More Questions from Scott!
Coach
I have several questions:
1. My 4 week Training Plan ended today. What do I do starting tomorrow?
2. What do these abbreviations mean - TRP (I know it's Total Running Pace, but I literally cannot run that slow for more than 100 yards); GRP (I know it's Goal Race Pace, but what race? 5K? 10K? Half Marathon? Also, is it my goal pace right now, or in mid-season?); FTP - how do I calculate it?; There's another acronym people keep talking about ("I got mine up from 46.2 to 45.3 and I'm thrilled!) - I have no idea at all what they're talking about. What is it and how do I calculate mine?
3. My glutes are on fire. I haven't ever had this issue before. Any suggestions?
4. It takes me well over an hour to complete the swim workouts, and then my right shoulder (torn labrum from bad swimming form) is pretty sore afterwards. I'm starting swim lessons again in a few weeks. Should I back off a little on the length of the swim workouts in the meantime, or gut it out?
THANKS!!!
Comments
Finally, my glutes are very, very sore, like muscle soreness. I'm not sure if it's from a few treadmill runs, or the fact that I have a lot of small hills where I run, or that I've increased my run frequency, but they're sore! Any advice?
Thanks!
Assuming that your Test was accurate, then this is most likely a fatigue thing - it takes time to get tired at TRP, and we want that as we want frequent, consistent running. See your notes about glutes..I don't want to keep you running harder more often as that will only exacerbate this deeper fatigue and limit the consistency / frequency goals we have for you in the winter in terms of running.
More questions:
1. I'm at the end of Week 7 of the Out season. It looks like the 14 weeks go through April 10. I am doing the Chattanooga 70.3 on May 22. That only gives me 6 weeks from the end of the Out Season to the race, not including any taper. Should I be switching from the Out Season Training Plan to a different plan sometime before April 10?
2. I'm going to be in China from April 11 - May 1. That's obviously a pretty important time in my training for the 70.3. I've checked out health clubs in the area (Beijing), and there ain't much there. I figure unless the pollution is horrible, I can run outside; I hope to find a pool; and I'm taking my bike with me. I'm also taking my elastic swim bands, TRX straps, and a travel size foam roller. Any other suggestions?
3. I'd like to do a Sprint or Olympic race before the 70.3 for practice. The only one I've found in my area so far is a Sprint the week before. Should I do that or no? There's also a Duathlon on May 7. What do you think?
4. I'm looking at Power Meters. Do you like a certain brand or type, or should I check the Power Meter forum?
5. I've improved quire a bit since my bike and run tests several weeks ago. I guess I thought we were going to re-test ourselves every month during the Out Season so our Zones would change, but I haven't noticed any since then. Is there a test coming soon, or how does that work?
That's it for now! Thanks!
Scott
Thanks, Coach! I hadn't seen the TSR video or #2 test videos before. That helped explain everything. Thanks!!
Coach
Wow! So I guess we're "In Season" now! Yep, the training definitely stepped up with the new plan last week; especially the swimming. I went from 1/2 mile/week and a few dry swim workouts/week to 5 miles/week, and my shoulder is definitely feeling it! But aside from that, it's going well, and I haven't missed a single workout or mile or minute since January 1 (yes, I'm obsessive . . . ).
Now that I don't have any "off" days, when should I do my strength and core workouts? I'm thinking Monday and Friday, when all I have is a swim workout. Agree? Should I add an additional core workout on Wednesdays (3/week)?
I updated my bike numbers; they were a SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT. But the old numbers are gone, and I don't have them recorded anywhere. Do you or does your system keep a record of those numbers so I can keep a record of my improvements with EN?
I need to retest myself on the run; when I did it, it started snowing after 1 mile. Each time around the track the snow covered my footprints from the last 1/4 mile. I fought through it until the beginning of the last mile, when I started sliding across the track. With the new workout schedule, I'm not sure how to fit it in. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Scott
Coach
I have some more questions for you:
1. I was doing great and feeling great during the outseason. I didn’t miss a single workout, and didn’t cut any short. I really enjoyed the day off each week; I think that worked really well for me. Now that I’m in the regular season, I’m still not missing any workouts, and other than sometimes falling a rep or two short on the swim, I’m not cutting any short. I’ve seen significant increases in power and speed, and I feel really good about that. But I’m EXHAUSTED! I just saw your video on rest, and I thought, “Yes! That’s me!” The problem is, what do I cut out? Do I just take a few days off?
