I've done Wednesday and Saturday 100+ mile rides in an IM build, but not 4+ hr rides on back to back days. Not saying it can't be done, but what about running? Would this be a bike focused block?

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To clarify it would be 4 hrs exactly B2B. As for running I am going to try to run 15-30 mins off of the bike both days just to get the legs going. My normal long ride is during this build is 5 hours at race intensity +/- which is covering 162 of 180km without all the wheels, helmet, tubes, staying aero to the point of roughing up my undercarriage, etc. I do believe in the principle that you can't make a tired muscle stronger, however I also believe that if you don't change up your training stimulus you shouldn't expect any different results. Thats where I am right now so I am going to give it a shot. Especially since my last 5 hr ride at race intensity minus 10 watts had me a 1% hr:pwr decoupling. I will post my thoughts when done after this weekend FWIW.

I should also mention that my work forces several days with zero training. So going longer-ish on multiple days I have available "seems" to make sense to me right now. Of course if I end up sick or injured then....

Sure thing, why not. Give it a try over a period and evaluate.

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Endurance coach | Physiotherapist (primary care) | Bikefitter | Swede

I’ve been doing B2B weekends in my build for IMTX. 4-5 hr on Saturday (with some SS/Tempo in there) + 4-5 hr endurance on Sunday.

I do feel stronger after 10 weeks of doing these, but will have to wait until IMTX to make a final judgement on whether these work for me.

Couple of observations so far - 1) Sunday ride feels much harder than Saturday’s 2) it takes at least a couple of days to recover from these 3) my z2 hr is down 10-15 bpm, while my power is up 10-15 w (so that’s encouraging).

I like the back to back long ride days... I think it allows for a quality session one day and an endurance session the other day as opposed to one long endurance session. It all depends on what your body can handle, but I had a weekend during my build where I did a 4 hour quality tempo/ss session saturday am followed by a T-run. Sunday am I did a long run, then nap/lunch, then 4 hour endurance ride in the afternoon. For me, it allowed me to get a lot bike volume in with some quality without sacrificing my run.

You only need a couple of longer rides than 4 hours anyway in an IM build up.
So really I wouldn't worry about it.

Doesn't sound ridiculous if your run is already great or you have loads of other time during the week to recover and then run. You'd prob get most of the benefit of the long rides doing this once or twice a month

I've done that as part of a big bike block, but it was 5 and 4 B2B. So in one week it was 6,2,3,5,4,2,3. Works well, always gives me a nice boost. I repeat it 2x with a short recovery block in the middle

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My typical approach is double weekend rides. Saturday is 4-5hrs with several long (30-45min) intervals at 80-85% FTP and then Sunday is 3-4hrs holding a bit above IM race power. That's the bulk of my riding for the week. I do standard threshold intervals plus an hour hard roading group ride on Wednesday evenings.

Yes I have good luck with it.

I would do 5-8 mile run first off in am , eat some breakfast then go ride for 3-5 hours with variety of intervals

Sunday I would get out for more steady but pretty chill 4-6 hrs. Long run and other runs mid week with one mix of rides too

Thanks everyone for the feedback. My takeaway is that high performers pile it on when the timing is right.

A bit of background as I am far from a high performer but my base week is about 14 hours without a lot of fluctuation due to work. I have to take a lot of forced zero days when I pull a 22 hour shift. The trade off is that I get a lot of days with no work where I can pile it on. After 6 years in the sport I am finally reaching the point where I can handle a fair amount of volume without getting sick. That was a major hurdle earlier in my tri career.

I did my first crash week with 24 hours in a week earlier in the season and it went really well. So I should have looked back to this for encouragement when thinking about doing the B2B rides but I hadn't thought of it. Just finished the second ride this morning here in Dubai as the weekend is Friday-Saturday. I also should have mentioned I have been running long mid week to avoid the continuous monster weekend hours. So getting the long run in wasn't a consideration.

First ride was 4 hours at steady IM effort. I wanted to be conservative so as not to blow out for the second ride. I also woke up with a bit of a sinus issue so that was making me lean conservative as well. The ride was really a breeze. Felt great the entire time, always had an extra gear or two if needed. Didn't run off the bike because of the sinus thing. Day 2 woke up feeling better in the nose, no residual fatigue from the previous day. Set off again and rode about 10w under IM effort. Have to say from 2-3 hours I was feeling pretty tired in the mind and had a few thoughts about pulling over for a long coffee or an Uber ride back. Surprisingly I came around in the last 45 minutes and felt really strong bumping up against the top of Z2 with ease. Ran for 30 minutes at IM effort off the bike. Home now and feel fine.

I have 4 Build weeks left for IMTX so I doubt I will do this a second time as one of those weekends is reserved for a big day. It is definitely going to be a tool in the tool box going forward for next season and beyond. Especially if I can extend my Build period beyond 8 weeks. We shall see.

I'm giving it a try. I'll post some details to this thread as I get further into the program. Unfortunately, I have just started so I really don't have anything to add as far as effectiveness.