Alex told his wife Sandy that he wanted to race an Ironman. She gave him an account with CTS, and time to train as a gift. Alex started training with me in April. Pretty much from beginning I realized he had enormous potential. His numbers were superb and he had great determination. Alex also has tremendous ability to recover from even toughest work outs. His weight dropped to a pre-competition 165 lbs. His speed continued to improve through summer as his heart rate dropped. Alex came down with a bad case of bronchitis, but decided to compete in a large sprint race in Cleveland against my better judgment. He did not realize until someone called him next day he was first in his age and second overall! This is when I began to consider I was working with someone truly exceptional.

Moving forward, Alex would like to qualify and compete for Kona Ironman. He would also like to finish an Ironman in less than 9 hours. He could not train like he does without full support of his wife Sandy. He has two children, Gabriel 3 and Alex 1, and is General Manager of Preferred Industries. Obviously this requires some serious time management skills and understanding from his family. Alex is motivated by need to demonstrate to his children they can achieve great things if they work hard for them. Competing is his way of proving anything is possible. I am very optimistic about his future.

Mentally it may be hard for you to transition for first time following peak. If you are used to higher volume and high intensity and you may feel they are going to loose too much fitness. I have found that athletes who transition a few seasons actually look forward to it and may train even harder leading up to transition. It is light at end of tunnel. I like my athletes coming out of transition feeling a bit under trained and ready for increased volume in base.

Conversely: taking time off completely means spending a majority of your base season making up for lost ground. Each season should build on last. If you take 8 weeks off you may find your race times are similar to last years (or worse).

The transition phase is an important part of an annual training plan and should not be overlooked. Be sure you end your season with a transition before you begin next.