IMLP Training May 22 - May 28
Week 13 - Knowledge burst
Does anyone have any races coming up? This week Coach Rich talks about how to insert a race in your Ironman training. Take a listen and get some ideas! Coaches like to have you break up your race season into A, B, C races and this is traditionally the last weekend you can have a 70.3 leading up to your full.
This week is a Bike Focus Week. Coaches have strategically put in some volume bumps within the plan to prepare you for your race! This will be a chance for your to push your boundaries in cycling. So what do you have on your plan for cycling this week? Going anywhere beautiful and exciting to enjoy the time outside?
A couple more notes: Make sure you are tweaking your nutrition plan as needed!! And write these things down...what works, what doesn’t??
I want to hear all about your training weekend and what you learned.Let’s GET IT!!!
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Comments
30' run at TRP with 6 strides. I really need to focus in on maintaining that pace as it tends to creep up on these shorter runs. My target is 180' running this week up from 165' last week.
did 20x100, 10x50 & 8x25, all uber hard intervals tonight...
tomorrow early AM pool, gonna hurt getting back in only 10 hours after getting out!!!
Where is everyone on this thread???
@Trish Marshall In the past I've been a habitual swim skipper as well. In 2015 after averaging probably 1.5 swims a week I had a melt down in Mirror Lake and had to hold on to a kayak for many minutes. I came out 15' slower than any IM swim and there's no way I want to repeat that experience. I honestly wanted to pull the pin at that point. When you are pulling out your one thing at the 500M mark of the race you know you've done something wrong.
Swam 2300k yards on Monday. Felt pretty good. My swim is improving. At least now, I can identify my biggest issues a) I tend to cross over when my left hand enters the water because I have some instability in that shoulder b) I sometimes lift my head to breath and c) my legs sink because I have a weak kick. I did a HIM swim last September at a 2:02 pace, so I have a lot of upside. So far this year, I have swam 119k yards, easily the most I have ever swam in a single year. Hoping that I see some progress at Quassy HIM in a week and a half.
Have run 6+ miles so far this week - 2.3 after my FTP test and a quick 4-miler this morning because I couldn't make it to the pool
Have to juggle my long run(s) and my second swim before the weekend.
I am planning to do a long-ride with @Scott Dinhofer on Saturday and then with luck will get outdoors for my third swim on Sunday before my 2-hour ride.
Good luck to everyone on the rest of the week's training.
@Patrick Marsh, regarding "c) my legs sink because I have a weak kick." That is an extremely common misconception about swim balance and certainly one I used to hold. Low legs probably slow down a swimmer more than any other factor, which means: getting legs to the surface will definitely provide very significant, instant speed gains. So, view it as huge opportunity. Although I can't quite swim with my heels at the surface with my ankles banded together, I can swim with my heels up without any kicking at all - but it takes me a lot of focus. With a tiny two-beat kick, I can easily swim with my feet up. But it took years, and I still practice my balance every single time I swim. The most common contributors to low feet, IMO, are: (1) head too high (constantly too high and/or lifting head out to breathe - probably 98% of tri-geeks are guilty of this, and it is a guaranteed way to cause feet to sink); (2) holding breath under water (lungs acting like a buoy + you have to lift your head out to exhale first and then breathe, feet sink in response); (3) straight-arm pull (pushing water down in front of you with a straight arm, causing front to rise, feet to sink); (4) no core engagement (if your front quadrant and legs aren't "connected" like a semi-rigid teeter-totter with constant focus on keeping front down so that the feet stay up, you will flex at the waist, and your feet will sink); and (5) kicking at the knee with or without poor ankle flexion (should be from the hips, toes pointed). And just like a boat @25mph sits much higher in the water than @5mph, keeping your feet high gets much, much easier as your threshold pace drops to 1:50/100y, 1:40, 1:30, etc. (i.e., the reason you'll see Olympians swim with their heads high is because you can get away with a lot of stuff @:48/100y that you can't @1:55/100y). Many of the above factors are inter-related and causally connected, so there is a bit of whether to start with the chicken or the egg. And, of course, there are other forces and factors in play, but working on these 4-5 things really helped me with my balance and are probably a good place to start. If you want to, you can post even a 15-second iPhone video of you swimming, even if only above water, for team input or you can post it to the swim critique forum post or PM it to me. BTW, I'm not a coach; I've just listened to many of them over the years.
Hope this comes across as positive and not as some pick/critique. I just want everyone here to get the best possible ROI and achieve their race-day goals. Because having a good IM swim with sub-standard form is like trying to run a 7-minute mile on a trail covered in waist-deep snow. You can put in countless miles of hard efforts and build incredible fitness, but until you get out the shovel, you simply won't be going fast.
MR
As for my training I pulled the plug on my 40' run after 10' yesterday. I'm not overly concerned but some stiffness in my one arch told me it's probably time for a down week. I had two of these in the OS and figured at least one one in the IM build up so here it is. I was thinking of doing an extra bike session but I could probably use the rest. I might adjust the Sunday bike to Thursday as it's the father in laws birthday this weekend.
