Thursday, July 12, 2012

Volume

It's a very fine line between training for volume and overtraining.  Volume and intensity work together to make us stronger triathletes all the way around.  Since this is a speed year instead of an ironman or endurance year I'm having difficulty balancing the number of workouts with the mileage and instensity needed to get faster with the metrics to be sure I'm getting faster.  First the log to check my volume:

Thursday: yoga, 2500 yd swim
Friday: yoga, rest!  yes please
Saturday: yoga, strength training, 2500 yd swim, 30 mile ride
Sunday: yoga, 4 mile run, 25 mile ride
Monday: yoga, strength training, 30 mile ride
Tuesday: yoga, 6 mile run, 3100 yd swim
Wednesday: yoga, strength training, 15 mile bike
Today: yoga, interval lunch run, RAM swim practice tonight

Really I'm not supposed to do yoga on Saturdays.  And my version of a rest day Friday is only doing yoga and strength training.   I was actually going to make up thursday's missed run on friday and do my strength training then, but work caught up with me and I only got in yoga on the day.  Regular yoga and circuit training is what I was missing last year in Ironman training, and I feel like it's made a huge difference this year.  People are telling me that I look like I have a more muscular upper body than I did last year, and I certainly feel stronger.

On the S/B/R side, short course speed comes from intense volume and repetitive volume, not high volume individual swims, rides, or runs.  On the bike, for instance, I don't need to ride longer than 30 miles at a time.  There's no need for an endurance base that requires regular long rides of 80 to 100 miles.  But putting in 100 to 150 miles per week with some intensity will still bring the short course speed.  I'm really feeling the 100 miles I put in over the last week, but I know that's how you get stronger on the short course.  I don't need the 20 mile long runs as much as I need to keep the 4 mile midweek runs under 30 minutes.

Seriously, I think this is how it's done but I really have no idea if it's a viable schedule or if I'm just overtraining.  It's only 4 more weeks until my A race for the year, the Lake Logan Oly.  I'm going to try and hold this basic pattern for a few more weeks until a valid taper.  I've got a sprint triathlon the weekend before Lake Logan to test the waters and check my new speeds.  What do you think?

5 comments:

Jess said...

In the past few years, I've actually come to doubt the concept of over-training. I think different bodies are capable of different work loads, and ultimately, each person finds what best suits them in terms of challenge vs. injury/intense fatigue.

Rose @ Eat, Drink, and Be Meiri said...

How do you parse out your day to achieve volume? Do you get everything in before you start your day?

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

I have no idea how to train for a tri, but it seems like you are doing a lot! I also have trouble taking a true rest day; even if it just means a long walk or a hike or something, there is never a zero day!

Wes said...

I find with the shorter distance races (Oly, Sprint), that its a good idea to cap your volume at something reasonable, like 8 or 10 hours a week. You do base (Zone 2) efforts up till you reach max volume, then you start introducing the speed work in to increase fitness in that same volume. It's all about quality versus quantity then.

To truly gauge fitness changes, you need to test often.

Alisa said...

I think it's hard to know where you want to "cap" training. i think for those of us that have done the longer stuff it's harder to settle on something less intense and feel like we're doing what we need to be doing.

I think you will find that balance. I'm impressed with all the YOGA! I need to go back to yoga now that i had a bit of a game changer in my season. Be on the lookout for a new post today...I am counting on you to suggest a ridiculous birthday workout for me!