A question related to cross-training and adjustment of training plans:
I know I will be without a bike for three weeks during summer vacation. My A-race is set 4 weeks after finishing the vacation.
My only option for keeping fit is running, and what always happens is that my legs are weaker than my lungs and I cannot train as much as I want to.
Besides easing a bit into running a bit before the vacation, any other suggestions to keep fitness alive? What is the best type of training then, steady state or VO2?
My calendar is showing LV Marathon Speciality for this period
I’ve got a vacation with limited bike availability coming up as well. I’ve been playing around on the calendar this week trying to figure out how to structure my training around the vacation. The main difference is that mine falls in my base period, so I probably have a little more room for error.
Here are my thoughts:
I lucked out because my vacation ended up falling on a week when I already had a rest week planned. I’m guessing that 4 weeks out from your A race probably puts you close to a rest week as well.
Remember that the only reason why we train is to drive the adaptations while we recover, so an extended period of rest can be a great tool to make you faster if you’re smart about it. I’m aiming to use this time off to my greatest advantage by doing my regularly scheduled workouts earlier in the week and then a super solid 3 day training block right before my vacation (keep in mind I’m at about 400ish TSS/week normally):
-McAdie (90 minutes over-unders) (112 TSS)
-Hunter (120 minutes of sweet spot) (123 TSS)
-3 hour endurance ride (141 TSS)
If I tried to ride 5-6 days the next week after something like this I would be totally screwed, but guess what? I’ve got 5 days off the bike, so there’s amble opportunity to absorb all of that training.
During my vacation, I may try to get one or two nice runs in along the beach. More for a mental health benefit than anything else. It might help a little bit with maintaining aerobic fitness, but a week off the bike isn’t going to have as big of an impact on that as you might think. If I’m lucky, I may end up fitting in a 1-2 hour endurance ride in there as well.
The day after I get back from vacation I’ve got an easy ride scheduled to clear the cobwebs out and then another solid couple days of training after that (but less TSS/day than the workouts listed above) as I transition slowly back into my normal weekly routine.
