There are those who swear by the weekly training schedule for Ironman where you ride long on Saturday and run long on Sunday. The belief is that this mimics how your legs will feel running in the Ironman by running long the day after a long ride.
Thankfully, my coach (and another of my coach's before him) disagrees with this. Collectively, we believe that separating your long run from your longest ride by at least 48 hours allows you to put in a more quality long run. And I will now add this: BESIDES, DUMBASSES (sorry, but the closer I get to an Ironman the more foul my language becomes), WHEN YOU ARE IN YOUR IRONMAN BUILD YOUR LEGS ARE FUCKING TIRED MOST OF THE TIME ANYWAY.
Let me illustrate my point by recounting the previous 4 days of my training:
Sunday: 2:30 hour trainer ride with 1.75 hours of intense riding followed by :30 run ending at better than tempo pace
Monday: 1 hour intense strength session (including the 'ol legs) followed by 1 hour swim (thus effectively trashing my arms). Everything was tired when I woke up this day, and I ended the day tired and fatigued.
Tuesday: 1:35 ride with :50 of intense riding followed by :30 run ending at 5K pace. I was tired when I began the workout and tired when I finished, but I still had a great workout.
Wednesday: 1 hour swim, and :55 tempo run, where the tempo portion was done uphill into a 20MPH headwind in +70 degrees, just for fun. I was extremely slow in the water during my swim warmup, but then I was able to pick it up nicely (and I even identified and know how to correct a stroke flaw in the process), and the tempo run was great, including being pulled over by a cop for "jay-running" (that's another story in itself, but I shall not tell it)
So guess what? My legs are FUCKING TIRED. But I did my long run (2:00) this morning, and, in typical style, it was a progression from easy to mod-hard (tempo), with :15 steady to finish it off. During the winter, I was doing my long run on Sunday, the day after a typically 2:30 trainer ride with :30-:40 brick run, and generally didn't have any problems doing it. But lookie here, now I get to do it the day after a tempo run which was preceded by a heavy-duty brick day. See my point? My legs are FUCKING TIRED, and they are going to stay that way for the next 6 weeks on and off, and then I get to taper. That's just how it is at this point in Ironman training. But, my legs are FUCKING STRONG, too, so they come around quickly during a workout. Besides, a little bit of fatigue is expected about this time. No worries, I am sleeping and stretching like a champ!
Now that being said, would I rather do this run on Sunday preceded by a 4-5 hour hard ride with :45 run off the bike the day before? Hell no. Those rides trash me for the rest of that day, and while I believe I'm strong enough to do a long run the next day, I'd rather not. Why? Because despite me starting the day out a little tired today, I still got in a quality run. Many folks who do their long runs "old style" can only manage LSD pace during those Sunday runs. Knock wood, I can still manage back-to-back tempo flavored runs and then I'll be plenty recovered for this weekend's festival of riding.
Tomorrow I only have to swim, so my legs will FINALLY get the break they need to be ready to hit it hard this weekend. And then my running cycle will begin again on Monday.
The cool thing about doing your long run during the week is twofold: 1) it allows you to ride long on 2 consecutive days (I don't know many folks who can manage a 3+ hour ride on a weekday) and 2) it gives such a sense of satisfaction and relief to know that you don't have to run long on the weekend.
The downside is that you need to get up pretty early to get the run in and make it to work. And then it can be a struggle to stay alert for the entire day, but hey, you have a built-in excuse, right? Seriously, while I do feel tired and sleepy throughout the rest of the day, somehow I manage to do what needs to get done, and then I can settle in for a good night's rest of like 10 hours.
I did my run on the treadmill again today, because with just a little road-running, my right back/hip complex is acting up, so I figured I'd give things a break and run on the treadmill. Besides, I didn't get up early enough to haul my ass to my favorite trail run--for that I need to be up before 5AM. I'm game for that after Ironman Brazil, but if I do my long runs on the treadmill for now, I won't be any worse for the wear.
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4 comments:
wow....great workouts. You're going to represent 'The Collective' well in Bra-zeel.
interesting that you are feel better running on a treadmill. I actually am the reverse, I tend to get lower back tightness on the dreadmill....over an hour and I'm toast.. It doesn't happen when I'm running outdoors.
I have this biomechanical thing that I'm not quite sure where it starts, but probably in my glutes (I used to think it was the QL, but that seems to be OK). It happens when I spend time running on roads with my right side elevated. Unfortunately most roads are cambered, and even when I switch sides, my right side is vulnerable. Anyway, the piriformis and glute medius get all mucked up, which can then put pressure on the sciatic nerve, which then makes it feel like my hamstring is pulled (it's not). Then, my psoas joins in (maybe it's overcompensating for the glute thing), and if I don't watch it, my quads will feel like they've got pain, too, but it's just referred pain from the psoas.
Treadmill running, you are right, tends to cause low back tightness, because you are "stuck" in the same position the entire time (even if you put it on an incline). Whereas if you run outside, you are changing your body position quite often with rises and dips.
As I said, once I get my shit together and get up earlier on Thursdays, my long run will be on a trail that I need to drive to. It's beautiful in there--a 9.5 mile loop that is quite hilly, but still better than the dreadmill or the road any day. And because it is crushed limestone over dirt, it's very friendly to my hips, and it doesn't seem to aggravate the piriformis thing.
I did my fall solo marathon on crushed limestone with no deleterious effects, and did most of my Goofy training on the treadmill. It's just from 3 stinky runs on the roads from home that I aggravated my hip thing. It's a tenuous balance, though. Yesterday, I decided to run with my right side on the "long" side of the road, and I got through the run just fine, and nothing seemed any worse. The problem is that if I do this often enough, then my LEFT ITB will become overly tight and presto, ITBS.
So I pay close attention to what my body is telling me, I stretch extra on my right side, I do trigger point work on myself (OUCH!), I get my massage therapist (1.5 hours tonight, YEAH BABY!) to do extra work on my trigger points, I use ice, China Gel (try this magic stuff--it's like rubbing ice on yourself: www.chinagel.com) and vary my running surfaces as best I can to keep a big problem at bay.
Ah, the life of an almost-50-YO exercise freak. We all eventually break down in a way that we need to manage if we want to keep doing what we are doing. It's worth it to me for now. Thing is, I LOVE running from my house. It's such a nice route. So I just suffer every now and then for it. Oh well!
As you know, I am one of those that does the long-ride Saturday then long-run Sunday. BUT, I've only done one Ironman and that worked for me. I ran a 3:46.
But, you do have me thinking so I will look at changing it up for IMC next year.
My only worry is me changing something that worked for me last time.
I want sub-3:30 next time and will do what it takes to hammer it out.
Keep an eye on me and let me know what I'm doing wrong if you see something! ;)
I guess i'm a dumb shit but still like the sat/sun long/long whipping. It is a huge confidence booster for me to progress from a death march on some of the early weekend runs to reasonable efforts later in the cycle. I have found as I start peaking for IM they get easier and easier - relatively. I almost look forward to the mental/physical challenge of the sunday morning run. It also allows me to put a good med length 8-10 mi tempo session in the middle of the week.
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