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Training is just never what it appears to be...is it?

2K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  lectrichead 
#1 ·
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#2 ·
  • Age group athletes unfortunately can commonly make this mistake.

    Amateur athletes who don't have a lot of time to train will go out and do a 45-60 minute run right around threshold or above from the first minute.

    It might not feel too bad! But you get stuck there, it's a training intensity black hole - you get sucked into the middle intensity.

    The easy sessions get pushed more than they should be, so you're not fully recovered when you do a high intensity session and therefore they're not as hard as they should be and you fall towards the middle.
Distribution of training for time-limited amateurs
30:25 -

  • The studies that we've done suggest this can be scaled down, and it still works.
  • Age group athletes can really benefit from learning intensity discipline, and keeping low intensity sessions low, and then being able to mobilise when they need to do high quality sessions.
  • Experimentally we've seen that the polarised model scales down to the 8-hour a week athlete, and even the 5-hour a week athlete.
  • We can also think about how someone uses their hours.

    If they have 6 hours a week and currently do one hour a day, you can think about doubling up and making one day a 2-hour session, and having a day off.

    This will generate a better signal for adaptation - by stretching the low intensity session.

    If you have to take a day free to do this, then that's what I'll do. I'll reassign time to get better low intensity sessions, as well as the good zone 3 sessions.
  • Mikael's personal example: I've been focusing on my long rides, and getting rid of some of my intensity and extend the long rides. I've seen great results with doing 5-6 hour rides, which is much longer than half Ironman that I'm aiming for.
  • My daughter is preparing for a half marathon and she's currently doing 2-hour long runs to build durability, and to be comfortable.

    As we start to peak, we'll combine the long and the hard.

    Getting comfortably uncomfortable with the reality of having to go hard when you're already tired.
  • We have to think about stretching ourselves both in duration and intensity with different kinds of workouts, and then bringing it together in the competition.
https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts177/
 
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#4 ·
Make no mistake, that's damn good training but...mind mumbling boring.
 
#6 ·
I don't use Trainerroad but I do very similar with Golden Cheetah (free, cause I'm cheap), which connects to my bike sensors via an ANT+ stick and runs workout files in standard downloadable formats.
I have it set up on a laptop beside my bike, and use ERGdb to download tons of workouts (I think there are something like 4000+) and with the laptop (with touchscreen) set up to the right side of my handlebars I can watch TV yet the laptop screen is still in my field of vision and I am able to monitor my progress on the laptop screen.
I don't always use it but when I do it makes it a lot less boring and I can still use the training software. Just a matter of positioning.
https://www.goldencheetah.org/ https://app.trainerday.com/search
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#7 ·
Very cool for sure but if I understand you still some kind of workout file to use it or I guess you could use a previous ride kind of thing?
 
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#8 ·
It's very similar to Trainerroad in that aspect, though it's been a long time since I tried the demo for TR.

You set up Golden Cheetah with your personal stats. connect your sensors and calibrate if needed, then go to https://app.trainerday.com/search and search for a nice training file, download it in one of the formats that Golden Cheetah imports, and start the file running - just like Trainer Road it follows the training routine as you ride. GC also can control smart trainers. And you can also sync videos if you want to do split screen. Like Sufferfest videos and their accompaniny files - someone has made training files for them. I tried it once awhile back. GC also has a great analysis suite. Nice piece of software, but lots of tinkering and set up I suppose you would say.
 
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