Matt Foster 2014 Micro thread
Hey coach, hope you are well.
Couple of questions: per Rich's instruction, I have loaded up a half plan for the 70.3 I will do in April ... Which is prelude to my training for IMLP. I'm not sure whether I should be doing the beginner program or the intermediate program. Can you recommend, or tell me the differences between the two plans?
I've gone 4 HIM races in the past three years. My PR is 5:37 at Augusta. My most recent time was 5:58 at Rev3 Anderson.
Another question: on the swim workouts, should I swim the time or the workout? For example, right now I'm typically swimming 3500 or so per hour, which is more distance than appears in the workout. I'm happy to keep doing my own thing in the water unless you tell me otherwise. I've found that the more I swim, the less injury prone I am.
Last question: do you have a recommendation on how to adjust my long workouts? I'd like to do at least one of the long workouts during the work week because my work schedule is more flexible than my family schedule. General suggestion or rule of thumb?
Thanks.
Matt
Ps- Sorry, one last question: someone from EN called me on Friday. I think she said she was the race director, and that she organizes the camps and other events you do. I didn't catch her name and was wondering if you knew who it was so that I could send her a note through EN thanking her for her call. Thanks again.
Couple of questions: per Rich's instruction, I have loaded up a half plan for the 70.3 I will do in April ... Which is prelude to my training for IMLP. I'm not sure whether I should be doing the beginner program or the intermediate program. Can you recommend, or tell me the differences between the two plans?
I've gone 4 HIM races in the past three years. My PR is 5:37 at Augusta. My most recent time was 5:58 at Rev3 Anderson.
Another question: on the swim workouts, should I swim the time or the workout? For example, right now I'm typically swimming 3500 or so per hour, which is more distance than appears in the workout. I'm happy to keep doing my own thing in the water unless you tell me otherwise. I've found that the more I swim, the less injury prone I am.
Last question: do you have a recommendation on how to adjust my long workouts? I'd like to do at least one of the long workouts during the work week because my work schedule is more flexible than my family schedule. General suggestion or rule of thumb?
Thanks.
Matt
Ps- Sorry, one last question: someone from EN called me on Friday. I think she said she was the race director, and that she organizes the camps and other events you do. I didn't catch her name and was wondering if you knew who it was so that I could send her a note through EN thanking her for her call. Thanks again.
0
Comments
As for the swim, I say swim the time and let the yards fall where they may. IOW, don't add extra time to swim 80 minutes just to get in 5,000 when the workout called for 3000 in an hour and you did 3500….hope that makes sense.
As for the long workouts during the week, we usually have a long Thursday run. But you might want to swap that our with Sunday…that puts a 90 minute run on Sunday AM which you can do 6-7:30 and be home all day…if you do that, then we move the Sunday ABP ride to Thursday, and we aim for 1.5 to 2 hours there as you can / as the plan dictates.
Some other folks prefer to do the long Saturday ride on Friday; if that's the case, you can do that but I would drop the Sat run (now on Friday), and make sure to do the Sunday run (now on Saturday) with Sunday off for recovery / family time.
Let me know which you prefer!
The person who called you was Brenda Ross -- our intrepid Race Director and representative of all things Canadian!!!
Probably a dumb question, but please humor me because this is new to me:
My training schedule for today says to run 15' easy, then strides, then 2 x 800 (2'), 1 x 1 mile (4') @ z4/TP/Hard. That'll take me less than 60 minutes for sure. Any reason why I shouldn't keep at the intervals to fill up the whole 60 minutes?
Reason I ask: prior to joining EN, I was working a winter speed training series with a local coach. I'm attaching the excel file showing the workouts. These workouts have less recovery time, and more reps, but still come in around 60 minutes of track time.
I guess the larger question is "how much should I / can I vary from the prescribed workouts?" Another example: because I get so bored on the bike trainer, I've just stuck in a Spinervals workout DVD and done that training in approximately the same zones you have listed on the training plans. Is that ok? Or should I ditch Spinervals?
