Running Thoughts: Endurance, Strength and SpeedAs I enter the thirdish week of training since the start of 2020 this coming week I am feeling a little heavy in the legs but not too bad all things considering. I am starting to see my usual plan will need to have some adjustments with regards to riding and the latest Zwift racing is taking care of some of that. What I am finding is that all the work I have been doing to gain endurance is working as long rides are seeming easier and easier – well as easy as 3-5 hours on the bike can be – but I am noticing my top end is not quite there. Thus to be successful on racing the gravel bike races I am planning on I need to make sure I can generate the needed watts when they are needed for as long as they are needed. My training needs to be balanced so as to work to best build not only endurance but strength and speed.
In training for a marathon you do need speed work but the work, for me at least, is more of a tempo format – longer sustained runs at marathon or slightly faster pace. However in bike racing, as opposed to just casual riding, often so as not to lose the pack you need to put out a short burst of higher watts since if you lose the pack it is hard, to impossible, to get it back due to pace lines and drafting on the part of the pack. Now, of course you have to be smart and know your limits and not chase everything and often you can pick off people later in a long ride just due to being in great endurance shape but if you can stay with a pack as long as possible usually the better end result. With this in mind I need to, once I am done with the Tour de Zwift, get more workouts in that will help with these interspersed accelerations so as to build up an aspect of my riding I need to work on.
The good side to focusing on these hard ride workouts is that the effort and cardio that is done will work well in helping my running. Again, running Boston will require a constant energy output and not the accelerations of riding but the power work for riding will aid in the energy expenditure I will need at Boston. The other benefit is that doing the hard efforts on the bike will not strain my foot as they would on the road but I gain an element of speed and strength I need when running.
Will this work for everyone – well that depends since I cannot deny that specificity is often best. But, I do think as I get older riding is even more important as it works along with what running I do to build overall endurance, strength and speed with less stress on areas of my body that need to avoid it. While I do want to be able to run some ultras in the future right not that is not in the plan till I get my foot issues sorted out. But working to build endurance, strength and speed using a combination of riding ad running is my long term plan and one that I will stay with from now on. Not just because I think it works best but also, as I have stated before, I simply enjoy both riding and running and competing at both and see no reason to not stay on this path.
Week’s Training Overview:
The week went pretty much as expected except my rides were a little harder than planned. Was a little tired by the end of the week as got some good riding miles in and a fair amount of running – all in one week for the second week in a row.
As far as running I got in my 25 miles where I had planned for 20-25. In getting in those miles two of the runs were of 7-8 miles and the 8 miler left some discomfort in my foot. I probably need to keep my longer runs at 8 miles for a couple weeks till my foot feels better after a longer run. For the other 10 miles I ran one 5 miler the same day as a bike ride and the other on an off day from riding. That said other than some tired legs I felt pretty good on the runs. I think I need to go back to my HRM to make sure what is feeling comfortable is just to recalibrate to what I am feeling.
With regards to riding I got in 3 good rides with two being Zwift Tour de Zwift races, well they call them rides but are pretty fast, with some warmup before. The other ride was a 74 miler on the trainer with Zwift that was also at a good pace in averaging about 22.6 MPH for the ride. All in all it was much needed work as when doing the races there are more accelerations which force a change of pace which I do not do as much of when riding outside on my own. I have realized to get ready for the races I have coming up this year I need to do more of this work all the while being careful not to overdo it. What I find hard is holding higher watts for an extended time and recovering quick enough, I did get to 500 watts for 10+ seconds in a sprint last week, which is what I will need to cover accelerations in racing. This was my second week of pretty good mileage with also having a long ride each week, actually 3rd long ride this year of 75+. It is strange doing all the mileage inside but with my current work schedule and the weather it is what needs to be done.
Altogether the training seem to be about right but with higher riding mileage I need to be careful about how many miles I run. I am thinking about 30 miles running and 200 riding is about my maximum for now so if I need more running miles I will need to back off the riding for that week and the other way around when I need more riding mileage.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
- Monday: Run - 7.3 Miles
- Tuesday: Ride - Warm-up 10.93 Miles & Zwift Race & Cool Down 30.41 Miles - Total 41.34 Miles
- Wednesday: Run – 8.1 Miles
- Thursday: Ride - Warm-up 16.32 Miles – Zwift Race & Cool Down 30.23 Miles – Total 46.55 Miles
- Thursday: Afternoon Run – 5.3 Miles
- Friday: Run – 5.2 Miles
- Saturday:Ride –Warmup/Calibration 1.97 Miles & Long Ride on Zwift 74.88 Miles -Total 76.85 Miles
- Sunday: Rest Day
Totals:
Running Miles – 25.8 Miles
Riding Miles – 164.7 Miles
Total Time – 11:27 Hours
Weekly Diet Notes;
Yet another week trying to just get in the swing of keeping watch of my carbs. For this week as I did three hard rides I did take in a little more carbs but not too much. The harder I ride the more I realize the need to be aware of the different usage of nutrition for a particular ride. On the shorter hard rides where my HR is up higher I need to make sure I have sufficient carbs but still working out what that is for me. However, on longer rides the need it less as I noticed on this ride my HR did not get up and stay high for too long. Never-the-less I did have some individual acceleration to make sure I did not lose the group I was riding with and in doing this am pretty sure I was burning more cards than fat. Overall on the longer ride I am sure I still used mostly fat as never bonked, was tired but not bonking, so based on consumption of calories and carbs as shown below I had to be relying more on fats. All that is good but when I do race I will need some extra carbs as am sure there will be more accelerations and work requiring a few more carbs.
Pre-Ride:
- Coffee with Coconut Oil and Butter, Collagen, Half & Half, Square of 85% Coca & 1 Scoop SFuels-Life
- 1/2 cup Oatmeal w/Tbsp b\Butter, 2 Tbsp Heavy Cream and Blueberries
- 1 Altred (Beetroot Extract)
- Also use the AMPHuman PR Lotion
Ride Fueling;
- 1ea - 24 OZ bottle of water with 1 Scoop each SFuels – Train formula
- 2ea - 24 OZ bottle of water with 1 packet each SFuels – Race+ formula
- 2ea – Prototype Gels
- 2ea - S!Caps (2ea at 2 hours)
- 2ea - Altred (1 at start then 1 after 2 hours)
- Totals: 360 Calories - Carbs- 47 g
Conclusions and the Week Ahead:
After a good week of training this week next will be much the same except will cut the riding down some on the weekend – well that is unless by some miracle the weather is good. As far as running I will stay at about the 25 mile range with the most I would do being 30 miles and the longest run being around 8 miles. I may also adjust depending on how my fight against a cold goes. So far I am winning but if the fight goes the other way I will cut back. Riding for this week does include 2 more races in the Tour de Zwift which I know will be hard – they usually are.
Last Week's Overview #30
No comments:
Post a Comment