Hey @Coach Patrick , thanks a ton for getting back to me and this helpful info! My buddy and I did a 170 mile bike commute up north to practice drafting each other and see what it would be like for the two of us (on Thursday 7/16). He rode back the next day solo, but he is way stronger than me. I haven't ridden in a group on my TT bike, so it was a chance for me to see how drafting him would go on my TT bike and see if I could hang with him. I was not fresh going into it, and we had a headwind the whole way. So it was tough for both of us. He also didn't ride very steady, so we surged power a lot (at stop signs and up hills), and I got a little excited after first meal stop and rode too hard for a while. But we both survived. I rode back 3 days later with ~95 miles of easy riding on Saturday 7/18. I had mostly head-wind/cross wind, but I rode really steady and it went really well (I was able to finish much stronger riding alone on Sunday, even if I did got a little slower than when we rode as a two man team).
I did avoid running for the 3 days leading up to my 163 mile solo ride home (and 4 days if you include the day of the ride). So that certainly helped my legs be more fresh for the ride home. Thanks for your kind words about my "maturity" in being able to back off of running at strategic times so I can handle more cycling.
Anyway, after that experience, we both agreed we would want more days to do the 1300 mile ride around lake michigan (PS, we were planning on AirBNBs and friends houses so we wouldn't have to carry sleeping gear).
He came up with a ~550 mile ride around the "thumb" of lake Michigan. We would go near @Brian Hagan s house, so he might be able to join. We'd probably break it up into 4 days. But other things have come up and we might not do that either.
Regardless, I'm still planning on DIY tri. I'll register soon! My swim will suck and my run will be "ok," but it will be fun, none-the-less.
@Larry Peters - that was a great call testing out that effort. Without that practice, you could very well have ended up in a really bad spot. You built some great fitness and learn some good lessons as well.
Most of all that two guys drafting each other is really not that effective. Even just adding one more person to the mix makes a huge difference. It's so good to sit in the middle! #wrongchat 🤣
Even if "mini" epic plan doesn't work, you could cook up something local to you as well... North / East / South / West, etc...all that riding adds up. Plus you really like the planning and execution. You can send me anything you are thinking!
Thanks a ton @Coach Patrick ! At this point I'm probably not doing any big bike tours so I can spend a little more time and energy getting back some run and swim fitness for DIY. And, since my GF is super focused on running her first marathon this fall (as a virtual time trial), me focusing on running more means we get to spend more time together training.
I was originally thinking about trying to do my first ultra in mid December (50 miler, Lookout Mountain in GA), and @Carl Alleyne and @maurice matthews were interested too. But since things are getting cancelled, we were also talking about doing R2R2R as a back-up or just the primary event. R2R2R is similar in distance, but has ~3000 more feet of climbing. My GF was interested in the idea of R2R2R and some of the EN guys in the ultra chat were interested too. It looks like December would be chilly for Grand Canyon, but maybe do-able. I'll look for other folk's race reports on R2R2R.
Thanks for the tip on the difference in drafting effect for 2 vs. 3 people. I knew it was a factor, but wasn't sure how much.
My April 16 FTP (outside, on TT bike, out and back course, pretty flat with one little hill) was 354 watts (average power for 61 minutes). But at that point I was only running ~10-20 miles per week. I haven't retested on the bike since then, or moved my FTP in Training peaks, but I probably should, since I've been running 30-40 miles per week lately and I'm pretty sure my bike fitness has dropped off a bit. Last year when my bike fitness was really good and I was running a lot, my FTP was ~330 watts. So until I test again, I think I'm going to use ~330W FTP to pace myself for DIY. So using EN 70.3 race execution guidance:
Bike:
First 20 minutes: 75% of 330 watts = ~248 watts
Remainder: ~284 watts
For the run, I haven't done a 5k test yet on this build (. I was going to do one this weekend, but was out of town and was too tempted to get my name on some segment leaderboards for my run intensity this week (🤣). So I'll really try to rest up and do a good 5k run test to get an idea of where I stand for DIY run pacing. AND I'll try to get my Stryd working again by then. I got the wrong screen/extension on my garmin, it says I need a subscription and I haven't figured out where to pay for the subscription.
