I'm finally back to full intensity and feeling good. My daughter is also doing better, so things are calming down and getting back to normal.
I have a short business trip next week - leave mid-day Wednesday and return late Friday. I can move Wednesday's bike to Tuesday, still swim in the morning Wednesday, and do my two run workouts while on the business trip. I think I'll only miss the Friday swim workout. I could probably fit the Friday's swim in over the weekend somehow, but I'm inclined to skip it that week.
I'm putting myself in "run jail". For two consecutive days I've attempted my planned run and both days I ended up with massive hamstring cramps in my right leg. Walking wasn't enough to resolve the cramp. My plan is to avoid running until next Tuesday. Hopefully it will be better by then.
I was able to swim today without too much discomfort. I'll try the bike tomorrow.
The hamstring is much better. I'm hoping to do my 5K run test tomorrow.
Hey Coach, I'm leaving Friday for a week-long family vacation to Orlando FL. This will disrupt the last weekend of the GF plan and most of the first week (week 9) of the beg HIM plan. Here is my plan:
Do all the swim workouts. I normally don't attempt many swim workouts while of vacation, but I've worked out before with the Central Florida Masters team and their pool is only six miles from where I'm staying. I'll swim with them on Monday and Tuesday and will be home before the Friday swim workout.
Miss the last two GF bike workouts, and the Wednesday Wk9 HIM bike workout. No bike, no workout.
Do all the runs except the second Thursday run. I'm a morning person and the girls are not, so I can do morning workouts without losing SAU's. An evening workout would be a bad choice. Should I do one of the Thursday runs on Wednesday, since there is no Wednesday bike workout?
Scott...great news on the HAMMY!! And what a great time for a trip...end of GF on the road is no biggy. I agree with the swim, bet that's just a great group. I say that you plan on dividing the run as you mention...that sounds best for family and won't really cost you much in terms of fitness.
Remember I prefer consistency on the road vs any flash.
I spoke too soon about the HAMMY. It cramped up again during my warm-up this afternoon. Recovery is going to take longer than I thought. I'm feeling a bit down.
It looks like the vacation will be mostly a rest week. I'll swim 2 or 3 times, but no running until the hamstring is better and no biking because I don't have a bike.
It's okay...nothing is as easy as it first seems. bonus that your recovery will be beautiful and truly relaxing with the fam. Please bring your self care implements so you can stay limber...walking / hiking is a great way to stay loose...
The Orlando vacation has not gone as planned. My daughter is in the hospital with a relapse of the congestive heart failure. We were supposed to fly home tomorrow but that is almost certainly delayed. We didn't make it to a single theme park.
Needless to say I haven't done any training, other than some long walks to clear my head. I don't know when we will get home.
Coach, I guess I'm not asking any question. Just venting.
Scott, man, lay it on me. That's what I am here for. What else can you do at this point given what you and your family are facing? If there's anything we can do, please let us know. My cell is 617-513-3830 if you'd rather talk this out.
Thank you for your support Coach! My daughter is finally out of the hospital after 10 days (5 in intensive care). If all goes well we will fly home to Seattle tomorrow. I'm haven't done much exercise but I'm emotionally exhausted!
I'm ready to reboot my training program. I've done a couple swims and a few run/walks but I've basically missed the first two weeks of the Beg HIM training plan. My hamstring pull is much better, the massive black and blue bruise in that area has mostly faded, but I want to slowly build back my run volume and intensity. The last thing I need right now is a chronic hamstring injury. On the other hand, I think I can get the bike and swim back to the full training plan workouts pretty quickly. Any thoughts?
We finally got home from the ill-fated Florida vacation late Saturday night. My daughter is exhausted and weak, but otherwise doing OK.
I did the full Sunday and Monday Beg HIM workouts, except that the run on Sunday was actually a run/walk (roughly 1-to-1 ratio). I still have a bit of discomfort in the hamstring if I run for more than about a minute so I'm doing 30sec run / 30sec walk. My plan is to gradually increase the run time while keeping the walk time at 30sec. When I get up to about 5 minutes of running I'll phase out the walk. I've used this approach in the past, when I ruptured my plantaris tendon, and it seemed to work well. Any thoughts or suggestions?
