It was fun to read Gordo’s basic week examples this week. He started me on a basic week several years ago, and I’ve used that concept since then to prepare for races and different periods of just keeping fit. The structure, especially when not pressured for a specific event, is a nice way to maintain a decent baseline of fitness.
My goal event this year is a trip down to Perth with Kate Bevilauqa to race her home race, IM WA and watch her regain the crown she first took in 2010. Of course, I have a little side bet with Guy Crawford as well on the spread of our finish times. Should be a great trip and I’m excited to see Kate’s hometown and beautiful Western Australia.
I thought some might find it interesting to see a Basic Week in context to real life performances. So here it goes. I have attempted to keep the workouts in context (x * pace) so one could “plug and play” their paces. For example, all the swims are on 1:25-130 yd base time, which corresponds to my IM base time.
Mon:
am 3k swim IM base, 30 min run*
pm 90 min bike IM watts
Tues:
am 2.5 hr bike@
noon: +/- swim
pm 30 min run*
Wed:
am 3k swim IM base, 30 min ez run
pm 1 hr bike IM watts
Thurs:
am 1hr run in foothill trails, steady effort
pm 1:30 run on the flats* on Boise river greenbelt
Fri:
am 3k swim IM base, 30 min run*
pm 1 hr bike ez
Sat:
am 4.5 k swim IM base, 4-5 hr bike%, 30 min run#
Sun:
Unstructured run/bike with Erin or nothing
LEGEND:
*30 sec/mile faster than my PR IM run split
#1 mile ez, 1 mile on track very solid effort sub 6 min pace, ez recovery 15 min
@warm up, 4-6 20 min sessions with 4 min hard hill effort followed by 16 min recovery, cool down
% 4-5 sets of 45 min IM PR +5 watts power with 15 min ez.
IM Discipline PR’s
Swim: 1:27/100 yds pace Louisville 2011
Bike: 2.9 watts/kg Kona 2011
Run: 7:42 min/mi Canada 2007
Good Luck with your basic week.
Dr. J