This is the third of my New York City Marathon 2019 training series, in my previous post in NEW YORK CITY MARATHON TRAINING UPDATE: WEEK 3 & 4 I was building up the run mileage from 2-mile runs up to 4-mile runs with a little burst of pace. The plan is to continue to build slowly over the next few weeks but put in more intensity to test the strength and just keep building. New York is now 17 weeks away so still plenty of time to get those bigger weeks in, there is no point rushing it now and risking re-injuring the calf. I am hoping that the higher mile on the bike is compensating somewhat for the missing run cardio.

Week 5:

• Running:  18.2 Miles – 2hr 41mins
• Bike:  151 Miles – 7hrs 15min
• Swimming: 5,195 yrds – 1hrs 29min

I am going to try out a different style for this week, writing a brief daily update of what training I did, let me know what you think.

Monday:

• 20 min legs, hips & glutes strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2,800m speed swim: –
  • 100m warm up
  • 6 x 25m fast
  • 50m kick on side
  • 8 x 50m fast
  • 100m kick on side
  • 10 x 100m fast
  • 400m steady with paddles
  • 400m fast
  • 200m cool down
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 90 min bike:- hill reps 4 x Mow Cop climbs.
• 10 min foam roll

Tuesday:

• 3 mile easy paced run
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

Wednesday:

• 2,000m steady pace swim:-
  • 100m warm up
  • 2 x 1,000m steady (1 min rest between each set)
  • 100m cool down
• 4 mile easy paced run with 5 x 10 secs strides at a controlled pace
• 65 min bike medium race speed intervals on Zwift:-
  • 5 min Warm Up @ 130-196w
  • 20 min @ 230w
  • 5 min @ 280
    w
  • 20 min @ 230w
  • 5 min @ 280w
  • 10 min Cool Down @ 130 – 160w
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll
• 20 min core strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.

Thursday:

• 20 min legs, hips & glutes strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 60 min recovery bike on Zwift all at 200w

Friday:

• 55 min bike strength building ride on Zwift:-
  • 5 min Warm Up @ 112 – 170w
  • Repeat 5 times
    3 min Hard @ 245w
    1 min Harder @ 290w
  • 1 min Easy @ 170w
  • 5 min @ 170w
  • 10 min @ 290w
  • 10 min Cool Down @ 170w – 112w
• Controlled tempo run (first run at speed since the calf tear in May):-
  • 1 Mile Warm Up @ 9:00 pace
  • 10 min Stretching + 2 x 10sec strides
  • 1.5 Mile @ 7:30 pace
  • 3 Min Recovery Jog
  • 1.5 Mile @ 7:30 pace
  • 3 Min Recovery Jog
  • 1 Mile Cool Down @ 9:00 pace
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

Saturday:

• 20 min core strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 80 min Interval & hard race pace ride on Zwift:-
  • 5 Min Warm Up @ 140 – 196w
  • 10 Min @ 265w
  • 5 Min @ 160w
  • Repeat 4 Times:
    3 mins @ 340w
    2 mins @ 160w
  • 25 mins @ 250w
  • 3 mins @ 310w
  • 3 mins @ 280w
  • 3 mins @ 265w
  • 3 mins @ 250w
  • 5 min Cool Down @ 160 – 112w

Sunday:

• 80 min tough bike intervals on Zwift:-
  • 5 Min Warm Up @ 112 – 160w
  • 10 Min @ 220w
  • Repeat 4 Times:
    6 Min @ 295w
    3 Min @ 160w
  • 30 Min @ 230w
• 5 mile easy paced run
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

So I have gone into a bit more detail on my weekly training there. This was my biggest week of running since tearing the calf 10 weeks ago. It may only be 18 miles with only 3 miles at any kind of pace, but two runs were 5 miles or more which is the longest I have run since May too. All signs of progress and recovery. I have also introduced 10 calf raises each day. Only using bodyweight and both legs together for now, but the aim is to start strengthening the new muscle fibers to prevent any reoccurrence of the injury and also just strengthen the calves in general.