BTW, the weather in Seattle is FANTASTIC. It was sunny and 85 degrees during my bike and run on Sunday, and 92 degrees today. That is 35 degrees above the normal high temperature for this date! Tomorrow is supposed to be almost as warm. It won't last - by this weekend it will be 57 deg and raining.
Looks like someone sent you some FL weather in WA so you could enjoy it!!! I think the run walk element is 100% fine for management on race day / training...but I hope you are continuing self care, etc, so that it improves elsewhere. Now, go put on some sunscreen!!!
It looks like my hamstring is finally better (knock on wood). I did the full Thursday long run (70min morning, 45min evening) with no discomfort. I'm still taking short walk breaks ever 1/2 mile, but I'm slowly phasing those out.
It's another unseasonably warm weekend in Seattle. It's supposed to be 78 and sunny tomorrow! I can't wait to do my 4hr bike workout!
Next weekend (May 14, 15) I'm doing a training camp on the Coeur d'Alene course with my local tri club - Raise The Bar. I could use some advice on how to integrate this into my HIM Beg training plan. I will drive over to CdA after my normal swim on Friday, ride the bike course Saturday (option for a second loop to get the full IM distance), get an introduction to the swim area on Sunday morning (probably too cold to actually swim), and run the course later Sunday morning (optional bike ride before run).
Week 14 of the Beg HIM plan has me riding 210 minutes on Saturday, which fits well with doing one loop of the Cd'A bike course (plus a little). IM Cd'A isn't until August and I'm still in the HIM plan, so the most consistent approach would be to only do one loop of the bike course. Alternatively, I could treat this weekend as a volume bump and do the full 112 miles on Saturday. What would you recommend?
The Beg HIM plan on Sunday has me doing a 60 minute run and a 150 minute ride. If I do the full 13.1 mile run I'll be closer to 2 hrs running. Would it be a good idea to shorten the ride a bit (perhaps to 90 minutes)?
Scott...send that weather this way!! You camp / plan sounds great....I don't think 112 is in the cards just yet though. I say you do the 1 loop then head back out to start lap two...but when you come back through town you shut it down and do a short brick run. This will put you at 70+ miles for the day...should be a good "intermediary" step that won't put you into a big hole.
Scott...wait...where are the pictures!!!???!!?? I am pumped to hear camp was a success. Your plan for this week is good....note that you will be stiff after the long run (compression socks) and you'll need to really fuel like a champ on days one and and two at camp if you are to continue having fun!
Don't push any of the runs...I would just plan on the bike volume being the lever for your success right now.
The Whistler camp was great fun! I pretty much followed the plan I outlined earlier (full IM bike course Friday, half bike coarse Saturday, swim Sunday, mix in short runs). The IM Canada bike course was challenging, but it was a good confidence builder. I learned that I'm too quick to jump out of the saddle and charge up the hills. There's no way I could have run a marathon after riding the IM course Friday! There would have been a lot of walking!
Here are some short videos that Jenn and Mark Edwards put together. I'm one of the two dorks jumping off the dock backward into a very chilly Alta lake on Day 3. I'm also the one descending the Callaghan valley road in the black aero helmet and white QR bike on Day 2.
Now for the bad news. I stupidly decided to do some yard work yesterday and hurt my back. I'm now suffering back spasms and my training is on hold until it gets better. To make things worse, I have a business trip next week (Tuesday through Friday) that will limit my training. I'm scheduled to do CdA 70.3 on June 26, and I'm going to miss 1.5 weeks of prime training time. Here's my plan:
Message, stretching, foam rolling, whatever it takes to get my back feeling better. I'm following the recommendations on AtheletesTreatingAtheletes.com
Swim: Based on past experience, I will (hopefully) be able to do some gentle swimming by the end of the weekend.
Bike: Significant workouts will have to wait until I get back. Maybe I can do some easy biking on the trainer before I leave.
Run: I'll take my shoes on the trip. Hopefully my back will be up to some running.
This is really unfortunate. By the time I'm back from my trip it will be a week out from CdA 70.3. I think that's too late to recover the lost fitness and I probably shouldn't try. I'll just do the best I can on the day.
