I’m currently in the third week of the Build 1 phase; next week is supposed to be a Rest & Recovery one. However, I just found out that I’m going on a two-week business trip at the end of the first week of my Build 2 phase – and the probability of training at the same intensity/frequency during my trip is zero: I will definitely not have my bike, and it’s doubtful whether I’ll be able to find a swimming pool. I’ll be able to run, but I won’t be able to do that every day since I’m only used to running twice a week. So I have two questions:
Should I extend my Build 1 phase until the beginning of my trip (i.e. another two weeks for a total of five instead of three) and then take a two-week R&R break doing only runs? Or am I risking an injury by extending Build 1 that long? (FWIW, a rarely get injured, and I’m certainly not prone to injuries).
Once my trip is over, do I resume with Build 2, or do I go back re-doing Build 1? (The trip could be extended to three weeks).
Hopefully some of you guys have gone through this quandary before and have some practical advice.
As someone who was once gone 5 out of every 15 days and had plenty of extended trips (5 days to 23 days) hopefully I can help you out a bit. I would occasionally sit on a bike in the gym for 15-30mins. I would probably take an easy 2-3 days after build 1 then go into build 2 until I left. After getting back I’d start build 2 over. You’ll be surprised at how much fitness yo can maintain if you follow a consistent workout routine. My advice would be focus on what you can do. Running is the easiest sport of the three to do while travelling. If your running 2x week, I’d bump that up. Say 3,4,5 or even 6. I’d keep the extra runs short. I’ve ad some great road races (15-45sec faster than normal) after trips b/c I was able to run 9-11 times per week. The fitness usually stayed with me for the whole season as well.
If you have a coach I’d talk this over with him/her as well.
i am a beginner, but my 2 cents…
i am in the same position… going on a trip next week
i’ve noticed that i naturally do a 3 week train/1 week recovery…
my recovery week was happening 2 weeks before I go on a 4 week trip where training will take a back seat
I thought I could train hard 5 weeks in a row, and then recover with some runs on the trip, but discovered I was really flat and slow, so I am back to my schedule. this past week was total recovery and now I can train normally next week and we’ll see what I can do on my trip
hope it helps