Epic Week Tucson
"Crash training is appealing to almost everybody but appropriate for almost nobody."
-Gordo
I took the last two weeks to treat myself to another Tucson Epic Camp. This was my yearly trip to (a) clear my head and (b) to do Strauss-approved ‘cool stuff with my fitness.’ Read this with the caveat that this is not EN – type training: this was instead low ROI, old-school stuff. But I like to ride, and have learned a bit more about how I can mix ‘n’ match the two every year.
Net results & Number Chasin'
-70 total hours over 14 days (see the schedule here). If I clocked just 5 more hours, The Man would have to start to pay me overtime.
-Work was made up mainly of big bikes, peppered with frequent runs and swims.
-Pattern was 2 big (4-5+ h bike w/ lots of 80%+, plus swim and/or run) days, 1 day recovery. Took one day off completely. This was gold.
-Parts - both bike and body - held up. One flat.
-The PMC renders the bump below (run data is stripped out). Total 14-day bike TSS was 3370, with some run TSS numbers that amount to a rounding error.
This Year's Findings
-now that I’m 40, I’m finding recovery is more important than ever. Even if I dicked around on other elements of the block, I was really trying to recover like a pro, which meant:
-10 hours nightly sleep if possible
-proper refueling after workouts and nutrition with the next two or three workouts in mind,
-taking ice baths after tough climbing days,
-legs-up, get blood to the heart resting after any tough session,
-30 – 60 min naps after major work to get the HGH goin’
-forget any running faster than EP. In fact, there were a lot of times I struggled to just get to EP, and instead focused on stride rate and keeping the muscles firing. Never cannibalize a bike with a run.
How I’m guessing this will play out down the line:
-I doubt this will have any immediate effect on my FTP or run power – this was just ‘very far on top of fast.’ However, I do expect there will be an increase in my bike power to weight ratio, and a small VDOT bump, both due to weight loss. Although these won’t actually materialize until I get my speedy legs back over the next week or so, if I take the exact power or speed I had at the beginning of the weeks, and subtract a good amount of body weight I cooked off, (hopefully) there is a faster athlete.
-My experience has been that such big blocks have paid some dividends for me later in the season - the 'in-season' - by speeding up my recovery time between BT workouts, and improving my ability to stack races later in the year. Seeing as my schedule is a bit tight this year (a HIM in July to qualify for an IMC ‘safety’ spot, IM Regenburg in August to try to qualify for Kona, and then IMC in late August to take another crack at Kona if IMR doesn't work) I need to be able to bounce back quick.
Anyhow, it was cool stuff. I recommend it, even if Gordo says otherwise.
-Dave
Comments
Thanks for sharing with us; I love to hear about this stuff (and what happens over the rest of the year). For those who don't know, Dave has the pedigree to do this kind of stuff without imploding!
P
I started an epic week today. Here's the plan. Any thoughts?
Mon - AM Bike - 60 mi PM daughters birthday stuff
Tue - AM Swim, AM-PM Bike 100 mi
Wed AM Bike 60 mi PM Run 1 hr
Thu AM Swim, AM/AM Bike 100 mi
Fri AM Bike 60 PM run 2 hr
Good stuff, George! Everything looks good except Friday: I would drop the run to 30 mins - maybe as a brick - and do another 100mile + bike instead. Trust me ... you might think a 120' run would be managable now, but when it's staring you down after a week of work - and that's a lot of work - it will look very very different. Having recently been there, I can also confirm that the run quality would be tremendously impaired, and will look more like an exercise in going very slow on tired legs, but little else. no reason to be heroic.
Actually, you might also want to scale back Wed to 'light training.' A few options: cut the run to 40', cut the bike 40 miles (done in z1 / EP), or both. Or move the run to Tues or Thurs and swim Wednesday. If you have T and F ahead, make the most of them on refreshed legs. Those are still big days.
Remind me: it's IMF - Nice you're prepping for? Lots of climbing, so it might be good to have a few 40' - 1h pulls on the bike at 80% through the week. Except Wednesday, that is.
And make sure you have lots of chamois butter.
Let us know how this woks out ... and make sure you take Saturday off entirely!
-Dave
Dave,
As usual my plans are ambitious. So far, I've managed to get in Mon: AM 58 mi bike (neg split) Tue: AM Swim, AM/PM 92 mi bike (neg split) + 20 run Z1 out/Z2 back. Power tap went bonkers after 34 miles on the bike so I don't know detail. Wed: AM Swim, 20 mile Bike. Replaced the hub battery which fixed the power tap problem. But it would not recognize the hub after 30 min. Plus, it was cold (60 deg) with 30 mph gusting winds so that's all it took for me to head home and have a non-liquid lunch.
