OS time commitment
I last did an OS a couple years ago, and as I recall the time commitments, especially during the week, were significantly lower, albeit at much higher intensity than the current iteration of the OS plan. I'm finding myself struggling to get the 70-90min scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday. Essentially, if I'm not on the trainer by 5:15am, I have to cut the workout short.
Are you all breaking these up into two sessions? I'll be interested to see how the team data shakes out with respect to OS gains and I'm starting to consider some hacks to try and increase intensity and reduce time, just to make the workouts fit into a more balanced life schedule.
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My approach this year has been to get on the bike between 5:00 - 5:30 a.m.
I save the run for each lunch time or default to the evening as a backup. This allows more flexibility in the morning and saves me from running in the dark and cold when I am already wet/sweating. I like it because, in some cases, this provides a welcome short break from my workday and allows we to actually get some sunshine at times.
Everyone has a different schedule and routine to fit these workouts around, but, with a little creativity, the OS is a very effective ROI setting you nicely in terms of fitness coming into the spring if you can make it fit your respective daily routines.
SS
Normally on Thursdays I do the bike early (start 5:30 to 6:00) and run in the afternoon once I am back from work
On Tuesdays I do the opposite and I run in the morning (for some reason I don´t particularly like the long bike intervals early in the morning)
On weekends, when I have more time, I do the run as soon as possible after the bike
I do exactly what you're suggesting.
IMO, and I'm not nearly as accomplished as so many others, ...
Crush yourself using the intervals approach in whatever time you have available. Crush. Yourself. Get as close to interval work time done as you can. If you can throw in a run as prescribed, great. If not, put some kicks on and go run 15-20'. May have to cut the bike short an extra 10' to do that run, but so be it. If you can do another longer version of the run later, even better.
Some of my bike wkos are as short as 30-45'. And, just like you mentioned, the shorter the wko, the more the intensity ratchets up.
Because of this time management problem, I pretty much punt the w/u and cooldown. I hit the trainer and start @.8/.85/.9/.95, hold it for 12', rest 3', then right into my 2x 20s or whatever, spin for a minute or two and then hit the road.
My point isn't "Here's what I do, do it this way and you, too, can be average like Hardbeck." It's that many of us ration every minute of the day just like you seem to be referring to.
Frequency (Consistency), then Intensity, then Volume. That's my pecking order.
These are hacks, yes. EN prescribed wkos when time/day cooperate.
The hours/week commitment I see these days kinda debunks the myth of being able to stay seriously competitive with less time/week. I'd looooove to hear about someone who is still at the pointy end but doesn't spend more than 10-11 hours/week in the out season. Or maybe this still exists? Who knows...this is just my busy-working-mom=n=1 perspective....
2015: average 6:30:31 per week, biggest week 9:30:49 (was training for Boston so did long runs)
2014: average 4:41:26 per week, biggest week 8:28:35
2013: average 5:38:15 per week, biggest week 7:02:31
2012: average 5:47:04 per week, biggest week 6:43:49
2011: average 5:15:23 per week, biggest week 6:24:38
Note: I did NO SWIMMING during any of those time periods and all biking is indoors (i.e. low-overhead workouts).
EN started out being all about ROI and I still subscribe to that philosophy even though many on the team have gotten away from that and taken the more traditional high-volume route (including the coaches, for reasons they have been very transparent about with the team). I am a believer in the historically-articulated EN "no swimming in the OS philosophy". I honestly believe that the key is consistency and doing the workouts as prescribed.
Following the original methodology resulted in a level of performance which is satisfactory to me. I have no doubt that if I trained 12-15 hours per week year-round then I could eek out more gains. Maybe I could even go to Kona. But the ROI of chasing the last 0.5% of performance is low for me:
- The "R" is low because the result of slightly better performance doesn't really fulfill goals that are important to me. For others, achieving KQ or sub-3 marathon or whatever is so important and valuable that their "R" is much higher
- My life situation magnifies the "I". Many of you know I travel 4-6 days/wk in a high-pressure job and have 3 kids. You are less likely to know my wife is a senior executive at a large corporation. So one extra hour of training on the margin is a very high "I". Probably for other people an extra hour is an even higher "I". But for some it is a lot lower (for example, my dad is and retired…he can train whenever he wants!).