Thanks - and sorry for all these questions.
GREAT question! The reason why we do the intervals we have is that we are building you across a set of weeks (within each phase) and then across your year. Sure you could do tons of intervals right now...but you'd be buried in a ditch come July. That said, I understand that backing down is hard to do....please give us a few more weeks of the OutSeason...usually by week 6 folks are like "this is enough, when is my rest day???!!?!?!!?!?!"
Spinervals is totally fine...i personally have some multi-DVD sets of the Tour De France that I put in and then do my main sets to so as not to get confused...but I leave that up to you!
Keep the questions coming!!!
Awesome! I love it. You just made my time-starved schedule easier. Although, I will say for the record that I'm running better than I ever have at this time of the year in part, I think, because of all the hard interval work I did in November - January.
I see that you may be at Boston in April. I won't be running, but will be there in support of my super-awesome wife, Sydney, who will be running her third Boston. Maybe we can catch up and I can introduce myself in person.
Happy training,
Matt
I did my first sweat test on Saturday. Now let me be honest: I know I'm a heavy sweater. It's both comical and gross. My running partners joke about it. If the temperature is 30 degrees, I may well be wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt.
I did two hours on the bike as per my plan. I got on the bike trainer for the last hour. I dropped 2.2 pounds in that hour, even though I consumed 24 ounces of Gatorade. Now, I usually wouldn't have consumed that much in an hour, but I was thirsty from the two prior hours and I figured it would be easy to account for 24 even ounces.
If my math is right, that puts my recommended drink rate at 59 - 76 ounces per hour! Is that right? Is that even possible?
I admit that I've had trouble with cramping in past years, and that my fluids and nutrition are likely to blame. But holy moly: 59 ounces per hour?
Thoughts? Please tell me my math is wrong. And if not, any strategies? I don't think I can drink that much without serious bloat.
Regardless, I would begin to work with 2 bottles an hour. OR work on getting there...that should be your baseline for now...if your race will be in 95 degrees with 100% humidity, we might have you try 3 for the first hour...but for now, the target is two!!
Thanks, Patrick. I need to go back and look at my HR file. I might have been pushing hard, but it wasn't anything more than 5 bpm faster on average.
Good luck on your 40 miler!
Hi Patrick:
Want to check in with you on current status:
Training has generally been going very well. As I posted in the dashboard the other day, I did a 5K time trial and beat my January time by almost one minute. In fact, I paced the trial very poorly and (I think) probably could have gone faster. The flip side is that my pace zones all changed: my old Zone 3 became Zone 2; my old Zone 4 became Zone 3. That's a little daunting because if there's anything I've struggled with, it's the bump in my long runs from zone 2 to 3 toward the end of the run. I've been able to manage those pace increases about 60% of the time.
Here's my question: I've got some residual soreness from my runs that I just can't fix. Nothing is in acute pain right now, but I have that "I'm on the edge of an injury" feeling - and I have an unfortunate history of running injuries, particularly overuse injuries. I'm getting a massage next week, and am working on stretching better, rolling out, hydration/nutrition, etc. But in the meantime, do you think I should go full-speed ahead with the new pace zones, or dial the intensity back a little?
EG: I'm planning to do my long run today at lunch. I'm supposed to do 85 minutes at zone 2, then 15 minutes at zone 3, then 10 minutes at best possible pace. I'm thinking about dialing it back a little by adding 15-20 seconds to each zone unless I'm feeling awesome. What do you think?
I've worked really hard all out-season to improve my running - and I'm seeing serious results - so I'm genuinely afraid of injury that might set me back. My wife (and ultramarathoner) keeps looking at me funny and telling me I need to dial back the intensity or else I'll get injured...and so her caution (and she's known me as a runner for 15 years and has seen all my injuries) is making me more nervous.