By the way, I get the urge to have solid food at lunch, especially after multiple days of liquid nutrition. How do you manage nutrition?
This afternoon I'll bike another 20-30 miles and try to run do 60' in evening. Thur will by my last Big day. I'll try to get in 100+ on the bike. and maybe a 30' run. Friday AM 60 - 80 mi bike. PM travel. I'm doing the White Lake, NC HIM on Saturday. C - race for me. No expectations. Just want to test the race pace strategy. Hopefully my Power tap will cooperate. Sunday will be my rest day.
Yes, IM France is in Nice. I have another week in early May that I planned to use for Big Tri Week and spend a couple of day in the Charlottesville - Stuanton area do hill training.
George
As the days go on with an epic week, tend to eat more in AM before I leave and then actualy plan to stop for a subway or something fast at halfway on the bike. can't go liquid all the time for sure!! nice work...can't wait to see a snapshot of your PMC!
Mark,
I took a week of vacation - kids are in school and the wife is at work.
George - this is cool - and I am jealous! I want to hear how White Lake HIM goes after this epic week - I think doing that many miles during the week before might actually qualify it as a "D race" - i.e. just finishing the race after that kind of volume will be very impressive! I love that race - always a great field down there, and it's a well run race. Good luck and have fun!
I can't figure out how to paste my PMC here. I keep getting are message about my security setting requiring me to past using ctl-V in another box, but, it does not work. Anyway, my epic week is over and I'm not sure how reliable the data is because my Power Tap is having so many problems. Total TSS for the week was 1628. Total distance was 599.55 (must incl. runs).
Mon AM - Bike 58 mi.
Tue AM - Swim 60' 3400m, AM/PM Bike 92 mi - EC to Edenton loop Neg Split. Power Tap Malfunction.
Wed AM - Swim 60' 3400m, PM Bike 40 mi, Z1 out/Z2 back. PT Malfunction.
Thur AM/PM Bike 145 mi EC to Chesapeake loop. Navagation error in VA added miles. PT malfunction. Rest/bathroom stop at my parents house in Chesapeake for water to mix to Infinit, a couple of bananas and peanut butter. I think I got points with my dad cuz he likes to help
.
Fri AM 30' run with 6x strides. Z1/Z2. Bike 30 mi recovery ride. Z1
Sat White Lake HIM. 5:15. I'll post details in the race report forum.
Sunday is a rest day.
How do I feel - ok. Sprained my left ankle on the White Lake run. So, no running this week. Any advice on a recovery week?
Lessons Learned
1. Nutrition - Infinit and an Endurolyte or 2 is the way to go for me. Keeping it simple with 1 thing to consume on long rides was way easier than multiple bars, gels, etc. Take snack bags of extra mix to add to bottles on the road. My setup has 3 cages and an aero bottle. So, I can go 4 hours without refueling. After that I can stop at a gas station and get bottles of water to mix. However, after a couple of days of liquid nutrition I had to get some solid food during long rides.
2. Comfort - found the right saddle - ISM Typhoon which had the most gel/cushion and anatomy friendly. Found the best bike shorts for me which also had a gel pad. Found better places to put the chamois butter. Tried mole skin on places that hurt the most but it did not help much.
3. Get dishes and other chores done before the wife gets home.
A 5:15 half right on the back of that kind of week??!!! You're a freakin' monster!
Dave,
Thanks. Did you structure a recovery week? If so, how? Like, did you modify your normal training schedule to cut back on frequency. And, did you still do your long run?
George
Life structured me a recovery block ... the day I got back from my Epic Camp, I had to put our cat down, and no lie, I was immobilized with grief for, like, 4 days. So zero training for a short stretch. Then, I picked right back up on the schedule, and hit pretty much every w/o since, including long runs.
fwiw, previous years have been tougher to come back, and I found i would normally sacrifice the Tuesday hard bike, and maybe the wed hard run (instead doing some MP and strides for the hour), but I would be pretty motivated to get back to things by the time Thursday and the long run came around.
Also take a look at the wiki ... i remember seeing a good article on recovery from a BBW either there. OR maybe it was the blog. If you can't find it right away, shoot me a note and I'll search as well.
again, kudos on the last week - I hope it pays some serious dividends downstream!
Dave,
Sorry to hear about your loss. Although not as traumatic, age grouper responsibilities have influenced my "recovery week". I managed to get in a couple of rides and swims, but, my ankle sprain at White Lake HIM is keeping me from land running - did a 60' water run yesterday. I found the wiki page on recovery and the BBW/BTW blog briefly discuss recovery. I 'll use that to help me structure my next recovery week. Next week I plan a BTW and take a 2 day trip to the Shenandoah Valley- ride some hills and visit my son.
Here is my Power Tap PMC.