1-2 weeks to improve beep test

[averegina]

Due to a prolonged illness (covid) combined with poor planning due to my hate of running, I am in a spot.

I need to run a 7.5 on the beep test in 1 - 2 weeks time. At present, the best I can do is 7.0 before I'm completely gassed.

What would be the best way to improve in such a short period of time? Ideally, I would like to know that I am capable of running an 8.0 before the test.

My plan

My plan was as follows (but I'm not sure if this is good or not)...

I own a Rogue Echo Bike, so my plan was to use that every morning for 15 - 20 minutes prior to work and then combine that with interval or longer distance running every second day?

My thoughts were that the echo bike would be good as it would not put pressure on my joints and whatnot and could be used everyday without causing stress or injury.

I'm also in my mid 30's so don't want to overwork my body and cause any issues that would make my situation worse.

 

[jeffwilly001]

@averegina Get cleared for exercise by your doctor after recovering from Covid.

1-2 weeks isn't really enough time to leverage salient progress. Improvement is a long-term goal and over-training is a great way to end up with injuries that protract progress.

Any possible improvement is going to depend on bottlenecks in your performance, whether it be cardiovascular endurance potential, oxygen uptake, increased lactate threshold, lower body explosive power, etc. The movement pattern and muscles recruited in biking do not necessarily directly translate to the movement pattern and muscles recruited in running, so that may not be as useful.

Typically the best way to improve at something is to practice and train whatever that is. So if you want to get better at running, you need to run. You can try various sprints: https://www.reddit.com//r/hiit/wiki/workouts Mix in incline/decline training and possibly elevation training as well if possible. With such high intensity activity, recovery is absolutely vital so be sure your nutrition, hydration, and sleep are completely locked down.

 

[withamightyhand]

@averegina Could you not just do the beep test every day? Maybe once in the morning and one evening

 

[ngie]

@averegina Hey there! Hope your recovery has been going well so far. It can be really tough to get going again after COVID.

I agree that you should get a doctors note clearing you for exercise first.

Second, can you request an extension of your test? It never hurts to ask.

We have a few athletes that have to submit beep tests at least twice a year and they usually prep for it by running short sprints for volumes many times that of their intended beep target. Sometimes as many as 40-50m total.

The protocol we use is
* 8 second sprint (~6 RPE)
* 15 second recovery

If you’re target is roughly 7m of work, try to get between 7-21m or more in your sessions. Since it’s coming up fast maybe do:

Total Minutes: 7, 9, 11, 14, 18, 11, Test

The sprint portion should be fairly relaxed, you are trying to build volume.

DM us if you need more detail!

 

[averegina]

@ngie TY for the reply.

I don't think I fully understand what you are saying.

Are you advocating to do 8 second sprints with 15 seconds rest after each sprint, for a total of 7,9,11,14,18,11, then do a test.

This does seem like alot of recovery time given the amount of work.

 

[ngie]

@averegina You would repeat the protocol (8s on / 15s off) until a separate session timer hits 7 minutes, 9 minutes, 11 and so on. All of those are separate sessions leading up to your test. So six training sessions and then your test.

You can run back and forth to a 20m cone or use the bike.

If you can still maintain an RPE of ~6-7/10, feel free to shorten the rest interval.