Scott, just waking up from camp weekend in Lake Placid...sorry for the delay! I am so glad you got up there and had time on the course. There's no substitute for contextual knowledge -- your race will be infinitely better.
But now, yard work. I am hoping it's something minor that has flared up, but right now rest is best. REST.
You can't do more work in this situation, so rest so you can get to the pool and start getting loose.
Do Not Worry About Lost Fitness.
There's a difference between not being able to work out and not working out. When it's the former, your body is in charge.
Remember that good, quality training is why you are where you are. That isn't stolen from you. You don't get slower or worse because you aren't exercising...in fact you might even *GASP* get some much needed recovery time. '
So step one is get on the rest train to let your back recover and stop spasming.
Step Two is to dedicate your brain to getting everything dialed into your race (mind works while the body can't).
Step Three is to not sweat the bike...and bring the run shoes if even to hike it out. Just stay active. Ideally when you get back you have 8 days to get your mojo back.
Baby steps here...please keep me posted and travel safe!
I'm back training. I did 2+ hours on the bike and a 30-minute run yesterday, and an hour swim this morning. I also managed to run a couple times on my business trip. No back spasms, but I did have some pain toward the end of the ride.
Now I need to decide on my training for the rest of the week. I'm thinking I'll follow a modified week 20 of the Half IM plan (beg): Tue: 60 min bike and 30 min run; Wed: morning swim lesson and evening OWS; Thu: 30 min run and 45 min bike; Fri: travel to CdA, Sat: swim recon; Sun: Race.
Another massage tonight. Hopefully that'll remove the remaining kinks from by back!
Perfect! having twinges or nagging things during taper week is normal, so you will need to be vigilant to make sure that what you're experiencing isn't the sign of your bigger issue.
Also I suggest you spend some time thinking through what your alternate strategies on race day should things go south. It be nice you have some options around how you ride the bike or position yourself or handle the run organize now, so should they happen on race day you are more prepared. The fitness is definitely there, it is the infrastructure that is the potential issue.
If you haven't already, please check out our restated resources for the half iron. You can find them up under the resources tab on this website. If is anything else I can help you with please let me know. Otherwise stay healthy have fun go fast!!
I've been (mostly) off training for the last week. I had a table top, that was propped up against the wall, tip over and fall against my right thigh causing a major hematoma in my quad muscle. It's been very colorful - black and blue and swollen from my ankle to my hip. I went to the doctor yesterday and he cleared me to start working out, as long as it isn't too painful. I was able to do a 1.5 hour ride yesterday at IM power (75% FTP), so I'm pretty sure I can at least ride. I haven't tried to run yet. As recently as Monday walking was extremely painful, so we'll see if I can actually do the run workouts. The doctor expects it to be entirely resolved by the middle of next week.
I'm in week 15 (camp week) of the Beg IM plan for CdA. My plan is to do an OWS tonight (local club has weekly coached OWS) and a short run and bike tomorrow. There is a 2.4 mile OWS race Friday evening, so I thought I would split up camp day #1 to do the 2.4 mile swim Friday night and the 112 mile bike and hour brick run Saturday. If my leg holds up, I'll do the workout that was planned for Sat (56 to 70 mile bike and 30 min brick run) on Sunday, and do the 2 hr long run on Monday. This would require me to skip the Tuesday run next week, but then I'd (hopefully) be back on track. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?
Scott, most IM athletes save that crap for Week 19. Hopefully you are done with it!!!!
I Would prefer you stick to shorter runs for the rest of this week. I know we have some longer work prescribed over camp week, but really I'm only concerned about the long bikes. Between the Friday of swimming race and the rides you are doing the rest of the weekend you should be fine with just a few 15 minute runs.
Part of what this activity is going to do is help flush the hematoma out and help you slowly regain range of motion safely through cycling and swimming. I don't see any upside to the running impact. That's just your tiny lizard brain scared wanting to test the run. Just get through the weekend first and we can go from there.
"Camp weekend" went OK. I finished the 2.4 mile swim in 1:36 on Friday. Saturday and Sunday rides were 103 and 60 miles in 6:22 and 3:44 respectively. I managed to control my lizard brain and kept the runs to 15 minutes.
