Post-ToC capabilities
All,
one of my fave-o-rite olympic tris (Capital of Texas, in Austin) is the weekend after the ToC camp.
Not having done ToC before (or anything else along this scale), what will my capabilities be afterwards? can I still crank out an olympic the week after?
I generally recover pretty well, but like I said - I've never had THIS type of experience before.
And, yes, I'm ALWAYS going for a PR on this somewhat-flat course in Austin.
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Comments
Scott,
I can only share my experience of last year. I was pretty wiped after 6 days of epic riding. But what the hell, it's only an Oly distance right? I'm sure you could rip off a pretty good race, but I would plan on some recovery time shortly thereafter.
Dave
I don't have any personal experience, but I do recall a discussion back in the 3.0 forums on the PMC, and seeing Tony Stocker live the consequences of not getting recovery after a big bike week last year. Pretty sure it messed up the whole rest of the year for him.
Like Dave said, I'm sure you can find a way to cross the finish line, but you're going to need to schedule in some hard rest after that.
Mike
One of the big perks of the ToC shift to May is that we'll have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more ride time under out belts than when it was February. Most of us we're bringing 3-4 hours of total weekly riding to the table since were still in our basements. That definitely impacted our recovery since it was a 500% increase in volume.
Do fun stuff with your fitness I say. as long as it doesn't impact your A race, you can figure the rest out.
I imagine I'll be pretty fried (mentally and physically) after a week with you yahoos riding in Cali, but what the heck - it's an olympic. It's close, it's fun and I know lots of peeps there.
@Leigh, the way the weather has been lately - everywhere - who knows how much ride volume we'll have in our legs. In theory, we should have WAY more.
As a matter of fact, after NOLA70.3 in mid-April, I plan on adding a lot of weekly ride volume to prep for ToC. I'd sure love to see if the coaches can suggest anything. HINT HINT!
That said- I share your concern about trying to manage the recovery on the back end of TOC correctly so that I actually benefit from all that work and don't put myself into a ditch I can't dig out of later.
In my experience, your legs will feel "puffy," that's how I describe it, until about Wed or Thursday. You'll feel fine by the weekend but will feel flat on ride. Like, hit the gas and you go...nope, ain't gonna happen. Just no snap. But you should be recovered completely by about...that Tues, so 9-10 days away?
Nothing to be worried about, just sayin' to be realistic.
With what you've all said, I figure that I'll not have too much punch in my legs (or KoolAid), but I can still slog thru it.
After that, I'll be sure to take extended recovery - both mental and physical.
I held my own just fine, my legs were great - could actually push the BIG gears to keep up with them and took the final 'sprint' (everything now is spoken in ToC terms) at the end of the ride by burying my nose in the aerobars and pushing hard.
But my lungs were on FIRE! My short transition/brick run afterwards was miserable. I'm attributing it to the extreme humidity in TX and lack of running lately. The WKO+ file showed a low average HR too.
Pre-bike indoor swim was fine, which reinforces my humidity thought.
I'll test it out tonight, when I hit the dreadmill to avoid the humidity.
All in all, I should be fine for my Oly tri tihs Memorial Day Monday. Good thing - cuz I already paid for it!
On a positive note- I think I've gotten the food consumption back under control quickly. As soon as I was back home in my own enviroment I was able to get back to the normal eating routine. I was really worried at first because I was still really hungery most of Sunday- but things seem to be settling in.