No bike test for me just some FTP minutes after work today.
did a hard swim wko on MOnday which translated to a tired one yesterday... have yards to make up, but at least have now gotten in the pool on both Monday & Tuesday, that's a win!
ran yesterday, good intervals, doing FTP bike work & run this afternooon
came home early from work on Wednesday to get in bike/ brick..
get dressed, go out to garage... bike not there... LBS picked it up to do some fine tuning on drivetrain noises... they came the wrong day & didn't leave my pedals... ughhh, pull out phone to call them to see if one way for drop off and phone drops & smashes... ughhh
go for a good run..
Thursday - got out and did a good 6 mile run in the light rain early, had to drive kids to school. Had originally planned to come home and run another 11, but it started to really rain... Came home at 4, banged out 10. The first couple felt really hard, legs opened up and the back was strong... 8:14 for 10 miles as run #2 felt good..
Yesterday light rain banged out 11..slow but steady runmiles....
This week, I have run 20 miles so far. Did an FTP test and have finished two swims.
Yesterday, I did both runs in the rain. Four early in the morning, before I woke my teenaged kids up, and then about 10.7 miles @ an 8:50/mile pace last night after work. The evening run was hard. Tried for descending miles, and was mostly successful. The only thing of note was that I didn't lace my shoes tight enough, and my feet were sliding around because my socks were wet. Felt the onset of "hammer-toe" on both feet - i.e., the second toe is slightly longer than my big toe, so it takes quite a bit of punishment. The toenails didn't turn black yet, but I can sense that the process has begun. I loose those nails whenever I step up my volume... Also, because my feet were slipping around, I could tell it had been a little too long since I last trimmed my toe-nails. (TMI...) Thus, this run was a wake-up call for me to start paying better attention to my feet before these long runs, and be careful about my sock choices in different weather conditions.
Today, I picked up my bike at the bike shop (again...). Couldn't get the chain catcher to attach to my derailleur, so my mechanic increased the "length" of the front derailleur and added a new cage assembly. Hopefully, this will address the chain dropping issue I was having this spring. Also, I did a pre-emptive battery replacement on the PowerTap and put on the new Continental 4000 Gran Prix tires. These are the same tires my mechanic uses to race, so I guess that is good enough for me. Keeping my fingers crossed that my bike set-up is buttoned down for IMLP.
Tomorrow, I am going to ride longer than prescribed (with @Scott Dinhofer) - hopefully I don't get dropped too many times. Per Coach P's suggestion, I am going to do a quick run tonight, and not before my run tomorrow.
Hoping to get a third swim done on Sunday morning.
Next week, I am doing Quassy HIM, so I will be doing a modified taper and not completely following our IM plan. I did a HIM last September, but I want to spend some time this week coming up with a race plan so that I execute as well as possible.
Have a great weekend of training. Hopefully the sun will finally come out...
@Patrick Marsh You don't want to lost your power data while chasing SD around tomorrow.
@Robert Sabo Enjoy the fitness bump coming your way from the ToC camp.
Sitting at work pumping some tea in to myself so I can get through the final 2 hours at work. I think the TSS last week and my poor nutrition this last 7-10 days has pushed me over the edge. So the limited running this week is coming at a good time as every workout seems to drag on me.
My plan kill the optional bike on Sunday, which I hate to do because I know I could use the mileage. Sleep tomorrow until I get up. This will most likely be sometime after 10am, yes I can sleep even when not in heavy training. I might try to get in the 4 hour bike on Saturday depending upon family commitments but may even move it to Sunday. After yet another sleep until you get up, okay I'll set my alarm for 8am so I'm off the bike by around noon.
This is also a direct result of poor nutrition choices the last week. Getting off my core diet plan and using more caffeine (pop) to get me through a few workouts and days where I was not eating enough. So back on the eating plan which I figure should get me aligned sometime early next week. The ride this weekend will be a struggle, but if you're going to be dumb..
We awoke at 3AM on our last night to the sound of water cascading into our room through the ceiling. My wife alerted the hotel who found out someone directly above us "fell asleep" in the tub while the water was running and it was coming into our room through 4 spots (including a couple of light fixtures). After 45 minutes dealing with different hotel staff we were in another suite sleeping for a few hours before it was time to go back to our original room and pack up.
I'm beginning to feel somewhat human again, though still coughing up stuff. I'm hoping to get on the trainer later today for some easy work. I guess I'll jump into next week's plan as prescribed if I feel able (vs. building up slowly)?
It's frustrating as I'd hit most workouts, and all of my runs last week for the highest total (48 miles) I've had in a long time.
in a good cycle for the last few days.
Friday I did a 5000 yard swim, (6x300; 9x200; some number by 150) lost track
followed that up with a 5ishmile run.
Yesterday I did a 5.5 mile wake up run, having to be home before @Patrick Marsh showed up. Me, Patrick & a local guy(who is a pure beast doing his first IM at LP) went out to attack what I simply call "the Route" my go to long training ride with plenty of long TT sections mixed with 7500' of climbing... Unbeknownst to me, I thought we were spacing out for "tri purposes,: P & J drafted me for much of the first 80 miles... I took a tow in for some of the last 10... Great weather, great day, scared of those 2 beasts when we get to LP..
btw, the other guy is getting a tour of EN from me and hope to get him in the haus. I have zero doubt that with a proper TT bike, experience and knowledge, this guy would KQ, also happens to be a super nice guy so He'll fit in better here than me