For the most part my thigh didn't bother me as long as I kept my power below 70% FTP. The exception was the last 15 miles of the Saturday ride, when I had to drop my power to about 50% FTP or my thigh felt like it was on fire. The injury is definitely improved, but it isn't entirely healed.
I'll do my best to follow the week 16 "run focus week" plan. I may need to scale back the pace a bit on the runs - perhaps doing a run/walk to give my leg frequent breaks on the longer runs. I may also have to reduce power on the mid-week bike ride (2x20' at 95-100% FTP). Hopefully I'll be 100% healthy by next weekend.
PLEASE FORGET PACE. Right now all your runs should be at TRP pace. Just chilling it out...simple and steady and add the volume. It will grow and build to be your friend, but not if you force it. Similar with the bike...focus here is run frequency, bike isn't about how hard you can do it...just get it done!
Thanks for all the help on the call this morning! My CdA bike is now up on Strava (https://www.strava.com/activities/686333324). I had to crop out the SAG wagon portion. My heart rate definitely increased during the second loop.
The half-Iron-distance race we discussed is the Black Diamond triathlon (http://blackdiamondtri.com/). I did this race last year. For the Pacific Northwest it is a fairly flat course. I'm thinking I will take this week pretty easy (still dealing with cramps that started during the dehydration "event"). Next week and the week after I could follow the final two weeks of the "2016 EN Half, Beginner" plan. Does that sound reasonable? Any adjustments?
On race day, your ride had an average heart rate of 137 with a max of 159.
As a point of reference, when you PR to half marathon distance earlier that week (https://www.strava.com/activities/662688867) your AHR for that effort was 134. That’s right…you rode 7 hours and 13 minutes at and effort you just managed to hold for 2 hours.
Basically you rode harder than you had ridden all year, and then we eliminate the nutrition due to the tough winds. You were burning the candle at both ends and there was simply no way you are going to survive.
Important lesson learned to write those HR numbers down and follow them next time!
As for the half, I think an easy week is good, with a return to exercise next week. No real adjustments other than not really going too hard…you’ll need to ease back into it. Remember the top priorities are fixing the nutrition set up, nutrition execution and (now) dialing in your HR zones!
Interesting. I went back to some earlier long rides. At the Whistler camp (IM Canada bike course), my average/max heart rates were 127/155 and my average power was 65% FTP (https://www.strava.com/activities/600073375). For the Coeur d'Alene camp HR ave/max was 130/153 (https://www.strava.com/activities/576064399). For the CdA 70.3 my HR ave/max was 137/154 and my average power was 70% FTP(https://www.strava.com/activities/623118824). So, when I'm riding with people, my heart rates are high but my power levels are in the desired range. I'm I looking at this correctly? If so, should I believe power or heart rate?
I can't see the Whistler ride, but all the other rides were 65 or less. Not 112.
I think that we know that THAT HR at THAT DISTANCE = NO BUENO.
You need to believe your long ride HR and power, not the group ride stuff. Does that make sense? When we talk about setting zones, it's off your RR rides...which were in the low 100s...can you walk me through how you determined the zones?
Comments
Hi Coach,
I'm finally back to full intensity and feeling good. My daughter is also doing better, so things are calming down and getting back to normal.
I have a short business trip next week - leave mid-day Wednesday and return late Friday. I can move Wednesday's bike to Tuesday, still swim in the morning Wednesday, and do my two run workouts while on the business trip. I think I'll only miss the Friday swim workout. I could probably fit the Friday's swim in over the weekend somehow, but I'm inclined to skip it that week.
I'm putting myself in "run jail". For two consecutive days I've attempted my planned run and both days I ended up with massive hamstring cramps in my right leg. Walking wasn't enough to resolve the cramp. My plan is to avoid running until next Tuesday. Hopefully it will be better by then.
I was able to swim today without too much discomfort. I'll try the bike tomorrow.
The hamstring is much better. I'm hoping to do my 5K run test tomorrow.
