Glenn Wied's macro forum
Hi Coach Patrick, and other WSMs who might help,
I have been enjoying the first two weeks of my HIM plan. However I have a few questions.
1. what is the easiest, fastest way to get feedback from you on a mobile device? checking forums? checking email?
2. How do you get feedback from your paying athletes regarding workout compliance? i mean, how do you know how we are doing? Do I need to commit myself to 20-30min of web/forums interaction each day? That adds considerably to the overall time investment, obviously. What is the time ROI regarding reading forums!? 
3. I feel lost in my workouts because of the lack of feedback; And I don't get feedback from you because I don't know how to ask for feedback - If I can't do it on my mobile device, it gets increasingly inconvenient. Is there some way you can look at my workout results, and TELL me how I'm doing? If I connect you to my DIGIFIT account, would that help? Do i need a different membership level?
For example, is my current running z4-z5 boundary optimal? How would i find out? Just wait until the next 'test' comes up?
4. When are the rest days?
Sincerely,
Glenn
Comments
Hi Glenn,
Looks like you emailed us at support@ with these same comments and we answered you over there. Let me know if you need anything else.
How can I see a graph of approximate training hours/week for the entire program leading up to my race? I was not expecting these to 2hr workouts mid-week; so, I need to adjust my expectations, or change the workouts.
Here you go.
We did these for the 2013 training plans. This is 98% applicable for the '14 plans.
I see a lot of 2hr workouts coming up – for example, 1 hr swim + 1 hr run midweek: with a 10 min transition time, and at least 15 min travel/prep/cooldown on each end, that's about 2.6 hrs devoted to workout. Maybe I signed up for the wrong plan; maybe my life isn't ready for this level of time commitment. I feel like a 1.5 work out on weekdays is the most I can afford.
Can you adjust my HIM program accordingly? Or, recommend a different plan?
Thanks for your consideration.
Hi Glenn,
Notes:
At the end of the day, perfectly fine to cut those workouts short, to make them better fit your personal life, but do the best you can to get in the prescribed volume for the Thurs long run and Saturday long bike.
I find this "sweat test" example from the wiki hard to believe. Under COOL conditions, you're going to drink 48 ounces of water per hour? How can you get any riding done, with all the bathroom stops? Isn't hyponatremia a danger at this level of hydration? Also, I don't see how this example takes into account what Patrick drank during the test.
Sweat Trial Example Athlete
Coach Patrick weighs in at 190 lbs at the start of the test (body weight + 2 gels). After the hour at his Ironman Zone 2 effort on the bike in his luxurious Pain Cave, he weighs in at 187 lbs. His net loss is 3 lbs. Multiplied by the range of fluids, Patrick needs 48oz (3 x 16oz) to 72oz (3 x 24oz) of fluid.
Cool Conditions
48 oz / hour (aka 2 bottles per hour)
Hot Conditions
72 oz / hour (aka 3 bottles per hour)
@Glenn, in the case of the example there was no fluid consumed. Had I consumed fluids, that would have been added to the total. In other words, say I consumed 24 oz of fluid during the hour test...so instead of losing 3 lbs, I "lost" just 1.5.lbs. Per the instructions in the test here, after the multiplication of my 1.5 lbs vs 16 to 24 oz, I would add the 24 oz I consumed.
So 1.5 x 16 = 24 OZ......plus 24 OZ....equals 48 oz.
As to your question about amount of fluid consumed, the test is designed to be personalized to your test results. If you don't sweat much, your number will be much lower than someone who is a prolific sweater...there is no blanket everyone drinks X.
For example I personally drink 2 bottles an hour when I race based off of my test results. While that does lead to quite a bit of peeing on a regular training day, after a 70 minute swim and 5 minute transition, in a wetsuit, with no fluids, I am actually BEHIND on my fluids. I then follow my protocols for fluids until I start to burp them back up...at which point I dial them back a bit.
Most folks never get ^here^ with their fluids...they exit the bike behind and suffer on the run. If you are racing IMTahoe and it's 50 degrees, you'll hit that "burping / saturation point" much earlier in your day...
Our goal is exit the bike having lost no fluid weight as that will happen on the run. And our target is to have two healthy pees on the bike...
Don't even ask me how I drank 15 bottles during IM Kona in a 4:59 ride...
ps as for overhydrating, this is IM Perform I am drinking, not just plain water...
Please do us a favor and ask these non-Macro-related questions (your sweat test above) elsewhere in the forums. IE, Race Execution, Nutrition, etc. As is, Patrick gave you an excellent, well thought out answer but very, very few people will see it as it's parked in your personal Macro Thread.
When we, the Team, do this, asking broader questions in other places vs in personal Macro and Micro threads, the whole team learns and grows.
