Joe Orick's Bike-Run-Training Question
Coach,
I am currently a week or so away from my HIM. I am in the Beginner Half Ironman program. I feel that my training went okay, but I am hoping to improve on it by making some changes. I am scheduled for Ironman Louisville in October and I am would really like to make these changes. I am currently biking on Wednesday, Saturday and Sundays. I would like to switch my bike days to Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I ride with a Cycling Team and they ride on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tuesday and Thursday are usually about two hour rides. The Saturday ride is about four hours and the Sunday ride is around two hours.
I find that when I ride with them I actually push myself harder because of the group dynamics. Do you see any problem with me switching biking days? And, if I do switch how should I restructure my run days. Thank you. Joe Orick
Comments
Joe, subject to Coach's advice, take a look a the IM Minimalist Plan.....it has a Tues / Thurs / Sat Bike with more intensity in the Tues/Thurs rides......I happen to like that plan. I tend to hack it and add more time and intensity to those Tues/Thurs sessions but you need to be careful hacking anything your first few times through the cycle......
SS
Joe,
Please post for me here your first draft of how you would adjust our schedule to include these 4 rides. IE, run on these days, bike on those days, swim on these other days. I'll give you my feedback and we'll settle on a template that will work for you.
That said, modifications like this, especially adding a bike ride where most of these rides are done with the dynamics of the group, are only doable until you're about 7-8wks out from your IM. Then the overall volume of IM training makes this extracurricular stuff unsustainable. There are also significant considerations for locking yourself in the aerobars and becoming very comfortable in the aerobars for long periods.
So the short answer is that group, roadie-type riding isn't the best answer for IM athletes within 8-10wks out from an IM. Historically I've always pretty much hung up my road bike and put my tri-hat on about 12wks out. No group rides for me, unless I'm driving the train at my own pace in the bars, basically.