Hey Coach, I'm leaving Friday for a week-long family vacation to Orlando FL. This will disrupt the last weekend of the GF plan and most of the first week (week 9) of the beg HIM plan. Here is my plan:
Do all the swim workouts. I normally don't attempt many swim workouts while of vacation, but I've worked out before with the Central Florida Masters team and their pool is only six miles from where I'm staying. I'll swim with them on Monday and Tuesday and will be home before the Friday swim workout.
Miss the last two GF bike workouts, and the Wednesday Wk9 HIM bike workout. No bike, no workout.
Do all the runs except the second Thursday run. I'm a morning person and the girls are not, so I can do morning workouts without losing SAU's. An evening workout would be a bad choice. Should I do one of the Thursday runs on Wednesday, since there is no Wednesday bike workout?
Remember I prefer consistency on the road vs any flash.
Good luck with the test!
I spoke too soon about the HAMMY. It cramped up again during my warm-up this afternoon. Recovery is going to take longer than I thought. I'm feeling a bit down.
It looks like the vacation will be mostly a rest week. I'll swim 2 or 3 times, but no running until the hamstring is better and no biking because I don't have a bike.
Needless to say I haven't done any training, other than some long walks to clear my head. I don't know when we will get home.
Coach, I guess I'm not asking any question. Just venting.
I'm ready to reboot my training program. I've done a couple swims and a few run/walks but I've basically missed the first two weeks of the Beg HIM training plan. My hamstring pull is much better, the massive black and blue bruise in that area has mostly faded, but I want to slowly build back my run volume and intensity. The last thing I need right now is a chronic hamstring injury. On the other hand, I think I can get the bike and swim back to the full training plan workouts pretty quickly. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Hey Coach P.,
We finally got home from the ill-fated Florida vacation late Saturday night. My daughter is exhausted and weak, but otherwise doing OK.
I did the full Sunday and Monday Beg HIM workouts, except that the run on Sunday was actually a run/walk (roughly 1-to-1 ratio). I still have a bit of discomfort in the hamstring if I run for more than about a minute so I'm doing 30sec run / 30sec walk. My plan is to gradually increase the run time while keeping the walk time at 30sec. When I get up to about 5 minutes of running I'll phase out the walk. I've used this approach in the past, when I ruptured my plantaris tendon, and it seemed to work well. Any thoughts or suggestions?
BTW, the weather in Seattle is FANTASTIC. It was sunny and 85 degrees during my bike and run on Sunday, and 92 degrees today. That is 35 degrees above the normal high temperature for this date! Tomorrow is supposed to be almost as warm. It won't last - by this weekend it will be 57 deg and raining.
Hi Coach P,
It looks like my hamstring is finally better (knock on wood). I did the full Thursday long run (70min morning, 45min evening) with no discomfort. I'm still taking short walk breaks ever 1/2 mile, but I'm slowly phasing those out.
It's another unseasonably warm weekend in Seattle. It's supposed to be 78 and sunny tomorrow! I can't wait to do my 4hr bike workout!
Next weekend (May 14, 15) I'm doing a training camp on the Coeur d'Alene course with my local tri club - Raise The Bar. I could use some advice on how to integrate this into my HIM Beg training plan. I will drive over to CdA after my normal swim on Friday, ride the bike course Saturday (option for a second loop to get the full IM distance), get an introduction to the swim area on Sunday morning (probably too cold to actually swim), and run the course later Sunday morning (optional bike ride before run).
Week 14 of the Beg HIM plan has me riding 210 minutes on Saturday, which fits well with doing one loop of the Cd'A bike course (plus a little). IM Cd'A isn't until August and I'm still in the HIM plan, so the most consistent approach would be to only do one loop of the bike course. Alternatively, I could treat this weekend as a volume bump and do the full 112 miles on Saturday. What would you recommend?
The Beg HIM plan on Sunday has me doing a 60 minute run and a 150 minute ride. If I do the full 13.1 mile run I'll be closer to 2 hrs running. Would it be a good idea to shorten the ride a bit (perhaps to 90 minutes)?
Thanks Coach! Heal quickly!
Hi Coach,
The CdA camp was a great success! I biked and ran the 70.3 courses, experience some challenging winds, and had a lot of fun!
