Too much volume? (trying to complete Great Lakes challenge)

[gisborne]

I just realized today that the Great Lakes challenge ends December 1, not December 31. That bumps my weekly requirement from about 100k a week to about 140k a week. It was already a big jump to do 100k/week since before that I was mostly just doing 10k 3x/week otw + some additional 10k erg workouts (averaging 40-50k/week). What will be the potential downsides (if any) of a sudden 50% increase in volume for the next 11 weeks?

[Tandstad]

I have quite limited experience with these kinds of volumes, but the body likes it best if you gradually increase volume, letting the body adapt to it. The risk of injury would increase I would assume, you would basically be looking at doing almost a half marathon each day.

Are the upsides of completing the challenge great enough to be willing to risk injury? If going from 40-50k to 100k was already a far stretch, I assume the leap from 100 to 140 will not make it easier

[Dino]

I looked up the challenge when you said you first posted it and quickly discounted joining esp. as start date had already passed by making it more difficult!

1,743,979m in 140 days... or just over 87k for 20 weeks was a quite a tall order already.

You do need to plan a day off a week for health and sanity. If you have the time I'd say you can still complete it, but you would be looking at 25k a day with the rest day so it will need to be slow paced stuff and prob double sessions a day, e.g. 10k before breakfast and an hour+ in the evenings to break it up.

Downsides to me are time investment and it not becoming a chore so you get to hate the rower, but otherwise doable if happy to plough up and down slow enough. Good luck with it!

[Dangerscouse]

As Dino says if you go slow enough it's probably manageable, but there's always the looming problem of not resting properly and accumulating CNS fatigue. Admittedly if you're taking it slowly I doubt that this will become too much of a problem.

I have got quite a lot of years experience, but in mid-June 2017 I decided I was going to do a 12hr challenge on 20th Dec 2017, and for months before that I was not doing anything longer than 10k, and sometimes HDing at 8k. I did my first FM six weeks later, and you can surprise yourself when you set your mind to something; the mind & body have a way of finding solutions when they need to.

Go slowly, constantly remind yourself why you're doing it, and listen to your intuition, not your lazy voice, and you can do it.

[gisborne]

Thanks for the replies and advice. I'm definitely taking a day off each week (I already do this). I have the time, since I'm unemployed. I guess I am mainly concerned about injury risk and overtraining. If it's going to be counter-productive then I'd rather not suffer.

Here are a the plans I'm thinking of:

Plan 1:
M: 30k UT2 (split in 2 sessions)
T: Intervals, something like 8x500 3 min rest, +UT2 distance to get 15k total
W: Like Monday
Th: Intervals, something like 4x2000 5 min rest, +UT2 distance to get 15k total
F: Like Monday
Sa: 15k UT1 (possibly split in 2 sessions)

Plan 2:
MWF: 30k UT2 (split in 2 sessions)
TTHSa: 15k UT1 (possibly split in 2 sessions)

Plan 3:
MWF: 30k UT2 (split in 2 sessions)
Th: Intervals, alternate weekly between shorter and longer intervals, +UT2 distance to get 15k total
TSa: 15k UT1 (possibly split in 2 sessions)

My secondary goal is to improve my 2k time (currently 7:30 ) which is why I'm bothering to potentially keep intervals at all. On the other hand, intervals will add more stress and I'm less likely to do them. Plan 3 is a compromise. I need exactly 135k/week to meet my goal, and I have exactly 11 weeks. Thoughts between the 3 plans?

[Dangerscouse]

Thanks for the replies and advice. I'm definitely taking a day off each week (I already do this). I have the time, since I'm unemployed. I guess I am mainly concerned about injury risk and overtraining. If it's going to be counter-productive then I'd rather not suffer.

Here are a the plans I'm thinking of:

Plan 1:
M: 30k UT2 (split in 2 sessions)
T: Intervals, something like 8x500 3 min rest, +UT2 distance to get 15k total
W: Like Monday
Th: Intervals, something like 4x2000 5 min rest, +UT2 distance to get 15k total
F: Like Monday
Sa: 15k UT1 (possibly split in 2 sessions)

Plan 2:
MWF: 30k UT2 (split in 2 sessions)
TTHSa: 15k UT1 (possibly split in 2 sessions)

Plan 3:
MWF: 30k UT2 (split in 2 sessions)
Th: Intervals, alternate weekly between shorter and longer intervals, +UT2 distance to get 15k total
TSa: 15k UT1 (possibly split in 2 sessions)

My secondary goal is to improve my 2k time (currently 7:30 ) which is why I'm bothering to potentially keep intervals at all. On the other hand, intervals will add more stress and I'm less likely to do them. Plan 3 is a compromise. I need exactly 135k/week to meet my goal, and I have exactly 11 weeks. Thoughts between the 3 plans?

I like the look of plan 3, and this is similar to what I did. My plan was circa 10 miles (16093m) Monday morning, and dynamic hot Pilates Monday night. Tuesday off. Wednesday shorter & faster session (eg 2k, 5k or any monthly team challenge, which is always short and sharp), Thursday stretching and weights. Friday 45 mins tough spin class. Saturday or Sunday, long steady distance, which was a minimum of an FM from end of July to mid December. In my experience, as long as you allow for adaptions you will cope but it will leave you feeling tired and uncomfortable to start with.

Obviously we are all different, and we all react differently to different stimuli, but I only got exhausted when I did my 100k in early December, and that was down to pure stupidity on my behalf.

I found the tougher sessions really helped to keep me sharp and with enough rest, they weren't a problem, but you need to fine tune your intuition as it's definitely a fine line.