JK's Macro Thred (for real this time)
I was looking ahead at my training for the next month or so as I will be doing some travel to Europe and of course my monthly trips to my southern Florida home, and notice that in my Intermediate HIM plan, Week 11 I have a BTD coming up in June on a weekend that I will be in South Florida.
Here is my schedule with the EN plan as written, and then my question.
- Friday (May 24) fly to South FL
- Saturday (May 25) - run, long bike #1
- Sunday (May 26)- long bike #2
- Monday (Memorial Day) - swim/run
- Tuesday (May 28) - Swim
- Wednesday (May 29) Bike/run brick
- Thursday (May 30) Run
- Friday ( May 31) Run
- Saturday (June 1) - BTD (1h s/ 3h b/ 1h r)
- Sunday (June 2)- travel to MI
Question: There is a Half Ironman in West Palm Beach on my BTD that I would love to volunteer at (not race!) and since the prior Monday is my day off from work but my husband still works I can afford a long day that day without eating up SAUs. I am thinking in order to make this work, I can do the following... Alternately, I can just not volunteer and not alter the plan which would be way too simple for this girl ha ha ha!
Friday (May 24) fly to South FLSaturday (May 25) - run
Sunday (May 26)- run
Monday (Memorial Day) - BTD from June 1
Tuesday (May 28)- Swim (same)
Wednesday (May 29) long bike #1
Thursday (May 30) - long bike #2
Friday (May 31) - run (same)
Saturday (June 1) - Volunteer at race, Brick from Wednesday
Sunday (June 2) - travel to MI
I dunno... what do you think? Worth the hassle?
Comments
Friday (May 24) fly to South FL
Saturday (May 25) - run
Sunday (May 26)- run
Monday (Memorial Day) - BTD from June 1
Tuesday (May 28)- Swim (same)
Wednesday (May 29) long bike #1
Thursday (May 30) - long bike #2
Friday (May 31) - run (same)
Saturday (June 1) - Volunteer at race, Brick from Wednesday
Sunday (June 2) - travel to MI
However, I don't see the long run in there. Make sure you get that in but schedule it with 48hrs of separation from the BTD
Sorry I should have mentioned that I shifted Thursday May 30th - Saturday June 1st to Saturday May 25th - Monday May 27th as a whole block.
I am thinking that if I want to make it to IMWI happy and healthy in 2014 that I need to take a full step-back this year.
I have been going non-stop long distance since 2009 when I did my first Half Iron race. Every year since then I have done 1-2 HIM races, and then last year a full Ironman in Florida in addition to 2 half iron's.
I then jumped right into the EN training way, and went hard until ~ 3 weeks ago when this injury sidelined me and forced a full stand down of training.
I was planning on racing 3 half Iron races this year however this injury has made me realize that I am ready for a little mental breather from long distance racing. I sort of miss going hard and short since I have not really done sprints a whole lot in the past 3 years.
I want to be excited for the long distance again like I have been in the past, and not feel so far behing in my training due to this injury.
In addition, I have some pretty hard goals for the 70.3 distance and this is just not the year for me to make those happen. I am afraid that I will only be setting myself further back if I push though my injury as opposed to taking this year to get my body back in alignment (literally) and all muscle imbalances identified and corrected.
My new thought is that I would like to go back to my roots and switch my June Half Iron triathlon to the half iron aquabike option, pull out of my August and October half iron's all together (not yet registered) and focus on sprints and Olys for speed and fun focus.
I think that if I focus on doing shorter races and the races that I find really fun as opposed to going long all. the. time. that it will help me heal properly and my mojo is already coming back the more I think about this.
So given this.... I need some guidance on what to do exactly since I have never trained for a sprint triathlon outside of my very first one years ago.
Should I send you a new season survey with some goal sprints?