2. I hear you say that we can’t be thinking that we’re training for an Ironman early in the year, or we’ll burn out. Okay, I understand the psychology; I just don’t understand how it’s different if I’m doing 7 hours of biking on the weekend, swimming 3-4 times a week, and running 5. How do I “get my mind right” so I don’t burn out?
3. I just noticed yesterday that there is a podcast and video for each week! I’ve never seen those before. Is there a basic “Do these 7 things every week” note or video that I missed that would explain what I NEED to be watching, reading or listening to in terms of EN resources? I feel like I’m paying for 100% of my membership, but only using 3% of it. Any advice or direction you can give me here would be very much appreciated.
4. I just watched your nutrition video, and I took notes so I could “get it right.” It said that I need 475 calories/hour on the bike, 1,000 mg of sodium throughout the race, and 265 calories/hour on the run. I use Infinit Nutrition products. I used to use them for both the bike and the run, but last year I noticed my gait was a little off on the run because of all the extra weight I was carrying, so I switched to Gatorade Endurance like they serve on the course. My bike blend gives me only 300 calories/hour and 450 mg of sodium, so I called their nutritionist to see how I could up those amounts. She was VERY surprised at the numbers I was trying to achieve, and strongly recommended against that many calories, and that much sodium, saying the calories would give me GI issues, and the sodium (too much or too little) could make me cramp up or could dehydrate me because it would hold water in my system. I’ve never taken salt supplements; I sweat a good deal; I’ve never cramped; I’m confused. Any thoughts?
5. Should we be doing another call? I haven’t done one in over a month.
6. I’m leaving for China in 5 days. I’ll be there 3 weeks. I’m taking my bike, have a pool scoped out, and will do my best to maintain my training. But I have a 5 hour swim/bike/run scheduled for next Saturday, and I can’t get into the pool until after noon. Suggestions?
Hope something in that long ramble is useful!!
Carole
^That's^ it exactly. Ironman training becomes decidedly not fun after a while, require many sacrifices and compromises in all areas of your life. Athletes usually start to feel that about 8wks out, when everything really starts to weigh you down. So if you've already put yourself in that place months and months early, then that 8wks becomes 12-16wks out, and you're truly fooked 3-6wks out when things are VERY important. We've seen this across thousands of athletes and over 2 decades of coaching.
My local tri club has almost 25 people racing IMMT. Last August, yes, August, they were already getting all spun up about the race. I had a Come to Jeebus talk with them 2wks out from my IMWI, my final weekend of doing monster volume of 350+ miles of cycling in 3 days, similar to the wk18 in you plan. I told them I was only able to do that because I had not been dorked out about IM training for a friggin' year like they were starting to get...but I'm not sure if they listened to me
Thanks for the feedback, Carole. I get up at 4:00 every day to work out; it's the only way I can get everything done on my agenda. I think my work and non-profit workload is too heavy right now. It must be, because when it starts affecting my tri training . . .
There's a possibility that I might be too competitive . . . . Thanks again!
Thanks for the good responses. Just a few comments back (in yellow highlight this time).
Coach
I have some more questions for you:
1. I was doing great and feeling great during the outseason. I didn’t miss a single workout, and didn’t cut any short. I really enjoyed the day off each week; I think that worked really well for me. Now that I’m in the regular season, I’m still not missing any workouts, and other than sometimes falling a rep or two short on the swim, I’m not cutting any short. I’ve seen significant increases in power and speed, and I feel really good about that. But I’m EXHAUSTED! I just saw your video on rest, and I thought, “Yes! That’s me!” The problem is, what do I cut out? Do I just take a few days off?
Just take a day off here and there if you need to, or cut stuff short, etc. I move stuff around nearly every week depending on how I feel.
Good to know!