Thanks for understanding.
Sadly, I broke my leg (left fibula) while playing Frisbee on April 16 – in the middle of HIM week 12. this first experience with Endurance Nation has been a good experience - i'm glad for the push, and the professional advice. But now I have to put my account on "hold", and recover for at least 6 wks before serious training again. Meanwhile, I will do whatever I can for my upper body and aerobic conditioning, without using my left leg!
WOW! Hopefully you don't need surgery? Good luck!
Hi Coach,
Run durability OS run test #2 was not good, not the glory I was hoping for based on your "test #2" podcast. Let me know what you think!
It did NOT feel like I've been working hard for 7 weeks!
Mile 2 (best) was about the pace of my AVERAGE from Dec2 ~7:33/mi.
Avg pace 7:44/mi., an increase of 11 sec compared to Dec 2, 2015.
(a YEAR AGO pace was 7:58.)
Avg HR = 139, down from 142 Dec 2, 2015
What went wrong? I don't know.
Even though not as rested as I should have been, I was MORE rested, and LESS injured test #1 Dec 2, 2015 !! But I'm THREE POUNDS HEAVIER.
Note: for this indoor track, 5 laps = 1 mile, so 1 lap = 0.2 mile.
Run Splits:
mile 1 @ 07:45.65
mile 2 @ 07:31.20
recovery lap .2 mi @ 10:00.00
mile 3 @ 08:03.31
mile 3.1 sprint @ 06:00.00
Run strucure:
Feeling out of gas at mile 2, so Lap immediately following mile 2 was a recovery lap (0.2 miles). Then mile 3 + 0.1 (½ lap), then another 0.1 mi (½ extra lap) to finish. So 3.4 mi total.
HR data uses the 3.1 miles of running without the recovery lap after mile 2. (I used TrainingPeaks graphing tools to isolate those sections. TP link here 
Finally, this analysis took me 2.5 hours to do . That is not ok. How can I report and analyze faster?
Cheers,
Glenn
Hi Glenn,
Sorry about the delay getting back to you. Bad tests happen sometimes and I'd be curious about what happened with that second mile, when it appears you picked up the pace to much and potentially paid for it? Personally, if I feel a test is going sideways, usually because I went out too hard in the first few minutes, I'll punt the test and turn it into an interval session or other quality workout within the spirit of the test. Then either try again some other time...or not.
Regardless, I try to not read too much into the results of any individual test, preferring instead to look at trends over a number of similar workouts. IE, is my tempo pace, or HR and RPE at the same tempo pace improving? Can I use that simply set new pacing goals vs having a need to formally test?
Coach P,
What would be the training cost of this scenario?
I have an opportunity to go backpacking ~7 days at 10,000 ft in Colorado in July, about 7 weeks before IMWI. The plan is to summit as many 14'ers as practical - at least four. You have encouraged EN athletes to "keep it fun"; and this annual trip (experienced hiker) sure fulfills that. No swimming or biking for 9 days including driving/travel, and running fitness would be replaced by hiking at altitude. Would lungs and legs stay at "equilibrium" fitness with the altitude and 6+ hrs/day hiking up and down mountains with 35 lbs on my back?
I'd love to get your opinion; next week is commitment time for the trip.
It's not ideal for IMWI prep but it sounds like a great opportunity. If you were trying to KQ or wanted to do really, really well at IMWI, I wouldn't recommend it. Personally, I'd be more concerned about rolling an ankle or some other injury. Just be careful, I suppose, but otherwise sounds like a cool opportunity.
Thanks, Coach! -
I am not worried about injury hiking - but if I went off to do some trail running during free time at 10000 ft, that could invite trouble! So, how can I maximize gains/minimize loss during the hike, while not increasing risk of injury - use what surplus energy I may have to jump rope? do 300 squats/day? From what you know about training at high altitude, what nutrition and exercises could I add to hiking?
Honestly...I wouldn't worry about it. Just enjoy the hike, seriously. Bonus if you can find time and energy to do other stuff, maybe some core and core work but otherwise...just enjoy the hike.
Sorry, I don't have an special guidance regarding nutrition and high altitude. Personally, I've always had a hard time sleeping when training and sleeping above about 7-8k feet.
UHG! I need some counseling here!
This weekend was a fail. I must learn to read ahead more, but a graph of hours-volume-time commitment over the coming weeks would really help give me the big picture. I looked at the 4.5 hrs of training Sat and the 5 more hours of training Sun and thought "wait, what did I sign up for? and this is called a "minimalist" HIM plan? oof-da." That wake-up call, setting up and learning about my newly installed Stages PM and Garmin (Thanks, Wm. Jenks!), and family life, made for putting in about 20% of the planned workouts Sat & Sun. Coming out of swim camp, I was given a pass on ~30min of bike training/day on weekends, but that would only have reduced the training time to 8.5 hrs.
