This is my life, and it’s ending one training session at a time…
I’m on one of my first heavy volume weeks of 17 hours. Monday is my off day. Tuesday is weights in the morning and 1.5 hours of running/biking in the afternoon. Then I can do 2-a-days of 1.5 hours/session Wed and Thurs. Friday is a single session day typically due to work obligations. I was doing the math out, and it’d leave me with 8 hours to do this weekend. I’d prefer not to do that so early in my season. I was thinking about adding a couple after-work sessions in the evening of just 45 minutes Z1 biking followed by a 15 minute Z1 transition run with my pups for a total of 60 minutes.
That’d leave me with only 6 hours this weekend, which is more manageable at this point in time. I have Boston in 13 days, which is part of the reason for not wanting to hit 4 hour back to backs for the first time only a week out from it, so I could just do a 3 hour Z1/Z2 run Saturday and a 1.5 hour swim followed by a 1.5 hour bike Sunday. Next week is a deloading week. I’m just wondering what ST’ers think about those two 60 minute sessions, and if they’d be a waste. I think they’d be fine since it’s 60 minutes in Z1. Kind of like cheap minutes. Anybody think differently?
Am I reading you correctly, you want to add a third workout on two of your workdays? That seems counterproductive to me unless you work short hours and have a low stress job. It seems hard to me to schedule big hours with a fulltime job and still take one full day off. I’d take one of your Z1 workouts and put it on your rest day and blow the other one off. Whether you get 16 or 17 hours in the week isn’t going to make a big difference in the end.
As for whether Z1 is a waste of time, IMHO if you were talking swimming, yes, running, definitely not.
Just wait until you get decide to ramp it up further to 18-22 hour weeks and you throw in a couple 4-a-days twice a week to make it work… bike, swim, run, bike again… or bike, swim, swim, run. Sometimes you just fit in workouts when you can. IF they are shorter, they just need to be even more focused.
I feel for you. When you’re not doing a longer weekends, you have to get very creative to make it work.
Just remember to refuel adequately after each workout session, and if you have a good fitness base, 3 a day is no big deal. You get a nice “good tired” feeling after the 2nd, then you’ll sleep that night after the 3rd.
It seems like you are working backwards from the total weekly hours, which isn’t the best way to go about it. You shouldn’t be saying “I need to get 8 hours in this weekend to make 17.” Why don’t you post what a week would look like with actual workouts so we can see what your current plan is.
Just wait until you get decide to ramp it up further to 18-22 hour weeks and you throw in a couple 4-a-days twice a week to make it work… bike, swim, run, bike again… or bike, swim, swim, run. Sometimes you just fit in workouts when you can. IF they are shorter, they just need to be even more focused.
I feel for you. When you’re not doing a longer weekends, you have to get very creative to make it work.
Just remember to refuel adequately after each workout session, and if you have a good fitness base, 3 a day is no big deal. You get a nice “good tired” feeling after the 2nd, then you’ll sleep that night after the 3rd.
Not sure why an amateur athlete with a normal job would feel the necessity to work out 4 times in a day. You can hit 18-22 hours a week on mostly 2 workouts a day and a few triple days. I mean if you’re a fulltime pro doing > 30 hours a week that’s one thing but don’t see that 18-22 hours a week spread across three sports justifies double swim or bike days. Just my opinion, but that sounds like a great way to make your life more complicated, tiring, and stressful than it needs to be.
why have an offday? Try having one just once 3 weeks. That’s 2hrs right there. And ditch the weights. not enough bang for the buck time wise. Problem solved.
In general I agree with the guy who said Z1 = “not really working out.” But that said I don’t see a problem with adding the third session.
In the summer I regularly do: ride to the pool/swim masters/ride to work/run at lunch/ride home. That’s either 3 or 5 sessions depending on how you want to count that bike/swim/bike brick in the morning. Ideal training? Probably not. But I get 3.5 hours in alongside a full day of work and am generally at home early enough to have dinner on the table when the wife and kid get home. Gotta do what you gotta do.
Z1 not being a workout… agree to disagree. My Z1 is 55-75% MHR, and personally I think endurance folks should spend the majority of their time there. To each their own.The off day… I feel great after my off day. I’ve experimented a lot with volume and recovery, and I find having a complete off day makes me feel a ton better physically and mentally. My 2-a-days are generally 1.5 hours of swimming in the morning before work, and then 1.5 hours of running or biking while at work (full time job with flexibility to me putting in training hours there). That’s why I don’t think another hour after I get home would be overdoing it much especially done at low intensity. I was asking more about training effect as opposed to whether I could handle it. I’m a newb to triathlon, but I’ve been training very seriously for a multitude of sports for well over a decade. I know my body and what it can handle very well.The weights… I like lifting, and while I want to perform well for tri, it’s not my only goal physically. I’m all set with being a skinny, weak dude regardless of how much better I could swim/bike/run. 3 hour run before Boston… Not trying to PR Boston. I’m going to cruise, enjoy the experience and maybe do a 3:45. I grew up on the Marathon route, and it was always a bucket list thing for me before I ever ran a mile competitively (I played real sports in school and after - Kenny Powers). I ran miserably last year on a freshly torn posterior tibialis muscle and tendon, got stopped less than a mile away, and got scared senseless for my wife who was at the finish line and caught in the middle of blast #1 (thankfully ok). This year, I want to be able to just cruise and have fun with it. Training through it and not for it.
