During the off season Oct,Nov, Dec, for everyone who is not going to Kona,or trying to qualify for Boston or anything else what do you feel, find, experience as being the best overall development of your aerobic engine?
I think that swimming is the foundation for being able to transition into biking & running, meaning it is easier to go from swimming into biking & running then going from these other sports into swimming. I find that I am not as aerobically taxed when I start the serious 3.
What do you all think about MtBiking in this 3 month period? Developing strength?
As you can tell, running is the weak link/limiter any suggestions?
“As you can tell, running is the weak link/limiter”
Uh, this may sound really stupid and siimplistic, but howsabout you work on your weak link/limiter?
Running is mine as well, and I plan to do a sh!tload of running this off season. Assuming you don’t have injuries that make running a problem, I’d start investing hours in LSD running, then get ready to transition in to major speed work in about Feb & March.
My experience has been that people who work on their running get faster on the bike as a result, even if they cut back on their riding. Swimming suffers the least (assuming you’re a good swimmer already) but it’s also the easiest to do because there’s really no such thing as “too much” swimming, i.e., you aren’t likely to develop debilitating overuse injuries from doubling your yardage, while doubling your running mileage is guaranteed to bite you.
just running LSD will not improve you as much as running the same amt of miles and doing some tempo work once or twice per week. I’m not talking about race pace but say 15-20 secs slower per mile for 20-30 min total for each run. If your doing the tempo work correctly your not going to get thrashed.
“just running LSD will not improve you as much as running the same amt of miles and doing some tempo work…”
That’s true, but for some of us it’s a matter of establishing that our legs can handle the distance. I’ve been fighting Achilles problems for six years, and I think I may have it under control. For me it’s going to be about getting the distance (30-40/week) before I push my luck.
I find running to be the best aerobic exercise. Moutain biking is good as long as I can do plenty of steep steep long hills. That’s the best, especially when they’re so technically challenging I don’t actually realise how hard I’m working because I’m too busy concentrating on the trail.
I also do loads of snowboarding in the off season, with plenty of off-piste snowboarding and hiking. Nothing gives you an aerobic workout like hiking up a hill @ 2400m above sea level up to your knees in powder snow.