Now that I'm "training with power" I need to GET some power! and loose some weight! But I am on my own bike, not a spin bike at the gym; that's good.
off to the races!
Glenn,
What week of the Minimalist IM plan are you looking at? In the min plan, the long run is on Sunday, long bike on Saturday. What you're describing sounds like our "normal" IM plan.
Let me know if you need anything
Coach Rich,
Here's what the top of my plan page says:
Current Plan: 2016 EN*Half, Minimalist, 12 Weeks, Intermediate
Below is Sat-Sun from Week 6 as I see it on my Plan page. Am I on the right plan for B-race HIM 6/19 and A-race IMWI Sept 11?MS:1 mile (3') @ z3/HMP/ModHard. Remainder of time @ z2/MP/Steady.
Ideally done before your long ride. If after, you might have to drop the Threshold Mile (not ideal) for just z3/HMP/ModHard running.
WU:20-30' @65-70%/Zone1/Easy.
MS1:10' (2') @ 95-100%/Zone4/Hard. 12' (3') @ 95-100%/Zone4/Hard. 15' (4') @ 95-100%/Zone4/Hard. 12' (5') @ 95-100%/Zone4/Hard.
MS2:3 x 12' (2') @ 80-85%/Zone3/Mod-Hard; for each interval include 2' standing WITHOUT spiking watts or effort, ie, standing for position change only.
MS3:Remainder @ 75-80%/Zone2-3/Steady, in the aerobars, practicing steady riding: no surges, constant power, etc.
These long rides are a combination of 3 elements:
Zone 4:a continuation of the interval work you're doing during the week, to make you faster. This work is your 1st priority...do your best to get these in.
Zone 3:HIM race-specific intensity, to make you "better" at the intensity that you'll be racing at. 2nd priority, fine to adjust the length of the Z3 work, according to how you feel. See the Sunday workout notes for additional guidance.
Zone 2:additional endurance work. 3rd priority, totally bonus, the first to go if you're pressed for time. That said, if you're just not feeling the Z3 love, Z2 is fine instead.
Entire Run:30' @ TRP, then 70' @ z2/MP/Steady, 5' @ z3/HMP/ModHard, 5' final push at best possible effort.
Progressive Pace Run -- We start at z2/MP/Steady, which is your goal pace on race day (get used to it!). Then we build into z3/HMP/ModHardy to raise the effort level as things will get hard on race day. We finish with an optional final push -- no higher than z4/TP/Hard -- to simulate the final push to the line. If you are fatigued, you can insert some 30" walking breaks every 2 miles. Nutrition executed as you plan on race day.
Your TSR is here: http://members.endurancenation.us/TrainingPlan/TriathlonSeasonRoadmap.aspx
and the schedule you gave me didn't include that HIM in June. Please go ^there^ and submit your current schedule to me so I can plan this out for you.
With regards to your question about the hours in your plan on the weekend, I'm not tracking. By my math on the screenshots you shared, you're schedule for a 3hr ride and 30min run on Saturday and a 1:40 run on Sunday, not 4-5hrs each day per your original post. Not sure if I'm missing something here?
Sigh, OK, i am confused, maybe I can get UNconfused. I thought i submitted a request for new TSR in March/early April, WITH the HIM in June, because I heard the alarm whistles that a HIM in August was a bad idea... or did I?
...and I can't find the huge weekend workout I was complaining about; obviously it was not in the screenshot.
So i thought the TSR did get changed based on my submission of June 19 HIM, and I thought i was instructed to load HIM plan; but never-mind what i thought. Let's go from here!
HIM plan, or Get Faster plan?
THIS TSR CHANGE INVOLVES JUNE 19 HIM and JULY-AUG HIKE, and canceling Aug HIM. Also, based on advise from the Coaches and the forum, I will have a Big Bike Training Day on June 11 in Madison with Team World Vision. July 27-Aug5 will consist of backpacking above 10000ft on the Colorado Trail. Need to maintain any swimming fitness possible, tho' it will NOT be possible to bring a wetsuit for swimming in 40deg mountain lakes; Lungs and legs will get plenty of work - planning to increase mitochiondrial density!
Of course, the TSR form does not allow me to enter anything about the hiking trip (a 'C' race of 40 miles, slow?), so i hope you will take that into account somehow.
Thank you!
For the record, here's what I wrote in my micro-forum April 16, 2016, but the message did not land in the right place. and/or I did not actually submit a schedule/TSR change at that time:
Hey Glenn,
You submitted a TSR to me on 5/6 and I did it yesterday...or this weekend. Anyway, you should be able to see it here. Let me know if you have any questions!