and while we can do our best to step it up and remind ourselves why we put in the hard work, sometimes a change of pace can be all it takes to get back on track.

Try replacing some indoor sessions with group rides. Not many people can face an indoor endurance ride alone, but when the weather is less appealing, being in the company of a club can aid in getting that long endurance ride done.

Variety

While variety can be good for breaking through physical barriers, it can be just as good for refreshing your mental approach to training. Being around like-minded people, enjoying their company, and letting your hair down can be exactly what your mind needs to get back on track and commit to those challenging intervals. 

Over a long season or even years of consistent training, the trainer can be dull and monotonous. Adding in an occasional group interval session or intense ride can help you hit the numbers on other days.

Socialization

Socialization is a fundamental human need. While some of us love to live alone and not be bothered by the company of others, we often see dramatic improvements in our mental health when we build a solid network of friends and family.

So, it only makes sense that you build your community around the sport you’re passionate about. General health and cycling performance improvements will come hand-in-hand, so it shouldn’t be long before you start to notice that you are a healthier, happier cyclist.

Improve Your Cycling With Group Rides

While we are not advocating for a life solely focused on group riding, we encourage you to introduce some group riding elements into your training regime. Thankfully, with the increase in popularity of immersive online training platforms and social media communication tools, we can combine almost all the elements listed above with specific structured workouts. 

Join a Humango Group

Experience all the benefits of group cycling with Humango Groups. You can join Groups that focus on training for Gran Fondos’ or create a virtual team for you and your friends. 

Coach Pav

Coach Pav is an Amazon #1 New Release Author and coach to clients who have set world records (Mark Beaumont), earned their world champion jersey (Steve Bate), and won ultra-cycling events (Matt Seward and Thomas Becker). 

Most of his clients are those riding a Gran Fondo or two, and his favorite is the Maratona dles Dolomites.