Not much to add, but if you aren't currently doing yoga on a regular basis, I wouldn't start doing it that week to aid recovery. It will take more out of you than it will give back. Even if you are doing it on a regular basis, I would cut WAY back to focus on mileage/yardage.

With that huge increase in workload for the week, I would focus my recovery efforts around refueling, rehydrating, putting my feet up, and napping.

Thanks TS! I dont do yoga regularly, so will take it real easy, perhaps some other form of recovery instead, just to stay limber and not tighten up from the increased workload?

I looked into the official training camp thread, nutrition will be no problem since it is all inclusive and a health resort!

http://www.slowtwitch.com/...ining_Camp_4226.html

I have found with the ~ week long camps, most benefits came by increasing total hours thru the week, building to a peak the last or second to last training day. For example:

Sat travel, easy ride to get familiar with immediate streets and traffic issues. ~1 hr
Sun 2-3 hours totoal
Mon 3-4 hour
Tues 4-5 hr
Wed 2-3 (easier day) May want to do easier day friday if prior to race
Thurs 4-5
Fri 5-6
Sat 6+ ? race plus warm up cool down
Sun travel Total 25-30 hrs

Thanks? Any idea why a ramp works best? Is it because the body adjusts already during the week? I would have thought that it would be worse to schedule the peak at the last part of the week, since at that point one would be pretty beat up from 20+ hours?

I'm intending to do something similar in Cham for a week from April 24-May 1

I think at this stage, I intend to swim first thing each day, then ride, lunch, break and run before dinner

I intend to spread it out fairly evenly; 1 because I think I'll be pretty wrecked by the end of the week, 2 because i'm with family and i can't just disappear for 6 plus hours at a time on holiday 3 because its never just X hours, its get changed, get gear, get going, get back, pack gear, shower - there's 30-60 mins of BS attached even when you're reasonably well organised

That is a lot of hours in a week and a very large increase from what you're doing already. I'd be very careful with the training load especially with a race at the end, it sounds like a recipe for disaster pushing hard in a race when already very fatigued from a huge increase in training.

That being said I've had moderate success scheduling 'crash' weeks in training where by during a block of training I've ramped up the training load for a one off week then had a recovery week after. I found it quite a good shortcut for gaining speed if done carefully. The problem with this is the best way I've found for them is to add intensity not volume. So take all your normal sessions and schedule in a bit more intensity to each of them. This is perhaps not the best way to take advantage of your training camp though.

If you're committed to low intensity and working on aerobic performance I'd make it a swim-bike focused week. You can work your aerobic system with a mix of some good hard swims and some long bike rides. For running I'd do a small amount of quality work so impact is minimised but you keep your muscles used to working at a good pace with good form. Short hill rep sessions fit the bill perfectly. I'd schedule the swims first then a run (I wouldn't run every day though) then the bike. I'd also take a full day off before the race and mix daily training load in a high/low/high type pattern. I'd skip the yoga and add in a second easy swim for recovery also and I'd take a foam roller and use it daily. Finally when you get back home have an easy week - it's too easy to go harry-hard on a training camp and never see improvements after because you don't recover sufficiently.

Iain

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^This

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"Just don’t abandon everything you’ve ever learned because of something someone said on the internet." - Eric McGinnis

Thanks a lot Iain for insightful comments. Respect your race resumé!

My key priority is not to get injured, that is why I was thinking low intensity, not chasing hours or tss points per se. That said, I do hope to get a noticeable "bump" in my training from the increase in volume. When you say "moderate success", that means you are not overly convinced in the value of "big weeks"?


This sounds smart, will follow your advice and cut down on the running! Had not planned on double swim sets, but come to think of it easy accessibility to the pool is also a big difference from home, so would be good to take advantage of that.

Hm, although I have no intention of redlining, a race is still a race and one gets caught up in the adrenaline rush. I am doing two half IM:s this year, mainly to see how I can handle the increased speed (versus full IM) in a race situation, so I would lie if I said my goal was to treat it as a workout and go easy. Perhaps with fewer runs during the week the added strain of the race is less of an issue? Or is that optimistic?


