Take one week, add twenty-three hours or 325 miles of cycling on killer terrain with a group of solid athletes and what do you get; endurance in a week. That’s right, a week. Before I get into the details, let me back up and cover the week itself.
My week of cycling in CA wasn’t an accident or a crazy solo excursion, it was part of the endurance camp series run by Endurance Nation (www.endurancenation.us). A self-described “epic experience†camp, the CA adventure pitted twenty plus athletes against the pro peloton via a daily head start of approximately 2.5 hours. Each day saw us ride some of the nicest – and most challenging – terrain in the continental US (29,000+ feet climbed for the week). The cycling was great; it was even cooler to see the pro peloton race over the same roads you just covered, and even drop in on an expo or two.
This was my second year at the camp, and once again I have witnessed fantastic endurance gains with short-term, high-volume work. As background, my average weekly TSS for the ten weeks prior to the camp was about 250 points. In the camp, I averaged that each day. The best part? Day six was my strongest day, where the group covered 75 miles in just about 4 hours, with a TSS of about 260…this included two KOM attacks, a sprint lead out at 34mph / 600W for 90†and two monster pulls.
I have discussed previously how athletes can follow a reasonable training program and boost endurance-specific fitness via big training weeks (here and here), but there’s nothing like experiencing the journey myself to reinforce the methodology.
As an entrepreneur slash stay-at-home-dad slash ironman athlete, I have some serious demands on my time (like you). My passion might be sport, but it pales in comparison to my love for my family and the desire to be the best parent and husband I can be. So when I sit down to draw up a training schedule (this year for Ironman CDA), I simply can’t bring myself to write in 18+ hours a week of training. Sure, I still want to compete in my age group, but I am not willing to risk losing in other areas. And thanks to this concentrated high-volume training approach, I don’t have to.
Here’s how my 2008 will break down from a volume perspecitve, all building to an A race at IMCDA in June:
- 18wks to race: Tour of CA Camp [link] – One week of cycling, approximately 325 miles.
- 15wks to race: Big Run Week – Not a lot of hours as this is only running, but the focus will be 100% on running well.
- 11wks to race: Big Cycling Week (just prior to birth of baby #2), target will be 400 miles.
- 8wks to race: Triathlon Week One – Goal will be about 24 hours of exercise.
- 4wks to race: Triathlon Week Two – Same as Week One.
All of this will be supplemented by good quality training on the order of 12 hours a week. With a simple weekly schedule and monthly volume targets, I can easily clear the personal/professional decks to get the endurance in (I hope!). Regardless, I have a good week to absorb the work I did in CA, by nailing my diet, getting good rest, and working on my flexibility. Oh, and some serious playtime with my little girl.
Happy training,
P
Hi, I'm Patrick McCrann. 
