2019 Winter/Spring Training Cycle - 21DF + 80DO + Cycling + Run - TRAINING SUMMARY
So with me shutting down the training a week early and choosing not to run the Hot2Trot HM, I guess it's as good as time as any to put this training plan in review. This was a 28 week training plan from 11/25/18 through 6/15/19. The overarching goal was to see whether I could reduce the run training and yet still be at a similar fitness level to when I ran more. In order to accomplish this, I would supplement the training with 80 Day Obsession and with Indoor Cycling using TrainerRoad and a Wahoo Kickr. The duration of my training would increase dramatically. Going from a max of 10 hours per week running (although I liked to stay in the 7-8.5 hr range mostly) to dropping the running down into the 4.5-5 hr range maximally, 80DO would be 4.75-5 hours per week, and cycle training would be around 4-6 hrs per week.
10/7/18 - Chicago Marathon (last run)
10/10/18 through 11/24/18 - Indoor Biking on simple bike trainer
11/17/18 - Start 21 Day Fix
Phase 1 (Indoor Cycling (Sweet Spot Base) + 80DO):
11/25/18 - Indoor Biking on Wahoo Kickr Core and began structured cycling workouts/training plan
12/18/18 - Start 80 Day Obsession
The goal was to rebuild lost fitness from the Chicago marathon. Get fit without running. The cycling was focused on Lactate Threshold pacing.
Phase 2 (Indoor Cycling (Short Power Build) + 80DO + Easy Running):
2/18/19 - Short Power Build Cycling + 80DO + Easy Running added back into the routine
The goal was to work on high level VO2max cycling and anaerobic power. The purpose was to build this power in cycling while simultaneously working on just some very easy running to make sure everything was going to be ok there.
Phase 3 (Indoor Cycling (Olympic Distance Triathlon) + 80DO + Speed centric running):
The goal is to invert the training. The majority of the cycling training will now be easy with a few workouts of LT mixed in. The running will now be focused on the faster end of the pace spectrum to improve my running VO2max (R pace, I pace, and T pace). The tail end of the plan will include a sustained HM Tempo work for just a touch of specificity.
Some stats from training:
OVERALL SUMMARY
Total weeks – 28 weeks
Running duration completed = 48:20:14 hours
Running mileage completed = 337.27 miles
# of Running Training activities = 55
Running average pace = 8:36 min/mile
Running average HR = 137 bpm
Indoor Cycling duration completed = 168:28:16 hours
Indoor Cycling mileage completed = 2582.58 miles
# of Indoor Cycling Training activities = 132
Indoor Cycling average watts = 160 watts
80DO duration completed = 117:52:44 hours
# of 80DO Training activities = 145
Total duration completed = 334:41:14 hours
Total number of calories burned = 176,617 calories
Average duration per week completed = 11:57 hours (previous PR for a single week of training was 11 hours prior to this training cycle)
Average # of activities completed per week = 11.9 activities
Average length of activity = 61 min
Total number of activities completed = 332
Total number of activities scheduled = 144+60+130 = 334
% of activities completed = 332/334 = 99.4%
The Good
-I'm happy with the 5k. I finished in 20:39 which is not my fastest. I was able to earn 4th place Overall. But I think on a different day, I would assuredly had gotten a different result. I think this race showed good progress towards my overall goal of blending run training with other disciplines and remaining in good running shape.
-The May 22nd training run:
While it was a small workout (only 3 x 2 min at I) it did show an ability to maintain an average I pace of 5:52 for the three splits. And the pacing shows I probably could have maintained that pace for another minute or two. This was one of my fastest I paced training runs ever. So I think this again shows the needle was pointed in the right direction.
-The May 12th training run:
The goal was a 5 mile WU + 5 mile HM Tempo + 1 mile Daniels T + 2 mile CD. When the hills were taken into consideration, the pace of the HM Tempo was a 7:05 and uncorrected was a 7:10. But the HR data suggested that it may have been more like a M Tempo workout than a HM Tempo workout. Nevertheless, after 5 miles of that pace, I kicked into a whole other gear and was able to get down to 6:38 pace. For perspective, that's faster than my average 5k pace at BratFest. While this necessarily wouldn't put my where I was pre-Dopey 2018, it definitely indicated I was again heading in the right direction.
-Other than a single training run, I didn't have any ankle issues. Once I realized it was a specific corner on my normal longer distance route that was causing the issue, the removal of that corner immediately stopped the ankle issue. I wore my ankle brace everyday everytime I wore any type of shoe from January until the recent commercial shoot (May 31st). I'm confident that the ankle is 100%.
-I suffered no shin pain, shin splints, or stress fractures. The reduced run training load was tolerable to my legs.
The Bad
-I didn't get to run the Hot2Trot HM because of suffering yet again a different injury. During the course of the 28 week training plan, I had a few minor issues crop up. My right ankle for a single run. I had some left foot arch issues early on in the running (which I isolated to one of the Brooks shoes) and needing to wear extra socks in my cycling shoes. I had a small back injury that lasted about a week (which I isolated to poor lifting form on a specific Phase 2
AAA move). And then lastly, the right glute injury that did eventually force me to shut down the training a week early. This one lingered for 3 weeks before I decided it wasn't worth the risk of a long term issue with the start of Phase 4 training coming at the end of June.
I guess the question is - why did the glute injury occur in the first place? And in retrospect, it's an easy answer. I had too many consecutive hard days without an easy rest day. Over the course of training, I hadn't had much of an issue from recovering from any of the cycle training. In the moment, they were tough. But within 12-24 hours, I was back to normal. Whereas with run training, the recovery period is usually longer for whether something lingers into the next training event. So I designed that specific week probably a little harder than it should have been. Up to that point, the highest number of days consecutively where the TSS of the day was higher than my "Fitness" for the day was 3 (occurring on 4/19-4/21, 4/26-4/29 and 5/3-5/5). But from 5/10 through 5/19, my TSS on 8 of 9 days exceeded the Fitness score. It was 6 consecutive days from Friday through Wednesday, then a "lower" day on Thursday, and then Friday through Sunday were high again. And it was that Saturday that I noticed an issue during the run WU. Moving forward, I don't see that as a problem anymore. I'm going back to 6 days per week with the Phase 4 training. A quick look through the numbers shows a few 4 in a row days in August, but that's it. Once it gets late in Phase 4 training, it's mostly super high with super low periodized training.
So I guess in review, the training worked as desired for the most part. I got back close to where I was fitness wise with running. But my over-ambition probably fueled the pulled/strained glute. Looking forward, the training doesn't seem to follow the same pattern. So hopefully after some time off I can enter into Phase 4 training - The chase for the unicorn.
