I have been reading some of the swimming posts that say you basically have to punish yourself in the pool to get better - “can’t lift your arms to comb your hair…” So, anyway, I figured this must apply to biking and running as well. I have been subscribing to the target aerobic heart rate training theory for the last two years with virtually all of my training at this rate. I have improved and have been happy with it. The workouts are easy and I have made modest improvements. I have a short attention span (I am a triathlete), so I guess I am leaning towards trying the “no pain, no gain” theory of my younger athletic career. How often do you just beat yourself up going all out or close to it in a workout? The gurus and magazines say no more than one workout like this per week. Are all you studs just working harder than me and making it hurt more when working out?
Generally, I save an all-out-can’t get-out-of-bed effort for once a month or race day, which ever is sooner.
But… hard workout for me are twice a week. i’m on a 14 day schedule, weak on swimming
OFF; Hard interval run; recovery run;moderate/hard bike; swim and spin; long hard bike; swim & spin;
OFF; hard interval bike; swim & spin; moderate/hard run; recovery run; Long hard bike; swim & spin
repeat. I save all out efforts for the long run and may switch the hard workout after the off day with the moderate one so that I can recover more thouroughly.
The Hard workouts hurt, every time. So the anwer to your question is twice a week for me.
The easiest way to get sick/injured/burnt-out is to add too much intensity. What too much is depends on the individual and the race distance. I think you get a lot out doing of intervals that are one gear up from goal race pace. I don’t think true max effort work is useful and it takes a long time to recover from. You read a lot of those posts about people going for a training PB. You also read a lot of posts about people lacking motivation, injuring themselves and constantly catching colds.