A nice alternative to IM week7/8 Long Run and FTP workouts
Loved this set of workouts this week and I thought I would post them as a possible alternative for people looking to mix things up, without disrupting the overall weekly plan. I think this is a great IM week 7 or 8 session, particularly as a substitution for the combination of the long run and FTP bike that normally fall during that week.
Instead of prescribed long run:
Run 90’ as 30EP, 20MP, 15-20 HMP, rem hard
Instead of prescribed FTP bike:
3h brick session
Bike 90’: 15 wu, 2 x 20 (5) at FTP, remainder in aerobars at 80-85%
Quick transition
Run 90’: 20 EP, 20 MP, 2 x 15 (3) MP, strong finish.
What
I really liked was (1) the last 45 mins of the brick run really simulated
late-race stress on the overall system, and this was able to simulate the
singular
“working hard on tired legs” that the final 8 miles in an IM … but without the
huge physical toll that getting there would normally require. I
normally have to go really deep in a long run to feel that kind of hard system
strain, but really can only go to the well on such runs a few times a year, as
the recovery cost is big and there is a lot of muscle damage done. In
this alternative, I feel great the next day following this tweaked session and
have nowhere near the DOMS or shelled feeling that would normally come after a
huge run. AND, even though the last HMP-effort intervals are not at
fresh-leg legitimate HMP pace, I found that they did put me into HMP HR zones,
and I’m pretty sure they had training effect, and arguably have a level of
specificity to event preparation that is good to have being this close to the
race. So, they might not have made me as fast as crisp disciplined HMP,
but definitely made me faster, and had unforeseen recovery
benefits.
Plus, I was getting tired of super long runs week in and week out, and needed something to mix it up. I feel a lot more mentally capable of doing the last two long runs in my season than the dread that I had for them earlier this week.
This session dovetails to the another marquee run of the week – a stand-alone, 90’ as 30EP, 20MP, 15-20 HMP, rem hard, and again, with a good amount of time at MP/HMP without going too deep.