The Perfect Winter Training Plan for Triathletes Over 50

Every October, the same thing happens. Athletes who’ve been training for decades either shut down completely and lose everything they built, or hammer through the dark months and arrive in spring injured, ill, burnt out, or a bit of all three. If you're over 50, the cost is higher, because you lose fitness faster and it takes longer to get it back.

In this solo episode, I walk through exactly how I approach winter training with the athletes I coach one-to-one and inside our SWAT community. I’ll start at the end, working backwards from a specific goal, and build a winter around staying healthy, training consistently and leaving something in the tank.

In this episode:

• Why "I want to be fitter" isn't a goal, and how to work backwards from a race, a date and a definition of success
• Why staying healthy and injury-free is job one, and the four habits that protect it: sleep, nutrition, alcohol and dealing with niggles early
• Why athletes over 50 lose fitness faster, take longer to get it back, and why health is "a hard-nosed performance strategy"
• Reps in reserve: why your intervals shouldn't end in failure, and why you don't need to prove anything on a Tuesday night at the track
• The 80/20 principle by sessions (or 90/10 by time), one true rest day a week and a planned recovery block every 10 to 14 days
• Why strength training at least twice a week is the hill I will die on
• How to choose a weekly volume you can actually sustain, using your own training history
• Why winter is a great time for high-intensity work, and why it belongs indoors
• How to find your real limiters, using a swim example, and why you may need to swim in a slower lane for a while

Killer quote:

"It's not about smashing yourself to bits in December. It's about building yourself up so you're harder to break when it matters."

If what you heard today resonates and you want a training structure built around these principles, with individuality, recovery, strength and the long game at its centre, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is designed around. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle

Coming next week: a guest who is one of the oldest finishers ever to cross the finish line at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, Simon Butterworth!

FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others plateau in their 50s. Why Some Triathletes Keep Improving Into Their 60s

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