Mix It Up- Why We Need it!
Variety is the spice of life and it’s also the key in our development.
Here's what you can vary:
Effort- Be specific about clearly separating and executing effort. Keep the easy EASY, and the hard HARD.
Workouts- We incorporate a variety of sessions every week to tax different energy systems. While one system recovers, we develop another. Be specific and purposeful with your workout.
Paces- There should be clear differences between what each pace looks like. Too often athletes easy, steady and fast all are far to close together in pace. There should be a big margin between what each effort looks like in terms of pace.
Terrain- Flat, hilly, trails, road, dirt and so on. Challenge yourself to be able to cover different types of terrain.
Races- Pick a variety of distances, terrain and types of races. From single sport races like a open water swim race, a bike race, a running race. Sprint up to long course triathlons, duathlons and maybe even off road.
Not only will this variety help you continue adapting, but you’ll be stressing your body in many different ways. As multi-sport athletes we have to train a lot. But the way in which we train should include as much variety as possible to promote health and more adaptation.