Recovery and the C2 2000m plan

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Thomas W-P
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Recovery and the C2 2000m plan

Post by Thomas W-P »

In response to Mike's request, here is the last couple of weeks of training on the C2 plan. I am using page 61 (Trained) of the abridged version of the programme. Maybe I should be less ambitious? But then yesterday was my first blow out and I had been working hard physically all day, and my lungs are screwed.

I am on the M week and today is scheduled for 2x10' AT

Code: Select all

L 2x12’UT1   10’AT 2x12’UT1   12’AT 2x15’UT1  2x8’AT
M 3x11’UT1  2x9’AT 3x13’UT1  2x8’AT 4x11’UT1 2x10’AT
H 3x14’UT1 2x10’AT 4x12’UT1 2x10’AT 5x10’UT1  3x7’AT
My heart rate data shows that I stick pretty rigidly to the middle band of the ranges (+/- 5bpm for limited periods), for me this is:
UT2: 141
UT1: 158
AT: 169
TR: 179
AN: "189" based on a resting of 56 and maximum of 192.

But your comments about me not having any recovery time feels right. I certainly don't feel I am recovering on the UT1 pieces - they are quite hard work. My lungs cannot be helping though. Blummin' holidays.

Thomas
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Mike Channin
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Post by Mike Channin »

Ok, quick reply so you have something to think about.

1. I don't think you should be blowing on a UT1 piece. As I understand it, it is supposed to be relatively relaxed, so the worst that should happen is you have to drop behind target pacing. It should never be so tough that you have to stop. (I can see you'd be pre-fatigued from the other stuff, so I can understand why you might have struggled, but still think you should pull in to the end, although maybe very slow - I have to do this sometimes, particularly on aggressive +ve split workouts).

2. According to the 'Mike' plan, you would be overtraining on this schedule. If I tried to do the plan you have there, I would DEFINITELY be overtraining, and would expect to start to break down after 3-4 weeks. Personally, I would swap ALL the UT1 pieces for UT2, to make sure you get adequate recovery, and that you can properly go hard for the other workouts. Concentrate on low SPM/high SPI in the UT2 pieces and you will still gain both fat burning and technique.

Let me know what you think about this, Thomas.

Out of interest, does anyone think I should 'formalise' the Mike plan into something you could follow blindly (as in without having to think about or understand fully), and if I were to do this, would anyone be interested in following it and letting me have all their training data so I can see how they get on with it?
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Thomas W-P
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Post by Thomas W-P »

I think I will take that advice on UT1>UT2 whilst my lungs are still reacting to whatever it was on holiday. They do seem to be steadily improving though. Saturday was a blow out as much because I was demoralised about my lungs as anything.

I do *think* that before my lungs collapsed the UT1s were not too hard - but I was definitely sweating - not hurting, so I will see how I improve over time.
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Post by Mike Channin »

I would certainly consider throttling back the intensities of all pieces while you're recovering from illness (and this inlcudes unfortunate allergic reactions). I've had to back off a bit recently, as a consequence of a slight chest infection/sore throat, and I'm still fighting with it in the background, but managing to maintain my momentum (so far!).

One point the book makes is that we nearly all train too hard by default, rather than too easy, and that backing off a bit is NOT a bad thing and you should not be afraid to do it. View overtraining as the enemy to avoid at all costs, and that should help.
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Post by Thomas W-P »

Well, I'm bushed after nearly a week back at work, and today is a recovery day (3 x 14' UT1) so I am having a night off. :-)

Bring on the beer. Mwa ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaa. :twisted: :twisted:
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