Sunday, April 26, 2009

Big Bike Week

Through out the off-season I followed the guidance of Endurance Nation and focused on getting fast before going far and therefore all my workouts were intense, but short. To help get a jump start on building up some endurance Rich and Patrick recommend doing a big bike week during the spring. If you check out the Endurance Nation blog you will find 3 detailed post about how to plan a bike bike week and the benefits of it.


To fit the bike bike week into my life, I took advantage of our EN Wisconsin Camp and added a few more days before and after of riding. I would preferred to do 4-5 days of longer rides, but work and the weather both significantly constrained me so I did the best I could. I also continued to run, but did all easy running during this time and reduced my running volume to let me recover from the bike workouts.


Workout Summary:


  • Thursday: 1 hour on trainer with 3 x 10 @ FTP - 81.3 TSS / 0.91 IF / 232 NP / 23 miles - 30 minute easy run


  • Friday: 5:15 EN group ride - 296.4 / 0.75 / 193 / 90 miles - 30 min brick run


  • Saturday: 2:00 EN group ride - 98 / 0.72 / 185 / 31 miles - 60 min easy run


  • Sunday: 2:00 on trainer - 146.5 / 0.86 / 220 / 46 miles - 50 min swim


  • Monday: 1:00 on trainer with 3 x 10 @ FTP - 81.2 / 0.91 / 231 / 25 miles - 30 min easy run


  • Tuesday: 1:00 on hotel bike - Estimated 55 / 0.75 / 190 / 18 miles - 60 min easy run


  • Wednesday: 1:00 on hotel bike - Estimated 55 / 0.75 / 190 / 18 miles - 60 min easy run

Totals:

  • Bike: 13:15 / 813 TSS / 251 Miles


  • Run: 4:30 / 36.9 Miles

The Results are still to be determined, but initially I can say I'm shocked how well my body handled all the hours in the saddle. In fact I felt pretty strong throughout most of the 7 days. The only time I was really struggling was on the Saturday ride in the cold rain when I was freezing and my legs were a little tired from the 5 hour ride the day before. I did already see a nice CTL bump in my PMC chart, assuming I hold onto that fitness I should be in a good place by June for IM 70.3 Kansas.

Time to recover from the big bike week and shift my focus to running for two weeks and prepare for a half marathon.

Posted by Matt Ancona

2 comments:

  1. BrettMay 4, 2009 at 1:18 AM

    hotel bike? St. Chucks bike?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt AnconaMay 4, 2009 at 10:29 AM

    @Brett - Good old Q Center. The gym sucks, but the food is great and I eat way to much of it. How did WF go?

    ReplyDelete

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