What Are the Main Takeaways About Base Training?

How should you train in your "base training" phase? Long slow distance? Reverse periodisation? Lots of gym work? Scientific Triathlon coaches Mikael Eriksson and Jack Hutchens discuss best practices of base training for triathletes.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: 

• General performance capacity is the cake, specific training is the icing. During base training we work on general performance capacity ("general preparation")
• The key pillar of the base training: building a stronger aerobic training base
• How intensity plays a role in base training, and how your goal races and individual physiological characteristics impact the choice of intensity to focus on
• What role does technique training, sprint training, and strength training play in a triathlete's base training?
• How to incorporate low-key races into your base training.
• Common mistakes amateur athletes make in their base phase triathlon training.

DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES: 

• We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. 
• The shownotes for today's episode can be found at www.scientifictriathlon.com/base1/

LINKS AND RESOURCES: 

• Jack's coaching profile and Instagram

WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?

This is the first episode of a series of episodes all focused on triathlon base training. So stay tuned for upcoming episodes to get more information on this topic. In the meantime, I think some of the greats of high performance coaching in triathlon have a lot of good things to say about training in general that also applies to the base training phase for amateur triathletes. Give these episodes a listen: 

• Dan Lorang – coach of Jan Frodeno, Anne Haug and Bora Hansgrohe pro cycling team | EP#175
• World Champions keep things simple: training masterclass with Joel Filliol | EP#172
• Arild Tveiten – coach of Kristian Blummenfelt, Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes on triathlon training the Norwegian way | EP#223
• How Norway became a triathlon powerhouse with head coach Arild Tveiten | EP#154

You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc.

You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes. 

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