Can't do Home Camp for B2B on time- need advice on options
For B2B Home Camp Weekend, it's sched for week 15, which is 19 Sept. I will be travelling for work and not available for huge training days from 13-27 Sept (weeks 15 and 16), and then I have ANOTHER work thing 3-5 Oct (week 17).
My options seem to be:
1) Delay camp till Week 18- this sounds BAD to me as taper is supposed to start.
2) Do camp week 14, but I have ANOTHER out of town work thing Friday, so I'd have to jigger something like taking off work thursday, then work thing Friday (which could be a 15 hour day), then camp on Saturday, camp Sunday AM. I have to leave for the airport at 1100 on Sunday. If this is the recommneded option, how would you recommend structuring it so that I get in the long bike/run brick, long bike, long run? Right now I have it as bike/run brick Thursday, try to do a run Friday, long bike Saturday (around a Sprint tri on base that the whole club that I started here is doing), then long run on Sunday. I have serious doubts the Friday run will happen.
3) Do camp week 13 and would easily be able to take off work friday and do a real camp with no jiggering necessary. This is my preference, but is it too early??
I admit that I am a slave to the plan and sometimes risk following it into the ground. I am trying to be better at this, thanks to you all. I am very disciplined about moving all my workouts around based on work and still getting them all in. Sometimes that means hard run and hard bike on the same day, but I understand the consequences.
I'm taking my bike with me on my 2 week work trip (which is a class that I can't miss any part of from 8AM -5PM). I bought a trainer which I will have to learn to use before then and will take that with me. I'll be in Arlington, so weekend rides will be no problem, but getting out on weekdays in the light will be a challenge. And there is a pool at the Army post where class is, so I should be able to make most of my swims.
Thanks in advance for your super smart words of wisdom!
Comments
"What if life conspires to prevent camp week from happening?
If you can't do the 112+6 / 112 / 13+, then you plan on a weekend race rehearsal. This isn't disaster; it's how the plans have been for seven years. Don't beat yourself up. Your week would change as follows:
Do the long run, slated for Sunday, on Thursday.
Bump the RR swim from Thursday to Friday.
Do RR #1 (112 ride / 1 hour run) on Saturday.
Sunday OFF to recover.
Monday back at the regular plan."
Thx...
Personally, I've done "volume pops" (which is essentially what the Camp week is) at various times between 13 weeks before an IM to 4 weeks before. No matter when I do it, it always helps. The Camp Week protocol is just one way to accomplish that; the farther out I get from an IM, the more using something like the "Big Tri Week" suggestions (also in the wiki) seems to be what I gravitate to. Meaning, earlier on, I'm not quite as ready to handle that mega volume to 225 miles on the bike in a weekend, and might benefit more from 4 or 5 days in a week doing 3-4 hour rides.
All that said, doing two race rehearsals, one about 5-7 weeks before an IM, and the other 2-3 weeks before is probably the biggest key to getting ready to race, not so much from a training perspective, but from a learning how to race perspective. The mistakes you make in the first one on pacing and nutrition are then worked on during long rides for the next month, and improved in the final RR. Bear that in mind as you design your training plan and any volume pop you add.
Thanks for the advice. I am going to do the full camp weekend in week 13, then move things appropriately to have a post camp week.
I have to admit that I did not know there were videos each week until last week. Duh. So....now I know.
I think I can handle the rest of my plan!