Okay, little update from me now 2 weeks into the RLRF plan, finished the 24km run today legs destroyed same as the faster 21km run last weekend. Knee felt a bit sore last Tuesday after the long tempo run, but no sign of issues during Interval Thursday or today, so I’m starting to feel confident in the plan.
I’ve decided to do a hilly 10k loop at the beginning of all my long runs to prep a little for brighton, and give myself an extra 10s/km leeway.
Unfortunately I’ve gained 2kg, which is likely a combination of Christmas leftovers and weight lifting. Keeping an eye of my eating and sleeping to combat excess BF.
One other thing: Zwift Run. I am totally frustrated with this! It should be so simple, a bit of fun during a treadmill, but I signed up to Zwift Tri Academy and now I’m pissed off that all the Zwift failures mean I won’t complete the academy in time (deadline tomorrow). If you’re at home and have full environmental control, it’s probably a piece of cake but in a gym with all the competing Bluetooth signals it’s a frustration nightmare.
Looking to do the Edinburgh half in May. My PB was a hair under 1:45 but I was 7 kg lighter in 2016! I’m way better at consistent training and diet so my stretch goal is 1:30 - we’ll see if veganuary helps shift some fat.
Does anyone know much about the not motorised curved treadmills? They have both normal motorised treadmills and woodway curved at my gym. Is it best for different types of workouts? as I have seen alot of videos of people using them for sprints, I’m training for IM so runs are generally slower pace.
I used a regular treadmill a lot when I ran in the past - was a good way of getting in stress feel extra miles in marathon training - especially if it was raining. Never tried any of the weird ones. But if you do use a treadmill you should incline it to 1-2% all the time to simulate air resistance and reduce stress on the tibialis anterior muscles.
We bought one in November. It is a beast to run on and takes a couple of “miles” to figure it out. I never liked motorized mills because they just felt like they were working the wrong muscles. Setting an incline helped, but I never warmed to them.
My prepurchase research said that CMTs take about 20-30% more effort at a given speed compared to outside. That sounds about right. CMTs feel more natural because if you want to speed up, you just run faster. If you want to slow down, you just slow down.
My running goal for 2020 is to be able to run! I’m going be living on a boat for two months over the summer, and am completely dreading being off a bike for that long. Living quarters on a 34’ are cramped, and running shoes are much smaller than a bicycle. Anyway it’ll be long days of sailing, so the limited time I’ll have on shore would probably make trying to bring a bike not worth it. I figure if I take up running, I can at least fit in 30-60 min runs when we’re at dock.
Unfortunately I’ve had torn meniscus in both knees, so just thinking about running is painful. I figure I’l mix some running in gradually through the season, to prepare for that summer period of nothing but running. But I’m also terrified that I’ll trash my knees my first time out, and lose the rest of my cycling season… Any advice from experienced runner on how to get started?
I ran on a woodway for about an hour the other day, had never used one before. It definitely felt harder to run on, and seemed to specifically target the posterior chain in a way I don’t normally feel running. It takes getting used to. I was going like 5.2mph which is a pace I would find difficult to run at all on a regular tm or outdoors. Plan was an easy 7, so I called an hour on it about equal to that. It also said I burned like 1300 calories which seems… off.
Only thing I’d say is if you try it, commit to 20 minutes before you decide whether to keep going. You’ll want to get off right away if you just give it a few minutes.
So if nothing unexpected happens I’ll go into my first 70.3 end of feb with the running form of my life. Before settling into a bike or second tri season I’d like to shoot for a HM PR in April. 70.3 is on February 21st, HM on April 19th. Taking two weeks recovery in between, what are people’s opinions on how to sharpen for 5 weeks to max running performance? I’m currently on about 40-50kpw and would shoot for 84min race goal.
Tapering: Yes. I’ll also race gas to flat, it will be my main event so far.
Typical run week: 2-3 easy runs 5-7k at 4:50-5:00 min/km, some of them as brick following a ride or swim. Long run around 18k at easy pace, with race pace efforts at the end, 4:30ish for 20 minutes. And a speed session, most recent was 42000 (hi 3:30s) on 4 Rest plus 21000 near all out in 2 rest.
So yea, they hay will be in the barn by then, but I’m looking for a way to carry that immense fitness from my 70.3 into that race. Two birds, one stone
This is my year to knock out all my bucket list items that aren’t pure cycling. I’ve signed up for my first triathlon and will go for my first full marathon at the end of the year with the goal of a sub 4 hour time. I’m a decent runner but I’ve never run a full distance marathon. My training is going well for that so far. The triathlon and the swim is my biggest fear with open water and in a pack of other swimmers.
Can’t say I feel particularly confident making recommendations here, but I’d say something like;
1 Recovery week, primarily with cross training, secondarily with your easy runs
2 Reintroduce your quality sessions at a reduced volume, bike and swim reduced volume but retain quality (like two TR 1h bikes, one threshold swim)
3-4 Gradually increase the quality sessions, maintain cross training
5 Taper/race
Basically this is the reverse of my run focus with cross training, into triathlon.
I will add that the Build a Plan feature for my triathlon goals is perfect. It gives notes for each run session as well as swim workout. Well done TR on this feature. Hopefully the build a plan feature can add a running race in there and optimize it that way. I know this is a cycling first type of product but that would be a beneficial feature to me in the future.
If you’ve got 5 weeks after the 70.3 and you’re in good running form IMO it’s more a matter of keeping sharp rather than adding anything significant.
I’d be loathe to change sessions too much with swimming and riding if you’re in a regular pattern of training. Doing regularly what you do regularly is important in the bigger scheme of things I think. Keep things as they are but deemphasise riding by riding easy a few times a week and maybe keeping one harder session and swim as recovery.
You shouldn’t have a problem with endurance off the back of 70.3 training so I’d get the run volume up to what you’ve been doing and for me, the weekly ‘quality’ session would be some shorter efforts to keep sharp. After a taper week (and assuming a taper week before the HM) Maybe some 1km repeats the first week, 800’s the second and 400’s the last - not absolutely all out because of any injury risk but just marginally below that. Add in a few strides to one run a week and hopefully you might add a bit of top end to complement the endurance.
In that timeframe I think you just want to shed fatigue after the 70.3 and keep sharp for the HM. You’re not materially going to add much endurance during that time but by being fit and dropping swim and bike sessions to get in more run intensity and/or volume could be a potential injury risk without much potential gain.