@Larry Peters the overall plan sounds good; I think R2R2R might be dangerous? if not just chilly, in DEC. Please dig more deeply in on that. I do like the idea of a "run binge" for you, as long as it has an endpoint so you can stay run healthy. Deal?
DIY plan looks really good..check in with le team on the stryd / garmin power screen. I don't think I have one that requires a sub.
Hey @Coach Patrick , yeah, you are right about R2R2R. I was kinda still in brainstorming mode. I looked at weather reports and was still not too concerned. But then the ultra EN guys reminded me that 2 inches of precipitation is like many, many inches of snow (I forgot about that). So No R2R2R in december and not in 2020 for that matter.
Ok, cool. Thanks! Yes, if I do some big "run binge," I would be happy to commit to backing off running for a while to recover and avoid injury. Deal! I'm also looking at FKTs in my area. My GF and I could do a mixed-gender FKT/OKT if races get cancelled.
Thanks! Yes, I'll get the stryd figured out and ask the team for help if I need it. I know there is a screen that doesn't require subscription.
@Larry Peters - OMG I didn’t even think of the consequences of being buried in snow out there. You certainly would earn the “epic“ Monika, but it might not be worth it if it means putting your life on the line. 😂
I saw you debating a potential earlier trip, and knows what the fall will bring but I know you will find a way to do something awesome. Of all the people on the team in the Midwest, you have definitely found the widest variety of opportunities for awesomeness.
speaking of awesome, I just tried and failed a local epic ride and it occurred to me about four hours in that “this is the right I should take Rob on when he visits Rhode Island.“
Hey @Coach Patrick , thanks a ton for the kind words! I am now looking at R2R2R in late October with some of the ultra crew and my GF. Very excited! And I promise that after my “run binge,” I’ll back off running a bit to refocus in biking and swimming (if pools reopen, I miss swimming). My GF and I also want to use our run fitness to go after some mixed gender FKTs. She is faster than most women, so I just have to be as fast as the other women in the couples we compete against (not easy, but maybe attainable for some local routes).
Paige (my GF) said she filled out the first responder form to get an EN trial and mentioned me. She is a PA, and definitely on the front lines of healthcare.
lol, I love that your bike route made you think of me and I hope I get to ride that route with you someday!
@Larry Peters - hey man, I had no idea that Paige was a PA. That's super cool! Hopefully she has received all the information she needs. I haven't heard from her yet directly, but I'm sure she'll show up on my dashboard soon.
On a side note, I saw your comment about running and staying run healthy. Sounds like you might be having some durability issues. It's tempting to Go all in on the run when you were training for some thing like R2R2R but Sometimes judicious cross training is actually a much better idea. That would involve using your bike as a tool to maintain your aerobic fitness. It's not that you can't do the running, it's just maybe that the volume is too high...or the frequency is too much.
Hey @Coach Patrick ! Thanks! Paige is working through initiating her membership now. We're excited to have her in the house!
Thanks! I rolled my ankle a little bit running fast on some trails during last Friday morning (in a spot where I had run before and said to myself: "geese, this is a spot where you could roll your ankle if you weren't careful). It didn't really hurt, so I finished my workout (1 hour running/power hiking w/ ~915 ft vertical gain using trekking poles). My ankle didn't hurt at all the morning and early afternoon. ~3:30 pm it started to feel a little tight and sore. I had planning for an evening run/power hike w/ 1500 ft of vert, so I decided to try that if my ankle felt ok. It did, but it was getting increasingly sore on the descents (doing repeats on a 50 foot grassy sledding hill). I stopped at 1000 feet of gain since it was getting sore. Then I got ready to run home and it hurt so much in the first few minutes of running, I walked the 1.6 miles home. It actually was a fairly painful walk too. So I was pretty sure at that point I had really done a lot of damage. But by Saturday (yesterday), it wasn't very swollen, no bruising yet (some redness), and it was feeling good walking. So my GF and I did a 7.3 mile hike on flat single track. I used my trekking poles to baby it and stepped carefully. It felt fine. It feels even better today. So I think I'm in pretty good shape.
