Mario A Macro Questions
Coach,
I hope I am doing this correctly as I am still trying to get learn my way around. As much as i could use the feedback, I also want to make sure I figured out how to do this. I should warn you now....i can get pretty wordy.
Regarding the Plan. I entered 5 races for the plan but they are far from certain. I'll do the two half marathons early next year but neither of them are that important to me. The South Beach Tri in April is a race I just enjoy doing and makes for a good start to the season. I also listed two 70.3s which to date, i have not signed up for but I had to put something for the trial. I am 80% sure I will do Raleigh and I want to do another 70.3 later in the year (Cozumel, Miami, Rev3 Venice, Augusta...anything relatively nearby in the September-November time frame).
On the MACRO MACRO level, the big goal is to do another Ironman in 2016. I have my eye on Texas, Chattanooga, Maryland, Louisvile or Florida but I still have time to pick one.
So, the big question is more about the race schedule. Should I race two 70.3's in 2015? Perhaps I should do more shorter races and have one big 70.3 race in the fall? Maybe I should do three 70.3s? My original plan seems reasonable to me but I would value an objective opinion.
Assuming the race schedule stays the same, does reading the above make you reconsider the original Training Plan?
Thanks for letting me join the team...i am looking forward being a part of the Nation
m
Comments
So I am reaching my 3 month anniversary here at EN and I started to take a look ahead at what I have on the big calendar. After the holidays, it looks like I am supposed to switch to a Half Marathon running plan, which is fine. Its only for a 6-7 weeks, but I have to admit i am going to miss my bike. I was concerned about it because the bike is what I consider to be my biggest weakness. To be honest, I am not sure I have an actual question here but rather I just a confirmation that this is the best plan for me. It was one thing to stop swimming but now I have to stop biking as well.
I am truly enjoying the program so far and am looking forward to continuing to being a team member in 2015.
Happy Holidays.
m
Hey Mario,
Let's do this:
Good luck!
There is going to be more details here than you probably need as this question is more about the season plan process than the specifics.
My current plan includes the following races (not including some beginning 13.1s)
April - Olympic Tri
May - Raleigh 70.3 (A Race)
September - Augusta 70.3 (A Race)
Recently I signed up for another Oly in Late June. Its a fun race for me. To be honest, I mainly signed up because this race tends to provide SO much SWAG that you almost make a profit. I am also considering an August Sprint/Olympic (the distances are odd) and maybe something in October/November.
So my question is....at what point should I submit a new plan? I dont feel like I should make any changes since none of these races are "A" races, but at what point do I resubmit? Do most members get one every 6 months or so?
On another note, I am looking forward to my post OS 13.1 this Sunday....so wish me luck!
m
According the plan, I had two half marathons in 3 weeks, the Miami Marathon and the A1A Marathon (in Fort Lauderdale). Originally I was on the OS program but was supposed to switch over the half marathon plan in January. But we discussed some options considering I did not want to get off the bike and decided to stick with the OS program. Even though its a 13 week program, Miami lands on the 12th week so my plan was to use the Miami 13.1 as a training run to test my paces for the A1A 13.1 and then reset the OS program to end with the A1A race.
My biggest concern was that after doing the program i realized I have really let myself go after IMMT last year and with the EN program of less volume and the holidays, I gained almost 10 lbs. I realized in mid January, that i need to make some changes to my diet so i am still working on that. Work has been especially nasty and I was missing more workouts than i really wanted to. Still, i was getting in all of the weekend workouts and hitting my run times (bike numbers a bit more difficult).
The weather for the Miami was ideal for racing but I stuck to my plan to take this one easy and save my legs to the bigger race. The problem with Miami is that its crowded and there are a few bridges and lots of turns that will affect your final time (compared to A1A which is ridiculously flat). Ended up missing my PR for the course by 10 seconds. Considering i didnt train for it specifically AND I didnt "race" it. I was pretty happy about it and really excited about my true "A" race in 3 weeks. I felt really good about that race and wondered whether I should have gone all out for it.
