Detraining

I had such hope and optimism for this season. With no swimming, I was going to put more emphasis on running, getting in more volume and progressing steadily using the 10% rule. My plan was to hit the spring with a solid aerobic base, starting outdoor running season at a good level of weekly mileage, ready to start integrating speedwork. I was going to race with better run fitness than I'd ever had before.

I was also hoping to put together a solid winter of training without having my gains stalled (or reversed) by repeated and/or extended bouts of illness. SPOILER ALERT: the year my training doesn't get derailed by illness ain't gonna be this year.

When it comes to training while sick, you're really damned if you do and damned if you don't. An article from Triathlon Magazine Canada from last year basically states that if you're really sick, don't train at all, and if it's just an above-the-neck sort of deal (sore throat, congestion, but no fever) then you can train, but don't exceed Zone 2 and no sessions beyond 45 minutes.

Discouragingly, according to running guru Hal Higdon “Research by Edward F. Coyle, Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, suggests that runners begin to detrain (lose their fitness) after 48 to 72 hours, and that it takes two days of retraining to regain the fitness lost for every single day of training skipped." (Trainingpeaks blog). The article goes on to say, however, that the "loss can be somewhat avoided if you at least include in your schedule one to three days a week of maintenance training, especially if it incorporates high-intensity exercise that approaches VO2max."

Given the restriction on high intensity training while you're sick, however... that advice isn't particularly helpful in this instance. So here's the result of my terrible winter:

 Above is the result of my second outdoor run this year, about 49 minutes of Zone 2 running. My average pace: 5:48/km. I did the first km in 5:32, then fell off into the 5:40s.

In contrast, here's a similar run from last year, albeit on a hillier route:

Same duration, but the average pace was 5:02/km. Indeed, I was able to run 9 full kilometres, all under 5:00/km while keeping my heart rate in Zone 2. In contrast, this spring I couldn't even run a single kilometre at that speed without blowing over Zone 2. I'm about 45s/km slower now than I was last year. This is what detraining looks like.

Amazingly, I haven't seen a significant loss in bike fitness. This is similar to my experience last fall when I barely biked at all for almost two months and started back on the trainer with only a slight loss in fitness. I was running a lot during that time period, so reasoned that I was still getting lots of cardio in that was translating well to the bike.

This winter, however, my extended bouts of illness meant I wasn't biking or running. But while my run fitness has suffered tremendously, by bike fitness has barely budged. I don't have any explanation for this, other than that maybe my body is just better suited to biking than it is to running (though I suppose this has been obvious for years).

So now the question is, how quickly can I regain my run fitness? Will I be able to race this year at or near the level I did last year? We'll see.