You need to read that because he is the new master. You can read the complete article on his blog here.
1: Don’t get caught up in meeting some pre-conceived idea that a certain amount of miles is what is needed to see improvement in any of the disciplines of this sport. Improvement in any of the disciplines within triathlon requires a single attention given to that discipline over time. You then need to build a foundation of work in the other two disciplines around this increase in the other. Never solely focus on one discipline without factoring the other two into your training plan. We are TRITHLETES now and you need to build a body feel around 3 sports and functionality in these three sports. It is all about functionality now in 3 sports.
2: Recovery is king! Always err on the side of recovery in your training program. Recovery takes many forms, and body maintenance (massage, Yoga etc) sleep and rest are imperative to the game and the mix.
3: Guilt attached to any missed session is more harmful than missing the session itself. Guilt is what limits most people in our sport. If you miss a session for any reason, put it behind you and move forward. Don’t play catch up and don’t worry about it. Its done, move on!
4: A great thing to remember is that training programs do not have to be built around a 7 day schedule. I see many people and coaches build their training programs in 7 day cycles. This is often good for routine, but remember it is not imperative, and mixing things up is key to improving.
5: Identify your weaknesses at the start of your season and then highlight your areas of fragility (injury proneness). When building your program a focus needs to be given to ensuring that this weakness is addressed early in the plan and then constantly addressed throughout the year. Not all weaknesses are physical, and ascertaining the attention directed at a weakness in comparison to the trade off that is given to the other two disciplines needs to be looked at here. Improvements take time. Be patient!
6: Trust the people who advise you and build your plans. You have to have faith in the people your working with, or it is just not worth it. More so, it is your responsibility to give the feedback necessary to ensure that your coaches or team can do the best for you. Don’t buy into other peoples BS. You’re the CEO of your journey in this sport. Be proactive, open and listen and put faith in the people you have brought on.
7: Brick sessions is a foundation set for every triathlon program, but huge brick sessions are over rated. Bricks are the toughest sessions you can do, and need to be recovered from and set with that in mind. Some people like to do this “head sessions” to convince themselves that they can master the triathlon they are taking part in. Doing this in a brick is not the answer. When planning your brick sessions, be sure to be aware that these are physically very demanding sessions. Ironman athletes more so tend to over do the brick session component to their training and do way to much. It is the “run” in the brick session that does the most damage so be careful with it. The faster your running the shorter the run length should be, the longer the bike, the shorter the run session should be. That is two rules I tend to adopt to some degree. Hope this makes sense.
8: Consistency is the key to any triathlon program, and consistency across three disciplines is the key. Injuries limit your ability to be consistent so listen to your body. Be flexible with your training plan. A rigid program is not the answer. A program should be built with a skeleton plan, but the fill needs to be flexible and adjusted daily if need be. Flexibility to your consistency is th key.