Crossing It Up

crossing it up

During the winter, most endurance athletes focused on summer races are building foundational or base fitness.  That likely includes some strength training and solid aerobic workouts with a big of speed skill and a little work of different higher intensities as well.  This work is more general relative to your races, but still a bit specific, given much happens with workouts involving swimming, cycling and running.  Given the distance from racing, you can also build that general endurance foundation with a bit creativity - it doesn’t have to be done with just tri related sports.  Cross training can help you stay mentally fresh while building that aerobic foundation really well.  Great examples to keep in mind:

• Subbing in snow shoe hiking or just plain hiking for a longer steady endurance workout, but could be a higher intensity session if done in a hilly area, or even with a period of hill repeats within the workout.

• If you know how, or could easily get lessons, doing some cross country skiing.  This can be great for longer steady sessions, or for sessions including intensity, especially if you learn skate style skiing which can be very challenging.

• If you own, or could rent a “fat bike”, riding on packed snowy trails is a blast, and a super way to build endurance over the winter.  You can explore a variety of intensities here, though for me, a long steady ride on the fat bike in a snowy forest is just fantastic!

• If you live near a good aquatics facility, see if they have a “water polo” club which you could take part in.  Water polo is an amazing way to have fun swimming, learn to swim in challenging situations with contact (like many tri swims), and you wont even know you are improving your swim!

• Ball sports - if you enjoy basketball or soccer, indoor leagues that perhaps play 1-2 x week can be fun ways to get to run a good deal, but not feel like you are training.  While there is a higher risk of acute injury, the varied motion may help reduce over use injury risk come summer. 



• Dance/Aerobics classes.  For a lot of folks, thinks like dance or various gym based “aerobics” classes are a LOT of fun.  They offer great social time and it can be fun to learn different skills.  That’s great!  They also can help build some general aerobic fitness.

Look, I’m not going to tell you to do every workout all winter as cross training.  That would not help you be your best come summer.  BUT, incorporating a cross training session in place of a different swim bike or run workout weekly, on lower load training weeks maybe doing a few cross training sessions, that can be a great way to keep mentally and physically fresh, and keep having fun over the winter!

Will Kirousis, MS, CSCS, CISSN
Tri-Hard | Director
USA Cycling Certified Coach

USA Triathlon Certified Coach
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Certified Sports Nutritionist

508.633.2708 | will@tri-hard.com | www.tri-hard.com | @willkirousis

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