It was another big week on the bike, five tough high wattage rides on Zwift along with a very tough hill session. I have been pushing the bike hard, covering over 1,000 miles in the weeks since the calf tear. This has been an attempt to keep some kind of fitness whilst I have not been able to run but also continue to build my bike strength with 2020 triathlons in mind.

I have now made the decision to drop my swimming from three to two per week. Each week I will do one technique set and then alternate between the speed swim (see above) and a distance swim. Last year, I stopped swimming after Ironman UK (July) and missed four & a half months. This time I will lower the volume but continue to work on form and drills before picking up the triathlon training proper again in December.

Week 6:

• Running:  18.6 Miles – 2hr 30mins
• Bike:  163.3 Miles – 8hrs 39min
• Swimming: 5,167 yrds – 1hrs 37min

More of the same this week. Two swims, only three runs due to riding a sportive at the weekend, and five bikes. Again the plan with the run is to continue that steady increase in the mileage and intensity, building up the strength in the calf as it recovers.

Monday:

• Short but high cadence ride on Zwift:-
  • 5 min warm up @ 112 – 196w
  • Repeat 5 Times:
    2 min @ 225w
    1:30 min @ 310w
    1 min @ 170w
  • 5 min @ 170w
  • 10 min @ 270w
  • 5 min cool down 112 – 170w
• 20 min core strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Tuesday:

• Technique Swim:-
  • 100m Warm Up
  • 150m Full doggy up/ swim down
  • 200m Catch Up up/ swim down – easy
  • 100m Scull 1 Up / Swim Down
  • 100m Scull 2 Up / Swim Down
  • 300m Catch Up up/ swim down – fast
  • 100m Kick on front with board
  • 400m Hard Swim
  • 100m Scull 3
  • 1000m Swim with Pull Buoy
  • 100m Cool Down

During the 1000m swim with the pull buoy, I beat the 750m & 1000m PB’s I set two weeks ago, knocking 3 seconds off each. A sign that my stroke is improving, just need to get the kick working better and increase the ankle flexibility now.

• 60 min recovery ride on Zwift, all at 195 watts.
• 4 mile easy paced run.
• 20 min legs, hips & glutes strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

Wednesday:

• Speed swim:-
  • 100m Warm Up
  • 150m 6 x 25m – max effort – 10 sec rest
  • 50m Kick on side
  • 400m 8 x 50m – max effort – 20 sec rest
  • 100m Kick on side
  • 1000m 10 x 100m – max effort – 30 sec rest
  • 400m With paddles (Focus on Technique, not pace)
  • 400m Steady Pace
  • 200m Cool Down
• 6 Mile Tempo Run:-
  • 2 Miles at 8:30 pace
  • 2 Miles at 7:50 pace
  • 2 Miles at 7:25 pace
• 20 min core strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Thursday:

• 60 min recovery ride on Zwift, all at 195 watts.
• 20 min legs, hips & glutes strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

Friday:

• 4 mile easy paced run.
• 20 min core strengthening, see week 3 & 4 for a breakdown of this set.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Saturday:

• Parkrun at steady 7:30 pace.
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

So the Parkrun didn’t go as planned. I set off at 7:30 pace, however, after 3/4 mile I got fed up with people overtaking me so I increased the pace each mile. 7:13, 6:46 & 6:30.

Sunday:

• Cheshire 100 Sportive, You can read my Cheshire 100 Recap blog for more info on this one.

After a few big weeks in terms of training hours and intensity on the bike, I planned the bike sessions to be lower intensity and just three sessions before Sunday’s sportive. When I did the White Rose Classic four weeks ago my legs felt a little heavy from the get-go, that week I had high-intensity rides all week. This time I wanted to make the long ride a little easier on the legs.

Running has gone really well. Two easy paced runs, I run these at 8:30 min/mile pace. Then the pickup run was really good. It felt so so nice running faster after 10 weeks of either not running or running easy, it may have only been 4 miles picking up the pace but it is a start. The Parkrun was also good, despite coasting for most of the first mile I was able to really pick up the pace to 6:30 for mile three and the last 0.1 at 5:24 pace. All that is nice but the main thing was, I had no calf pain or after-effects from any of the runs.