Recovery Ahead!!

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Ahhhh coffee! The above picture represents the place where I will be spending most of my recovery week coming up. I am in the process of moving my coaching over to Training Peaks and that should take most of my free time.

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My first training block down in Clermont is all but done and has gone very well. Volume has been moderate (25, 27 & 30 hrs), but there has not been much in the way of easy training. Most has been in my steady zones (IM pace/power) or harder.

Last week finished with a solid block of riding. Here are some numbers for those that like them. Keep in mind that the numbers below are on from cycling only.

4 days, just under 15hrs in the saddle and a combined TSS (Training Stress Score) of 688. My TSB is currently at -72 and I have increased my ATL (Acute Training Load) by 118 points over the last 3 weeks. Needless to say, it is time to absorb all of the work.

The most notable ride was the last one (yesterday) of 5:15. The TSS score was 266 with most of that coming in about 4:45 of the ride. The first 5hrs of the ride saw 4000kj's (calories) of work done with increasing watts each hour. No intervals, just a solid IM/Base riding.

I did learn one thing that I think many might find useful. In the past I have seen a fade in power at about the 4hr mark of my rides during training/racing. This year I have increased my calories consumed each hour from 350 to 500 and that fade has gone away.

So if you see the same thing in your training. Here are some ideas to correct it.

#1 Make sure you start your training/racining with full glycogen stores.

#2 Try increasing your calories consumed each hour on all rides.

#3 Make sure that you take in proper nutrition and hydration after your sessions.

As a side note: Most people do not take in as many calories as they think they do throughout their training. Some examples of why are: spilling, forgetting, leaving gel/sports drink in your bottle or taking in less than a full gel.

I hope everyone has a great week!

BB

Comments

Anonymous said…
You'll have to let us know how you like using Training Peaks. I've heard good things about the workout log. A friend of ours is using it for his IM training and is trying to convert us, but IM already costs enough and then times that by 2 people...expensive!

Sell us hard and we might try it, otherwise we are still using the conventional x-cel spreadsheet.

Sounds like your training is coming along, that is awesome! You've really put in some long training days/hours these past few weeks. Enjoy the coffee during your recovery week. Question for you, do you drink coffee during a peak training week or just during recovery weeks?

Good luck with IM AZ! Go kick some major a** and get that kona slot.

Jen and Shane
7:10 AM
Blake Becker said…
Hey Shane and Jen,

Thanks for the comment. Training peaks is great and I will have to talk to you more about it soon.

As for coffee, ALL THE TIME...in the morning. I find if I have coffee after about noon, it causes me to have trouble falling asleep. But in the morning I don't think I could live without it!

Stay warm guys!

BB
1:30 PM
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