I'm guessing my sensitivity to pain was heightened Friday night because I was hungry and tired.
I'm going to proceed cautiously. The good news is that I can do stairs and get a lot of vert without the risk of rolling my ankle on uneven ground.
I'll use some bike to supplement running as you suggest.
@Larry Peters thanks for the update. Rolling the ankle is just one of those things. I used to run trails in Hokas but found they were too beefy (high) and combined with my high arches made me too prone to rolling my ankles. As a larger dude you have a higher risk factor (down hill speed and weight on ankle if rolled)...so find speed elsewhere maybe?
Cool, thanks @Coach Patrick ! Yeah, you are right, running fast on trails is riskier. I was actually hunting a segment when I rolled my ankle (lol!). It was mostly up hill, but had a little flat and downhill leading up to it. I'll have to (mostly) resist the urge to segment hunt running on trails and get my need for speed on the pavement. ;). I am also hoping to use my R2R2R build and try an FKT this fall either as a mixed gender entry or maybe solo self-supported entry. The good news is that you don't have to run (super) fast on trails to go after most FKTs, since they are typically long and only require 8-12 minute pace (and the ones I would be attempting would have records closer to the 10-12 minute pace mark).
Paige said she has a phone appointment with you coming up, so that is cool!
@Larry Peters - always a good reminder that we are our own worst enemies. Sounds like you've got a good sense of that now, and I agree that segment hunting on trails it's just not a good thing to do. You've got so much strength that figuring out where to apply it for the best results is a challenge. I would argue that maybe after a year of running trails and becoming technically really good would then set you up to then chase the segments. Make sense?
ps Great conversation with Paige. She's just as nice as she is fast!!! 🚀
Coach Patrick got your check-in update and I have pasted it below along with his response.
This is part of our monthly process to stay connected, so thanks for filling that out.
Rankings are as follows:
- Swim Fitness vs Last Month: 1
- Bike Fitness vs Last Month: 1
- Run Fitness vs Last Month: 2
- Body Comp vs Last Month: 1Next month's focus: Maintain ultra run fitness for Bandera 100k and start seriously rebuilding bike fitness
Extra help request: Is "trending down" a good thing for body comp or bad thing? I'm interpreting "trending down" as lower body fat.....
Still on the Ultra Tip, huh? I hope your body is holding up well. I do see you still getting out on the bike a little bit which is great. Speaking as one big dude to another, the more balanced your training can be the more safe you are. Of course, you were younger than me but I still think it’s worthwhile. Folks like you and I do better with either a slower ramp to the extreme sports or a more diverse training schedule. That’s why we have the “balanced” plans out there where you can replace the run with the bike listed on that same day (don’t do both). Shoot me a note and catch me up when you get a chance!
Thanks @Coach Patrick ! Yeah, I wanted to use my ultra fitness for a bit more adventures this winter (I was thinking an FKT or two), but Tim Sullivan talked me into Bandera 100k. I love trail running. Yes, I plan to bike a lot in this build. I'll be honest, I did get a muscle imbalance after R2R2R, I ignored it, ran through pain like an idiot and got a little injury. If I had listened to my body and done my exercises, I am pretty sure I would've been fine, but I got greedy. So I'm not running right now (tomorrow will be 2 weeks without running). I tested it with a walk run today, and it is getting a lot better, but still not ready to run. Luckily, it feels fine biking. But I did buy race insurance for Bandera, so I'm just going to focus on biking and see how things go with running. If I need to bail on bandera, I feel very comfortable with that. This forces me to focus on rebuilding my bike fitness anyway.
