AustrAliAn triAthlete | 67Brendan Sexton
B RENDAN SEXTON
After a failed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle career
and a successful stint as a professional triathlete,
Brendan now does his best to help other people
and anthropomorphic amniotes achieve their
athletic dreams.
brendansexton.com.au @kung_fu_sexton• Test set = regular training set: Training
and testing don’t have to be mutually
exclusive. Using normal training session
work as a test set allows you to
measure change over time and follow a
normal training plan. The only
requirement with this technique is
maintaining consistency across the
controls (using the same set of 100s in
the pool or the same run loop). Should
controls be inconsistent (e.g. altered
wind direction from one cycle TT to the
next) results are unreliable.• Relevance: Test sets should test the
performance that you’re working at in
training, which should theoretically be
in line with competition targets. Testing
yourself over 20x 100-metre sprints on
the running track is unlikely to provide a
reliable indicator of movement towards
your goal marathon split.• Take all metrics into account: If the
data is available, record it. Often the
values you are measuring can be
affected by a change other variables
that aren’t taken notice of but could
shed light on issues with performance.
A run test set of descending 1km
repeats could appear slower from one
month to the next but if a metric such
as heart rate is recorded the data could
show the intensity was, in fact,
lower despite the perceived exertion
seeming harder.• Make your test sets personal: By
adapting your own test sets you can
become more intimate with the data,
feeling and expectations of the set.
Over the years I used the famous
Moneghetti Fartlek set as a marker of
run form. The closer I got to averaging
a sub-three minute per kilometre for
the 20-minute equal work-recovery
set the closer I knew I was getting to
my best.
Local roads and climbs provide
perfect cycling testing grounds and if
you have a particular swim set that
you enjoy completing, use that (at the
risk of it falling from your preference at
the hands of the test
set devil!).• Test sets are just that, tests: In the end,
competition performance can only
truly be tested in competition. Test sets
can give a glimpse of form and
improvement over time and well-
executed test set series’ can provide a
dependable basis to construct race
plans and expectations but for many of
us, the trainer and racer can be two
different people – for better or worse.
Take as much constructive feedback
you can from testing but don’t live and
die by the numbers – outliers are not
that uncommon.a coach, I see even greater value in test
sets and having athletes “buy in” to the
process so as to give value to the results
without potentially damaging pressure.
Here are a few ways I see a benefit in
affixing and utilising test sets and trialling
within a triathlon training plan:• Frequency: Test sets can be daunting
and poor performances in test sets
can take a toll psychologically.
Most of us understand that due to
increased training loads or intensity
and other aspects of life can cause
training progress to plateau and
even dip low. Incorporating test sets
more regularly into daily training
can paint a more sophisticated
picture and better explain lulls in
performance improvement.TESTING PATIENCE
THE NUMBERS:
Test sets can
be daunting
and poor
performances in
test sets can
take a toll
psychologically.