“I never know what kind of training to do in January and February.” I heard this statement from one of the athletes I coach and I blew it off as an inconsequential statement with no relative meaning. And then as I commuted through my day, I thought, ‘By God, he needs to know.’

It’s pretty interesting when you ask yourself what kind of training should you be doing in January and February. In January and February, there’s some planning for the season and choosing races and training camps. If you’re peaking for a certain event and trying to build some fitness for the summer tri’s then you have your work cut out for you.

Let’s assume you are doing a few sprint tri’s and maybe one Olympic distance race throughout the summer. What kind of training should you be doing during the coldest months of the year? These months are sort of a hodge- podge of different training ideas. Most of it’s going to be base building and skill development. But what is base building!

When you develop a solid base a few things will occur. First, you’ll increase your body’s ability to burn fat as an energy source. This is a good thing and one that your body really wants to do. Second, you can increase your body’s ability to transport oxygen to working muscle groups. This improvement is made by building more capillaries and thus more highways to move oxygen and other nutrients. Third and probably more important, you can teach your body proper technique in the water and on the road.

Use your heart rate monitor and set up your training zones. If you haven’t done this, then now is the time. There are many books and websites that will help you through the process. For February’s training, keep your intervals shorter than normal and allow for your recovery time to be the same or double to the work time. Stay between 65%-80% heart rate.

Use 60%-75% of your time training to execute drills and skills. This means in the pool, work on long strokes and any drills that will decrease your stroke count. On the bike, work on pedaling and breathing drills to make yourself more efficient. One of my favorites is to pedal with one foot at a time while focusing on keeping my working heel down. When you’re running, focus on long slow deep breaths as well as relaxing and running as easily as possible. Also, focus on keeping your arms bent at 90 degrees and not thrusting up to your chin. This will help you conserve energy.

So there is a lot to do during the winter. It’s also a great time to dial in your bike position so you don’t have to worry about it during the racing season.