I took an extra day to recover (not sure if that was smart but I wanted to listen to my body there) and then I got really sick. There is a nasty cold going around and it wiped me out for almost a week. I got in an occasional run but I think trying to run may have delayed my recovery. By the time I was feeling 100%, it was race week and I had all sorts of anxiety about it.
A1A turns out to have almost the same conditions as Miami with temperatures in the upper 40s at the start and warming up to the low 60s by the finish. Long story short...i raced this one but didnt feel like my legs were all there. I was getting upset about missing the week before but I tried to stay "in the box." End result, took almost 3 minutes off of my Miami time (the course is built for PRs) and more importantly, overall PR by almost a minute.
m
Mario,
Thanks for sharing your success with us and congrats your great results!
I have to admit that I am not sure how to move forward here. Having finished Augusta 70.3 this last Sunday, I am very happy with my 5:07 time (I will have to post a race report this week). Last year, I listed 5 races because that is what was asked on the Roadmap page. In hindsight, I really only cared about two 70.3s (Raleigh and Augusta).
In 2016, I am signed up for IMChoo. So this year....I think that is all i should list. I am more than likely going to do a local half marathon in January and/or February. I am sure I will do a local olympic tri (or two...maybe a 70.3) because I enjoy racing but also I like practicing some of the race execution under actual conditions. But I would rather have a plan that gets me ready for IMChoo than a plan that worries about these smaller races.
From what I have read on the site, it looks like the best plan is for me to go into maintenance mode for a month or two because I do feel like I need to recharge the "IM battery". But I have to admit that I need help to figure out what i should do between then and March(?) when I would start an IM training plan. But before that, any advice would be appreciated.
Would it help if I provided some more feedback regarding this last year?
Thanks,
m
Some notes for you:
- Best to keep your fitness rolling by doing the Run Durability Plan for the next 3wks following by the OS plan, which will start on Oct 27th.
- If you feel you need more time to recharge, then I recommend you do the Run Durability 1, 2, and 3 plans until the start of the JanOS on 1/4/16.
- You don't need to officially start the IM plan for IMChoo until about early July. We much prefer to use combinations of the RD, OS, Get Faster, and HIM plans to provide solutions for you rather than have you do your own thing and drop into the IM plan a full 20wks out. In my opinion, you would be wasting a lot of opportunity to improve over the winter through a combination of RD and OS plans.
- If you wanted to add races to your '16 calendar in route to IMChoo we can always do that later. But, again, you only want your head in the "I'm training for an Ironman" space for about 12wks.
Let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!
Per your suggestion, I loaded up the Run Durability plan and will get started on it next week. I wanted to get one more week of doing an unstructured plan. I also put in the new Race Plan. IMChoo is there as well as 3 other races that are true C races. The two olympic triathlons are just fun races that hopefully line up with the end of a Get Faster or OUS program. The 5k Swim is one of the only open water events around here that are reasonable (by the way, its loaded with current and former Olympians so my goal has been not to get lapped). But, the big picture is going to be IMChoo.
In the back of my head, I find myself wondering whether or not I should try to do the A1A full marathon (Feb 14, 2016). I know the EN philosophy is to stay away from the 26.2 but I am getting close to BQ and there is a side of me that wants to go for it considering it seems so far away from September. But I can also wait until next year when i may not have a full 140.6 on the calendar.
So...that is where my head is at. I figure i can try to fine tune it going forward but I have to put something on the table first. If anything thanks for the 2015 plan. I thought it was a big personal success for me where i feel like I am on the right track going forward.
I don't think the Feb marathon would make a tremendous difference for you, given how far away it is from your A-race, the date of your first tri in '16, etc. Just circle back to me sometime in the OS when you make up your mind and I can redo this for you.
