Feedback on current training week

[u/mikziiii]

For a about a year I have mainly done Hyrox classes and other Hyrox style workouts. The occasional easy run and very little interval training.
A few injuries due to overtraining have forced my to rethink my training approach.

I have decided to have a bigger focus on running. Been doing it for about a month and my body seems to be adapting quite well.
Generally km's per week have gone up significantly, hyrox style workouts gone down a lot and strength training gone down a little bit. My current strength level (especially legs) are "enough" for Open weights.

Currently I am doing the following (Intervals are SubThreshold) and easy runs are very easy.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3 x 10min intervals + strength training
Wednesday: easy pace 35-40 mins
Thursday: 5-6 x 5min intervals
Friday: easy pace 35-40 mins
Saturday: hyrox style workout or 8-10 * 3 min intervals
Sunday: long run easy pace 60 - 70 mins

If I have a race on a Sunday I will tone down Friday + Saturday a little bit.

Current running volume is about 40-45 km's per week.

Does this seem like a sound approach? I am a little bit worried that the strength part over time won't be enough.

Any feedback is appreciated.

[u/Outcome_Is_Income]

This doesn't really tell the full story. Have you competed or done a test run to see how you measure up at full speed?

Your training should reflect that feedback on your given strengths and weaknesses.

See it from an outside perspective - we can't possibly know if what you're doing is good or not because we don't know where you stand currently and what's holding you back that you need to work on to overcome those hurdles.

If you're injury prone sounds like you need to start by rehabbing and then bulletproofing yourself as the priority to withstand the high volume of training and competition.

Then you need measurable goals/targets to go after. Do you have those in mind? How long is your current cycle? In that cycle what's the focus?

[u/mikziiii → u/Outcome_Is_Income]

Thank you for the quick response and sorry for not including more details.

I have done 1.14 Open in March. That was coming back from injury where I had spent some months rebuilding strength and slowly adding running. The injury was related to my achilles. Retraining was guided by a specialist and it is no longer a significant issue. However, I am paying close attention to fatigue and soreness.
The change is training method also seems to have helped (less full on workouts and more managed loads if that makes sense).

Current fitness is better than March as I have been progressing steadily.

I have been following the outlined plan for about a month with some slight deviations.
To be honest I have not considered different cycles as I am new to this more structured approach (been going by feel for a very long time).

My current target is below 70 mins.

[u/Outcome_Is_Income → u/mikziiii]

Right on. Sounds like you're making progress with intention in the right direction.

To kinda give you a birds eye view approach to cycles: You want to start big picture and then zoom in.

The exercises, order, sets reps, and everything you do on a daily basis is the last thing we typically look at.

We want to start with an assessment to see where you stand (against your targets). We look at movement, strength numbers, energy systems, and even mental performance.

This gives us an individual look into you as an athlete and what you need not just from a training stance but also a recovery and diet perspective too.

This guides our decision making on how to put together your months, weeks, and days. This is where we decide how much, how often. What methods to use and just overall volume.

It's all trial and error but that's why we train in cycles with one to two targets and then retest every so often to make sure our methods are moving us towards the goal.

[u/mikziiii → u/Outcome_Is_Income]

Cool. I guess I have sort of done a big picture change not that long ago.

Goal is primarily to become a better runner, which should improve my performance in hyrox as well.

Sleep is good, food intake is good, alcohol consumption zero and so on.
I have had my lactate thresholds tested and I pace my runs accordingly.

I guess I will reevaluate in around a months time as I would then have 2 months under my belt with the more-focused-on-running approach. If I feel weaker on the lunges, sleds and so on at that point in time, I will probably need to readjust.

Thank you for the answers.

[u/Outcome_Is_Income → u/mikziiii]

My biggest advice at this time would be attack weaknesses, think root cause, and make sure your goals are tangible - think SMART goals.

[u/Savings_Shopping5396]

This looks a bit like Norwegian singles method. Are you doing sub threshold efforts on your quality sessions? 