Yes, please submit the races you're thinking off. That said, one of the best ways to become a faster triathlete over the course of a year (?) is to create a couple blocks where you truly are a single sport athlete. For example, put your run in the closet and get ludicrous strong on the bike...then put your bike in maintenance mode and get ludicrous strong on the run, then turn back to multisport.
In 2010, before racing IMWI in 2011, I stopped running in late March and just trained on the bike for a monster climbing race out here in September. I got crazy strong and then the plan was to be a runner Oct'10-Feb'11 then shift to IM training. Twas all good until I rolled the shit out of my ankle the day after the bike race (!) but that experiment in single sport training showed me just how strong you can get in one sport when that's all you do
So as you think about what a ~15-16mo cycle for WI'14 looks like, consider ^that^ above also.
I would like to focus on cycling right now, and then put the focus on running after I am healed, later this year. I can be focused on one sport and still knock sprints out based on my overall fitness gains anyhow... I like how you think!!
Hill training.. here I come! :-D
I was thinking more about what you said about finding focus on a single sport in blocks until the multisport training for IM begnis.
I am feeling excited for the season again.
I did a little digging in the Wiki and found the master plans - and figured I have 1.5 years to go - might as well lay the foundation to succeed now!
So even though I submitted a 2013 season survey to you yesterday - here is the bigger picture I was thinking of and would love your feedback if I am in the right space with my thinking.
2013
This year I want to be bike focused through September. I am a hill climber but have trained on flats for the last 3 years due to the courses I have been racing - since IM Moo is my goal I am going back to my hilly routes and focusing on hills as they can't hurt! I will be adding insome bike focused events to test my mettle and get some fitness gains. while having fun with my fitness at Sprints.
I will conclude my season at the Michigan Championship triathlon in September.
I would then like to take a month or so as transition my head and body to get ready for the run focus block for 2 months through the Holidays.
I will start January OS then transition into a GF plan until IM training starts in June.
2014 will see me at the IM training camp in August should one be offered again, as well as at a July Wisconsin Brick Adventure training session for some bonus Wisconsin course time.
Is this the proper application of blocking and planning?
Since I do not race a lot during IM years, I figured have fun with races this year while focusing on the bike, then next year focus on putting it all together again for IM Moo.
All looks good, with the addition that you should use that month or so of transition as your opportunity to do informal, unstructured running in order to get your running legs back before that 2mo running block. So you're sorta talking about a 3mo running block as 1mo @ "Just Run" and 2mo @ focused running.
I do have a half iron aqua bike on the 23rd of June, but everything else are sprints essentially.
I am back in the gym and back in the kitchen working on the body comp (up over 33 lbs since IM FL in November!!!!!) and back to doing short course racing this season (with my eye on September's Championship to really kill it out there). I just went ahead and did the 20 week short course plan (INT) to end at the Championship. Is this OK?
2014 is the goal of IM #2, so I am going to pull a totally not typical Jenn move and take a breather and focusing on healing the body, stretching, recovery and going back to the basics for a year before I go back to the long stuff.
I feel like some weight has lifted from my heart. When the body just isn't cooperating, time to take a seat and stand down; to listen.
4 weeks ago I did the first of three Wednesday night sprint triathlons in the local "Dino" series (TRex, Ptrodactyl, Triceretops) and was just seconds off from a course PR. Crazy as I have not trained in months and I was not even racing that day, just putting in some time on the legs as a test to see how I was in my recovery.
This week is week 4 of the INT HIM plan, which is a test week. Tonight is scheduled my bike test with a run brick and then tomorrow my run test. I have the 2nd in the Dino series tomorrow which I was thinking of using for my bike test (with a brick run) in the real world just so that I have some real world numbers to play since I am outside for my events and long sessions.
The next time I have to test falls on exactly the next race in this series on this exact course, so to me it makes some sense so that I have comparable numbers under comparable conditions. Also, the course this race uses is a non-stop 12+ mile route inside a gated state park where I train every week - so I can replicate the bike test outside safely without much issue in the future.
Can I run test tonight and then bike test tomorrow?