Week 5 & 6 Update:

Feb 19 - March 4

20 Weeks til Lake Placid

Week 5 & 6 Summary

The weeks seem short but the time can stand still during a workout. It is busy season here with us coaching swim teams, running aquatic programs, and trying to fit in workouts, but Cindy is getting it done.  After missing a few workouts last two weeks due to the Olympics, Cindy hit weeks five and six hard and consistently, not missing any work out. She is just a few weeks away from the Seoul Marathon, so we are just making sure she is keeping her body healthy. The past few weeks Cindy has kept at it with very similar workouts to the weeks before.  In a few weeks, things will slowly begin to change as we transition into some endurance specific building.

Bike :

2nd FTP Test

At the end of week five Cindy came over for another FTP test which she did on extremely tired legs and a bit under the weather. Impressively, Cindy was able to improve her FTP to 191 Watts (read about her first FTP test on Episode 3).  I’ll be honest I was hoping she would be at or above 200, but this could’ve been the result of tired legs and having a slight “cold“. I’m boldly predicting a huge gain on the next test, which we are aiming to do sometime around week 12. She will have her marathon under her belt at that point and has no reason to “hold back” in her training.

With the risk of being repetitive about the Swim and Run training,  I will leave you with a few workouts.

Example Workouts From Cindy’s Week 5-6 Training Plan:

Swim Workout:

400 warm-up

300 kick (be sure to include some body alignment kicking on your side: nose in your

armpit, palm facing down, shoulder internally rotated with elbow same or higher than hand)  

4-6 x 50’s Build up (each 50 have a different technique focal point)

Main set

40x25 @ aprox 10 sec rest.  

-Each 25 should be 21sec or faster. (21sec is approx. 110% CSS pace)

-Each 25 should be done with prestien technique

-After your 2nd “fail” take an extra :30 sec rest.

2 ways to “Fail”

1.) 21.1 or higher

2.) you feel yourself compensating with bad technique

*If needed this set can be broken up into 2 sets of 20 with a 300 smooth in between sets.  Ideally you would like to work up to doing 60 repeats at 110%. Long warm-down is needed.

Cycling Workout:

https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/4wk-ftp-booster/week-3-day-3-spiked-tempo

I like this workout because it has you finishing each 10min. interval strong.  I like the mental and psychological training of finishing strong.

Run Workout:

 3 sets of (1600m @ 10K-10 seconds/km, 2-minute jog, 300m @ 5K-20 seconds/km), with 4-minute jog between sets