Looking ahead, I have 3 rollover events for 2021 - Steelhead 70.3 in late June, IMMT in August and IMMD in September. After listening to John Benson's podcast, I still like the idea of learning more about race execution with two races in one build. But IMMT is giving athletes a chance to get a refund until 12/11. Given all the uncertainty around COVID (especially with an international border crossing) a lot of people are saying to take the money and pull out of IMMT. I would be inclined to do that, but I'm not sure. What do you think? Should I take the refund because of uncertainty? If I pulled out, then what would I do differently? Add a 70.3 or just do some local short course racing that would be fun, cheaper and more flexible with covid (but short course racing teaches you less about race execution in longer events)? I could also pull out of IMMT and have more time for another big training camp or something. But everyone says IMMT is an awesome first IM and it has been on my calendar for 3 years now, so a big part of me wants to race it.
Some personal life context: Paige and I are planning to get married over Memorial Day (immediate family only). I'm going to propose in the next couple weeks, but we already talked through everything (I'm going to propose with strava art!! I hope you give that activity a kudo ;) ). She is going to be focused on triathlon for the next several years too, although we do hope to have children at some point. I don't think I have the bandwidth to do long course triathlon with young kids, so I was planning to switch to ultra running at that point (with cycling included for fun, commuting and balance). But we'll see. Paige wants to try and see if she can get her pro card for triathlon and plans to keep racing competitive with young kids if she can and I will support that. I'm sure you heard, but she wants to try using a local 1-on-1 female coach this year, so she is not in EN anymore.
@Larry Peters - Glad that you have been able to pivot from this injury and find a way to stay active. Every time we get one of these opportunities to learn, it's really important to capture it. You are a phenomenal athlete with an incredible aerobic engine. It's making sure that the rest of you is able to keep up that's the tricky part!
If it's helpful in anyway, remember that recovery isn't necessarily a linear process. Taking two or three days off when you don't feel right is often enough. Sometimes people look at the need to step back as a big project. Some thing that means losing all the work they've done until that point. That is just your tiny lizard brain trying to trick you into staying on your streak or whatever you're doing training wise. @tim cronk is a master of this.
Hope the bike keeps you healthy and it will certainly contribute to some good baseline Fitness heading into next year. I know you're still able to get outside so having a mixture of different types of riders fantastic. Be mindful of pushing locations work right now as you work through the injury, just getting aerobic time every day is a bonus. When you are ready to get back to running, I recommend you start with brick work outs first. So an hour easy-ish on the bike, with a 1 mile run off of it. That way you are warmed up. After 4 such runs (1.5 weeks?), you can start doing stand alone runs, with a good 10' walk warm up first...you will walk/run these as the following ratios:
4 x 30' as 3:1 -- Walk 3' run 1'
4 x 40' as 2:2 -- 2' walk, 2' run.
4 x 45' as 1:3 -- 1' walk, 3' run.
Back to normal running but take a 2' "power walk" break every mile...
BIG PICTURE WISE...I am super excited for you. This adventure sounds amazing and I'm so happy for you both. What are the odds that you actually would find each other? I think your overall plan is good in terms of scheduling regular events in life events. As for tremblant it's very difficult because it's international. I'm very hopeful that we will have vaccines being distributed early next year but I still don't know what the ramifications will be for crossing borders, etc. You likely have a bit of time as pro card and race "Start" will take 2-ish years (guessing) so it's not like 8/21 is your final chance.
My personal advice, which is worth absolutely nothing, would be to get a refund on tremblant, plan on your 270.3 races for next year, and if life is good plan on putting that money towards some kind of a fall honeymoon or adventure that the two of you can take once travel is back to "normal." You could still do something epic in the fall like R2R2R but make it a honeymoon and still part of your overall build.
And yes, Paige sent me a note re her local coach. I wish her the best...can't wait to see her progress!!!