2. I hear you say that we can’t be thinking that we’re training for an Ironman early in the year, or we’ll burn out. Okay, I understand the psychology; I just don’t understand how it’s different if I’m doing 7 hours of biking on the weekend, swimming 3-4 times a week, and running 5. How do I “get my mind right” so I don’t burn out? What plan are you in right now that you're riding 7hrs on the weekend? And swimming 4x/wk? It's a matter of perspective. Putting your feet on the floor at 5am 4-5mo out and thinking that what you're doing right _now_ is training for an Ironman months and months away is very dangerous. That's why we highly recommend our athletes training for and race a Half Ironman or some short course stuff first so that 12wks out from their IM they can officially start training "for" the race, at least putting their head in that space. I'm on week 14 of the EN Half IM Intermediate Plan. I get up at 4:00 AM every day to start training by 5:00; it's the only way I can get everything done on my schedule. I'm doing the Chattanooga Half next month, then the Tennessee Training Camp, and then the Chattanooga IM in September.
3. I just noticed yesterday that there is a podcast and video for each week! I’ve never seen those before. Is there a basic “Do these 7 things every week” note or video that I missed that would explain what I NEED to be watching, reading or listening to in terms of EN resources? I feel like I’m paying for 100% of my membership, but only using 3% of it. Any advice or direction you can give me here would be very much appreciated.
Well, we parked them right next to your training plan for a reason, so you'd see them, as experience tells us that that's the page that you guys go to most often. Other than that, it's just a very good idea to ask questions and participate in the forums as much as you're able to. Yep, it's a pretty obvious location to me now.
I'm going to have to make time to start digging around the web site more - it's obviously loaded with great resources; I just need to take the time to hunt them down.
4. I just watched your nutrition video, and I took notes so I could “get it right.” It said that I need 475 calories/hour on the bike, 1,000 mg of sodium throughout the race, and 265 calories/hour on the run. I use Infinit Nutrition products. The calories sound about right but that sodium number on the very, very top end of what we recommend. Personally, I'm more like 500mg per hour, which I learned through experimenting this past summer while training for IMWI. Okay, that helps a lot. I used to use them for both the bike and the run, but last year I noticed my gait was a little off on the run because of all the extra weight I was carrying, so I switched to Gatorade Endurance like they serve on the course. My bike blend gives me only 300 calories/hour and 450 mg of sodium, so I called their nutritionist to see how I could up those amounts. ^Those^ numbers are good, or at least a starting point. You may want to experiment with going higher on the calories per hour amount to see what you can tolerate, what's best for you. And this past summer many of us moved to using GE, gels, shot blocks, and water so we have individual tools/products to manage the separate variables of hydration, sodium, and calories per hour. Do you mean GE or GU? I can't find anything on GE gels. Gatorade Endurance and whatever gels work for you. I was doing Roctane this summer and Clif Shot blocks. That's basically what I raced IMWI with, only taking GE and the odd gel off the course. She was VERY surprised at the numbers I was trying to achieve, and strongly recommended against that many calories, and that much sodium, saying the calories would give me GI issues, and the sodium (too much or too little) could make me cramp up or could dehydrate me because it would hold water in my system. I’ve never taken salt supplements; I sweat a good deal; I’ve never cramped; I’m confused. Any thoughts? She's likely correct on the sodium, 1g/hr is probably too much. The 300cal/hr sounds right and, again, we encourage you to experiment with 400+, at least in the first couple hours of the bike. Again, LOTS and lots written in here about this topic, far more than I could cover in a forum post. Please see this page where we've parked everything.
5. Should we be doing another call? I haven’t done one in over a month. Happy to do a call anytime but please also understand that monthly phone calls aren't included in membership. The occasional chat to efficiently get someone back on track, yes. But monthly check in calls are beyond the scope of our services. If we tried to do that we'd have to charge MUCH for membership. That's why reading and participating in the forums is so important. Got it. I misunderstood that.
6. I’m leaving for China in 5 days. I’ll be there 3 weeks. I’m taking my bike, have a pool scoped out, and will do my best to maintain my training. But I have a 5 hour swim/bike/run scheduled for next Saturday, and I can’t get into the pool until after noon. Suggestions? Do the best you can, fine to skip the swim if you can't make the logistics happen. Will do. What do you think about doing some sets of a dry swim workout with the swim bands for that workout? That's fine
Thanks again!!!