Two numbers. If you are an endurance athlete, I have either peaked your interest or you are rolling your eyes 🙄.
If you are not into endurance training/exercise, the theory is that 80% of your exercise should be low intensity and only 20% moderate and high intensity. This maximizes your fitness/performance without wearing you out. Lots of bad physiology can occur if you push too hard (high cortisol levels, thyroid dysfunction to name a few). And eventually you crash and burn.
Sometimes I feel that there are more theories about the best way to train than there are athletes.
So this year I’ve been bike training HARD. Running easy. Swim volume is easy. Focus on short triathlon races: 1-2.5 hours. Short and quick. Easy-peasy. Or is it?
Disappointed with my last few races, I took a look at my overall training intensity. Almost 60:40 low:moderate/high intensity 🤨. So the last 2 weeks, I backed off on training intensity, bought the book by Fitzgerald and Warden and am beginning to rebalance my training. My body is just an experiment in progress.
Today I raced just north of Charlotte, at Lake Norman. Best race result of the season. Fastest swim. Best bike power output. Each subsequent mile running split was faster. My legs are back.
So…one good race result doesn’t prove that 80:20 is the magic formula. But it is a start. Two more races (late September, mid October) to test this theory. The physician, scientist and adventurist part of me loves this continual experiment. We’ll see what happens.
SwimBikeRun 