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Doing back to back long bikes on Weekends?

sfedersfeder
in General Training Discussions

I am working the 1/2 IM plan intermediate and I notice that my long runs are scheduled on Thur and weekends are back to back longer bikes with one brick. Just curious as to the logic and not make one weekend day a long bike and the other a longer run? I know you have built the plan with alot of detail and  have years of experience tweeking things for optimun performance, so I was wondering the thought here.

Comments

  • HayesSanbornHayesSanborn
    • Generally, Long Run and Long Bike with 48 hrs of seperation provide higher quality efforts. The Sunday workout generally suffers if done back to back.
    • Most people have more time to train on the weekend and will be able to do two longer session on the weekend and back to back bikes provide more chance to do 'work' with little recovery cost.
    • The long run (especially in a 1/2 paln) is short enough to squeeze in during the week.

     

  • manconamancona
    Agree with Hayes 100% ... last year I was hesistant to do the IM long run (up to 2:30) on a Thursday morning but sucked it up, got up at 0 dark 30 and got it done. I'm really glad I did as Thursday was a very solid long run with a lot of work. Friday was an easy day with a swim and easy run, and then I was recharged and ready to crush both the Saturday and Sunday bike.

    I think the combination of the Saturday and Sunday bike is so much better than a single long ride as we get significantly more work done in less time overall.
  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch

    It was a big pill for me to swallow when I first saw the Thurs Lon Run on the EN plans.  But I love it now and can't imagine going back.  It probably seems to make a little more sense on the IM plan, but even the HIM plans have a pretty long ride on Sunday and that extra long ride is just easier to do on a weekend.  Just give it a try- you might like it.

    For some fun reading, you can look at this old thread and you'll see how I had to be convinced in the beginning too. 

    http://www.endurancenation.us/en_fo...php?t=1231

     

  • tgarsontgarson

    Like the others have stated, I find the Thursday long run is not so bad once you get used to it. I find that by getting it done on Thursday and having a light day on Friday I am ready to go for Saturday's hard/long bike, something that I just don't think I'd be nearly as excited for if I had my long run the day before. Or vice versa, when I hit the Sunday bike I feel the Saturday bike pretty good and it definitely impacts the quality of my workout, but thats OK since the Sunday ride is expected to be more the icing on the cake.

    I learned that one from experience this past weekend when I swapped my Saturday / Sunday bike rides due to very crappy weather on Saturday (had to do a 2-hour CompuTrainer ride) and beautiful weather on Sunday. I tried to hit my hard quality bike Sunday and just found that I ran out of oompf, was glad that was not supposed to be my long run.

  • mattsullmattsull

    I too had been doing my long rides on Saturday and long runs on Sunday for several seasons. It was a big change for me but one that I really liked. I got used to the Thursday runs and found that the quality of biking on the weekend was outstanding. Two very hard days coming off a rest day. Sunday's ABP/brick workout is no joke. I found those to be some of the most consistently challenging workouts I've ever done.

    I also like not having a brick on Saturday!!

  • sfedersfeder
    thanks to all, I get it. Makes sense. Now I just have to abandon my long running partners on Sundays and convince them to run with me at 4am in the dark....LOL dont think it will happen.... Again my I-pod becomes my best friend.
  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    Scott- FWIW, I also found that EN style "long runs" didn't typically match up with my marathoning buddies ideas of a long run (lots of LSD). So in the end, it actually worked out better for me to do those runs solo because I didn't have to worry about offending anyone OR waste energy defending my training plan. In fact, it was actually easier to try and convince marathon buddies to do their "tempo run" on Thursdays with me (with me adding more time before/after the tempo stuff). But in the end, the ipod has become a good friend indeed :-)
  • Barbara SpitlerBarbara Spitler
    I'm in the same boat, with having to abandon my marathon buddies on Sat. morning. I belong to a Galloway Group, and enjoy running with them. Have to say I have yet to do so, but guess I'll have to...We are training for Chicago Marathon in Oct., after my IMLOU in August.
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