Bike testing/zones

Patrick O'Connell

Hi Patrick,

Rich has put together a great plan for me to get back to racing. As a reminder, I'm the guy that has had 3 ankle/leg surgeries due to ziplining accident in CR. Running is limited at this time. My bike zones are from 2014 when I raced Challenge AC. Only racing short course this year. Should I retest bike zones. If so, when and how do I go about doing that? Need a refresher. Thanks.

Steven Ford

My 2 cents is yes you should retest as it gives you a clear picture of where you stand. You have Power or HR?

Coach Patrick

Patrick yes, you should retest the bike. Here is the testing information section: http://bit.ly/1PYKV8f You can either follow that guidance or load up the Test Week plan via your My Plan page and then follow that test protocol as well (http://bit.ly/1PYL7Eq).

Good luck!

~ Coach P

Patrick O'Connell

Hi Patrick. I've spent the last four months working with a swim coach to fix my broken swim stroke. Coaching/work has paid off. Technique is better and times have come way down. Beginning to follow OS plan now. OS plan has a fair amount of running in it. Two plus years post accident, my running is still limited to 2-3 times per week up to 5 miles per. Need to make the most of every mile. When and how should I do the running in the OS plans? Which runs are more important? Longest run I'll do this race year is Olympic distance. Might try a half in September but will need to walk at least half of the run. Thoughts on how I should approach running in the OS with my ankle limitation? Thanks.

Coach Patrick

That's great news on your swim...no small feat! 

Given your running rules, I'd like your runs to be Wed / Friday / Sunday. That gets you the Wed / Sunday run for sure, and a day between runs (the Friday). 
Now, should we be concerned with intensity? I don't want you to overdo it, but let's say you do four weeks of the OS plan...as steady running at TRP pace, and then after that, we can adjust to add a bit of "work" into the Wed and Sunday runs (think Zone 3 first). 

How does that sound? 

~ Coach P

PS - If you need more on Mondays, you can add a swim in. 

Patrick O'Connell

Thanks Patrick.  Sorry for the delay in responding.  I travel for work each week.  Running W, F and Su makes perfect sense.  One point of clarificaition, should I run zone 3 for all three runs or should I work in the higher zone intervals for each or one/two of the three days?  Thanks for the help. Pat

Coach Patrick

@Patrick O'Connell  Let's have you running @ TRP pace to start...for two weeks, then you can gradually change the last 10' of each run to Zone 3, etc...deal?

Patrick O'Connell

 Thanks Patrick. Still a bit confused on zones because I am only racing short course this year. Looks like my target race pace of 8:43 would be for long course racing. How should I think about target race pace if my longest Race this year will be an Olympic distance.

Coach Patrick

Patrick, sure...your Target Race pace is Zone 4 in Short Course...but I don't want you running that right now. You'd die for that long. As a SC athlete you still want the aerobic base that TRP affords...