Crossfit endurance for HM and HIM

ROBJ3411

Has anybody used it/ Currently doing it with any success?

Im doing a Half Marathon in March with my wife(her first) and a HIM in APR. I've had a bit of a layoff since NOV due to a injury, a bout of the flu and Duck Season.

I know that Crossfit is a very polarizing topic in most exercising circles, however, it was a discussion on training plans for IM Kansas when I decided to give Crossfit a try, that was 2009. I subscribe to the philosophy, but not necessarily the practice, as there are good gyms with knowledgable trainers that know what they are doing, and many that are not.

I'm in week 2 of my plan building the crossfit piece into the endurance training. I'm doing 2x Endurance WODs with a Mileage day on the weekend for each Bike and Run. So 3 per for a total of 6 Workouts right now. I probably wont mess with the swim until March. I feel very comfortable in the water so wont spend alot of time in the pool.

scott091501

I'm not a fan per se. You can't replace s/b/r sessions with crossfit. There are sport specificity principles in play. Most WODs hit type IIa and IIb muscles and a HIM is primarily a type I event. Is CF or CFE great to supplement your training? Yes. At some point however you're going to have recovery issues if you're doing CFE and s/b/r at the proper intensity and something has to give. CF and CFE are great off season/early base supplements that needs to be curtailed or eliminated as the mileage and/or intensity of your s/b/r sessions builds.

scott091501

I'll add that in my opinion you need at least 2 swim sessions, 3 bike sessions, and 3 running sessions per week. I

ROBJ3411

Yeah, endurance WODs are swim,bike run... Mostly a mix of short and long intervals with some tempo stuff. I'm actually only doing 2-3 CF workouts a week. The CF stuff on the endurance site is actually geared toward the endurance athlete..

So it's 2x endurance WODs and a mileage day for bike and run, so 3 sessions per week each. The CF stuff is really secondary.

Just wondering if anyone has used the site successfully, it is a HIIT approach to an endurance event.

I think the weaknesses are:

- you need to program you own brick and transitions work.
- there are less hours of training so hitting nutrition is a little harder. I'll have to really work on that during my mileage days.

scott091501

Sorry. It's been a while since I took a real close look at CFE. Just looked at it again. I think it's probably a really good program for sprint and oly folks. I don't think there is enough base work in it for iron distance events. The intervals are fine, but I think you need to put more time on the beginning and end of the workout at a Z2/3 pace to do some base work. Also what metrics do you work off of? Power, HR? Pacing at the half iron distance is critical, especially on the bike, and I don't see zones or power numbers to work off of.

lj3jones

will it work? possibly. I think it probably depends on the athlete.

Is it the best way to train? absolutely not. Otherwise the pros would be doing it.

ROBJ3411

Scott, I agree with the pacing part, i feel the high pace running/biking makes it difficult to dole out an even effort.I will work on pacing during my long workouts. I train by HR and luckily the HIM is literally on home roads.

Drudoo

If your CFE on your mileage days is keeping you below Z2/Z3, then you are just wasting your time on a run or ride.

I used a little bit of cross fit in the offseason following IMLou, 3 days/week for 6 weeks. However I was not running or riding in that time frame. I used it as a way to strengthen my legs and shoulders which I felt had become unbalanced.

However, I do not feel it would have much benefit in season. It is either taking time and intensity away from your SBR workouts or time away from your recovery.