True that, I guess body will ache at that point, so should come naturally!

Thank you for your kind comments.

With regards to big volume weeks, I don't have enough experience at long course racing (and none at IM) to comment on if they are good or not for what you're aiming for. I do have a lot of experience of being horrendiously under recovered and all of that experience leads me to believe consistency is key and that a sharp increase in training load is a high risk stratergy and you won't make a metoric shift in performance with just 1 weeks work. So risk vs reward for me makes them a last ditch effort as a training stratergy. A training camp is a bit different and you get more rest so should handle more volume just fine. But for me there is no need to go mad, tonnes of extra volume is still high risk low reward in my opinion.

My 'big' week was a scheduled high intensity week basically as a last ditch effort. Volume was no different but I added a bit more intensity to each session so training load was bigger. The numbers after moved in the right direction, but they did at every test I did throughout the year. The rate at which they moved forward was not massively different to any other time. So 'moderate success' for me was not injured but no quantum leap forward.

To put it into perspective one year I did not much training all year then 3months of 25hrs/week good structured consistent training. The 2 following years I did 12-15 hours/week year round but working at the same time using some shortcuts like 'crash' weeks. I was fastest the first year by miles.

I don't know if it's optimistic to think it'll be ok race wise for you or not. I'd think it's worth tailoring the week a touch to the fact you're going to race and then race as you would normally. I dislike the thought of holding back for any race. I think if you've limited the running and taken a day off before you've reduced the risk of injury. In my mind as long as you reach T2 fresh enough to run with your normal form it'll be no different to any race risk wise. So I would approach it like that and go full gas for the race, if you're way off target on the bike I'd stop. Normally for me if I've overdone it I'm way, way slow on the bike and I'll can it before the run. It's never good to DNF but in that situation if it's a choice between sitting out for 6months or that, take the DNF - i've done both.

Iain

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Training Full Time in 2015: http://www.triopensource.com
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Thanks, this is really helpful!

No worries, have fun at the training camp and good luck in the race!

Iain

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Training Full Time in 2015: http://www.triopensource.com
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I'm MOP but I used to do DIY training camps, that I called Big Weeks. I'd take a week off work and just train. Those 9 day weeks were where I got my biggest gains. I never lined up my big weeks with a race to finish but you could.....as long as you don't hope for a good race result. I certainly wouldn't do it as a taper for your A Race :-) . For Ironman I'd be upt to about 20 hours per 7 day week of training already, then in a 9 day big week I'd get up to 45 hours of training! Even as a MOP guy, I could absorb all that training A) because I knew a rest week was coming and B) I'd rest lots between workouts.

When I did my big weeks, I found it best to do whatever training I deemed suitable, but the most important thing is to REST. Get proper rest between workouts. Couch time or morning or afternoon naps, make a HUGE difference. If I did my big week at home, my wife would always try to get me to do chores, but I'd resist and just chill between workouts. If I'd head away to a nice training spot, I'd try to do it with friends and try to get a 'kitchen bitch' as we'd call them. We'd try to get someone to do the cooking, the laundry, the shopping or whatever. It would be an unpaid position, but we'd try to pay in some other way. Often it would be a woman but a couple of times it was a male friend that was injured or whatever. We'd chip in for a weekend away somewhere for them as a thankyou.

Having someone take care of the ancillary bits, means more time for resting and IMHO that is what makes big weeks so much easier and more effective than they would otherwise be. If you're travelling with a partner, make sure they know ahead of time they are to be the slave, otherwise it will go horribly wrong. Arrange for payback some other way to even the score so to speak. I've had my turn as the kitchen bitch and it sorta sucks to see your buddies training and lounging around while you do all the work, but it helps to get the payback, pay forward or whatever, and it's really good to know that you helped your friends get PB's or whatever.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"