Building Aerobic Base

Took a few weeks off from posting, but I’m back in action! The last 4 weeks have been the longest stretch of training I have ever done. It was recommended by friends/coaches Brent Pease and Stacy Sims (link to their page below) that I lower my intensity and focus on volume for the first 6 weeks of the year. Rather than running near my race effort of ~155 bpm or cycling at 200 Watts, I have significantly decreased my effort. Watts are down to 150-160 and my running heart rate is 145 bpm or lower.

How I feel about treadmill running

Ice has forced me inside a few times, but I'm still finding ways to get outside as much as possible. 

Building an aerobic base: With this new (at least to me) way of training, I have found that I no longer need a dedicated rest day every week or 2. Since the end of December, I have taken 1 rest day to recover for the increased volume. Since starting this, I have noticed a few things…

1.    The pace I can run at while maintaining a heartrate in the low 140’s has dropped 5-10s/mi. So with the same effort, I am running slightly faster. I believe this will also translate to increased speed at my race effort once I get back to training at a higher intensity.

2.    I do not constantly feel beat up and needing of a rest day. Even though I have added 4-5 hours of training each week, slowing down and keeping my heartrate low has allowed me to continually feel “fresh”.

3.    I am itching to start pushing myself again and get back to the harder workouts. While training at an easy effort feel nice, I find myself missing the sense of accomplishment from hitting those tough splits.

4.    My caloric intake has increased dramatically. I was already eating a lot, as most triathletes do, but I am now needing 2 full lunches to get through my work day. I believe this is due to both the increased volume and from staying in the aerobic zone. Next week I plan on posting about what my weekly meal prep looks like ;)

With two weeks of high-volume Zone 2 training left, I plan on closing out this first block with a lot of hours. My goal is to swim at least 10,000 yards, bike 8-10 hours, and run 30+ miles both weeks.

https://www.dynamomultisport.com/triathlon-coaches