Let us assume you have taken 2 months off from running. In this article we will make an assumption that you are new to the sport and have ended your season on a good note and without injury. You simply took time off because you needed to and are now ready to get rolling again.

The first week back finds you excited to get back into things, motivated by goals and a new racing schedule. You know you need to work your way gradually back into the run to avoid injury by not over doing it. One of the best things we can do for ourselves is to create a plan that includes detailed structure on how to proceed with our running.

As a coach I believe in a conservative approach so that through your first 3 weeks you are running every other day with a gradual progression in time from week to week. I would recommend going by minutes versus miles, as our body knows time, not distance. The first week would include 3 days of running that consists of a 5 minute warm-up of walking, 10 minutes of running, 2 minutes of walking, 10 minutes of running, and and easy 5 minutes of walking to cool down and right into stretching. This workout could be followed for each of the 3 runs during the first week.

As you head into the second week, keep the minutes of the run the same, but eliminate the 2 minutes of walking between and continue with the 5 minutes of walking to warm-up and cool-down. Always follow each run by good a good stretching routine. In this week, run every other day again so that you run a total of 3 days again. In the third day of running this week add 5 minutes to your run for a total of 25 minutes.

In the third week continue with an every other day pattern, but set the week so you will run 4 days. For the first two runs continue with 25 minutes of running followed by stretching and then add 5 minutes to the next two runs for a total of 30 minutes. At the finish of these two runs add 4 by 20 second pick-ups running up to 75% of your max effort.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Run: w/u: 5’ walk. Then run 10’, walk 2’, run 10’. c/d: 5’ walk. Stretch following	..	Run: Repeat Monday’s workout. Stretch following run.	..	Run: Repeat Monday’s workout. Stretch following run.	..	..
2	Run: w/u: 5’ walk. Then 20’ run. c/d: 5’ walk. Stretch following run.	..	Run: Repeat Monday’s workout. Stretch following run.	..	Run: Repeat Monday’s workout, plus add 5’ to the run. Stretch following run.	..	..
3	Run: w/u: 5’ walk. Then run 25’. c/d: 5’ walk. Stretch following run.	..	Run: Repeat Monday’s workout. Stretch following run.	..	Run: Repeat Monday’s workout and add 5’ to run. Stretch following run.	..	Run: Repeat Friday’s run workout.

As I mentioned early on, I believe in being conservative in the first few weeks of your return to running for a number of reasons. First, your tendons and ligaments may have become lax; your muscles will have lost some of their tone; and your joints have lost their tolerance to the pounding they take on the run. This in itself can create changes in your gait pattern, cadence, strength and for that matter, all the aspects of the run. A gradual and more conservative return can save you from unwanted time off due to injuries.

Remember, this article is the opinion of the author, not something that is written in stone. The fact however is, our body physiologically accommodates and gets used to stresses we place on the bones, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints. After taking time off your body loses its tolerance for those stresses so when we start again, we have to rebuild our body’s ability to handle the stress inherent in running. This is why a gradual return is called for after a period of rest.

All the best for your return. Happy trails to you!

Amy Kuitse is a USAT Certified coach with D3 Multisport and can be reached for questions or comments at: Amy@D3Multisport.com

If you’ve read my training journal from this winter you’ll notice two things. I wasn’t kidding when I said in November “I refuse to ride indoors this winter” and in December when I said “triathlon is a summer sport”.

I have managed a lot of time in the pool, but almost no bike and run miles. Usually the winter is my favorite time of year to work on my run. This years off season has been spent trying to heal a running injury. One reason I have not ridden much is the wind this year has been epic. Of course on days I’m at work it’s dead calm and warm. Why not ride inside? Well, I just don’t enjoy it and since triathlon is my hobby and my “fun time” I figure why bother doing something I don’t enjoy. Most winters I’ll get on the trainer a couple of times, usually late in the winter when I’m starting to worry about my form with the first races coming up. If you share my despise of riding indoors then maybe I can offer some advice.

On one of my first rides of the year today I started thinking of mistakes I see a lot of triathletes make with their cycling in the winter. At the gym I too often hear “I rode 4 hours on my trainer today” (go figure I live in Boulder). I believe that this kind of time on the trainer is the biggest mistake a person can make. I doubt that any kind of quality can be sustained for 3 or 4 hours on an indoor trainer. Remember we are training for three sports so you are still getting the aerobic (base) benefit from the cumulative weekly training hours of cycling, swimming and running combined. What usually happens in a session like this to kill the boredom is a movie and or just spinning along with no kind of structure in mind.

A 60 to 90 minute workout on the trainer with a 10 to 15 minute warm up and some intervals or drills for 30 min to an hour and a short cool down will bring much more fitness than spinning along watching Forest Gump. For an interval set you don’t need to flog yourself like it’s July, but just do some work closer to threshold for short periods of time. Even some ½ IM intensity for 10 or 20 min blocks can be very effective. A good time killer: alternate one leg drills (30 sec each leg with 1 min easy recovery) can help to smooth out your pedal stroke, and make your legs burn more than a joint at a Grateful Dead show. If you have a treadmill a great workout is 30-40 minutes on the trainer then 20-30 minutes on the treadmill then repeat two to three times or until you puke. Doing these smaller blocks helps ease the boredom and can be an effective 2 to 3 hour indoor workout, which is great if it’s even too nasty out to run

If you have an IM coming up and need the cycling miles just structure your weekly program with some flexibility so you can ride long when the weather is good. If you can only ride on the weekend and the weather is too bad just remember my next two options. 1.) If you miss a long ride here and there this won’t affect your race, especially if you can be flexible and switch your long rides with your runs instead. 2.) I can guarantee you that time spent in the gym will help your cycling more than time on the trainer.

Triathlon cycling is very power and strength oriented, especially considering you need some leg and core strength left for the run. Sitting on a spin bike may help your aerobic base, but not any more than swimming or running. Also remember Lance is one of a very few top pros that can generate lots of power with a high cadence. So skip the spin bike or trainer session get to the gym and work on the cycling muscles: Quads, calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower back and core. A strong core will also help you maintain good run form late in the race, helping your run splits. Use the following points to help improve your cycling this year:

• Substituting your indoor rides with strength training will do more for your cycling later on in the season than “another trainer session”, especially for athletes over 35.
• A one hour hard trainer workout will do more to improve your cycling and race fitness than 2 to 4 hours easy on the trainer.
• One hour of strength in the gym followed by one hour of structured cycling on the trainer = watch out Lance.
• Weekly training time is cumulative for all three sports. You don’t need long trainer sessions to build your aerobic base.

Curt Chesney is a professional triathlete who balances training with a full time job and young family. He coaches with D3 Multisport and can be reached for coaching at Curt@D3Multisport.com