Justin Waller Early OS Super Speed Building Plan

jcwaller900

Hi Coach,

I am racing IM Tahoe in a month.  My build has not been ideal due to some time in the hospital, but I am confident I will do the best I can on the day.  I am trying to get things lined up for next year and would like your input.

I have been doing long course triathlon since 2006 and have gotten somewhat faster over the years.  I have a long way to go to qualify for Kona, so I was thinking that it might make sense to take a year off of "Long" course and focus on speed at shorter distances.  Work through the Out Season plans and next year focus on Sprint/Olympics with an end of season Half Iron distance race. 



By my estimate, until I can get my 1/2 time down to sub 4:30, I really don't have any business thinking I can go anywhere near 9:00-9:30 in a full which is what I will need to do to qualify (course variations obviously apply).

Any thoughts/wisdoms/corrections you can provide?  Suggestions on timelines for starting OS etc??

Thanks for your help!

Justin

Coach Rich

Posted By Justin Waller on 20 Aug 2014 11:37 AM

Hi Coach,

I am racing IM Tahoe in a month.  My build has not been ideal due to some time in the hospital, but I am confident I will do the best I can on the day.  I am trying to get things lined up for next year and would like your input.

I have been doing long course triathlon since 2006 and have gotten somewhat faster over the years.  I have a long way to go to qualify for Kona, so I was thinking that it might make sense to take a year off of "Long" course and focus on speed at shorter distances.  Work through the Out Season plans and next year focus on Sprint/Olympics with an end of season Half Iron distance race. 



By my estimate, until I can get my 1/2 time down to sub 4:30, I really don't have any business thinking I can go anywhere near 9:00-9:30 in a full which is what I will need to do to qualify (course variations obviously apply).

Any thoughts/wisdoms/corrections you can provide?  Suggestions on timelines for starting OS etc??

Thanks for your help!

Justin

Hey Justin,

I generally don't like to talk "what do I after my IM" stuff until after your Ironman. It's just not productive and you should just be managing your IMLT training and racing right now. Plenty of time to be thinking about other things after the race. 

That said, you can generally expect something like this:

• Post IM Transition Plan, for 3-4wks after IMLT
• OutSeason, begins Oct 27
• Swim camp, 2wks at the end of the OS
• What you do after ^that^ is a function of what races you have on the calendar about April thru July or so. But exiting SC and doing 6-8wks of the Get Faster plan and then 8-10wks of the HIM plan ending in a ~June or July HIM would be good. That would give you enough time to repeat a bit of the GF plan before another round of a few weeks of the HIM plan before a second HIM to end the season.

Or you could do early season short races. But the combination of OS > SC > Short Course > Get Faster > HIM is very powerful.

jcwaller900

That is perfect, coach. Thank you. We can talk more later. And it is good to know I won't have to do a big training block starting 9/23. Ha ha.

Thanks for your help.

Justin

jcwaller900

Hi Coach Rich,

It was great to actually meet you and share a few words with you and the group this weekend.

Ironman has sent out the emails re: options about Lake Tahoe.  I was hoping to talk it through with you.  My main question is this:

Is there any benefit to doing an Ironman in 6-10 weeks? i.e. FL, AZ or Cozumel?  Or would I be better off utilizing that time and do an extra "cycle" of the Outseason program and prep for next year? 

My primary goal is to qualify for Kona on my own two feet (not lottery).  I am pretty sure that my current strength/fitness is not going to get me there.  I am leaning towards writing off the IM for this year so I can get faster, but I want to get your take on it.

Thanks,

Justin