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DECEMBER 2007

Hi, let me introduce myself. I am Mike Theobald and am a UK Athletics Level 3 coach, I have also been involved with Keep On Running on Attercliffe Road for 17 years. I would like to congratulate Matt on his success with novicecoaching.com and the work he is doing with TNT.

Although not a triathlete myself hopefully I might be able to impart some knowledge relating to your running through my 46 years in the sport both as a runner (still active!) and a coach. I don’t propose to encroach on what Matt is doing with the group, in one or two instances we may have differing points of view, treat this more as my viewpoint which you may or may not wish to take on board and integrate into your schedules.

As I say I am not a triathlete but I have swum and biked but I would imagine that out of the 3 disciplines that running is the least technical, as in theory you just put one foot in front of the other faster than the next guy. I wish it were that simple, as it isn’t however on the other hand lets not make it too complex. In this first of occasional articles perhaps I will stick to some simple tips.

Before even structuring a running programme think about the time you have available. It is no good having a schedule that says that you have to do 25 miles per week (including changing etc approx 4-5 hours) if you can only fit in three hours. It may not be exactly what you need to do but it is far better to work within your allotted time rather than get stressed at trying to fit a litre into a pint jug. If need be speak to your coach , they are usually quite inventive and I am sure that your schedule can be adapted to meet your needs.

If you are relatively new to the sport this is the time to experiment to see what you can easily do and that you need to work on. For instance you might find that if you go out on a steady state run you are comfortable compared to others but when it comes to speed work you lag behind. This is not an unusual scenario, and some athletes avoid tackling speed work because they find it difficult, but my take on the situation is that everyone should be encouraged to work on their speed, especially with triathletes where a lot of the aerobic fitness can be obtained on the bike. One of the biggest barriers to getting used to speed work is the fear factor - everyone is faster than me! Once again coaches need to be inventive - lets say the coach has arranged  4 x 600 metres with a 200 metre recovery, if you are slower that the main body of athletes why not do 4 x 500, it means that you can work at your pace but still enjoy the session by keeping  up with others and having a slightly longer recovery. This is merely an example but the theory can be adapted to almost any session. One note of warning this is not a licence to take it easy and you should always be trying to improve your level of performance.

If you have any feed back or questions you can get in touch with me at miketheo@hotmail.co.uk. I cant promise a personal reply but will be pleased to answer any points in my next article.

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