I’ve been triathlon coaching with Roy Hinnen for a good 5 years. While there were 2-3 competitions per year in the first 2 years, there are now between 7-9 events at national and international level.
During this time I was able to get to know many facets of Roy, both technically and personally, from different perspectives. I experienced his self-developed formulas in particular, built into my training plans put together by him, up close. Sometimes with more but sometimes with less “pain”. There was one or the other training set, which didn’t always “just” put a smile on my face! For the 2016 goals (age group EM Lisbon, IM 70.3 Rapperswil, half-distance Locarno and Challenge Mallorca 70.3), Roy integrated the race formulas into the training plan.
Sometimes StrengHill-1 stuck; here new stimuli were set in the sense of first running and then cycling, I just thought to myself, why is that – in the triathlon it is ultimately the other way around! However, I got the answer very quickly during the execution of the training set. It was extremely interesting to see how the body (mentally as well as physically) reacted to it. Because I was very familiar with a pre-exertion as with conventional coupling training (bike – running). But bike training on the mountain after 5x1km with a speed limit and precisely defined trot breaks on the 400m circular track was a different kind of challenge for the head and leg muscles during the first few bike units.
12 x 2 minutes with wattage and cadence specifications were pending, but my legs were already a bit sour from the intensive running unit. This mountain strength unit is actually hard enough in reverse order, but how am I supposed to cope with it in the current “state”? I needed 2-3 repetitions until I found my usual “step”. I had to do massive mental work with “Head Cinema” in order not to break off the training early. Interestingly, I didn’t suffer a total collapse from fatigue during the entire session. From repetition 4 – 12, the values (watt, cadence and pulse) remained constant.
Through Roy’s innovative approach, who likes to incorporate something unconventional into the training plans, he manages to break up the training process, which is becoming increasingly monotonous, and thus keep the athlete’s motivation and joy alive. I’m convinced, precisely because of Roy’s actions like this, that as an athlete I had to get to know myself over and over again. Even if adapting to the “new” wasn’t always easy, I’m convinced that it took exactly that to bring me one step further…
