Opinions
Winter multi-sport training
By Dennis Flores
Winter in Manitoba roughly happens between November and March. Sometimes, snow starts to fall in October so we have around six months of cold weather. So what do we do during this time? One would think that it would be hard to train for a multi-sport event for the upcoming seasons. Truthfully, it only takes a bit of creativity to accomplish the task.
The dynamics of training change when you can no longer use the road to cycle and run, but what you get in return is the time that you have set aside for those activities and some other advantages. Let’s say that you spend at least two hours when you go for a spin, you would get the same amount of time to use going for a session on the stationary bike. An advantage in having this quantity of time in the gym is that you can do other activities when you get tired or bored from spinning. I would go for a light run after a spin or do a hard run first and spin afterwards, this way I don’t introduce unwanted stress on my legs. If you spend 10-15 hours a week training outdoors, you are looking at creating programs that you will be doing for the same amount of time in the next six months.
During the cold months, a very popular discipline to train at is swimming. This will be the time to revisit the basics of your swimming skill set. You can also expect the public pools to be packed with swimmers of all types. The biggest public pool that you can go to is the Pan Am pool on 25 Poseidon Bay. Other pools in the city are found at the 7 Oaks Pool, Cindy Klassen Recreation Centre and St. James Civic Centre, to name a few. These have very flexible hours of operation to suit your availability so you don’t have any reason not to be able to visit and train in them.
Run training can be done in so many ways indoors. The simplest form would be on a track or a multi-use court. Then there is the treadmill wherein you can simulate several running environments to train the different sets of muscles. Like training for most sports during the cold months, assessing your running form, strength and speed will make up the most of your winter sessions.
How you train during winter will dictate how well you will do in the next six to seven months. When you join the initial races, you will either start to feel a fair level of comfort or sense a considerable amount of pain in several parts of your body.
I am extending an open invitation to join the group in our training sessions. We usually train in the city gyms around the Garden City/Maples area. It would be a good idea to email us on our website at www.sulongtriathlon.org. I am including a photo of the group for identification purposes.
I am certain that there are a lot of you out there who have better knowledge and can share your experiences with us. Together, we will become better athletes. From the Sulong Triathlon Group – Happy New Year everyone!
This column is based on personal experience and by no means to be deemed as instructional. Dennis is also a registered architect. Please visit our website at www.sulongtriathlon.org and like us on Facebook at Sulong Triathlon Group.
Have a comment on this article? Send us your feedback
