Yes, I self-control the hard workouts in to the hard days so that I don’t do them on easy days.
Is it when my cat wakes me up at 4am and I can’t get back to sleep?
Going back to the original point of this thread, let’s imagine there is a hard workout you can do that gives you 100% of the gain available in running, and an easy bike that doesn’t create enough stress for cycling-specific adaptations to occur, but you get some general cardiovascular benefit.
Now let’s imagine that instead you do two hard workouts, one bike, one run. Could you get 100% of the available benefits in both running specific and cycling specific gains? And maybe need twice the recovery?
Or does it not work like that; you can get both the gains with the same recovery. Or, 70% of the gains in both sports with 150% of the recovery time needed…or…or?
Have I made the question clearer?
We don’t know is an acceptable answer. I know I don’t.
You might be able to create a session that could maximise the fitness return…but they are likely to be diminishing returns on subsequent sessions if the sessions are all ‘hard’.
This all depends on the objective of the sessions and the training level. So you could follow a ‘hard’ level 4 or 5 set with a long level 2 set and maximise the return. With training you might follow a level 4 or 5 with another in the same discipline or different discipline but you would probably need longer recovery.
The Norwegian’s do double threshold days, usually in two different sports but thwir threshold is really mote like sweet spot. That might be more doable and allows for more work over the months.
Now I am old, two hard sessions a week, on different days, is enough to recover from with work, family, etc.
Saturdays were two or three sports, although the run was usually aerobic pace the bike was threshold intervals, hill climbing.
it’s not like I got injured, but this year would be with less rest and more recovery pace sessions on easy days. I haven’t made any progress in years so always willing to challenge/try something new…although I’m running out of ‘new’ ha ha, repeating old stuff hasn’t worked either.
I’m not looking for advice on my training, so much (as always) trying to understand the underlying principles. However, I only have my data to play with, so I out this together for you
In regards to… Most triathletes consider swimming a recovery activity?
Recovery no.
Easy? I wouldnt say most but could be; they consider it an easier day / easy session?
Most consider it a survival activity?.. probably.
I consider it both… its mentally draining rather than physically draining for me. Mentally hard. From physical fatigue point of view easy, from a motor skills point of view very hard.
The discussion was non swimmers, generally. Aka Triathletes…, can’t swim (ask a swimmer), can’t bike (ask a cyclist), can’t run (ask a runner.)
Manage to combine them well though.
