post-season / pre-OS plans
finished my season on OCT 9. gonna start Jan OS.
last week- zippo! almost... spent most of the week catcing up on good night's sleepin', had some good eats, moved Quarq/joule setup from tri to road bike, gave her a 45min coffe shop pace test ride, went to work and stayed in awe regarding how much free time there is when not focused on training stuff.
this weekend- got baselines in ........a strength training program 
YEP, gonna get stronger. And, lining up some swim lessons with a respected coach in the area. gonna do a couple short lazy man bikes and runs this week.
from here til Jan- will follow strength sessions with short drill sessions on bike or run with a handful of H.I.T intervals (very short and very few) with 1 longish ride/run each week. Gonna alternate weekly long bike and long run. And will be using the local 4 mile off road loop for the long runs. Long bike with be some social stuff with group rides and buds. Swimming will be instructional only, that gives me 4-5 months of that as I will do the same through the OS (I think).
that should keep me maintained, or relatively fit, until Jan OS.
OCD factor will be kept way low, but I gotta have a plan and this is it. I'll be training to train
Comments
Chris, I would focus first on low resistance, high cadence until you are smooth on top and bottom. Than increse resistance, drop cadence to the point that you can execute smooth, progress than to increase cadence.......than new gear.........by than JOS will come around.
I'll be spending this week testing the waters with this. Is it too much? workouts too long? ( I'd like to keep these under 1:15 once I get the routine down.) Too hard since I'm 'resting' now? etc...
(Keep in mind that my real focus over the next several weeks is to get away from the swim / bike / run cross hairs and to put it on getting stronger. Mainly, an alternative way to stay 'in shape' without s/b/r being the main, and often only, tool. The swims will be real short and focus on technique, get in and get out stuff. The bike and the run sessions will follow the strength session so I can loosen up, and hit just enough HIT intervals to maintain some speed until January. Don't expect much to come from the runs other than maintaining running consistently thru the Nov/Dec stretch. And it will be interesting how the increasing # of HIT intervals will affect FTP come January. N of 1)
FWIW, today's workout went like this...
45 minutes of weight stuff. this'll get cut down to 30' but today I wasn't in any hurry and I was watching the Falcons between sets.
then hit the bike ( this was great cuz of spinning the legs out after squats and other leg stuff )
10' ez, hi cadence spin
5x (1' left leg, 1' right leg, 1' hi cadence spin)
5' ez spin
10' to 15' of HIT 30'' intervals (increasing # of intervals over the weeks, and recover as needed, obviously shortening rec time over the weeks, purposely stopped after 4 intervals, patience, could have done more, but building slow) FTP is around 245 now. These intervals were 350w, cadence of 80, about 1'30'' recovery today)
5' ez spin
Wiki says 'Get out of the weight room'. Its been 10 years since I lifted more than a pushup or pullup. And, once the OS starts, I'll get out of the weight room.
looks good to me. Here is how I would do single pedal drills, 60sec now would be too long for me to stay smooth but 60sec is the target for me:
30sec left/30sec both/30sec right than both 1:30 easy, both legs during interval slightly higher than single. I do it that way as I found being easier to clip in one leg do both, unclip the other, so one at a time clip in or out and I just keep rolling without ever stopping.
Weights, it is a good thing. I am going back to weight room myself. Many lessons learned over the last 2 years. While I love EN and the philosophy I do not agree with all and mostly keep to myself.
Yes, I will be doing a very similar program to you, but it will have a Joe Friel Base 2,3 flavor until JOS. It will inculde weight room 2-3x week up to 45min including plyometrics/core/yoga through the roof, base riding and running to a 15-18hrs/week tune total of everything. Will build the run to 50-60mi/ week and will alternate that with high cycling volume weather permitting or trainer as a back up with intervals, nothing like OS as I am not going to subject myself to more than 20 weeks of OS flavor.
I have been stale and plateua for 2 years. I will brake through that this coming season. In 2008, I spent a good chunk of time with weights/ plyometrics and has been my strongest cycling year, now not even close, getting worse by tha day for the lack of base work. My house needs a base to stand on, otherwise my speed work drives me into the hole.
JOS I start the EN flavor year and expect to build with it on top of what I do Nov, Dec.
@ AT - That's a huge goal for pre-OS. But, I understand where it's coming from base on your frustration with the plateau. I won't be touching those kinds of miles on the bike and run. I'm actually stepping back, off season speaking, for the first time in forever. Hopefully, I'll hit the OS still in tune and ready to work.
If you're building that big base, I'm sure you'll see rewards. Just make sure you get the rest in so that you can get the most out of OS, don't go straight into it and risk getting burned out by week 4-6 or so. Sounds like you are fully aware of the risks you're signing up for
As for the core/yoga stuff, more power to ya. You can have it. I'll watch the yoga from the window and that's about it!
Looking forward to working with ya in January.
@ Jenn - understood, and that's the angle I'm working. Give the tri muscles a new kind of workout, a new stimulas. Fresh stuff.