Biking in CO (21 weeks) |
That
was my mindset for my 2nd and 3rd trimesters while I was
in the off-season. A week after I
finished racing, I was in the bike accident. It was only a temporary slow-down and I got back into things
pretty hard-core. I’ll share with
you my goals as I laid out part of my off-season training plan, and what I was actually
able to accomplish. Some of these
things I have covered in previous posts.
The stretch of time between the
accident and the start of my training plan that I laid out, mainly consisted of
the bike and run, since I had to take almost a month off from time in the
pool. It involved a lot of outdoor
rides whenever it was nice out (20-35 mile rides), and running every day, with
my mileage being around 30 miles/week.
I had my biggest bike mileage in the fall, post-accident, of about 140
miles. When I was outside, it was
mainly just going for a ride. When
I was inside on the trainer, I would mix in some intervals. For me, this also helped pass the time
on the trainer when breaking it into chunks.
I
had an eleven week block of training from the middle of October through the end
of December, which would put me into my final trimester (week 30). My goal for the 2013 season was to do my first Half-Ironman, so a lot of this was in early preparation for that, and in anticipation that I would have quite a bit of down time for recovery after giving birth.
Here is what I had laid out:
Monday: Swim
(Threshold: work up to 6x200 @ 3:10)
Bike
5x5’ (4’) (1hr)
Run
(4 easy)
Tuesday: Swim
(FAPA: 10x100 @ 2:15)
Bike
(unstructured)
Run
(4 easy)
Wed: Run
(long - 8)
Swim
(Easy Recovery: Repeat 300’s+ on 30s rest for 45-60min)
Lift
Thursday: Swim
(Threshold: work up to 12x100 @ 1:40)
Bike
2x20’ (5’) (1hr)
Run
(4 easy)
Friday: Bike
15x1’ VO2 Max
Swim
(unstructured)
Run
(3 easy)
Saturday: Run
(mix in Half-Marathon pace with easy, total of 5)
Lift
Sunday: Bike
2x20’ (5’) (1hr)
Run
(easy)
This was a very intense lay-out of workouts. The feedback I got on it was that I could have more unstructured workouts, and less high quality workouts, especially those with two in one day.
My
goals for that block were to run 28-32 miles/week, running every day. I wanted to bike and swim 5
days/week. I wanted all the
running to be easy pace, with one long run a week, and one run that had faster
stuff mixed in every week or every two weeks. I hoped to bike outside as long as possible, but planned on
most of it being indoors, which then I prefer to limit trainer time to one hour
at a crack. Swimming worked well
as rehab for my shoulder, as I couldn’t do all exercises for a while (push-ups
and pull-ups) when it came to my strength training. When I laid out the swim workouts, they seemed very
challenging at the beginning. I
wanted to build swim endurance, as well as work on technique.
What did it actually look like?
Running dropped off early on due to the pain. Four miles turned into my
long run instead of being the norm. I began taking some days off from
running altogether, and said goodbye to any speed work. I tried to
continue running 5-6 days/week, aiming for a lot of 3 mile runs. This
ended up being a bless, though it was hard to accept at the time. However,
it allowed me to put more energy and focus into the swim, as well as the bike. I
biked outdoors while I could, but was restricted to indoor rides by the middle
of November. I tried to bike at least four days/week. I didn’t do
much of the 1 minute intervals, but did do the 2x20’, 5x5’, and just straight
trainer rides. I surpassed my swim goals. I worked up to 8x200 on
3:10 on Mondays. Wednesdays I worked up to 4,000 yards. Thursdays I
made into the unstructured day, filling it with free, non-free, and kicking.
Fridays I worked up to 10x100 on 1:30 (one of my biggest overall swim goals!),
and also did some test sets.
I often did three workouts a day during the week, and
only one or two a day on weekends. A big blessing was that I was in
a situation that allowed me to do all of these and put in that much time. I
work at a YMCA, so the pool was readily available, and I was in working most
week days anyway, making the swims convenient. I have a trainer for my
bike at home, and I also only work part-time, so I tried to fit a lot in during
the week. I knew that life after my baby was born would bring extra
challenges to get workouts in, and I assumed I'd have to take a chunk of time
off after delivery, so I had a lot of motivation this off-season to put in the
time and work. Motivation was definitely not a concern!
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