I have another Raise The Bar camp next weekend (June 3-5) on the IM Canada course in Whistler. This is a three day camp, and my plan is:
Thursday: Do my long run near home then drive 4 to 5 hours to Whistler.
Friday: Ride the full bike course followed by a short Brick run.
Saturday: Ride the bike course (perhaps the 70.3 course this time) followed by a short Brick run.
Sunday: 30' recon swim in the lake, and run a loop (or so - 70 min) of the Whistler course. Drive home.
Does this sound reasonable? The runs are consistent with the training plan (week 9 of IM Beg) but the bike volume is higher.
Don't push any of the runs...I would just plan on the bike volume being the lever for your success right now.
~ Coach P
Hi Coach,
The Whistler camp was great fun! I pretty much followed the plan I outlined earlier (full IM bike course Friday, half bike coarse Saturday, swim Sunday, mix in short runs). The IM Canada bike course was challenging, but it was a good confidence builder. I learned that I'm too quick to jump out of the saddle and charge up the hills. There's no way I could have run a marathon after riding the IM course Friday! There would have been a lot of walking!
Here are some short videos that Jenn and Mark Edwards put together. I'm one of the two dorks jumping off the dock backward into a very chilly Alta lake on Day 3. I'm also the one descending the Callaghan valley road in the black aero helmet and white QR bike on Day 2.
Now for the bad news. I stupidly decided to do some yard work yesterday and hurt my back. I'm now suffering back spasms and my training is on hold until it gets better. To make things worse, I have a business trip next week (Tuesday through Friday) that will limit my training. I'm scheduled to do CdA 70.3 on June 26, and I'm going to miss 1.5 weeks of prime training time. Here's my plan:
This is really unfortunate. By the time I'm back from my trip it will be a week out from CdA 70.3. I think that's too late to recover the lost fitness and I probably shouldn't try. I'll just do the best I can on the day.
Do you agree with my plan? Any suggestions?
But now, yard work. I am hoping it's something minor that has flared up, but right now rest is best. REST.
You can't do more work in this situation, so rest so you can get to the pool and start getting loose.
Do Not Worry About Lost Fitness.
There's a difference between not being able to work out and not working out. When it's the former, your body is in charge.
Remember that good, quality training is why you are where you are. That isn't stolen from you. You don't get slower or worse because you aren't exercising...in fact you might even *GASP* get some much needed recovery time. '
So step one is get on the rest train to let your back recover and stop spasming.
Step Two is to dedicate your brain to getting everything dialed into your race (mind works while the body can't).
Step Three is to not sweat the bike...and bring the run shoes if even to hike it out. Just stay active. Ideally when you get back you have 8 days to get your mojo back.
Baby steps here...please keep me posted and travel safe!
~ Coach P
Hey Coach,
I'm back training. I did 2+ hours on the bike and a 30-minute run yesterday, and an hour swim this morning. I also managed to run a couple times on my business trip. No back spasms, but I did have some pain toward the end of the ride.
Now I need to decide on my training for the rest of the week. I'm thinking I'll follow a modified week 20 of the Half IM plan (beg): Tue: 60 min bike and 30 min run; Wed: morning swim lesson and evening OWS; Thu: 30 min run and 45 min bike; Fri: travel to CdA, Sat: swim recon; Sun: Race.
Another massage tonight. Hopefully that'll remove the remaining kinks from by back!
Also I suggest you spend some time thinking through what your alternate strategies on race day should things go south. It be nice you have some options around how you ride the bike or position yourself or handle the run organize now, so should they happen on race day you are more prepared. The fitness is definitely there, it is the infrastructure that is the potential issue.
If you haven't already, please check out our restated resources for the half iron. You can find them up under the resources tab on this website. If is anything else I can help you with please let me know. Otherwise stay healthy have fun go fast!!