I did the west buttress route. I went with a guided group - didn’t have any climbing friends who could commit to the 3 weeks - and I had a one-time window before busienss school. I don’t think a guides are necessary from a technical standpoint, but understand its a dangerous place. Not really a “fall off the mountain” dangerous but weather, altitude, traversing the glacier.
I did the west buttress route. I went with a guided group - didn’t have any climbing friends who could commit to the 3 weeks - and I had a one-time window before busienss school. I don’t think a guides are necessary from a technical standpoint, but understand its a dangerous place. Not really a “fall off the mountain” dangerous but weather, altitude, traversing the glacier.
Feel free to PM me if you want more details.
Good on you! I totally hear you about the friends. I have a sparse number of climbing friends, so I’ll even have to get a guide to do some of the more committed technical rock and ice climbs around here. Denali’s been on my radar for a bit. Just don’t know when I’ll have that 3 weeks to commit to it. Congrats.
Just wait until you get decide to ramp it up further to 18-22 hour weeks and you throw in a couple 4-a-days twice a week to make it work… bike, swim, run, bike again… or bike, swim, swim, run. Sometimes you just fit in workouts when you can. IF they are shorter, they just need to be even more focused.
I feel for you. When you’re not doing a longer weekends, you have to get very creative to make it work.
Just remember to refuel adequately after each workout session, and if you have a good fitness base, 3 a day is no big deal. You get a nice “good tired” feeling after the 2nd, then you’ll sleep that night after the 3rd.
Not sure why an amateur athlete with a normal job would feel the necessity to work out 4 times in a day. You can hit 18-22 hours a week on mostly 2 workouts a day and a few triple days. I mean if you’re a fulltime pro doing > 30 hours a week that’s one thing but don’t see that 18-22 hours a week spread across three sports justifies double swim or bike days. Just my opinion, but that sounds like a great way to make your life more complicated, tiring, and stressful than it needs to be.
It depends on what other constraints you place on you schedule to keep the family happy and get enough sleep. 4 workouts is a trade off to do less another day. That doesn’t cause more stress, actually less because you end up with 2 lighter training days. That being said, I might try the opposite this summer and reduce the number of workouts and make each one longer and sleep in more days. So do 4 bikes, 5 runs and 3-4 swims, but make each one a little longer. It would be more time efficient with less set-up time.
Z1 not being a workout… agree to disagree. My Z1 is 55-75% MHR, and personally I think endurance folks should spend the majority of their time there. To each their own.
I always thought Z1 was “Active Recovery”. In Andrew Coggan’s model, it is less than 68% of threshold HR (not of Max HR). So, to be more accurate, his Zone 1 seems like “Not Really Working Out.” Your range of 55-75% of MHR probably covers roughly his Zones 1 and 2, which cover <68, and 69-83% of LTHR
Z1 not being a workout… agree to disagree. My Z1 is 55-75% MHR, and personally I think endurance folks should spend the majority of their time there. To each their own.
I always thought Z1 was “Active Recovery”. In Andrew Coggan’s model, it is less than 68% of threshold HR (not of Max HR). So, to be more accurate, his Zone 1 seems like “Not Really Working Out.” Your range of 55-75% of MHR probably covers roughly his Zones 1 and 2, which cover <68, and 69-83% of LTHR
I agree. That’s why I qualified how I was “zoning” my HR. So many ways to do it, and I’ve found triathlete’s in particular like to use LT. According to my calculations (never done a LT blood test), my zone 1 caps out at about 83-87% LTHR. Thanks!
That’d leave me with only 6 hours this weekend, which is more manageable at this point in time. I have Boston in 13 days, which is part of the reason for not wanting to hit 4 hour back to backs for the first time only a week out from it, so I could just do a 3 hour Z1/Z2 run Saturday and a 1.5 hour swim followed by a 1.5 hour bike Sunday. Next week is a deloading week. I’m just wondering what ST’ers think about those two 60 minute sessions, and if they’d be a waste. I think they’d be fine since it’s 60 minutes in Z1. Kind of like cheap minutes. Anybody think differently?
Do those 2 60 min workouts in Z1, those are “active recovery” miles and yes they count and yes they are considered “workingout”.
My 2 cents, perhaps not worth even that, but here you go.
yes 16-17 hours is doable. I wouldn’t worry about the # of sessions /day. Instead think about the # of hours for each sport and then divide it out. I find that the more transitions I have the less actual work I get done. If it were me I’d do 1-1.5 hours in the AM, maybe an hour of S, B or R. If I have 90 minutes then a brief run or bike then a swim . I save the afternoons for B and R. I’ll echo the suggestion to be on top of nutrition for all of this. Nothing kills a workout more than running low of fuel. For 60 minutes I’m fine with water, anything longer and I’ll eat before or during. Any days with am and pm sessions requires a nice breakfast after the am set and then fuel before and during the pm session.
Weights: I lift as well, but only “some”, and periodize it as well as the other sports. For me, lifting starts in the fall and continues heavy for 6 months, then lighter until race season starts, then almost none until the next fall. That said, lift less time or not at all until after your goal race. I figure I’ll get weak but fast as the season progresses and stronger again in the fall. BTW, what/when is the goal?