Comments
Hey @Coach Patrick , thanks a ton for getting back to me and this helpful info! My buddy and I did a 170 mile bike commute up north to practice drafting each other and see what it would be like for the two of us (on Thursday 7/16). He rode back the next day solo, but he is way stronger than me. I haven't ridden in a group on my TT bike, so it was a chance for me to see how drafting him would go on my TT bike and see if I could hang with him. I was not fresh going into it, and we had a headwind the whole way. So it was tough for both of us. He also didn't ride very steady, so we surged power a lot (at stop signs and up hills), and I got a little excited after first meal stop and rode too hard for a while. But we both survived. I rode back 3 days later with ~95 miles of easy riding on Saturday 7/18. I had mostly head-wind/cross wind, but I rode really steady and it went really well (I was able to finish much stronger riding alone on Sunday, even if I did got a little slower than when we rode as a two man team).
I did avoid running for the 3 days leading up to my 163 mile solo ride home (and 4 days if you include the day of the ride). So that certainly helped my legs be more fresh for the ride home. Thanks for your kind words about my "maturity" in being able to back off of running at strategic times so I can handle more cycling.
Anyway, after that experience, we both agreed we would want more days to do the 1300 mile ride around lake michigan (PS, we were planning on AirBNBs and friends houses so we wouldn't have to carry sleeping gear).
He came up with a ~550 mile ride around the "thumb" of lake Michigan. We would go near @Brian Hagan s house, so he might be able to join. We'd probably break it up into 4 days. But other things have come up and we might not do that either.
Regardless, I'm still planning on DIY tri. I'll register soon! My swim will suck and my run will be "ok," but it will be fun, none-the-less.
@Larry Peters - that was a great call testing out that effort. Without that practice, you could very well have ended up in a really bad spot. You built some great fitness and learn some good lessons as well.
Most of all that two guys drafting each other is really not that effective. Even just adding one more person to the mix makes a huge difference. It's so good to sit in the middle! #wrongchat 🤣
Even if "mini" epic plan doesn't work, you could cook up something local to you as well... North / East / South / West, etc...all that riding adds up. Plus you really like the planning and execution. You can send me anything you are thinking!
See you in the DIY!
~ Coach P
Thanks a ton @Coach Patrick ! At this point I'm probably not doing any big bike tours so I can spend a little more time and energy getting back some run and swim fitness for DIY. And, since my GF is super focused on running her first marathon this fall (as a virtual time trial), me focusing on running more means we get to spend more time together training.
I was originally thinking about trying to do my first ultra in mid December (50 miler, Lookout Mountain in GA), and @Carl Alleyne and @maurice matthews were interested too. But since things are getting cancelled, we were also talking about doing R2R2R as a back-up or just the primary event. R2R2R is similar in distance, but has ~3000 more feet of climbing. My GF was interested in the idea of R2R2R and some of the EN guys in the ultra chat were interested too. It looks like December would be chilly for Grand Canyon, but maybe do-able. I'll look for other folk's race reports on R2R2R.
Thanks for the tip on the difference in drafting effect for 2 vs. 3 people. I knew it was a factor, but wasn't sure how much.
PS. Just making some notes for DIY Tri.
My April 16 FTP (outside, on TT bike, out and back course, pretty flat with one little hill) was 354 watts (average power for 61 minutes). But at that point I was only running ~10-20 miles per week. I haven't retested on the bike since then, or moved my FTP in Training peaks, but I probably should, since I've been running 30-40 miles per week lately and I'm pretty sure my bike fitness has dropped off a bit. Last year when my bike fitness was really good and I was running a lot, my FTP was ~330 watts. So until I test again, I think I'm going to use ~330W FTP to pace myself for DIY. So using EN 70.3 race execution guidance:
Bike:
First 20 minutes: 75% of 330 watts = ~248 watts
Remainder: ~284 watts
For the run, I haven't done a 5k test yet on this build (. I was going to do one this weekend, but was out of town and was too tempted to get my name on some segment leaderboards for my run intensity this week (🤣). So I'll really try to rest up and do a good 5k run test to get an idea of where I stand for DIY run pacing. AND I'll try to get my Stryd working again by then. I got the wrong screen/extension on my garmin, it says I need a subscription and I haven't figured out where to pay for the subscription.
