Rachel's 2014 Season Plan
Hi Coach Rich,
Thanks for the season plan last week. My original plan was to do a Eagleman 70.3 as an early season A race, and then Door County Half as a B race en route to IMChoo in September. Now with the chatter on the forum about Wisconsin Dells Rev3, I'm intrigued by that as well. (sorry for the length of this- brevity is not my strength today)
I'm thinking of Wisconsin Dells as A race instead of Eagleman. Downside- my plan was to do Eagleman since I'm from DC and was going to be in Maryland the following weekend for a wedding, so I was just going to have a vacation week between the race and wedding. If I do Wisconsin Dells instead, I would still have to go to the wedding, and I'm maid of honor, so probably spending 4ish busy/annoying days away where I wouldn't be able to get any long rides in that weekend, which is the weekend before the race. Probably not a big deal since that would be tapering, but this would be an A race so I want to be as prepared as possible. I think I would still do Door County as a B race a month later.
My probably crazy other thought is keep Eagleman as my A race, and then also do Wisconsin Dells as a B (or C) race two weeks later, especially if it is going to be the team event. Would this be too much racing? Wisc Dells would be on my first week of the IM plan (starting in week 6 based on what you sent me), but don't want to dig myself a deep hole early on.
One of the downsides to my past season was that IMMoo was my only race. I think that, with many other factors, contributed to some lost mojo. I also have more funds now so I can actually think of going to more races, but don't want to screw up my whole season.
I know the season is still a ways out, but Eagleman registration opens tomorrow and I hear it goes fast, so I want to decide now what I should do, at least as far as that race.
Thanks!!
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This has not been my year. March-June was a bum hip that shut down running pretty much entirely. Just when I'm getting back on the horse, I go over the handlebars and its now 8 days since I've been able to lift my left arm. Obviously can't swim and finding that while I can sort of tolerate aerobars indoors, I am not able to safely handle the bike for outdoor riding. No worries, follow up doctors appt is in the works to find out what is going on.
Anyways, I don't think Chattanooga is in the cards for me anymore. While this shoulder might turn around in time, I don't think I will have given it the training energy I would like. I know IM isn't going anywhere, and it'll be ready for me next year when I am able to properly prepare (and I will... ready to kick some ass in 2015!).
I'm thinking about switching gears and doing a fall marathon, as (one armed) running seems to be about all I can handle right now, and the legs seem to be tolerating it. I know you guys hate marathons, but my other alternative is training for the ice cream time trial, and that won't bode well for next season. I think the marathon can also help me build up my running base again that I lost with my hip injury. So what I'm thinking is targeting the Indianapolis Marathon for Nov1, letting my legs rest a bit, then a bike focus plan to be ready to start the OS in January. Any issues with this?
Sorry to hear about your troubles! Questions for you:
1) Not positive on races next year yet, but probably a July HIM and most likely IMWI.
2) I wouldn't totally say a NovOS is out, but I really want to be able to hit the OS 100% this year and looking at my schedule, that seems more likely starting in January than Nov. What would the advantage of a Nov vs a Jan OS be?
3) I'm a "do what I say not what I do" type PT, or in reality, dealing with athletes like me are why I don't work outpatient :-) Yes, in theory I totally see the disconnect. I think the bigger goal of a marathon is just making the whole not being about to do an IM this year thing a little easier to accept. My plan was to be conservative in the build and ready to change to HM if need be. I'll take my stupidity into consideration though...
If you were to do a July HIM and IMWI, and do OctOS, that would set you up for:
The issue I see with JanOS starts is that there is often a bit of "fitness deconstruction" that happens Nov-Dec, so they are starting the OS in a less fit place than their OctOS counterparts. So OctOS is usually about building '15 fitness on top of '14 fitness. JanOS can often be about rebuilding fitness before building '15 fitness, if that makes sense.
That said, work and personal schedule trumps all, the above is just my coachy coachy advice.