Easy question for you. I am at the point of my plan where I have to choose between a bike or run focus for a few weeks. I want to say that my bike is weaker than my run but not by much. It may be that way only because. I enjoy running more and given the EN latest philosophy of run durability, I am tempted to do a run focused workout. But then again, the bike will not beat me us much for a long season and since i would say my bike is weaker, i could probably use some quality time with the bike.
Do you have a strong opinion on which to select? This week is unstructured anyways.
Thanks,
m
If it's a toss up between the bike and run, I'd say go with the run, because you never be too durable a runner. Best to keep the running ball rolling, IMO
I wanted to clarify my Season Plan request and almost want to retract it. My current 2016 plan is as follows:
January: Disney Marathon - The significant other wanted to run it and so, i have to take this one for the team. Call this an SAU event. My concern is that 26.2 miles is not to be taken lightly. Still, i like running and its my strongest discipline.
June: Heartland Triathlon - I do it every year but its another one I do mainly because the gf likes this one. I like to think of this event as my kick off to my late season A race training.
September/October - I listed IMChoo. I have not signed up. I am also considering IMNC.
Even though this would be my 5th, i have always done my fulls every other year. But IM Choo left me in a bad place. For the record, my position with respect to the rest of my age group was significantly better than any other race i have done in the past (I have been creeping up from 150th to as high as 92nd....@IMChoo, I was 49th!). Still, my time was so slow and while I tell myself it was all about the conditions, i feel like I have unfinished business there. Two friends who were unable to finish asked me about going back and since it is logistically easy to get there for me, so I am strongly considering it. I'll decide in the next 2-3 weeks. If it fills up, IMNC is in the same time frame. If that fills up, i would not mind sticking to a late season 70.3 and taking the year off as I have done in the past.
The race and training took a toll on me. As you know, the race was really hot (we have been referring to it as IMHades). Training for the race was also hot as this had to be the hottest summer I can remember. I need to get my head out of "Ironspace" for a month or two. My original plan was to just run for a bit until after the January Marathon. Join the last out season plan afterwards (isnt there one in February?). Use that to start my training for next year. But as I mentioned before, 26 miles of running has the potential for injury if i dont do it right.
i am open to suggestion here. I almost want to be in some sort of holding pattern for the next few months.
Thanks,
m
PS. Congrats on Kona and thanks for the race support for IMChoo this last year. I told my friends that I was so prepared for this race, i felt as if i had raced this specific race before.
Yep, IMChat was hot for sure and frankly scared the shit out of me in advance of Kona!
Yes, we'll have a FebOS group so that works well with your plan of running through January and then racing a half in route to IMChat. Do me a favor and edit your TSR to reflect ^this^ and I'll get that done for you. Thanks!
m
Rather than start with updating the training plan/calendar, i decided to start here. After our last series of messages I think i have the following races for 2017.
1. April 2. South Beach Triathlon. Olympic Distance. Importance C.
2. May 13. IM Gulf Coast 70.3. Importance B (ish).
3. June 18. Heartland Triathlon. Importance C.
4. September 24. Ironman Chattanooga. Importance A++
So after listening to your podcast with Josh you mentioned that he split the season into a 70.3 and a full IM which you seem to like. The new Gulf Coast 70.3 looks like it about at the right time. But I am not registered yet if you think the timing just does not work. There are a few other 70.3 races with Rev3 and IM in the southeast that I would be willing to consider.
Also, not that it belongs on the race plan but I plan to attend the EN Camp again this year. Its my only chance to interact with the team other than race day so I am looking forward to it.
My single constraint is that I am still doing some informal training but I am enjoying just having some fun for the next month or two. November/December/January are the best times to be outdoors in Miami. I am still enjoying some running and mountain biking in the meantime. But by January or February, i think i will be yearning for getting back into an EN routine.
So unless you have a major objection, i will enter this into the calendar.
Regards,
Mario
Yep, that all looks good, thanks for the update!