The swim will just be getting it done.
@Larry Peters the overall plan sounds good; I think R2R2R might be dangerous? if not just chilly, in DEC. Please dig more deeply in on that. I do like the idea of a "run binge" for you, as long as it has an endpoint so you can stay run healthy. Deal?
DIY plan looks really good..check in with le team on the stryd / garmin power screen. I don't think I have one that requires a sub.
~ Patrick
Hey @Coach Patrick , yeah, you are right about R2R2R. I was kinda still in brainstorming mode. I looked at weather reports and was still not too concerned. But then the ultra EN guys reminded me that 2 inches of precipitation is like many, many inches of snow (I forgot about that). So No R2R2R in december and not in 2020 for that matter.
Ok, cool. Thanks! Yes, if I do some big "run binge," I would be happy to commit to backing off running for a while to recover and avoid injury. Deal! I'm also looking at FKTs in my area. My GF and I could do a mixed-gender FKT/OKT if races get cancelled.
Thanks! Yes, I'll get the stryd figured out and ask the team for help if I need it. I know there is a screen that doesn't require subscription.
Thanks!
@Larry Peters - OMG I didn’t even think of the consequences of being buried in snow out there. You certainly would earn the “epic“ Monika, but it might not be worth it if it means putting your life on the line. 😂
I saw you debating a potential earlier trip, and knows what the fall will bring but I know you will find a way to do something awesome. Of all the people on the team in the Midwest, you have definitely found the widest variety of opportunities for awesomeness.
speaking of awesome, I just tried and failed a local epic ride and it occurred to me about four hours in that “this is the right I should take Rob on when he visits Rhode Island.“
Let me know as your plans start to crystallize!
~ Coach P
Hey @Coach Patrick , thanks a ton for the kind words! I am now looking at R2R2R in late October with some of the ultra crew and my GF. Very excited! And I promise that after my “run binge,” I’ll back off running a bit to refocus in biking and swimming (if pools reopen, I miss swimming). My GF and I also want to use our run fitness to go after some mixed gender FKTs. She is faster than most women, so I just have to be as fast as the other women in the couples we compete against (not easy, but maybe attainable for some local routes).
Paige (my GF) said she filled out the first responder form to get an EN trial and mentioned me. She is a PA, and definitely on the front lines of healthcare.
lol, I love that your bike route made you think of me and I hope I get to ride that route with you someday!
@Larry Peters - hey man, I had no idea that Paige was a PA. That's super cool! Hopefully she has received all the information she needs. I haven't heard from her yet directly, but I'm sure she'll show up on my dashboard soon.
On a side note, I saw your comment about running and staying run healthy. Sounds like you might be having some durability issues. It's tempting to Go all in on the run when you were training for some thing like R2R2R but Sometimes judicious cross training is actually a much better idea. That would involve using your bike as a tool to maintain your aerobic fitness. It's not that you can't do the running, it's just maybe that the volume is too high...or the frequency is too much.
Let me know if you'd like some input!
~ Coach P
Hey @Coach Patrick ! Thanks! Paige is working through initiating her membership now. We're excited to have her in the house!
