Last week was a push in the right direction. I was able to hit two key workouts mid-week done as a long ride and then a shorter ride the next day with some strength work in the hills followed by a moderately long run. I call this two day block the Lucho Double as it was introduced to me by my old friend and coach Tim Luchinske (no Tim, I don't think you are old) and I've had much success with it in the past.
So, the first day was a five hour bike ride with a touch over 3hrs of Ironman power. I find if I break up these rides into shorter segments, anywhere from 40-75 minutes of Ironman effort it is much easier mentally than to ride 3-4hrs at the Ironman effort. I'm not sure how physiologically different it is to split it up then to ride it continuous especially as I'm limiting my recovery to 5-10min max. Comments on this AC??? However, I plan on hitting the 112 done as a continuous ride just once before the big day on July 26th.
I followed the long bike the next day with a shorter ride where I went out to my long hill and did a couple of longer (about 18min) hill repeats at a moderately hard effort. This for me works out to about 240-260w on the bike or an average heart rate of 141 and 142bpm for the repeats. I rode home as a steady time trial and then changed into the running gear for a 7mi run in the hills. For this run, with all the biking prior to it, I find it really gives me a realistic sense of my Ironman pace. When I typically do my long runs I'm guessing that I'm about 20-30s faster per mile than what I will run at the Ironman marathon while with this run, I've put enough biking in my legs so that by the time I hit it I find a lot of similar sensations as the Ironman run and the pace is much closer.
I finished up the week with a business trip to NYC and can't say I got much training in. Sunday was my long run after a bit of detraining in NYC and although I got in 30km of running it definitely wasn't my best effort. Live and learn and then learn again and again and again...
3 comments:
At Lake Placid you are going to have some very long descents and short descents where you're going to be pushing little wattage. It's not like Florida or AZ where you are TTing for 5:00. So the break up of your ride is OK. I also think that the point of any workout isn't to crush yourself but to provide the right amount of stimulation to improve. Riding 3-4 hours non-stop at IM wattage might be less productive for you right now. My 1 cent.
I AM old!
Old but with age comes wisdom...and you are wise, like a fast yoda;)Unfortunately, since we are the same age I guess that makes me old as well :(
I think if nothing else 3-4hrs non-stop is just freaking tough mentally. I think it digs into some of your race juju. So, what are the benefits to that 4 or 5hr race rehearsal ride? I think it just lets you know that you can do the ride at the appropriate effort and if necessary, blow it before race day instead of race day. That's my attempt at answering my own question.
Thanks for your feedback!!! Always appreciated.
I think a 4-5 hour race rehearsal ride could be good for many athletes. I would still say that in the interest of keeping the wattage higher it would be OK to break it up. Maybe even 2 X 2:30. The problem comes when a non-tapered athlete tries to do a workout that too closely resembles a race. It's a setup for disaster if you're over-all mileage is low and you aren't trying to race the Ironman.
Post a Comment