SBR "U" (Page 52)

Quick thoughts would be to take a good look at what you've been doing the past couple months first. It's likely decent volume plus moderate intensity up to sweet spot for much of the harder work? I'd might get a couple higher intensity VO2 workouts earlier on as soon as I felt ready. Then more working at sweet spot to at threshold and just over. People may vary some there by doing more volume of the sweet spot and trending harder as the race approaches, or starting harder and going longer with it.

I've done well with a couple hard workouts a week, some can do three, but I haven't been able to do it consistently. You can do more riding at an easier effort too. It could be every day if you want, but you'll probably want to put more emphasis on the execution of the harder work as opposed to pushing the highest volume (by any metric).

I think you'll be fine with that approach.  40k training isn't that much different from the bike training of a HIM.  Of course it helps if you just ride all the time instead of running and swimming, but you're talking about shaving off the last 75-100 seconds of your potential...not something that will cost you 5-7 minutes.

I have a 40k TT coming up in 2 weeks.  This last part of my build has been VO2 max on Tuesday, 2x20' Thursday, 3 hour Z2 Sat, and a hard 3-4 hour group ride on Sunday.  The rest of the days is just stupid easy commuting...a lot of it in recovery zone...maybe some in lower Z2.  I think substituting my commuting with your 4-5 easy runs and 2 swims wouldn't be a huge issue.

The one thing that might differ is on your long ride.  For HIM training, I'm not sure what type of intensity you are putting in.  HIM race pace...Z3ish?  For a 40k you are probably going to want to mix in some harder efforts.  Doesn't need to be the whole ride, but mix in some threshold or harder efforts.  Hard group rides are great for this.

The biggest battle in a 40k is mental.  It's really about pacing and pain management.  

I actually did a decent amount of VO2 work from mid January to early April.  I got really burned out on all the threshold and sweet spot training last year and felt like I'd stagnated, so I decided to give a totally different "plan" a shot.  I did most of my trainer rides targeting 2 - 5 minute VO2 intervals and then long rides at high HIM / low SS intensities.  

I could probably manage to ride 5x a week with two trainer rides with specific interval targets, a long group ride, and a couple easy Z2 rides.

I would love to execute a TT right on the edge of threshold....I do think managing that mentally is the hardest part -- the idea of being completely spent when I cross the line and needing someone to catch me before I fall off my bike is part of what holds me back for sure!

Ok, that sounds like a fair amount of the VO2! I'll clarify the earlier thought a bit in that I'd likely feel ok with that aspect if I could manage to do something like Revolver's 16 x 1'(1') at 120% without too much trouble. Some people neglect this a lot for long course. Don't see a big need to drive it way up in the timeframe given. More making sure it hasn't fallen really flat.

Good luck to the Galveston racers tomorrow!!

Originally posted by mcmanusclan5 Nicole is 328. I'm 2357. Not sure what Marc's is. Anyone from the U racing outside of Galveston? I've been admittedly preoccupied with that particular race.

Marc is 167

Great work guys!

Matt is in with 4:49:31, Marc went 4:58:56 and Nicole has about 3 miles to go!

5:39:17 for Nicole!  Great job everyone, I hope the beer is tasty (and cold!).

Really was a good time!  The swim was non-wetsuit legal (wetsuit optional) for the first time ever -- that's what happens when they have to push the race back by a few weeks!  I "broke" the zipper on my wetsuit last weekend and was mildly stressed about it, but turned out to be a non-issue (borrowed a wetsuit and turned out to be not legal....optional wave was pretty huge though!).

My training was not entirely ideal, but I managed to hit my expected paces for the most part....run was a little slower than I'd expected / was hoping for, but turned out that I actually gained four spots on it, which is completely unheard of for me, so I'm really excited about it!

Got to share a couple beers with Marc and Matt after the race, and heading out for a few days of wine tasting and relaxing with my mom tomorrow

um, er, you are going to have time to write a race report, right?

50 minutes of the bike sounds like plenty - no way I would ever feel compelled to run the race distance in a training session, no matter what the weather conditions. You are going to do great!

All of your questions seem related to research and data points. A lot of people like them to connect with others. The story part of it. Many people enjoy the connection of being being able to follow along even though they weren't actually there.

Absolutely!

I like writing race reports because I like to read back through them before racing (I re-read all of my 70.3's last weekend in prep for this race and remembered some fun / funny / interesting / stressful moments and things that worked or didn't work.  I also like to write them so I can get feedback from others on things I'm struggling with (and have gotten some really helpful advice in the past).  I don't write them to get a bunch of "attagirl"s, but so that I can help myself for future races.

I also really enjoy reading other race reports because it gives me an insight into what was going through their mind, what went well for them (and how maybe I can use that to do well in the future) and what didn't go so well (so I can avoid trying that!).  To be honest, BT for me consists of the mentor groups and race reports.....I don't read too much otherwise.