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Bike Focus Advice

I broke both phalanges (bones) of my right big toe a week ago Saturday when I dropped a 45# barbell weight on it. I've spent the past week wrapping my head around the idea that I won;t be doing any running until after I return from Nepal May 9. I'm not really a runner @ heart, so I'm not going to do anything like pool running, although I may add some time on the elliptical trainer after my three weekly weight room sessions.

The past week, I've been doing the Get Faster swim program (sans flip turns), and daily trainer work totaling 310 TSS, mashing up the OS and GF plans. But I need a regimented program.I'll keep on with the GF swims, maybe adding a bit of volume to get my pool time each session up to one hour. Three days a week x 30 minutes in the weight room. Daily core work. As to biking, looking through the EN plans, even the bike focus seems to assume some running, and none have 5-6 days of cycling, which is what I want to do. I have no races on the horizon (first tri will be a sprint end of June, first serious race the USAT short course champs in Omaha mid-August, then Chattanooga end of Sept), and I do not want to ride outside for at least a month, since my broken toe is on the foot I put down when I stop.

I could make up something myself, or I could hack the EN plans, or I could follow one of the Trainer Road plans, all on my Kickr. Looking thru the Trainer Road plans, the 40K TT mid volume seems most appealing to me.

But I wonder if anyone has any other ideas or experience. I'm looking to ride 5-6 days a week, no day longer than 1.5 hours (I'm not a trainer masochist), total 6-7 hours, 450-500 TSS. I'm past the point in both my athletic career and my chronological age that I can expect any significant boost in FTP. I'm mainly looking for (a) staying sane, (b) getting a little fitter, and (c) watching a lot of TV and movies.

Comments

  • @Al sorry to hear about those broken toes... As you know I was trying to participate in the JOS but without being able to run myself I hacked together a similar plan...Great minds think a like as I came to the same conclusion as you did.... I just finished week 7 of the TR 40k TT plan .... Here is how I hacked it... I did the Low volume 40k TT plan which is tues,weds, sat..... then I added the weds and sun ride from the Med Volume 40k TT plan .... This was a very good mix of intensity, endurance, and recovery rides totally 5 per week (the hard rides on the Med Vol plan looked to be just a bit too much for me anyway) ....
    https://www.trainerroad.com/career/knorcmit
    The only ones I didnt do was the TT simulations on saturday week 6 and week 7 (not sure I could on a trainer but my buddy did in your AG BTW LOL) Instead I did a 1 x 42' FTP test last saturday and this week an 11min 4 mile race and a 33 min 12 mile race more than replacing those in the plans...
  • Good enough for me, Tim, thanks. Since swimming works best for me Sun/Tue/Thurs, and I don't want to overload any single day, I'll shift everything to start the week on Sunday. So Tuesday ride becomes Monday, etc. And will be very relieved I dont have to trash myself *completely* in the Medium plan. After all, we ARE triathletes...
  • Al,

    Those little bones in the toes seem the most painful. Sorry to hear about the mishap. I also hacked the 40k TT plan in TR while I was recovering from clavicle surgery. I was unable to run or swim and wanted begin rebuilding/maintaining fitness. I agree that pulling rides from TR is definitely easier than building them. I certainly did not have as structured of an approach as Tim took, but if I remember correctly, I also used a combination of low and medium volume days. Depending on the day, there were some EN-like workouts, but also days that featured recovery zones only. For me this fit the bill, but if your fitness is more advanced at this point in the season, you may be able to ramp it up a bit more than I could at the time. I picked and chose my workouts based on the amount of days I could handle and did about 5 weeks or so. My bike workouts were always 1 hour or less. Good luck and heal well.
  • @ AL - the 40K TT plans on TR are awesome, Tim recommended it to me when I was trainer bound with the herniated disc. I hacked it downwards using some WKOs with one or two less sets of very hard intervals.. Feel free to write with questions..
    Heal up!
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