Other notes: I did another bike test last weekend. I don't have data to indicate that I have improved because I'm only using a HR monitor and also rode a much tougher course than I have used in the past. I'll have a powermeter on my new bike whenever it gets here (another 1-3 weeks!), so I'll do a new test when it arrives and see what I've got. But in general, I'm feeling strong and fit on the bike.
Thanks for reading and any thoughts!
Matt
Losing a bet, I have to side with your wife: caution is most definitely the better part of valor. Given that your current pace zones yielded such fantastic results, I personally don't feel that you have the pressure to dial them up right away. This is especially true given the residual soreness you have in your legs.
I say we keep your zones where they offer right now and wait to see if the residual soreness goes away with your improved recovery protocols. If it does, then you can dial the paces up a little bit – call at approximately halfway between where you are now and the new zones. If that doesn't happen, just keep working with what you got.
Well... I think you're right!
Did my long run yesterday (before I saw your reply). My current prescribed zone 2 is an 8:06 pace. I held an 8:24 for the first 85 minutes, which included three walking breaks (which I haven't been taking). That all felt pretty good. I tried to kick it up into a sub-8 mile at that point, but actually slowed down to an 8:25 pace for 13 minutes when I just cracked altogether. I walked/jogged the rest of the way back to work for a total time of 1:50. Took ibuprofen (first time in a year), stretched, hydrated, put my feet up on the desk. Surprisingly I feel good today and not very sore.
My best time in a HIM run is 2:01 (9:19 avg pace) in 2011. My last two HIM's I ran a 2:18 (10:34 pace) each time. Even with my walk/jog back to work yesterday, I covered 12.75 miles in 1:50. I know I won't run that fast in 7 weeks, but my gut tells me I can break 2 hours in the HIM run if I can stay the course. I've been a little haphazard about the shorter runs in my schedule (particularly the weekend runs before my long rides).
I think I put renewed focus on those shorter runs, and make sure to hit the prescribed zones there, but allow myself to go a little slower on the long runs. What do you think? Getting to the start line injury-free is my number 1 goal for now. If I can hit a PR, that'd be gravy ... and I think I can do that, too, although the big goal is finishing my first ironman.
I agree that we should put the emphasis on quality runs done frequently versus emphasizing that one long run a high pace. Please keep me posted as to how it goes, for now keep that long run pace where you can sustain it healthfully.
Reporting here because it's helpful to me (maybe helpful to you? Maybe not....)
Long run last week was a total, epic failure. Within 2 minutes of being out on the run, I felt exhausted and like I wouldn't be able to keep pace. For the first 30 minutes I managed an 8:30 pace, which is about right. Then I turned onto some streets I don't know because I was curious and wanted to explore. It seemed crazy hilly, but on reflection it wasn't that bad. Over the next three miles, my pace dropped to a 9:40 mile. I just wanted to quit. I got back to some downhill territory and ran 8:20's for the next 30 minutes at which point I gave up and walked home. Total of 11 miles. It was totally demoralizing. I went through al my gels and Gatorade and had to stop and get refills along the way. Just felt totally empty.
I decided to do a make-good on Friday in the pool. 4500 meters in 72 minutes. Felt rock solid. Saturday I took off so I could attend kids baseball all day and get sunburned. Sunday was race rehearsal ride and run.
Only got in 52 miles, but with about 2,700 feet of climbing. Average bpm of 141. Two hours, 44 minutes It felt great. Nutrition worked pretty well: 1/2 of a cliff bar at the top of each hour, and either a gel or gel chomps at each half-hour. Four x 24 ounces of Gatorade. Had three pitstops.
Off the bike, and onto the run: I had a very hard time dialing back the speed. My plan was to do about 30 minutes @ 8:45, then 30 minutes at 8:15. I ended up doing the first 30 minutes at 8:36, which felt painfully slow and I constantly wanted to let the engine open. Then at 30 minutes I just ran on feel. Did 30 minutes at 8:04 average, but it was really a progressive pace. I was tired at the end, but at one point I looked at my watch and was running 8:11's and felt like I could hold that for maybe 10 miles or so. Really solid run. Drank 18 oz of Gatorade and had 1 gel at 15 minutes.
