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My first thought is that instead of posting this today I should be milling around with thousands of other runners in Boston - but it was not to be - bring on September. I should probably write on how things changed and what the road ahead looks like but will save that for next week. For today figured I would write on a subject related to this time where many are restricted to their homes and finding other means of training to supplement running, or to take a break from the dreadmill. So the topic today is riding and a warning about overtraining.
While I know this is a running blog if you know me you will know I ride a fair amount, along with running. While initially this was done to help in supplementing my running to save wear and tear on my foot it reminded me how much I enjoyed riding. I have found that for me, and many that I know, riding is a great way to work on endurance and minimize what running can do to one’s body if, as with my case, you have some sort of injury that riding doe snot aggravate. While running for 4-6 hours can be hard on the legs going for a 4-6 hour ride is less jarring. Also, as I have spoken of before, while riding will not get your legs particularly ready for a super long run it will get your cardio system ready. 6 hours riding at a particular HR is the same as running at the same HR.
Now comes a warning based on having ridden for over 40 years. Unlike running which in many ways has a built-in warning system, if you listen, in that if you run more than you should your legs will rebel and often force one to cut back. This is not to say you cannot over train running but I have found over training in running comes from not listening to obvious signals from your body. However, with riding, due to the lack of jarring, it can often leave you tired and maybe a little sore but not in the same way running does and it is this lack of a more obvious signal that can lead one to ride too much or too hard and overtraining may sneak up on you if you do not pay attention and be proactive. My issue, I have found, is the “too hard” rather than the “too much” syndrome If I ride at a low enough HR I can ride quite a bit but once I start doing too many hard workouts or doing them too close together things can go south. I offer this warning so that you work to be more observant, and proactive, about your workouts and how you feel.
Things to keep an eye on are not only how many hard rides you do a week but also how close together they are. As you age I think you need to be more careful about this but you do need hard workouts. Joe Friel in his book Fast after 50, review here, does a good job talking about this. I think his main premise is spot on that as we age we lose muscle not simply just due to age but that as we age we tend to cut back more than we ought leading to the loss. The key is to be wise about how to get in the work we need to drastically slow down muscle loss. This means stepping back and looking at your training, running and riding, as a whole to see what works best. I can tell you that while I like using Zwift, and has been instrumental in getting more miles in this year, for training it can for sure lead to too many hard workouts if you are not careful. If you are competitive, like myself, the Zwift environment can lead you down a riding "too hard too often" path.
One suggestion I would make is to look at your training overall and make sure to take an easy week every 4-5 weeks. This is easy to say but if you are not careful you may end up getting to an easy week and something comes up that makes that week less easy and then next thing you know you never took the easy week. There will for sure be times you may have to say “No” to get in your rest week so if you plan one every 4-5 weeks and week comes around and the weather is good or something else comes up and you ride or run more then make sure to take that easy week the following week. For example for me I have had 3 weeks in a row of 210+ miles riding and running is pretty minimal so really not an issue. Thus the plan is for this week to ride less and run about the same but if the weekend, which right now is supposed to be raining, is nice I might do a ride and if so then take the following week easy - but this week or next needs to be easier.
The bottom line is plan to rest or you may not till your body rebels and makes you rest and that is very rarely a good thing. If you are like me it takes intentionality to go easy and rest and for as long I have ridden I know riding is an area I tend to often go too hard too often and then down the road pay for it. You can take my warning or not but if you take anything away from this – realize how one shows overtraining in running and riding are not necessarily exactly the same in every respect. As I have stated before, and I need to listen to myself – rest is as important an aspect of training as anything else.
While now with all this craziness is a good time to get rest it is also a good time to think about training and getting ready to ramp up your training for future races – when that is I do not know but they will come.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
Running is going better as I upped my 2 runs (Tuesday and Friday) a week to 8 miles each. While my foot still has some soreness considering I ran longer than usual it was not too bad and as I have noticed more and more it has less soreness after the run. In the past when I ran I could manage the soreness but when I was done it was sore from some time, even into the next day. Now I get some discomfort and when it comes around I work to relax my feet and concentrate on foot landing and things feel better. Also by relaxing my whole posture it feels better which all makes sense since a tight Posterior Tibial Tendon would seem to lead to the issues I have had. Thus relaxing helps control the soreness and need to work on this more.
