@Coach Patrick – checking in at the end of 12 weeks post Best Bike Camp and wanted to get your thoughts on ideas for what’s next. It’s 28 weeks until the next scheduled race (Hawaii 70.3) so have plenty of time to build into that. I know my bike fitness is improving; not only can I feel it but I see the results in the group rides – FFT and the Sunday CNC sprints especially. I’m more competitive than I’ve ever been with the stronger riders in the 10-20 second sprints as well as the 3-5 minute stuff up the hills in Watopia. I’m tempted to test now, but I think I should spend another 6 weeks and the test right before the January OS to make it count and use the numbers more effectively.
A 12 week build into the 70.3 would need to start mid-March. How many weeks is the outseason? Does that timeline seem appropriate? My plans for 2021 are to be competitive for Hawaii (June) and maintain fitness over summer to be competitive at 70.3 Wisconsin in September. May do a few road races and local triathlons depending on status of the pandemic.
So where/how should I focus my next 6 weeks? I did three 4-week blocks post Best Bike Camp – 2 blocks on VO2max and 1 block on VLaMax that I’m doing now. A typical training week is 13-16 hours which is affordable with my schedule. I’ve been averaging 6 bikes/week (Tue/Thurs/Sat/Sun BBC wkos/CNC + Mon EZ + Fri FFT), have been running daily and halfway through the 100-day streak (30-35 miles/week) which ends at start of January OS and swim between 0–4 times per week depending on if I can get a pool spot.
@Ross Randolph - thanks for the update! I'm very pleased to hear that you are seeing the results already. I think getting you strong on the bike will be a material advantage for you in terms of staying healthy while we keep the run as balanced as possible across a typical season. Not so much urgency now, but in season keeping you healthy so that you can do the minimum effective running to be fast but still be overall super Triathlon fast.
I agree the testing at the end of January is fine, and I would recommend that you keep up the work by extending this fouth block. Continue to grow the VLaMax time but push Sun and Friday (only those two should be HARD). If you race during the week, then drop Sunday as a hard ride day.
Run focus is great and no changes there...we are just maintaining that goodness. Remember not to get too attached to that number of 30 or 35 miles per week. At the end of the day, whether that's 20 miles or 30 miles or 35 miles, it doesn't really matter. It's the run frequency per week that's the big deal. So if you're kind of feeling down in a given week for whatever reason, the first thing to be reduced is the run! I definitely don't want you to do any super long Sunday runs to make up for earlier week missed Miles so that you hit your number for the average. 👍
Comments
@Coach Patrick – checking in at the end of 12 weeks post Best Bike Camp and wanted to get your thoughts on ideas for what’s next. It’s 28 weeks until the next scheduled race (Hawaii 70.3) so have plenty of time to build into that. I know my bike fitness is improving; not only can I feel it but I see the results in the group rides – FFT and the Sunday CNC sprints especially. I’m more competitive than I’ve ever been with the stronger riders in the 10-20 second sprints as well as the 3-5 minute stuff up the hills in Watopia. I’m tempted to test now, but I think I should spend another 6 weeks and the test right before the January OS to make it count and use the numbers more effectively.
A 12 week build into the 70.3 would need to start mid-March. How many weeks is the outseason? Does that timeline seem appropriate? My plans for 2021 are to be competitive for Hawaii (June) and maintain fitness over summer to be competitive at 70.3 Wisconsin in September. May do a few road races and local triathlons depending on status of the pandemic.
So where/how should I focus my next 6 weeks? I did three 4-week blocks post Best Bike Camp – 2 blocks on VO2max and 1 block on VLaMax that I’m doing now. A typical training week is 13-16 hours which is affordable with my schedule. I’ve been averaging 6 bikes/week (Tue/Thurs/Sat/Sun BBC wkos/CNC + Mon EZ + Fri FFT), have been running daily and halfway through the 100-day streak (30-35 miles/week) which ends at start of January OS and swim between 0–4 times per week depending on if I can get a pool spot.
Let me know what you think.
@Ross Randolph - thanks for the update! I'm very pleased to hear that you are seeing the results already. I think getting you strong on the bike will be a material advantage for you in terms of staying healthy while we keep the run as balanced as possible across a typical season. Not so much urgency now, but in season keeping you healthy so that you can do the minimum effective running to be fast but still be overall super Triathlon fast.
I agree the testing at the end of January is fine, and I would recommend that you keep up the work by extending this fouth block. Continue to grow the VLaMax time but push Sun and Friday (only those two should be HARD). If you race during the week, then drop Sunday as a hard ride day.
Run focus is great and no changes there...we are just maintaining that goodness. Remember not to get too attached to that number of 30 or 35 miles per week. At the end of the day, whether that's 20 miles or 30 miles or 35 miles, it doesn't really matter. It's the run frequency per week that's the big deal. So if you're kind of feeling down in a given week for whatever reason, the first thing to be reduced is the run! I definitely don't want you to do any super long Sunday runs to make up for earlier week missed Miles so that you hit your number for the average. 👍
~ Coach P