Overall, my take is that it's all about your ROI, and how you value the "R" and "I" will differ from every other person on this team. But going back to Kori's original question, I perform near the top of my AG and put in nowhere near 10-11 hours/week in the OS.
To clarify...people who have more time and use it accordingly because it works for them are just doing what's right for them. I agree and think both options are fine and just need to be tailored to that specific lifestyle. This was just my observation from both this community and that of my local community that more and more people are putting more and more time and emphasis on training hours during the week. Maybe it's just my jealousy that the only way I would do that would be to sleep 4 hours a night. :-)
1. HIM training is not OS training. I am in the 10-13 hours/week range for the in-season HIM plans. The question was asked about OS and that's how I answered it.
2. In the OS, I hope you aren't converting 40 mins runs to miles based on some assumed mins/mile baseline then shooting for that mileage. The guidance is clear...if I run 60 mins and you run 60 mins and we both ran at the same intensity then although I might have covered more than 9 miles and you covered just over 5 miles...we both got the same workout and physiological benefits. It ain't about the miles....
I'd like to add something. In addition to maximizing efficiency with the OS wko structure and time, the athlete looking to go pointy end has to keep the focus throughout the day/week/month when not 'training'. Nailing the nutrition (we all know what that means and how deep it goes), nailing the sleep/rest/recovery and managing all of the physiologically hampering stresses of life goes a long way to the next tier of results.
I remember an interview with a pro (though, I can't remember his name) that was getting older and decided to cut his training by about 40% to spend time with his family. But, the energy/time he now had available with that 40% reduction, he now put into his diet and sleep/recovery. His results didn't go in the tank and he maintained his top of the game level despite the big drop in training time.
My point is one that you already know, one that I expect you already practice routinely. But, for others reading, the things we do when NOT training can go a long ways to maximizing that ROI strategy of high intensity/low volume training time.
Can't agree with you more, Chris. For me personally:
- I have logged every meal since 2010. I can't say they've all been healthy, but I certainly know all about the choices I'm making and I make them very carefully. I weighed myself daily from 2010 through 2013 when not traveling (and bought a second scale to use at commonly-visited hotels), and weekly in 2014/15 OS (daily in-season). Unlike some people who have body comp fluctuate through the year, I am very consistently in a 5-7lb range. Usually within a 3-5lb range actually. If I am working out less, I eat less. It is pretty straightforward math. I did minimal workouts from IMWI on Sep 13 until my surgery on Dec 10 and gained 12 lb to reach a post-2010 high. Despite surgery, no workouts for 2 months and the Christmas holidays I managed to get down to within 5 lb of the normal weight I would see when training (although bodyfat is 2% above).
- Other than ahead of weekend long-rides, I have never set an alarm to wake up for a morning workout. Sleep is too important. Also I cannot afford to be extremely tired at work. I shoot for 8-9 hours a night although I am far from perfect at achieving that.
If the above seems strange and sort of OCD you are right, it is. I think that consistency and discipline are super-critical. It's not all about hardcore workouts!! And certainly not all about volume!!
My goals are to KQ someday and I dont consider myself a FOP (5h HIM and 11h11 IM)
I guess I need to make a more concerted effort to get the run in as a second workout after work.
I agree that the coaches have been transparent about the changes, and with number of members keeping data logs, it may be very interesting to see wko compliance and improvements as compared to previous years, especially amongst those of us in the MOP.
Right now, my sense is that I'd benefit from a return to the 45' high intensity wko of previous OS, and leave the 60-90+' workouts for a ramp up to racing.
Getting off topic a little, I hope the long 3-4 mile stretches of Mid Z1-Z2 pace runs are beneficial, because they are a lot less mentally stimulating than the high effort work of previous years.
Great discussion, everyone.
Please understand that the changes we made to the OS this year are the result of our observation that the EN athletes who perform the best, especially at long course triathlon are those with (1) excellent run durability and (2) excellent body composition.