Home› Coaching Forum 🧢

Paul's - Old Men Rule - Micro Thread

Paul HoughPaul Hough
in Coaching Forum 🧢
Coach - I am looking for last week taper advice on IM Sweden - Saturday, 17 Aug. Looking for input on my plan before I depart Sunday.

Sunday - 20 mile easy bike on the trainer plus 3500 yds swim at the pool, depart Sunday afternoon.
Monday - arrive Copenhagen, OFF DAY
Tuesday - easy run (4 to 5 miles), plus 1 hr fitness center bike
Wednesday - train to Kalmar. Could run 2-3 miles first if needed. Bike 1 hr late afternoon in Kalmar?
Thursday - practice swim on the course...2000 yards easy. Bike 20-30 miles? Have bus tour of bike course in the PM.
Friday - 2 mile run, 10 mile spin on the bike in the AM, bike check in PM, otherwise off feet.
Saturday - kill it!

I have an excellent base going into this one, but I'm not sure if this is too much or too little...especially Wed and Thu.

What do you think?

Comments

  • Bruce ThompsonBruce Thompson
    Paul - I'm sure the coaches will have some wise comments, but here is my thought.  Flying east to Europe always screws me up, so I'd suggest you take Tuesday off too.  Make sure you fully adjust to the time zone change.  It was easier when I was younger but seems to take longer now.  If you feel you need to work out on Tuesday, I'd cut it back to just 2 miles on the run and 30 minutes on the fitness center bike.  Since you say you have an excellent base going into this, a few extra miles won't help your fitness now but could slow down your adjustment to the time zone.  Just my 2 cents.  Good luck and have a great race.
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    I agree with bruce. #1 plan ahead to minimize impact of travel (fluids, sleep, melatonin, whatever). #2, just a short run on Tuesday. #3 bike upon arrival. #4 thursday is swim RR and a 20 mile bike (be safe, plan ahead where), friday is day off, Sat is kill it!!
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Thanks! I am very experienced at making the time zone shift to Europe in one day by staying up the first day, but I will definitely dial back the workload as suggested. Full RR when I get back.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Coach P - I am driving up to IMFL to volunteer/register during Week 16 of my IMCOZ plan (going well so far, good RR#1 yesterday). Don't see how I can do a solid bike ride on Saturday with all the race hubbub and road closures, but I have this Wed off to train. Here's my plan for the week ... is this OK?

    Mon, Tue - Stick to plan
    Wed - Big Tri Day. 3500 yards swim, 90 mile bike (Saturday's ride brought forward) and 3 mile transition run
    Thu - 9 mile run AM, 20 mile easy ride PM
    Fri - Long Swim + 3 mile run in AM. Drive to PCB for 5pm Volunteer Meeting
    Sat - Long Run day (2.5 hr scheduled Thursday run slipped), 5-9pm volunteer shift
    Sun - Register, drive home, 30 mile drainer ride.
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    @Paul will be great to see you in FL!! I suggest you drop the 3 mile run on Wed as you will be running Tues/Thurs/Fri/Sat...we don't need 5 days in a row! I would also probably skip Sunday given the long run / cheering and travel...rest up maybe stretch a bit and plan on hitting Monday on schedule!
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Man, I am so busted...typically run 5 to 6 days a week anyway! Next week I pull the Volume back and have One last race before Coz. Mainly I want to make sure the long bike on Wed and long run Sat are OK as those are key workouts for the week. Hope to see you Sat PM before I go to work handing out transition bags to finishers.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Need advice for Sunday. Entered TriRock Clearwater Olympic long ago with intent to hammer it as last high quality effort before Cozumel. Now the problem. Raced an oly in October and threw out my left shoulder. Started doing rehab shoulder exercises and thought I was back last week. Swam 11000 yards last week, each one feeling better, including 4700 yards Friday before driving to IMFL. Race day I ran 17 miles with right hammie cramp just after 10 miles then went to my volunteer shift. Injury 1 - tripped over a row of gear bags turning the hammie cramp into a hammie pull. Injury 2 - after handing out gear bags for 6 hrs, I was walking back to my hotel and a gust of wind blew off my hat. I reached up fast to try and catch it and my left shoulder popped, and HURT. I took Sunday completely off and was able to do a 37 mi ABP ride on the drainer tonight. Both feel much better but hammie is tender and left arm will take at least a week before I can go hard. Question is what to do about the race on Sunday. I see three options.

    1. Stick to my plan and give it everything. I am most concerned about the shoulder and worry I could reinjure it if I go out hard.
    2. Blow it off completely and follow this week's scheduled training instead.
    3. Convert to a C race. Do Saturday's scheduled 40 min run and 270 min ride, then do the oly with whatever I got, but start the swim wide and slow to avoid reinjury.

    I am leaning to the last one. What do you think?
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Option B - just not worth it. You gotta recover given the "AA" race that is looming...just be smart with your shoulder!!!! Bummer we didn't connect....
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Sorry I missed you. My volunteer shift was short staffed and I worked late to help out. Option B it is. My hamstring pull was worse than I thought. I have extensive bruising so I obviously tore it to some degree but I coming back. The last 3 nights I ran:

    Tue - 2 miles @ 11:37 pace
    Wed - 3 miles @ 10:44 pace
    Thu - 4 miles @ 10:08 pace

    Embarrassingly slow but the progression is obvious. I should be running fine in another week. I am returning to the pool tomorrow. I will reassess my goals in the last week but at a minimum just need to finish to work on the LQ tally!
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    You are right on track...no pushing, incremental progress and smart attention to details of how you feel!
Sign In or Register to comment.