It's around this time of the year that many of us experience a confusing transition in our endurance training. If we've followed instructions properly, we've logged countless miles of easy endurance training. In addition, we've worked on force application with slow sets on steep hills and a regular weightlifting regimen. Our economy and efficiency has been sharpened with skill sets, drills, and concentrated focus on form.

So what comes next?

Since competition season is approaching and you've sharpened your skills, effiency, and aerobic engine, it's time to shift focus to more race specific training. But as base training comes to an end, it can be difficult to know how to make that transition into higher intensity efforts, without losing the endurance base, force and skill attained in previous months, and even more importantly, without overtraining. Here are some practical tips to transition effectively into the build portion of your training plan:

1. Take that hill workout that you've been performing. During base training, the focus should have been on force application and proper form as you climb hills. On the run, this meant a tall, proud posture,; for the bike, this meant smooth pedaling at a high cadence, preferably in the seated position; and for the swim, this meant sets with the paddles, kickboard, and pull buoys. Now it's time to shift that focus to building your muscular tolerance to lactic acid. Shift to hills that are longer and less steep. Each week, climb a little longer and faster, and rest a little less. For instance, in week 1 of build training, you might perform 4x2 minute hill climbs with 2 minutes rest between each. But in week 6 of build training, you would be up at 3x8 minute hill climbs, with 3 minutes rest between each. Each week, add 1-2 minutes of climbing, while keeping rest periods constant. If you're pressed for time, keep your climbs at the same time, but decrease rest periods by 30-60 seconds. At this point in the season, don't attack on the hills. Keep your climbing speed and RPM or cadence constant, at an effort of 7-8 on a scale of 1-10. In the water, replace your force workouts with muscular endurance sets of a similar nature - with gradually increasing intervals (200-1000 meters) and gradually decreasing rest periods (10-45 seconds).

2. Move on to your skill workout. In base training, you might have been performing heel-to-butt kicks, skips, or agility drills for running; on the bike you were performing high cadence spins or single leg pedaling; and in the water you were performing drills until your head was spinning. To maintain skill and efficiency, you should continue performing these efforts, but insert more muscular endurance training between your skill sets, and perform your skill sets at a slightly decreased volume and slightly higher intensity. For instance, if you were performing 5x100 single arm swimming drills, you would decrease to 5x50 single arm swimming drills, and insert a 50-100 meter higher intensity freestyle effort after each drill repeat. Or on the bicycle, if you were performing 6x60 second high cadence spins, include a 1-3 minute muscular endurance interval after each of your superfast spinning efforts, which would be performed at closer to 20-30 seconds.

3. Finally, that long endurance effort should remain in your weekly plan. But whereas you may have been performing flat or slightly rolling efforts at very low heart rates and intensities, you should now change you endurance to a slightly more intensive pace with a more specific focus. The best way to increase pace just slightly for the bike and the run is to focus on increasing cadence just slightly. If your previous long bike ride from base training was performed at 85-90rpm, then increase speed not by shifting to a more difficult gear, but by increasing cadence to 90-95rpm. The same strategy can be used for the run. On the swim, rather than increasing stroke count, your focus should be on thrusting your hand into the water upon entry with a greater force. This will pull your lats farther forward and cause slightly more pronounced hip rotation. You are thus increasing speed without making you actually pull harder through the water or increasing torque requirement at the shoulder, one of the most significant causes of overuse injury during the long swim. With regard to race specificity, you should choose your highest priority races of the year, and find an endurance course that closely approximates the needs of that course. Then continue to swim, bike and run that course at those long and slow endurance intensities. Finally, toward the end of base training, begin to include "fast finish" endurance efforts, in which you begin to increase speed 5, 10, or 15 minutes before finishing your long swm, bike or run. Maintain this high speed all the way through the finish, before cooling down. For the last few weeks of base training, gradually increase the length of your fast finish. By utilizing these strategies, your transition from base into build training will be smooth and seamless. You will retain the efficiency, economy, endurance, and force that you've been working on in base training, while gradually attaining the ability to apply these skills at more race specific speeds.

If you need more help or direction in designing your training program, be sure to check out the options at www.pacificfit.net/triathletes.html.