Meta-Training (Off-Season, Part II)
Is something out of whack?
A nagging injury that won’t heal and is really too easily irritated? You know, the ones that resurface at just the wrong time..
Low back, shoulder, or hip pain?
You know what I mean, it’s those issues that you manage all through a tough series of training blocks for perhaps most, if not all, of your season. They don’t sideline you (at first). You manage to hold them at bay long enough to train and race, and you make it through some peak races, despite the latent (or even acute) pains.
Well, maybe you could eliminate most if not all of them with a little effort. Now, the “Off-Season,” or into early Base training, is the optimal time to handle these particular problems. The good news is that you may be able to do so with only a little re-training. It’s what I like to refer to as “Meta-Training.” I often describe Base training to my athletes as training to train, not training to race. Meta-Training is really even a step before that. Its training to train, to train, (which leads of course to training to race).
As a serious endurance athlete, you have fairly well ingrained movement patterns. They are a direct result of several factors:
- Your postural and alignment status
- Physical injuries – or hopefully a lack thereof
- How you originally learned to swim, bike, run, & strength train
- Your body finding the fastest way to get from point A to point B, utilizing proper form, or not.
- How you handle, and train in, a very fatigued status (i.e. training with already compromised, damaged muscles, and pain)
Fortunately, these are all malleable patterns. You can relearn and therefore ingrain new and better fundamental movement patterns. This will primarily help you avoid potential injuries. However, it can also make you a more efficient swimmer, cyclist, & runner. In my next post, I will go over some of the how to’s. They are easy and quick!
