Indoor "Biggish" Bike Week Plan
Ok, so I know this might be better suited for Micro thread, but I am curious about others' opinion and whether anyone has tried and survived this strategy.
Background: I need to be in Montreal for a week in February. If Siberia and Ottawa (apologies to the Ross clan) did not exist, Montreal in February is where you would send people deserving of harsh punishment. It is an unplanned week away to support my mom while my dad gets cardiac bypass (I am the medical child, so this responsibility is mine). Outside of visiting hours, there will be much free time. There is no treadmill (see above re: bypass), and the road conditions will be unpredictable. I have other professional and personal obligations in the outseason that will keep me away from a few bike workouts. I plan to run hack and work on swim technique in those times.
My bike fitness is my weakest, and I am happy with my progress. The planned week is immediately after the VO2 phase testing (week 15, I believe).
The Plan:
- Buy the Ironman Mont Tremblant Erg video (my A race)
- get many DVDs
- Do Tues/Thursday/Sat OS main sets as written, with an extra hour or so 75% on Tuesday, extra 2x15 zone 3 Thursday, extra ABP (always be pushing) to complete a full loop of the IM course on Saturday
- M/W/F can be drills - spinups, Single leg, etc - or VO2, low cadence work
- Aiming for 10-12hrs on the bike
If the weather cooperates, I would do some running rather than MWF nonspecific cycling. Now that this is posted, it will require me to be somewhat accountable.
Any thoughts?
Comments
Christian,
First off I hope all goes will with the bypass.
I've never done additional time at 75% during the OS but in a previous lifetime, 2004 IM training I did 6 hour trainer rides. For one week what you are proposing is probably not going to mentally drain you, but as Al mentioned the trainer is challenging week in week out.
As we are in the OS I would go with 4 maybe 5 rides OS style. The z3 and ABP stuff is good but will not push up the FTP as effectively as the z4/FTP stuff. Unless you are just looking to fill time or adress a specific issues I'd skip the M/W/F drills. Additionally as you have just completed a test this week should be plenty hard with 4 bikes and some extra time off.
Check out this link to the OS modification flow chart from the wiki:
https://www.box.com/s/it9qcgfle46rqp8i0u0t
This modification plan keeps some running and only 4 cycling days so you might consider tue/wed/thu/sat/sun if just riding. I believe I read a post stating 5 OS workouts being the max that could/should be stacked in on the bike.
If you commit to the bigger bike week, don't do all the running as well as the extra biking even if is nice out. Remember the big picture and don't kill the following week just getting in an Erg video ,extra time at 75% then stack in the running as well. Finally don't discount the additional stress of the bypass.
Gordon
Gordon mentions the OS modification flowchart. I am trying to do four bikes a week. Saturday on Tuesday and Saturday. Tuesday on Thursday and Sunday. That is plenty depleting even without the runs.
Well, I can tell you that doing that volume in February won't really help your race day months and months into the future. IOW, cool (?) thing to do but it's not really going to get you anything. If it were me, I would ride 4x, as short interval sessions, and run more frequently than the OS plan calls for, leveraging the additional recovery you're getting that week to let you handle, call it, 1 additional bike + ~2x additional runs?