OS to regular season...what's your story? Lessons learned, etc.
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So, I’ve had a little time to reflect and thought I would post my lessons learned making the switch from OS to an in-season plan (Adv. HIM for me). Anybody experience the same or want to add their lessons?
1. Volume camps are great, but give yourself time to recover from the OS before and/or after such a camp.
2. Changing the days and order you do your workouts takes some adjustment time, so be prepared and plan accordingly. I’m talking more so about accommodating the training in relation to other stuff in life rather than the physical aspect. Your routine for the past 20 wks or so is no more; a different one will need to be established and takes some time getting used to.
3. At least the Adv HIM plan called for a 3hr ride on Sat and 2 hr ride on Sunday. I’m pretty sure these workouts were designed with outdoor riding in mind, as Coach Rich says we shouldn’t be riding the trainer much more than 2hrs. Keep this in mind if you are still doing most of your workouts indoors. I get more wiped out from trainer workouts than outdoor ones; use common sense (which I did not) and adjust the workouts if necessary.
4. If you have a relatively high vDot, don’t worry too much about the duration goals for the long runs. Again, use common sense (which I didn’t…). A 2hr run with some Z4 work and a lot of Z3 can be 16+ miles for me. It can really take a toll on you when you’re only training for a HIM.
5. Now might not be the time to mess with your bikefit, at least if you are jumping immediately several weeks into a regular season plan
My story: not properly accounting for all of the above led to setbacks in training. Had a great volume camp (report here) to exit the OS after 18 wks, but then tried to jump right into the heart of a HIM plan the next week (#1 above). The Saturday long bike had like 52’ of Z4 intervals followed by a bunch of Z3 work and a total time goal of 3hrs. I did this on the trainer and blew up not long after 2hrs (#3 above). Got sick the next day and it became worse over the next week. Training sucked (when I did do the planned workouts!) and I could not get used to the new schedule (#2 above). Made the bonehead move of also messing with my bikefit (#5 above) when I was sick. Walked away not confident about the fit or the fitter, especially after training hard for 20+ wks in a fit I thought was okay. I suppose only time will tell if the new fit pays off, but I wish I had done this early in the OS or waited until after my first “A” race of the season.
The good news? After a somewhat rocky transition, I seem to be slowly getting my mojo back. I shedded 1.5-2 kgs or so, but am not sure how much was due to illness and how much due to the increase in volume. Power is not at its peak from the OS, but watts/kg is still reasonable.
What’s your story? Any good/bad OS to regular season transition stories?
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Hey Adam-thanks for that story. I'll take note of your advice. I don't have a transition story yet to add as I finished the Oct OS last week. Interestingly I am also doing IM Singapore (C race for me as I was lucky enough to combine it with work trip) and IM Wisconsin (A race for me with the hope to improve from last year). Perhaps we can meet up in Singapore.
Venkatesh
Nice..."work" trip for me as well. Sounds good about meeting up!
IMO because most who are new to the EN approach look at the volume numbers and assume that we shouldn't be 'that' tired. But the work is subtle and sneaks up on you. One day you feel fabulous, then after a
couple days of long FTP or VO2 work, you don't. A little freshening for the the last week and HM run was great. But it really took me ~ 2 weeks to feel the itch to get back at it.
FWIW, that wasn't my plan. I had intended to take a week easy after the OS and then start the HIM plan, as I had only 6 wks to my first HIM of the season, but I was more or less forced into a second week of transition
by a business trip to Asia. Looking back after 2 wks of HIM training load, I can say I am definitely glad to have had the extra week. Starting to feel pretty tired now (after wks 7-8 of 12 wk HIM plan) and I can estimate that
there would be some real chronic fatigue in the absence of that additonal week.
That said, for next season, probably unlikely to stack an A HIM event on top of Oct OS, but that's more about being sick and tired of training in the relative cold/damp/dark of So-Cal winter vs. waiting until it's at least possibe
to train outside in daylight
As far as the real lesson learned/payoff, I'll know better after Oceanside. So far, hitting my marks and acheiving time/HR efforts that my personal history in the sport (10 yrs) tells me I am coming into some (for me) decent form
which I hope will translate into an OK HIM performance. At 44, I'm realistic: I don't neceesarily need a PR, but will be pleased to not slow down vs. my younger self.
The one I would add:
- You don't have to hit a brick wall or dig a deep hole to behave the fatigue catch up with you. Instead, I have bumped into drywall a bunch of times. Each time I took 1 easy day to recover and thought I was ok. Instead, the fatigue just slowly got worse over the course of the year and I was pretty much done for the season before my A-race even hit. Since I never actually got sick or had the turn signs of over training I thought I was fine all along.
For the record, it was not RnPs plan that did this to me... it was me doing 6 or 7 days a week of running year round in addition to RnPs plan.