How do I become a Karmea athlete?
Pick up the phone or email us to make the initial enquiry. Once we’ve had a brief discussion on the phone, we will set up a meeting date either in person or online to talk through things in more detail. From here you will fill in an athlete questionnaire specific to your sport. This document is used as a discussion tool in our initial athlete meeting.
We set your state date, plan your weekly micro cycle, set up access to Training Peaks and then let training commence!
What’s Training Peaks and do I need an account?
Training Peaks is a fantastic software platform which delivers your training sessions online, allows you to upload direct from your chosen GPS device, download sessions to your device so you can use them as a guide while training, and offers great accountability while training.
Basic athlete accounts are free and either set up by us prior to commencing training, or if you have an active Training Peaks account, you just need to nominate us as your coach. You can also upgrade to premium status but this cost is absorbed by the athlete.
We will take you through all of this when you sign up for coaching.
Why the minimum programme of three months?
We find that it takes time to get to know an athlete, how they like to train, how their bodies respond. It’s also great for an athlete to get to know us as coaches also. If you are new to a sport, or it’s your first step up to a new distance, then the more time you can give to your training the better the outcomes.
By the time you build in rest weeks and rest days, 12 weeks is up in no time! So the longer you can give to your preparation the better.
What are rest days and rest weeks?
On of the most common things we see in athletes who come to us is over training. Rest forms and important and essential part of your training programme with us. All athletes get a full rest day each week, some possibly two if they are injury prone and training for a single discipline sport such as running. Athletes are all given rest weeks or deload weeks, that allow the body to adapt to the training load and gain strength. These weeks are either every 4th or 5th week depending on you as an individual.
Rest is a very personal thing, everyone responds differently to it so as we get to know you as an athlete, we may change things around.
What technology so I need for my training?
To allow us to train you to your full potential, we recommend a GPS watch and HR monitor for running and cycling. For cycling we would recommend a speed cadence sensor fitted to your bike. If you train with power this is an ideal tool for cycling and will allow you to get the most from your bike sessions. If you are racing triathlons then a watch with a multisport mode is perfect, these also tend to have a swim function for your pool and open water sessions.
We also recommend an indoor trainer for cyclists. While not essential, this gives you no excuses on bad weather days 🙂 It’s also gives you the most bag for you buck on the bike with focussed work and little interruption such as traffic lights etc. It’s also lots safer for harder effort work than the road.
I don’t have a GPS watch or HR monitor, can I still become a Karmea athlete?
Yes of course! What did we all do before all the gadgets and gismos?? We trained by feel. We still encourage our athletes to train by feel. If all else fails and your tech dies on race day, your race doesn’t fall apart because you can see what watts to hold on the bike or your pace on the run.