Clark's Micro Thread
My first micro post. Hopefully I have this right.
My swim tonight is as follows:
WU: 200
MS1: 4 x 200 (30"), last 50 of each is a sprint. 50 Easy
MS2: 5 x 150 (20"), last 50 of each is a sprint. 50 Easy
CD: 200 easy Total: ~2200
I understand the warm up and cool down. I also understand that 4x200(30") means swim 200 then rest for 30 seconds before swimming the second 200, third and fourth. I understand that the idea is to swim the first 150 of each 200 at my main set pace and then to sprint for the final 50. What I don't understand is the "50 easy".
My first thought was to swim 50 easy after MS1 and again after MS2, but the distance does not add up if I do that.
My second thought was to swim 50 easy after each 200, but again the total distance does not add up.
I'm heading to the pool now, so I'm just going to wing-it, but it would be helpful to understand if this workout comes up again.
Thanks,
Clark
Comments
Ok, thanks. That makes sense.
My swim workout says "your goal race pace minus 3"" - this is 3 seconds faster than my goal race pace, correct?
Another question, this time about the bike workout.
I'm having trouble with the concept of "on" time. My workout calls for 10 minutes of "on" time and the coaches note says to break up this time into increments I can do at max sustainable effort across the full set. 30 on / 30 off or 1 on / 1 off. So I'm riding for 30 seconds at ~90%/Zone4/Hard and then 30 seconds at zone 1/easy to recover, presuming I can keep this up for 20 reps of 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off. Is this understanding basically correct? If so, then is the ~90%/Zone4/Hard what I would vary to produce the sustainable effort across the full set? Thus, if I had to do 20 minutes of "on" time, I might need to do 30on/30off at ~80% instead of 90% due to the increased session duration? Am I understanding this correctly?
The goal is you do the ON time for a duration that you can sustain Zone 5 effort...so if you can do zone 5 for 1' on, 1' off, do it...but if you can, cut it back to 40/40 or 30/30...
I'm following the off season plan right now and I'm a bit confused about the duration of some of the bike workouts. For example, a recent main set was 3x14 (4) zone 4 and the listed workout duration was 60 minutes. The off season bike warm-up is 25 minutes total so the warm-up combined with the main set puts me at 79 minutes, not 60 as listed. Does the listed duration exclude the warm-up or should I cut back on the warm-up so that I don't exceed the workout duration? I'm doing the complete main set regardless.
Thanks,
Clark
My results are as follows:
03/19/14 - 13.74 miles in 40 min at 151 avg heart rate.
01/07/14 - 12.85 miles in 40 min at 145 avg heart rate.
My question is this, since the heart rate is so much different, how do I compare the results?
Thanks Pat, I was/am pretty pleased with the result. I saw a similar improvement on my 5K run test so I really feel good about the work that I've been putting in.
I have another quick plan related question. I'm in week 13 of the intermediate IM plan, training for IMTX. On my plan, camp week works out to the week of 4/7/14, so I'm wondering if I have things confused or if the IMTX camp was this past weekend just because of scheduling as opposed to where it would fall in the standard 20 week plan.
I could not come to camp as I'm in PA and I only have $$ and vacation to get to TX for race week but I'm planning to follow the "camp week" workouts in a couple of weeks when the come up on my plan.
Am I following along correctly or have I messed something up and should have done the camp week workouts this past weekend?
Sorry for what is probably a stupid question.
Clark
If I do rearrange, then my recovery goal will be to get back on plan for the Wednesday ride after camp or worst case the Thursday run.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Clark
Thanks again.
I'm getting ready to switch over to the "EN Full Advanced" Plan at the end of August in preparation for IMAZ. I was reviewing some of the later weeks, trying to plan my bigger weeks and I noticed significant changes to Week 18 vs. prior years. As I expected, week 18 has a full Swim -> Bike -> Run race rehearsal, but it's on Friday and then it's followed up by another 112 mile bike / run brick on Saturday and then a third 112 mile bike on Sunday. This seems like an awful lot of work to try and consolidate in a two week of taper. It also represents a significant chunk of time, which I'll need to start planning for now. Can you take a look and let me know if the plan is accurate?
This is what the advanced plan entails. It's advanced. We can always dial it back so it works for you.
Thanks Coach. I'm not complaining about the work/volume, it is the advanced plan. I was more curious about the timing. I guess I would have expected that extra volume in or around camp week and not in week 18 of a 20 week plan. Thanks for the feedback. I'll adjust my schedule accordingly.
Clark
Looking forward to following your training!
~ Coach P
Week 17 started today...
I need your input on a revised schedule given my current capabilities. I'm also looking for recommendations around the importance of this week and the run race rehearsal vs the final race rehearsals next weekend. Said differently, should I try to keep pushing myself this week in an effort to miss as little work as possible, or should I be dialing back some to ensure I'm as close to 100% as possible for the final race rehearsal work?
I don't feel like I did any harm with the work that I did the past two days, so I'm inclined to keep doing what I can. I would just like your input and thoughts.
Thanks,
Clark
I'm really anxious about the RR on Thursday.
Looking forward to your input.
I'm sure P will chime in, but I would say you need to see a doctor to see exactly what you did. A contusion that big could mean a lot of things. Once they tell you what the deal is, you can better determine what you should and shouldn't do. I typically use the do it if it doesn't hurt, but the hip is the start of the chain to a lot of things (likely why you felt knee pain). Also, moving with any pain can lead to changes in mechanics that can cause all sorts of other issues. Sorry I don't have more to tell you, maybe others do, but I would see a doc stat to see what is going on.
My guess (I'm not a Dr. nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express) is that the major swelling is causing the running pain/discomfort. Especially if no other activities give you any pain.
I'd suggest lots of ice, elevation, and anti-inflammatories for a few days. if it isn't better by next week perhaps then go into see a real doctor.
My daughter smashed her toe and while we knew if it was broken there was no treatment, wanted to know if she would do more damage, she's a serious LAX player. We went to urgent care, for a $60 co-pay had the answers...
also, not a big wait on a saturday morning first thing.
Please keep me posted!
~ Coach P