Thanks! I rolled my ankle a little bit running fast on some trails during last Friday morning (in a spot where I had run before and said to myself: "geese, this is a spot where you could roll your ankle if you weren't careful). It didn't really hurt, so I finished my workout (1 hour running/power hiking w/ ~915 ft vertical gain using trekking poles). My ankle didn't hurt at all the morning and early afternoon. ~3:30 pm it started to feel a little tight and sore. I had planning for an evening run/power hike w/ 1500 ft of vert, so I decided to try that if my ankle felt ok. It did, but it was getting increasingly sore on the descents (doing repeats on a 50 foot grassy sledding hill). I stopped at 1000 feet of gain since it was getting sore. Then I got ready to run home and it hurt so much in the first few minutes of running, I walked the 1.6 miles home. It actually was a fairly painful walk too. So I was pretty sure at that point I had really done a lot of damage. But by Saturday (yesterday), it wasn't very swollen, no bruising yet (some redness), and it was feeling good walking. So my GF and I did a 7.3 mile hike on flat single track. I used my trekking poles to baby it and stepped carefully. It felt fine. It feels even better today. So I think I'm in pretty good shape.
I'm guessing my sensitivity to pain was heightened Friday night because I was hungry and tired.
I'm going to proceed cautiously. The good news is that I can do stairs and get a lot of vert without the risk of rolling my ankle on uneven ground.
I'll use some bike to supplement running as you suggest.
@Larry Peters thanks for the update. Rolling the ankle is just one of those things. I used to run trails in Hokas but found they were too beefy (high) and combined with my high arches made me too prone to rolling my ankles. As a larger dude you have a higher risk factor (down hill speed and weight on ankle if rolled)...so find speed elsewhere maybe?
Glad to hear you are doing well!
~ Coach P
Cool, thanks @Coach Patrick ! Yeah, you are right, running fast on trails is riskier. I was actually hunting a segment when I rolled my ankle (lol!). It was mostly up hill, but had a little flat and downhill leading up to it. I'll have to (mostly) resist the urge to segment hunt running on trails and get my need for speed on the pavement. ;). I am also hoping to use my R2R2R build and try an FKT this fall either as a mixed gender entry or maybe solo self-supported entry. The good news is that you don't have to run (super) fast on trails to go after most FKTs, since they are typically long and only require 8-12 minute pace (and the ones I would be attempting would have records closer to the 10-12 minute pace mark).
Paige said she has a phone appointment with you coming up, so that is cool!
Thanks for the feedback!
@Larry Peters - always a good reminder that we are our own worst enemies. Sounds like you've got a good sense of that now, and I agree that segment hunting on trails it's just not a good thing to do. You've got so much strength that figuring out where to apply it for the best results is a challenge. I would argue that maybe after a year of running trails and becoming technically really good would then set you up to then chase the segments. Make sense?
ps Great conversation with Paige. She's just as nice as she is fast!!! 🚀
@Larry Peters
Coach Patrick got your check-in update and I have pasted it below along with his response.
This is part of our monthly process to stay connected, so thanks for filling that out.
Rankings are as follows:
- Swim Fitness vs Last Month: 1
- Bike Fitness vs Last Month: 1
- Run Fitness vs Last Month: 2
- Body Comp vs Last Month: 1Next month's focus: Maintain ultra run fitness for Bandera 100k and start seriously rebuilding bike fitness
Extra help request: Is "trending down" a good thing for body comp or bad thing? I'm interpreting "trending down" as lower body fat.....
Still on the Ultra Tip, huh? I hope your body is holding up well. I do see you still getting out on the bike a little bit which is great. Speaking as one big dude to another, the more balanced your training can be the more safe you are. Of course, you were younger than me but I still think it’s worthwhile. Folks like you and I do better with either a slower ramp to the extreme sports or a more diverse training schedule. That’s why we have the “balanced” plans out there where you can replace the run with the bike listed on that same day (don’t do both). Shoot me a note and catch me up when you get a chance!
~ Coach P
Thanks @Coach Patrick ! Yeah, I wanted to use my ultra fitness for a bit more adventures this winter (I was thinking an FKT or two), but Tim Sullivan talked me into Bandera 100k. I love trail running. Yes, I plan to bike a lot in this build. I'll be honest, I did get a muscle imbalance after R2R2R, I ignored it, ran through pain like an idiot and got a little injury. If I had listened to my body and done my exercises, I am pretty sure I would've been fine, but I got greedy. So I'm not running right now (tomorrow will be 2 weeks without running). I tested it with a walk run today, and it is getting a lot better, but still not ready to run. Luckily, it feels fine biking. But I did buy race insurance for Bandera, so I'm just going to focus on biking and see how things go with running. If I need to bail on bandera, I feel very comfortable with that. This forces me to focus on rebuilding my bike fitness anyway.
