While this will seem like a shameless plug for QT2, let’s face it… it’s not a shameless plug, it’s a very proud plug. You will rarely if ever see a QT2 athlete post something like that. You will see a Qt2 athlete post recovery watts (most under 100 watts), and our athletes will just prove it with race results. No argument needed. You won’t hear them talk about bike splits…. what you will see is that five of our athletes ran sub 3:05 in Kona. You will see that Mrs. Jessie Donovan smashed Ironman in Arizona, running a 3:16 off the bike in her pro debut.

As Tim Snow says…. “The bike split gets the press, the run split gets the win”.

So what’s the deal? What gives?

To be honest QT2 training is not glamorous. Sure there are mile repeats on the track, sure there are monster sets in the pool. The work is very very very and if that is not clear….. very structured. To a decimal point. You will hear of our athletes doing 183 minute bikes and try to dissect ……why the odd number? A mental strategy from coach to athlete? No, not at all. There is a reason behind every minute we prescribe. There are no blank spots in our training plans.

Our training programs are methodically configured, constructed and developed to meet all of our athletes. When I began coaching with QT2 I worried a great deal about the Mission Plans. Most of my Train-This athletes who came with me went to this plan. I know I was told it’s not cookie cutter but ….was that true?

I can now say with 100% truth…. absolutely. Each Mission Plan I have written is 110% to the athlete themselves. It’s a freaking good deal.

At QT2 we help you build a giant aerobic foundation. That’s the base of the entire season and depending on the athlete it will last 12-16 weeks of easy aerobic boring as hell training. Actually, let me clarify it.

Weeks 1-4: You will swim, bike and run the slowest you ever have in your life. You will question these heart rate zones, if you are like me totally ignore them (and develop an injury). You will look at FaceBook and see your friend is running 10 miles on Sunday morning, most at 6:30 pace and you will feel behind, out of shape, unfit, and very distrustful. I will hear you tell me you’ve run 10 minute miles when you run 3:30 marathons. You will cover up pace and power and when you finally get the guts to look at it in your post workout data…. you will think…… I can’t go so slow.

Weeks 5-8: You will start to notice something weird. You will see your HR and paces change. This may happen later depending on how many times you ignored your HR during weeks 1-4. You will suddenly be running a few seconds faster than you were at week one…. at a lower heart rate? You will think…. maybe this does work, maybe QT2 is on to something. You will feel good. In fact…. when Joe Joe is still out running his 10 miles on Sunday morning at 6:30 pace and complaining of knee pain….. you will feel like you own this secret. But you wont’ tell anyone anything out of fear that…. you feel too good, and fear of jinxing yourself.

Weeks 9-12: Depending on how well you stuck to those zones….. you will begin to think….. man I have a freaking HOUSE underneath me. You will look ahead and see some BST’s and tempo work and begin to say….. oh man here it comes, I am so ready.

That first race you will come across that finish line a believer. You will think….. holy sh*t I don’t know where that came from.

We do. Look back. You just built yourself into one smokin strong freaking athlete.

It’s a process. It takes a while. If you are me it takes 2 seasons.

*stubborn*think*I*know*everything*.

What we do around here is we push up our threshold from the bottom…… if you think of threshold as a line… there are two ways to raise it. (This is going to be extremely basic; any good exercise physiologist will agree that this is a much too simplistic explanation and that there are many facets to lactate threshold…… but bear with my simplicity.)

You can raise it by pushing it up with a good dose of aerobic training.

You can pull it from the top with interval work.

Again… that’s much too simplistic an explanation, and there are good combinations of both that do the same thing.

At Qt2 we primarily push it from the bottom up. Our athletes have very few if any injuries. Training so aerobically allows us to build very strong and healthy athletes.  With that being said we test our athletes to determine which type of athlete they are. With those results we prescribe the right balance. Some need more intensity work than others depending on those results. Now we have athletes who need a lot of intensity and some who need minimal.

Either way there will be a good solid base / foundation / aerobic base laid down. Think of it as the foundation of the house. The stronger the foundation, the stronger the house. You don’t build a skyscraper on sand.

Another way to say it is this: the deeper the root, the taller the tree.

At the right time and in the right place….. you will realize that your goal…. to become your fastest self…. has been achieved.

There are people who win every training session. That’s for Facebook. Then there are those who nail every race. That’s for a podium spot. It really depends which you care most about.

So remember….. there are 3-4 days of the season you need to be fast. The rest is just for talk.