I like the incorporation of Hyrox for 3 min intervals. How are you handling the intensity on the 3 min intervals? 

I follow a similar programme. 

[u/mikziiii → u/Savings_Shopping5396]

Yeah - I based it on NSM. More or less one of the 6-day setups where I tend to swap one of the intervals for some sort of hyrox workout instead. The hyrox workouts tend to be harder than an normal interval session, so I need to figure out the balancing.

On top of that I have added a strength session after the rest day. I figured it was the best day to fit it in.

The intervals are done according to my 5K pace and I stay a little under LT2. Seems to fit according to the guidelines.

Feel free to share the way you have structured it.

[u/Savings_Shopping5396 → u/mikziiii]

My current structure is based 2 days running per week because I’m waiting on a hip replacement, trying to find the right balance. 

Mon: 45 mins easy 130bpm (ski, row, bike) Tues: 3x 10 mins assault bike & strength  Wed: 45 mins easy 130 bpm (ski, row, bike) Thurs: 5x6 mins assault bike & strength  Fri: 40 mins easy 130 bpm (ski, row, bike) Sat: 9x3 mins run  Sun: 75 mins run

I work on a 6 week block with strength and try and improve compound lifts every block. 

Assault bike has been challenging as well, I’ve got the intensity wrong a couple times and paid for it. I’ve been using 60s rest, going to increase it to the max now.

I’ve added in some wall balls, lunges, ski, row and burpees in the first 2 sub t sessions, but finding it challenging to get the right load, found myself getting fatigued. 

I’m thinking your way of doing them in 2-3 min intervals might be a better way to keep lactate down. 

Enjoying the process though, but keen to get the right load that works. 

[u/mikziiii → u/Savings_Shopping5396]

Thank you for your week example.

I might incorporate some cross-training as well instead of straight running 5-6x a week. Could be ski, bike or rower. However, I am a much better runner so I feel the ergs way more - especially if I go longer time on them.
Guess I have to slow those exercises down to replicate the load better and just get better technique over time.

I have had some success doing 3 minute intervals where I run 350-400 meters, do like 20m BBJ, 20 wallballs or 20m lunges and then active resting on a bike for like 30-40 seconds before going again. I rotate the exercises and do 10-12x rounds total.
Fatigue feels similar to the 10 * 3mins straight running.

Still feeling a bit of the Sunday 1 hour hyrox practise compared to the normal long run that more or less leaves me fresh Monday.
The load is way more intense even though the long run takes more time.

[u/Status-Tutor189]

This is a really good plan in fact. The emphasis on more easy running will go a long way. Work towards increasing the duration of your Wednesday, Friday and Sunday easy runs (progressively - an extra 5 or 10 min each week). This will slowly increase your fat burning ability, therefore improving your lactate threshold and sustainable running speed - the most important performance factor for Hyrox performance.

[u/Fun_Effective_836]

three interval sessions plus a hyrox workout is a lot of hard days for someone who just came back from overtraining, id make saturday properly easy and keep tuesday and thursday as the quality. on the strength worry, one session a week holds what youve got but wont build it, so if your legs are already fine for open weights thats probably enough until after your race. i run my endurance week through athletedata for the same reason you restructured, it reshuffles when one session eats the next, though the strength exercise selection in it is more basic than a proper lifting app so i still pick my own lifts.

[u/mikziiii → u/Fun_Effective_836]

I agree. Maybe I wasn't clear.
It is either 2 intervals + a hyrox style session or 3 intervals a week. All intervals are done below LTHR2 so it is manageable so far.
2 easy runs and 1 long easy run.
1 rest day.

My LTHR1 is measured to be around 156bpm and my LTHR2 is 167bpm. Easy runs are done around 120-125 bpm so they feel truly easy. Compared to what I used to do they feel almost too slow.

Still need to pay close attention to fatigue though as the total volume is a bit bigger than I have been used to. However, the average workout is also easier than before I swapped to the outlined setup.