Hey Coach,
I've been (mostly) off training for the last week. I had a table top, that was propped up against the wall, tip over and fall against my right thigh causing a major hematoma in my quad muscle. It's been very colorful - black and blue and swollen from my ankle to my hip. I went to the doctor yesterday and he cleared me to start working out, as long as it isn't too painful. I was able to do a 1.5 hour ride yesterday at IM power (75% FTP), so I'm pretty sure I can at least ride. I haven't tried to run yet. As recently as Monday walking was extremely painful, so we'll see if I can actually do the run workouts. The doctor expects it to be entirely resolved by the middle of next week.
I'm in week 15 (camp week) of the Beg IM plan for CdA. My plan is to do an OWS tonight (local club has weekly coached OWS) and a short run and bike tomorrow. There is a 2.4 mile OWS race Friday evening, so I thought I would split up camp day #1 to do the 2.4 mile swim Friday night and the 112 mile bike and hour brick run Saturday. If my leg holds up, I'll do the workout that was planned for Sat (56 to 70 mile bike and 30 min brick run) on Sunday, and do the 2 hr long run on Monday. This would require me to skip the Tuesday run next week, but then I'd (hopefully) be back on track. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?
I Would prefer you stick to shorter runs for the rest of this week. I know we have some longer work prescribed over camp week, but really I'm only concerned about the long bikes. Between the Friday of swimming race and the rides you are doing the rest of the weekend you should be fine with just a few 15 minute runs.
Part of what this activity is going to do is help flush the hematoma out and help you slowly regain range of motion safely through cycling and swimming. I don't see any upside to the running impact. That's just your tiny lizard brain scared wanting to test the run. Just get through the weekend first and we can go from there.
"Camp weekend" went OK. I finished the 2.4 mile swim in 1:36 on Friday. Saturday and Sunday rides were 103 and 60 miles in 6:22 and 3:44 respectively. I managed to control my lizard brain and kept the runs to 15 minutes.
For the most part my thigh didn't bother me as long as I kept my power below 70% FTP. The exception was the last 15 miles of the Saturday ride, when I had to drop my power to about 50% FTP or my thigh felt like it was on fire. The injury is definitely improved, but it isn't entirely healed.
I'll do my best to follow the week 16 "run focus week" plan. I may need to scale back the pace a bit on the runs - perhaps doing a run/walk to give my leg frequent breaks on the longer runs. I may also have to reduce power on the mid-week bike ride (2x20' at 95-100% FTP). Hopefully I'll be 100% healthy by next weekend.
PLEASE FORGET PACE. Right now all your runs should be at TRP pace. Just chilling it out...simple and steady and add the volume. It will grow and build to be your friend, but not if you force it. Similar with the bike...focus here is run frequency, bike isn't about how hard you can do it...just get it done!
~ Coach P
Hi Coach,
Thanks for all the help on the call this morning! My CdA bike is now up on Strava (https://www.strava.com/activities/686333324). I had to crop out the SAG wagon portion. My heart rate definitely increased during the second loop.
The half-Iron-distance race we discussed is the Black Diamond triathlon (http://blackdiamondtri.com/). I did this race last year. For the Pacific Northwest it is a fairly flat course. I'm thinking I will take this week pretty easy (still dealing with cramps that started during the dehydration "event"). Next week and the week after I could follow the final two weeks of the "2016 EN Half, Beginner" plan. Does that sound reasonable? Any adjustments?
On race day, your ride had an average heart rate of 137 with a max of 159.
As a point of reference, when you PR to half marathon distance earlier that week (https://www.strava.com/activities/662688867) your AHR for that effort was 134. That’s right…you rode 7 hours and 13 minutes at and effort you just managed to hold for 2 hours.
Basically you rode harder than you had ridden all year, and then we eliminate the nutrition due to the tough winds. You were burning the candle at both ends and there was simply no way you are going to survive.
Important lesson learned to write those HR numbers down and follow them next time!
As for the half, I think an easy week is good, with a return to exercise next week. No real adjustments other than not really going too hard…you’ll need to ease back into it. Remember the top priorities are fixing the nutrition set up, nutrition execution and (now) dialing in your HR zones!
I think that we know that THAT HR at THAT DISTANCE = NO BUENO.
You need to believe your long ride HR and power, not the group ride stuff. Does that make sense? When we talk about setting zones, it's off your RR rides...which were in the low 100s...can you walk me through how you determined the zones?