Tweaking OS: Topping out run speed in OS week zero
Background
I have a few outseasons worth of data that show a predictable gain or progression of VDOT as I move from Recovery Sloth -> Runner -> Outseason -> Inseason. (these progressions have eventually been carried through to 19 IMs where the final run split in about 90% of the cases falls within a two-minute range of each other, but that’s another thread).
Of particular interest to me this year is the run progression, and the notion of recognizing when something has maxed out and switching it up.
In the 7 weeks before the January OS, I complete an annual self-prescribed run campaign. I have done this for a few years, and base the campaign roughly on weeks 8 - 14 of the Daniels 5 to 15k run plan*. This is My Thing, and I like doing it.
Normally, the campaign brings me from a starting VDOT of about 49 to a finish of about 51.
I then do the OS more or less as prescribed, with no run speed gains. I arrive in week 0 of the 12-week in-season at 51.
Somewhere around the first weeks of in-season, VDOT creeps to 52, and with continued work as prescribed in the 12 week in-season plan, stays there until the IM. (If I had to take a wild guess, this extra point comes from the combination of running outside on solid ground after a winter on a treadmill / icy roads, plus dropping about 7-10 pounds.)
Issues
Now, there’s something dangerous about having historical data ... in that creates a psychic box. The good part is I have a bunch of data and history that tells me if I turn myself inside out in a no-compromise run focus, I will achieve a 51 at X time of the year, and then with more work, a 52 at z time of the year. The bad part is I have a bunch of data and history that tells me if I turn myself inside out in a no-compromise run focus, I will achieve a 51 at X time of the year, and then with more work, a 52 at z time of the year. (again, this will be another thread). The question I have right now is: “ Given that history, if I again progress in the way that I’m used to progressing, and arrive at OS week 0 with a run fitness level that will likely stick all OS, what should I do about that?”
a big part of me has taken the same approach to that question every year in the past … having some cognition that I am at my run ceiling, but also holding out a belief / hope that there’s always room for greater velocity at v02 max, there’s always a bigger VDOT on the horizon, and it’s always a day away, so I should keep piling it on.
-the other side of the issue is asking why I would want to keep pouring water into a sponge that’s completely full, and given a bunch of evidence over a bunch of years, why would I expect that the OS is going to yield more run speed when it’s not happened before.
For Discussion / Input
So what, then, if I accept that as of OS week 0, my VDOT is where it’s going to stay for the next 12 weeks?
-should I think about single sport foci during the OS? For example, should I identify the minimum amount / duration / training stress of running that I need to maintain the 51 VDOT, and pour myself into 4-rides-per week bike blocks?
-if I did the block approach, what would the timing be within a 16-week outseason … ie:
Model A - four weeks bike block // four weeks balanced bike-run //another four weeks bike block // another four weeks balanced, with bike progression as written?
Model B – 6 week bike block - FT emphasis with run VDOT maintenance // 6 week bike block – V02 emphasis, with run VDOT maintenance // 4 week balanced block with v02 and LT run emphasis and bike maintenance?
Model C - ????
-how far would you roll back the run training on the bike block weeks? Maybe 2 days of LT work with 24’ accumulated LT each day, 2 more days of EP run?
-What would the optimal duration of bike blocks (or balanced blocks) be? I think specific adaptations from targeted vo2 work (or targeted FT or LT work) top out at 6 weeks, so that seems like a good point to switch it up, but on the other hand, having 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 with changes in stimuli every four weeks would prolong the progression along the “6 weeks to maxxing out” timeline.
I’d appreciate any and all coach and team feedback!
Comments
There is NO way I would do 2 days of LT run work while doing a bike block ! Doing that starts to resemble the OS . I think the idea is to maximize one sport while maintaining a floor of the other sports not necessarily the level you want to maintain.... Need to focus on the single sport... So the same question I asked is how much and what intensity? Remains unanswered and could certainly be different for each individual
Optimal duration of focussed blocks? From what I have read - 4-6 weeks is the current believed adaptation period - so I agree with your changing it up to adapt to the stimulus every 4-6 weeks.... IMO and if it fits in your schedule I would go with 4 week blocks.... Its shorter and you can stay more focussed for the 4 week duration while looking forward to the change every 4 weeks.... You can wrap your head around that easier....
I chose longer periods of single sport block focus based on scheduling the races.... If I didn't have those I would have alternated weeks 4 bike , 4 run , and maybe even thrown in a 1 swim between the bike/run.... You could do that twice in 20 weeks....
What every you do , I think you need to make sure it is very different from anything you have ever done before !
I definitely agree that if you feel you've stagnated in progress its time to shake up the routine, and it seems logical that focus blocks could be a mechanism for that.
Another perspective on the stagnation / progress dichotomy is to change how you measure what progress is. We work under the assumption that FTP and VDOT are THE critical measures of progress, but everyone recognizes at some point these measures max out due to physiology and age among other things. As you both have experienced the slow down in gains in these measures, it seems that progress might now be measured in optimizing how you race. Beginners are taught to race at 65-70% FTP, sharp enders @ 73-75%, and the pros seem to go 80-85% even at the IM. Similar scales exist for metered effort on the IM run. I'd tend to think of progress at your level as developing your ability to ride 80+% for 4.5-5 hours and still hit the run at top end z2+. Your FTPs and VDOTs may increase some, but its more likely that you can more easily develop hard-core endurance pacing more akin to what would be standard in standalone events. That will take huge amounts of work in the z3 range for both disciplines and would I think require careful design of focus blocks to balance recovery with the work. Just my $.02
You've really time-boxed yourself. Why not do an 18 or 24 week running block to target an endurance breakthrough and leave you with a new level of running strength that will endure for 2-3 seasons? I think the direction in which Tim is heading is more likely to lead to, at the least, a lesson learned about what happens if you do something very different.
First, some thoughts, in random order:
As/if you think about long-term planning, be aware of the hard facts of what happens to the BEST racers. Both actual age and racing age are important. As a general rule, for IM racing, one will peak @ age 32-3, and may be able to hold that until 37-8. That is tempered by when one starts doing serious IM training and racing. The plateau usually starts after about 4-6 years, and can beheld for maybe 10 years tops. So you are on the downslope of the age curve, and nearing the downslope of the career curve. Its a hard struggle to come fro grips with either or both of those, and makes assessing one's current performance and plans for "improvement" more difficult from both an emotional and practical point of view. If you find a good way through that, please let me know.