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Newbie: Is this progress or stagnation?

William JenksWilliam Jenks
in General Training Discussions

Hey all - 

New to EN over the last couple months.  I am on my 4th week of 12 for HIM prep.  I have to say I can't remember ever WORKING this hard before on all my workouts.  What happened to just running or riding for an hour half the time!  :-)  I admit I'm still adjusting a little!  

Over winter, I worked my butt off and ran a good marathon (for me) at Boston (April 19), with my last 5K run test on March 1 being 19:45.  I was not on an EN outseason plan, but the running plan was based on VDOT methods, and I did bike 2-3 times a week using short, intense intervals.  My taper took down most of the hard bike work because Boston was a life-bucket-list A race for me and I really wanted to do well.  (I did have a very good race [for me], setting a new PR.)

After the marathon, it took me pretty much the full three weeks before my 12 week program started to get on solid ground again.  (I'm 46 this year and no longer recover as fast as I once did.)  My swim is coming along, and my bike stats are about where they were last fall already, so that's ok...I hope, of course, to improve them, but we'll see.

Anyway, today was my first run test in the HIM program.  (I know it's supposed to be Thursday, but there was a tornado watch and thunderstorms here, and I ahve access to an indoor track, but not a velodrome!)

My result was 19:50 on the same track as before.  Considering the unpleasant temp of the room (hot), I'll call that a wash - essentially no change since my marathon training peak.  Sub-20 is pretty rarified air for me, having never been there before this past marathon cycle.  I fantasized about getting closer to 19:30, but 'twere not to be.

So here's my question.  (Sorry for the long preamble):

Is "holding serve" on the run test at this stage progress because I've been biking and swimming and otherwise beating my brains in (like everyone around here), or is it stagnation that shows I'm not quite doing things right?  I'm obviously not "adding distance" to running, but sure am to the bike, etc.

What saith the experienced hands?

Thanks!

William

Comments

  • michaelpd101michaelpd101
    William:

    I'm not the experienced EN person (joined in December) but I would say with adding swimming and biking at this time you are doing ok holding the time. At week 4 you are to the point of putting the far on top of the fast in the EN world. Keep doing the work and see what shakes out at the end in your half.
  • Bill McKinneyBill McKinney
    You're putting far under fast, remember! Given the increase in volume, a lot of folks don't see much in the way of increases the closer you get to your big race. I looked back at my tests for the year I did IM (Louisville 2008), and my FT and VDOT peaked in the test 6 weeks out from the race. I wouldn't worry about it at all. At this point, another VDOT point isn't going to amount to anything meaningful in the IM. I would think that getting the bike watts up and dialing in your execution is going to yield alot more.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    The faster you get, the harder it is to get faster. Given your Boston focused training plan through mid April, it would take a month of recovery, and then maybe 8 weeks of focused VO2 max work in running, at the expense of swimming and biking, to have any real hope of improvement on the 19:45, I'd suspect. Now, the more meaningful metric will be your run split and overall time at Steelhead. I agree with Bill, you're going to run that race with the speed you have now; it's time to gain the bike strength and endurance to take advantage of that speed.

  • Chris GChris G

     It looks like progress to me.  Very hard to make running gains at the same time as biking and swimming.  You mentioned that sub 20 is rarified air for you, it kinda is for everyone.  Knocking off 30 seconds is much harder the at 19:45 than 22 mins, just is.  Keep up the hard work, it will pay off.

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    As Chris G noted, running-only athletes see bigger (and faster) gains than their triathlon counterparts...just a lot of noise in a triathlon program. I think it's a great place to be, the margin of difference is negligible! Nice work...

    P
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    OK, thanks all. Yes, you're definitely right that it's harder to get faster when you're already at your fastest, and this time feels pretty good. And, to Al's point, I guess that's really what I was doing for the run-only training... focused VO2 and threshold training for run only. (or at least mostly)

    Now to try to get that bike strength.

    Thanks for the words of encouragement!
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