Jim Understanding Daily Workouts

jim ebert

 

Coach, I see almost each week in my IM training plan the there are times when I am to run before I swim or bike. I don't understand the reasoning behind this; especially before a Swim. I see many weeks have  a 45 minute run then another 45 minutes later. Can I do both at the same time for a hour and a half run? I only guess why the brake (to give me a rest ?).

I'm several weeks behind in the week I should be on but will do the "red" workouts to catch up to this week. OK? 

Tks!

Coach Rich

Posted By jim ebert on 06 May 2016 03:28 PM

 

Coach, I see almost each week in my IM training plan the there are times when I am to run before I swim or bike. I don't understand the reasoning behind this; especially before a Swim. I see many weeks have  a 45 minute run then another 45 minutes later. Can I do both at the same time for a hour and a half run? I only guess why the brake (to give me a rest ?).

I'm several weeks behind in the week I should be on but will do the "red" workouts to catch up to this week. OK? 

Tks!

Hey Jim:

1. A run before a swim or bike: generally we put the more important workout of the day before the less important workout of the day. So that's why a run may be listed before a swim. But in the end the logistics of your day determine if a particular workout is to be done first vs second. IE, if the only time you can swim is in the AM then you swim first, then run. With regards to running before vs after a bike, we call this a "reverse bike" and we've had these in our plans for years. We do this because we've found we can have you running longer and generally faster if you're running before vs after a bike. Later in the plan we do have you running traditional bricks (bike then run) but we have you doing so for a specific purpose. Before outside of that, the value of running while tired on tired legs after a bike ride is generally over rated. 
2. Those 2 x 45' run days you're describing sound like the double runs we have scheduled as long runs for many weeks of the plan. This is a new addition for the '16 plans. Please go here to learn more about these runs. 

Let me know if you need anything else and good luck!