Notes From My Weekend
with Joe Friel


Running

  • The Pose Method of Running
  • Body position - lean from ankles
  • Cadence - aim for 90+
  • Tips - quick impact, lifting foot, balls of feet contact, watch heel striking first, slight bend in knee
  • PE Phase - Include box jumps
  • Downhill strides, counting strides - focus on technique and high turnover rate
  • Front bench jump and back bench jump to build strength in base phase. Land with knee flexed. 10-15 reps on each leg superset with squats.

Diet

  • 80% of energy from meat/fish, veggies and fruit. Try to restrict starchy carbos to recovery food.
  • Mono-unsaturated fats are good.
  • Try to get Omega III fats up. Cold water fish is a good source.
  • Most Joe's athletes are around 3000 calories per day.
  • Snack with fruits rather than bagels.
  • Watch the fructose

Training

  • Key for IMC is the bike split
  • Try not to load too many breakthrough workouts into the week
  • Hit the hard cycling sessions fresh and train the 4-5a stuff hard
  • Cruise Intervals examples - 3x6 minutes on two minute rest or 3-5x10 min on three minute rest =>Zone 4-5a
  • Force workouts are lower cadence, say, 80 rpm
  • Shift intervals where you drop for one minute into a tougher gear
  • Add more big gear stuff to build strength
  • Build bike power rather than weight room power - consider only one day a week of SM.
  • Example of Build I workout would be 3x20 min 4-5a on five minute recovery
  • Build II example ME + F + 30 minutes at threshold
  • End of Build II - Do half IM at target race pace, race simulation.
  • Recovery weeks, may be able to get by on five days of recovery rather than a whole week.
  • Base I is for economy, strength, weights, endurance
  • Base II is mainly endurance work with a little ME
  • Base III is Endurance, force and ME
  • Economy ("speed skill") is included in every period. The emphasis on it is just greater in the earlier periods.
  • Strength training generally begins to take a back seat to S-B-R specific workouts in Base 2 and always by Base 3.
  • Lower cadence work = strength
  • Higher cadence work = speed
  • Core strength build with medicine ball throws. Forward and backward.
  • For IM, lots of Zone III in late Base/Build phase
As we discussed, volume is not a good indicator of readiness for a good race. Much better indicators for an IM race are duration of longest workouts in each sport and average intensity and duration of the intensity of the planned higher intensity sessions. A focus on volume will tend to keep you tired and unable to maintain an adequate intensity on the breakthrough workouts and may cause abbreviating the planned long workouts. So I think your reduced volume is a good idea. Just be sure to focus on getting in regular long workouts in each sport and train as regularly possible at near or above race effort/pace/power. The key to this is making sure you are getting adequate rest (active and passive) on the other days and that you are including effective recovery strategies in your training.

In regards to non-BT rides, 60 minutes in the small chain ring and 1 zone is usually adequate if recovery is the purpose. An aerobic maintenance ride (HR 2 zone or power zone CP180) could be 90 minutes to 2 hours on a flat course and would have a mix of small and big chain rings, depending on the terrain. But you must be cautious with these latter rides as they could be too long depending on what has preceded them. If you go into a BT workout feeling fatigue then you must cut back on the duration and/or intensity of these non-BT workouts. Don't sacrifice the quality training sessions just to get more quantity. That will not pay off as well.

As to your 10-hour, two-day volume periods, these are a lot like "crash" cycles and need to be managed with care. It looks like you have since a R&R week follows. These can be quite effective, but you need to be very cautious. Overtraining can sneak up on you. If in doubt--leave it out.

Peaking

  • Look for a race specific effort every 72-96 hours. Zone 3-4 pacing. Cool down at the end.
  • Next day is very light Zone I effort.
  • Day two after would be Zone II effort, aerobic maintenance maybe a bit longer than day before.

Race Week

  • Drop volume and maintain frequency.
  • Pratice race pace efforts with declining volume
  • Take Friday off for a Sunday race. Chill.
  • Day before is a 45 min brick practice race effort
  • Day before race drop the fiber down
  • Carboloading, rather than pig out, increase the %age of carbs.

Altitude

  • Limited facts for the athlete
  • Live high, train low is ideal
  • Use additional intervals and higher cadence work
  • Get low two week before the race
  • First week at altitude focus on hydration and possibly more carbs

Recovery

  • Hit the 30/120 min food windows
  • Sleep/naps critical then diet then massage (once per week if possible)

Supplements

  • Vitamins (1g of C and 4-800 IU of E)
  • Creatine - limited value for IM athlete, possible use would be in MS phase
  • Phosfuel - shown to have results
  • Glycerol - good for some people, but try before using on an A race
  • Omega III supplements may make sense

Books

  • Mental Toughness Training for Sports, Loehr
  • The Competitive Edge, Richard Eliot, Track & Field News
  • Serious Cycling, High Tech Cycling, Burke
  • Periodization, Bompa

OT vs OR

  • Many people overreach and this is not a problem in itself
  • If you go further then you end up OT'd
  • Some confusion between the two terms

Miscellaneous

  • A 39x23 should be OK for most the hills around Boulder.
  • OK to race Boulder Peak and hammer!

gordo - 1 May 2000

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