As far as riding I had a full week with Monday being an easy flat 40 miler and then on Wednesday did a warmup and then the 75 minute Mid-Week BTMR ride I have been doing. The ride is a good one as it is a quick pace but if you stay with group it makes for a good workout that is less taxing. Friday I did an easy warmup and then rode the Zwift Trofeo Bologna “B” Race which was 5 miles ending with a good climb. While not exceedingly long it was a quick one as the “B” races are meant to be at 3.2 – 3.9 W/Kg but usually plenty faster than that. That said I got my best average watts at 316 and W/KG at 3.9 which I was pretty pleased with considering legs were a little tired. Then finished off with a longer cool down.
For Saturday I did the BMTR 76 Mile Fundo and then added some extra at the end to get 101 miles. As these rides are categorized by distance, not speed, there can be some quick riders and such was the case on this ride. I think I finished 91st but was happy as I was about the same time as the week before but had about 700 feet more climbing and then still finished off the whole 101 miles in 4:20 which was 3 minutes faster than last week. I did ride knowing i had extra to do so did not go with the front group as I usually try and do but held back some to make sure I was good for a quick pace for the whole 100. This ride made it 8 centuries for the year with 7 of them on Zwift as well as doing two 75 milers on Zwift. Not sure I can say they get easier but they do seem to be going well. The one thing that is hard with longer rides indoors and outdoors, but even more indoors, is the mental aspect especially if ones does not feel great. One reason I like to do these longer rides is it really does, at least for me, make shorter rides seem all that much shorter.
Monday: Ride – 40.29 Miles
Tuesday: Run – 8.08 Miles
Wednesday: Ride –10.33 Miles Warmup & 32.16 BMTR Mid-Week Ride - Total 42.29
Thursday: Ride –19.16 Miles Warmup & 5.06 Miles Race & 17.73 Miles Cooldown - Total 41.95
Friday: Run –8.08 Miles
Saturday: Ride – 2.74 Miles PM Calibration & 1.28 Miles Warmup & 101.21 Miles BMTR 76 Mile Fundo with Extra at End - Total 105.23
Sunday: Rest
Weekly Totals:
- Running Miles – 16.1 Miles
- Running Time – 2:17 Hours
- Riding Miles – 229.9 Miles
- Riding Time – 10:01Hours
- Total Miles – 246 Miles
- Total Time – 12:19 Hours
Diet Notes:
Another long ride with not a great deal of carb intake. I did try the Untapped Coffee Waffle's and while I have taken one before when stopped found them not as easy to take while riding. Part of the issues is they are crumbly and the second one is they are dry so need to take in a fair amount of water to wash them down. I do like them as a way to just take in something different. Still find that taking SFuels Train early on and then moving to SFuels Race+ works the best with an intake of Vespa at the 2 hour mark of a long ride. The Vespa is not a fuel but works to help burn fat even better so still see SFuels as my main fuel source with extra intake of carbs to be used during particular parts of a ride.
Saturday’s Ride Fueling
Pre-Ride Fueling:
- Coffee with Coconut Oil and Butter, Collagen, Heavy Cream, Chocolate Primal Fuel (1 Scoop) & 1 Scoop SFuels-Life – Total (659.3/15)
- Vespa
- ½ Cup of Oatmeal and Raisins
- 1 Altred (Beetroot Extract)
- Also use the AmpHuman PR Lotion
- Total: 810.9 Cals & 48.6 gr Carbs
Ride Fueling;
- 2 24oz bottle with 2 scoops of SFuels Train (100/2 per bottle)
- 1 20oz bottle and 1 24oz bottle with a packet of SFuels Race+ in each (110/14 each)
- ½ Untapped Coffee Waffle (75/9.5)
- 1 Altred at 2 hours and 4 hours
- 2 S!Caps at 2 hours and 4 Hours
- 1 Vespa at 2 hours
- Totals: 513 Cals & 46.5 gr Carbs
The Week Ahead:
As I have had 3 weeks of 200+ miles of riding this week the goal is to cut back a little and take the weekend off. The plan is to do about 150 miles over three days a week riding. Not sure yet if the rides will be single rides or multiple but we shall see depending on weather and how I feel. As it is showing rain from Wednesday on there is no plan to ride Saturday but if for some reason the weather is good I may ride just to take advantage of the weather. Rides this week will include an easy ride on Monday, BMTR Mid-Week 75 minute tempo ride Wednesday and then a ride Thursday - but no racing this week.
With regards to running the plan is for 2 runs at about 9 miles each. I want to make sure this is a restful week all around so do not want to overdue it on running. Initially wanted a long run, 13+, then a short one but have decided against it to make sure, again, I get the rest I need. The idea is to get my legs used to longer runs and at the same time work to keep healing my foot.
Last Week's Overview #43
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