New bicycle should arrive this week, so hoping to have it for my long ride.
Work is working. I'm nervous about the nutrition. I've packed on 4 pounds since starting training. I don't know why or how that's happened.
Hey Patrick:
Need some advice. I've got 25 days till Rev3 Knoxville. Training has been going pretty well until last week.
I took Monday off as a planned rest day. My body thanked me for it. Tuesday went fine. Wednesday I got only about 50% of my ride done, but got 100% of my run done. Thursday was long run day, which went awesome. Friday, though, I failed to get in my swim because I was so busy at work. Totally my fault. Saturday I only got to do 1 out of 3 hours on the bike, and no running because I was cramming in chores and work before departing for Boston. That 1 hour was crazy intense, but basically I was irritated at missing my workout. Sunday had to be a day off because of flying to Boston, check-in, and being Sherpa to my wife. I'm cool with that because what goes around comes around. Monday after being Sherpa I went for a moderate to easy hour-long run around town, which was good. Yesterday we flew back, which kind of bombed my day. I got in my planned run, but not the swim.
Long story short: I got only 6:15 of training done last week, some by choice, some not. Now it's Wednesday and I'm supposed to do a 75 minute bike test. I don't have the time to get that done. I'll try to get in the pool and/or on the trainer just to do something, and I'll do some hard intensity.
The other thing is that my new bike, with new power meter, should arrive on Friday and should be ready to go by the weekend or early next week.
Should I just hop back into my training plan tomorrow with a RR run, then RR swim on Friday, and normal rides on Saturday and Sunday? If I have new bike I could test this weekend, but I doubt it'll all be dialed in by then.
Advice?
Thanks!
Pick up the plan as written, with the understanding that you will ride this weekend with the bike and the power meter. It will take some time for that to become normal for you, so don't expect you to test on it for maybe almost 2 weeks. Will have to check in here to see how we can make that work for your schedule.
I spent 4 hours riding 42 miles yesterday. It was supposed to be a bike RR, but it was my first ride on the new bike. So I spent the whole time trying to get my fit dialed in. I stopped at the LBS Twice for adjustments, and did plenty more on my own. Today I did just 25 miles without any goals other than getting used to the bike. I love it, but it's radically different. Going from road bike to speed concept is a big change.
My plan right now is to follow the remaining training plan for next two weeks, but also try to sneak in a couple of extra rides just to get accustomed to the bike. I have a power meter, but haven't tested with it yet. What do you think? Drop in a 20 min time trial this week? I in kill race based on my HR in 2 weeks, but would like to start tracking my power anyway.
You don't need to test, but go back and look at the data overtime or the very least when your heart rate is down and take a look at what the power meter says. This way you can use the power meter as another tool to make sure you're staying in the right heart zones.
Hey Patrick: REV3 Knoxville was yesterday. Pretty good day all around, though a little frustrated with my performance. Isn't that weird? My previous PR was set in Augusta on a much faster course, and I beat it by 2 minutes.
Still: The Line showed up at mile 7. I had mentally prepared for it to show up at mile 9. And I didn't respond. I slowed down exponentially, mentally fell apart. Then at mile 10 I got mad, reset my watch, reset my mind, and picked the pace back up to where it needed to be. I wish I'd done that at mile 7, but I didn't. Kind of a blemish on an otherwise great day. I could tell you all the things I've learned from EN that made it a great day, but I won't here.
On to Ironman Louisville.
I know that this week is a transition week, but for the life of me I can't find the "transition wiki" or transition plan for what I should do this week. I'm going to hit the pool for about an hour today to loosen things up. But can you direct me to what I'm supposed to do this week?
Thanks!
Matt
The transition plans are located in the training plan section of the website you can load it up there. If you need more guidance on the transition plan process, you can go to the race execution page under resources to find it there.
Even though you feel like Louisville is looming, it's very important that you rest this week so that we can begin to build you again.