Written by Overview
Welcome to Week 4!
(11 weeks to go)
This is the start of the next phase lasting 6 weeks focusing on increasing your overall aerobic fitness with a gradual increase in training hours. We will rotate through 3 specialty weeks: Long Bike, Long Run, and Brick (Bike + Run combined) This week kicks off with a longer bike.
Topics & To-Dos
- Swim Skill–Breathing Out Underwater: Many issues with the overall swim technique can be traced back to the timing and body position of breathing, including sinking legs that we covered in Week 2.
We learned in Week 2 that sinking legs can be caused by the head elevated in the water. One reason for the head to be raised is poor breathing technique.
When turning your body and head to breathe, we want to take as little time as possible, which means taking IN a breath only–we need to have already exhaled completely. When you take the extra time to both exhale and inhale, your head is elevated longer, causing your legs to sink.It’s against our instinct to get rid of your breath while underwater–we naturally want to hold on to air. We’ll work on this in both workouts this week, and going forward.
- Assessing Effort: How well are you doing at assessing easier Zone 1 and 2 parts? Are you going easy enough? For those of you using heart rate monitors and/or power meters, try executing the workout without looking at the data–keep recording, but only assess after the workout.
If you’re working too hard, watch the data on the next workout and adjust accordingly. Caveat: hydration, temperature, humidity, and caffeine all will elevate your heart rate giving a false sense of effort. It’s one of the reasons this plan is based on perceived exertion–don’t trust the data at face value without analysis.
- Logistics Readiness: We are not often in complete control of our calendars. Think back the past three weeks, what training or nutrition plans were interrupted?
How could you better prepare to work around these situations? On the positive side, what unexpected openings did you have in your calendar through cancellations or changes that you might have been able to use for training, nutrition, or a better bed time if you had been prepared?
Going forward, what logistics or gear prep could help you take advantage of these opportunities? Do you know the open times of available training locations near home or when traveling?
Total Hours: 5h:35m
Swim: 1:10
Bike: 1:55
Run: 1:20
Strength: 1:10
MONDAY
Run 0:35
Endurance
- Warm up: 10 minutes starting in Zone 1, then into Zone 2
- Main: 25 minutes Zone 2
Strength 0:35
- Whole body: 6-8 exercises, 2 sets each. See the Strength section in the Training Plan Overview for options. Increase to 3 sets if you have the time available.
TUESDAY
Bike 0:45
Endurance
- Warm up: 10 minutes starting in Zone 1, then into Zone 2
- Main:
- 30 minutes steady Zone 2
- Every 10 min, do 45 seconds hard, then settle back into easy. Hard efforts should still have smooth 360 deg pedal stroke and relaxed and quiet upper body
- Cool down: 5 minutes easy
WEDNESDAY
Swim 1100m, about 0:35
Endurance, shorter sets
- Warm up: 3 x 50, Zone 1-2
- Main:
- 8 x 50, Zone 2, rest 15-30 seconds between each. Focus on underwater exhaling
- 1 x 100, swim easy
- 8 x 50, Zone 2, rest 15-30 seconds between each. Focus on underwater exhaling
- Focus on breathing as described up in the overview. Fully exhale underwater, turning your head just enough on your breathing side to take air in
- Cool down: 1 x 50, relax Zone 1
THURSDAY
Run 0:45
Endurance
- Warm up: 10 minutes starting in Zone 1, then into Zone 2
- Main:
- 30 minutes Zone 2, running back to your start place.
- At the end of the 30 minutes, do 5 x 20 second strides, walking back to the start after each one
- Start each stride at by continuously accelerating to an effort about 8 out 10 over 10 seconds then hold it the final 10 seconds, keeping great form.
Strength 0:35
- Whole body: 6-8 exercises, 2 sets each. See the Strength section in the Training Plan Overview for options. Increase to 3 sets if you have the time available.
FRIDAY
Swim 1100m,
about 0:35
Endurance, longer sets
- Warm up: 2 x 50, Zone 1-2
- Main:
- 1 x 300 focus on your catch as we did last week, Zone 2
- 1 x 300, focus on underwater exhaling as we did earlier in the week, Zone 2
- 1 x 300, try to focus on both breathing and catch, Zone 2
- 1 x 50 fast!
- Cool down: 1 x 50, relax Zone 1
SATURDAY
Bike 0:70
Endurance
- Warm up: 10 minutes starting in Zone 1, then into Zone 2
- Main:
- 60 minutes Zone 2, steady pedaling
SUNDAY
Day Off, or 
Hike/Walk, or 
Yoga/Mobility
Training Zones
Use this chart as a guide for how hard to work in each training session. This plan uses Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) or “feels like” to judge effort.
For those who want to train with heart race for the run and and heart rate and/or power on the bike, download an extended template here.
