I thought it may be interesting to bring back an article I wrote last year prior to my departure for Kona, but with a few more interesting tid bits.
I had thought about giving a full re-cap of how I approach training throughout the year in detail, but will hold off until after Kona and just provide some workout highlights here. I also calculated my weekly hours spent training. However, I always wonder what people consider “training.” Is it just the time they are actually moving? Does it include the rest period between intervals? Do they include stretching, core, etc? Account for time spent traveling to the workout facility? It’s hard to be sure, so I don’t really care about my hours. The only reason I have the information is because I log my workouts into Training Peaks and type in a duration number that sounds reasonable.
Here are the numbers since January 9, when I formally started training again after a 2-month off-season of unstructured activity.
Stats for the 39 week period from January 9 through October 6.
Average per week: 12.3 hours
Median per week: 11.7 hours
Max per week: 20.7 hours
Min per week: 7.5 hours
Standard deviation per week: 3.4 hours
Max average per week over 4 consecutive weeks: 15.9 hours (Sept 3-Sept 24)
Min average per week over 4 consecutive weeks: 9.1 hours (Aug 6-Aug 27)
# of weeks above 15 hours: 6
# of weeks below 10 hours: 10
For some color, on a “normal” week, basically meaning no days off from work or no races, I was consistently in the 9-13 hour range. My average excluding the top 5 and bottom 5 weeks was 11.8 hours. My two max weeks, which were 20.7 hours and 20.5 hours, were my weeks spent in Avalon, NJ (July 2-9) where I rode 6 days in a row, and my trip to Tuscon, Arizona (February 13-20), where I did a few 5 hour rides. In September, as I started to focus on Kona, my volume ramped up (~16 hours per week), as I would backload 9 hours of training on Saturday and Sunday combined, and then about 6-7 hours from Monday-Friday. I could only sustain this for 4 weeks. Any longer, and I’d lose my mind!!!
Hours per week
So here are some my workouts from the year:
February: Track: 8×400 w/ equal time rest between 60-63
March: Track: 6×800 w/ equal time rest: 2:20, 2:20, 2:17, 2:17, 2:15, 2:14
April: CompuTrainer: 4×5’ w/ 5’ rest @ 340-350 watts. I’m 145 pounds for context.
June: Track: 4×1600 w/ 4:30 rest. Went 4:44, 4:42, 4:39, 4:33. This was EPIC!
July: CompuTrainer: 4×10’ @ LT wattage on the CT w/ 5’ RI followed by 3 mile run at 5:40
August: Track: 3k, 3k, 2k w/ 3’ rest. 9:41, 9:35, 6:17
September: 112 mile bike @ IM watts (4:48—23.2 mph) followed by 8 mile run @ 6:05 pace.
September: 21 mile bike @ IM watts followed by 21 mile run @ 6:15 pace (started at 6:40 and descended to 5:55 on last mile). This was the day after the above workout.
September: 56 mile bike @ IM pace w/ 2×10’ at LT followed by 13 mile run including 7×1 Mile w/ 1’ rest @ 5:45, 5:45, 5:40, 5:40, 5:30, 5:35, 5:29. The other 6 miles @ 6:35
And many other painful workouts that I didn’t feel like writing down!
