Floating

In a recent issue of some running related magazine i read about what was referred to as a 'float' workout - essentially it involves a session with work and rest intervals such that the work interval is at or slightly above lactate threshold and the rest interval is at or slightly above a long run (marathon) pace.

This type of workout wasn't totally new to me - way back when i was following Joe Friels triathletes training bible i used to do what Joe referred to as 'criss-cross' workouts - essentially the same idea - some interval slightly above threshold alternated with an interval at under threshold, usually in Z3 under his scheme of training zones.

On wednesday i was slated for a bike so i thought i'd try it and, long story short - i though it worked pretty well.  I was out for 45 minutes and alternated 5 minutes of Zone 3 riding (something i felt like i could sustain for about an hour but not without some difficulty by the end) with 5 minutes of Z4 or above riding - an effort that i would have been hard pressed to sustain for more than 10 minutes.  Ideally i'd be using a power meter to monitor my actual effort (as opposed to my perceived effort) but i still haven't coughed up the half a grand to get one and am finding it hard to justify since i'm only riding once a week.  Someday.

But the workout still seemed solid - i had to consistently push during the WI and try to recover during the RI, despite not really resting.  I pretended i was in a pace line during an Adventure race with Team Yogaslackers - Chelsey and I were taking turns pulling for Jason and Daniel who could barely just keep up (hey, it's my workout - my motivation can come from the realm of fiction if i want it to!) - five minutes on - five minutes off.  We were  pushing hard to close the gap on team GJ/Wedali, who because of their superior navigation had left the final TA two minutes ahead of us.

I finished pretty worked - opting not to take the final 5 minutes as a cool down and make the last work interval 10 minutes instead of 5.  Ouch

Wonder why they look so mad in their picture?  They know that those two minutes just ain't gonna be enough.... (;