This week, we shift focus to endurance and work on changing gears in the efforts. Before we can properly assess what the efforts should be, there needs to be some baseline testing. You pick the modality, but the protocol is below.
Test -
Run -
Warm up 10 minutes of light jogging. Stop. Dynamic stretching. Include high knees, butt kicks, toy soldiers and inch worms.
Then on a relatively quiet road, or track, with little to no traffic, or stops, preform a 3 mile run. The effort is decided by the individual but the objective is to start slow and finish with nothing left.
Row -
Warm up - YouTube - Erin Cafaro, the 7's warm up
Include an additional 500 meters of rowing
Stop, include dynamic stretching listed above.
Preform a 3k Row test. Same protocol as the run
Bike
Slightly different here. If on a regular bike - road bike, mtn bike, TT, warm up with 10 min easy spin, then 10 x 30 sec high cadence - 100 rpm, 30 sec easy.
Stop. Get water, etc.
Preform a 15k bike test either outside or on a low traffic, few stops route.
If on an assault bike - preform an 8k bike.
Same protocol as above.
With any of these, record your effort. Then you want to extrapolate the following -
For run - your ave mile pace. If you ran a 24 minute 3 mile test, your ave mile pace is 8 min.
For row - your ave 500 meter pace. If you rowed a 12 min 3k, your ave 500 pace is 2 minutes
For bike - your ave mile pace (although I do use power, for the purposes of this, lets start easier), so if you biked the 15k in 27 minutes, your average mile pace is close to 3 min per mile.
These are important numbers to know as you move forward in your training.
Workout 2 -
Using whatever modality you choose, here is how to move forward on the 2nd workout -
Warm up 10-15 minutes of choice.
Run - Main set - 4 x 800 meter repeats switching gears every 200 -so 70%, 80%, 90%, 80%. These are percentages of your ave mile pace. Using our 8 min mile example, every 200 meters shift would be - 8:25, 8:15, 8:07, 8:15. Note, your last 200 is not all out, rather you drop it down. Why? Because you only get 90 sec rest between efforts. If you preform the workout correctly, 90 sec should be enough rest between 800's/
Cool down 5-10 min jog
Row - same warm up
Main set -
4 x 1k row - switching gears every 250 meters, -70-80-90-80. Use your ave 500 meter pace to determine the percentages required for the workout. Rest is 90 sec between each 1k.
Cool down 5 min row, 5 min walk
Bike-
Include at least 20 min of riding, light!, with some drills, like high cadence, single leg, out of the saddle efforts.
Main set -
5-6 x 2 mile repeats, shifting effort every half mile - 70-80-90-80. Again, use your ave mile pace to determine percentages. Instead of coming to a full stop between efforts, spin 4 min easy between each
Cool down 10 min spin
For questions or comments, please hit me up on Instagram or Facebook. Enjoy your training.
Stay strong,
Guy
