Draft Legal Triathlon and Polarized Training
With draft legal racing gaining popularity in the United States along with being the model of racing at the Age Group Sprint World Championships, there is a need to properly prepare athletes . Draft Legal racing, particularly the sprint distance, requires a higher racing intensity and the ability to repeatedly provide quick bursts of power/speed. Because of the different race demands compared to traditional non-drafting racing, athlete’s training must reflect this.
A perfect draft legal race scenario:
The athlete comes out of the water with the top pack, hopefully drafting off of the leaders for the majority of this leg. Continuing onto the bike leg, the athlete is able to stay in the top pack. They are able to stick with the surges and the possible break away attempts. Hopefully, he/she is able to stay in the middle of the pack, conserving as much energy as possible for the run. Finally, hitting the run with the race leaders and being able to pull away from these other athletes.
Now looking at the demands of the above example:
To be in the first group out of the water, an athlete must be able to get out in front of the field at the start and then settle in with the top pack. Breaking apart from the field at the beginning and then exiting the water with the top group requires fast swimming at a high intensity level, especially at the start. The demands of the bike include the ability produce lots of power in a quick amount of time to go with the surges to stay with the lead pack. The run requires that the athlete be able to quickly transition from bike to run and able to run away from other racers- again high intensity racing.
The common theme is that all parts of the race require the ability to maintain high intensity and produce a high amount of power/speed quickly. The race demands high intensity, therefore the athlete’s training must reflect this to properly prepare for the event. Polarized training is the best method of training to ready athletes for draft legal racing.
“Polarized training consists of a high percentage of exercise time at low exercise intensity (∼75–80%) accompanied by little time at moderate intensity (∼5–10%) with the remainder spent at high intensity (∼15–20%).”
Neal and colleagues, Journal of Applied Physiology, February 2013
Basically, polarized training is where workout sessions are at either end of the intensity spectrum- high or low with very little time spent training at a moderate intensity. High Intensity training defined as any effort above Lactate Threshold, and Low Intensity training meaning any effort below Aerobic Threshold. As race day comes closer, Moderate Training (any effort above Aerobic Threshold but below Lactate Threshold) is continually minimized. Rather, the focus of workouts being either on high intensity and low intensity sessions.
Because so much training time is spent at a high intensity level, there must be a large percentage of low intensity level training to compensate. The low intensity sessions serving as active recovery to prepare athletes for the next round of high intensity training.
The closer an athlete gets to race day the more their training must focus on and simulate race day demands. Draft Legal racing, particularly the sprint distance, has a much higher intensity demand compared to other traditional races. Therefore, training for these types of events must include high intensity sessions. Polarized training- high and low effort focused sessions- is the best way to safely prepare athletes for draft legal racing.
