When you start your fitness journey it is important to work on building a base. It can take a few years for your body to handle training so starting slow and being patient are the keys to success. You can’t build a house on a crumbling foundation and you can’t excel in your sport unless your foundation is strong.
I often have athletes come to me with aggressive weight loss or endurance goals. The first year or two can be the hardest as you navigate training for your goals. It is common for you to want results immediately but patience is going to help you get to where you want to be faster. I have been working with athletes from many different backgrounds. Some are just starting out while others have been on their journey for a while. What I have found is that people often come to me injured or overtrained. My goal is to help them achieve their goals safely while building a solid base.
If you find yourself constantly battling injuries or struggling with fatigue it is important to take a step back and look at your training. Most of my athletes want a high volume of training because we are told that you can’t succeed unless you are an over achiever. What I have found is that taking a few steps back to work on volume, strength and rest are the most important parts of training. It can take 6 months to a year to resolve injuries and start introducing speed work. When I bring speed work into someone’s schedule I watch for signs of fatigue or twinges and will recommend not doing speed work and possibly incorporating cross training into their routines. I also believe that my job is to educate and guide but not force anything on my athletes so I always give them the option to do more, but with the warning that it could trigger injury and fatigue.
Building a base includes a few steps. The first is managing injuries and getting them resolved. With the right corrective exercises and modifications to your training you can still train. Ideally you will want to avoid speed work and long endurance efforts until you are pain free. This allows your body to adapt to training while focusing on strength training. This is a great time to work on mindfulness, time management and learning to pick up on subtle signs from your body. Cross training will work different muscles and give you the ability to work on endurance without overusing strained muscles or tendons.
The second step is playing around with either speed work or volume. You don’t want to do both at the same time. You can increase volume slightly on your long run/ride if you want to focus on speed and start with short workouts on your speed work day. Only add one speed workout in a week and maybe even just once every other week to start. If you feel pain or fatigue you want to go back to easy efforts. If your goal is volume begin by adding a small amount of time to your workouts each week and build from there. Building a solid base is easier if you allow your body to recover. This may mean an extra rest day every 7-10 days. When your long runs become easy you can move onto either incorporating speed or longer back to back adventures. If you are cross training you can do back to back long days such as a long run/long ride.
The first and second phases can take 1-2 years. Most of us don’t want to wait that long so we take a chance on potential set backs. When my athletes are able to re-adjust their goals and allow themselves to use races as an opportunity to try but more importantly to learn they have better success in the future. This might mean missing that time goal the first year or two or not making a cut off in an ultra. The important part is remaining injury free.
The last step is when the magic happens. I see this in my athletes who I have worked with for several years. All of a sudden 1-2 years later they can handle higher mileage and more speed work. They don’t get injured and if they feel a twinge it can be resolved quickly. They also have learned a lot about their bodies and respect when they need rest or to skip a speed session. Over those couple of years we also work on stress management which plays a major role in how you feel in your training. When you are stressed you feel more pain and more fatigue. When you are happy you feel better. Building a solid base allows you to feel better so that you can handle stressful moments in your life better. I have learned so much as a coach by watching my long term athletes who put in the effort to build a base flourish! It took a ton of patience on my end and for my athletes but I promise you it pays off!
Set reasonable goals for yourself. If you are overly injured or fatigued take time to focus on zone 2 workouts and build a solid base. Take time to address your injuries and use corrective exercises and strength training to get yourself healthy! Reach out to a sports physical therapist that can help you heal your injuries and work with a coach who can modify your training and keep you fit and healthy as you recover. I have my athletes who work with physical therapists either ask their PT what modifications need to happen or ask their PT to email me so that I can train them appropriately. Having been in healthcare I believe that triaging care is the key to success!
One of the cool features in the Steady State App is the ability for a physical therapist to put in my athletes workouts directly in the app very easily! This increases compliance and allows me to give a nudge to my athlete if needed. If you would love your physical therapist to put your workouts in the app have them sign up for the app or reach out to learn more! Training isn’t just about tossing in workouts, it is about preventing and managing injury, stress, fatigue and rest. Training is about fueling your body correctly to allow for muscle growth and increasing your cardiovascular systems capacity. Training is about building a foundation that will support any goal you have!
If you need help building a solid base and breaking free from the injury success cycle reach out! I would love to help you with your goals! I can help you with cardio, strength, nutrition, corrective exercises, HIIT workouts, mindfulness, and more! I can help you find a good sports physical therapist to help you get back to what you love. More importantly I can help you navigate your schedule so that you can be there for the people you love while working towards your goals!
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