Looking ahead, I have 3 rollover events for 2021 - Steelhead 70.3 in late June, IMMT in August and IMMD in September. After listening to John Benson's podcast, I still like the idea of learning more about race execution with two races in one build. But IMMT is giving athletes a chance to get a refund until 12/11. Given all the uncertainty around COVID (especially with an international border crossing) a lot of people are saying to take the money and pull out of IMMT. I would be inclined to do that, but I'm not sure. What do you think? Should I take the refund because of uncertainty? If I pulled out, then what would I do differently? Add a 70.3 or just do some local short course racing that would be fun, cheaper and more flexible with covid (but short course racing teaches you less about race execution in longer events)? I could also pull out of IMMT and have more time for another big training camp or something. But everyone says IMMT is an awesome first IM and it has been on my calendar for 3 years now, so a big part of me wants to race it.
Some personal life context: Paige and I are planning to get married over Memorial Day (immediate family only). I'm going to propose in the next couple weeks, but we already talked through everything (I'm going to propose with strava art!! I hope you give that activity a kudo ;) ). She is going to be focused on triathlon for the next several years too, although we do hope to have children at some point. I don't think I have the bandwidth to do long course triathlon with young kids, so I was planning to switch to ultra running at that point (with cycling included for fun, commuting and balance). But we'll see. Paige wants to try and see if she can get her pro card for triathlon and plans to keep racing competitive with young kids if she can and I will support that. I'm sure you heard, but she wants to try using a local 1-on-1 female coach this year, so she is not in EN anymore.
@Larry Peters - Glad that you have been able to pivot from this injury and find a way to stay active. Every time we get one of these opportunities to learn, it's really important to capture it. You are a phenomenal athlete with an incredible aerobic engine. It's making sure that the rest of you is able to keep up that's the tricky part!
If it's helpful in anyway, remember that recovery isn't necessarily a linear process. Taking two or three days off when you don't feel right is often enough. Sometimes people look at the need to step back as a big project. Some thing that means losing all the work they've done until that point. That is just your tiny lizard brain trying to trick you into staying on your streak or whatever you're doing training wise. @tim cronk is a master of this.
Hope the bike keeps you healthy and it will certainly contribute to some good baseline Fitness heading into next year. I know you're still able to get outside so having a mixture of different types of riders fantastic. Be mindful of pushing locations work right now as you work through the injury, just getting aerobic time every day is a bonus. When you are ready to get back to running, I recommend you start with brick work outs first. So an hour easy-ish on the bike, with a 1 mile run off of it. That way you are warmed up. After 4 such runs (1.5 weeks?), you can start doing stand alone runs, with a good 10' walk warm up first...you will walk/run these as the following ratios:
BIG PICTURE WISE...I am super excited for you. This adventure sounds amazing and I'm so happy for you both. What are the odds that you actually would find each other? I think your overall plan is good in terms of scheduling regular events in life events. As for tremblant it's very difficult because it's international. I'm very hopeful that we will have vaccines being distributed early next year but I still don't know what the ramifications will be for crossing borders, etc. You likely have a bit of time as pro card and race "Start" will take 2-ish years (guessing) so it's not like 8/21 is your final chance.
My personal advice, which is worth absolutely nothing, would be to get a refund on tremblant, plan on your 270.3 races for next year, and if life is good plan on putting that money towards some kind of a fall honeymoon or adventure that the two of you can take once travel is back to "normal." You could still do something epic in the fall like R2R2R but make it a honeymoon and still part of your overall build.
And yes, Paige sent me a note re her local coach. I wish her the best...can't wait to see her progress!!!
~ Coach P