Home Coaching Forum 🧢

Ken Smith 2017 Official Coach Thread

Here's your personal Coach Thread, as promised. This is where you'll return to post all your "coach" questions as responses; I'll see them and reply. This first post is here to guide you through your first year on EN, so you can always come back here. 

As you'll see in this forum, I handle all manner of edits and changes.  So post away, know that I reply here usually M/W/F each week.

Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply. 

Your Season Update

These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won’t complete a full plan but transition to another one).  You can change your plans on the Training Plan page by clicking the Move / Change button. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.

  • Last updated by Coach on 06/26/2017 
  • Immediately upload EN*Full Beginner level to end on 9/24/2017

Coach Notes

Since we need to protect your run, I recommend you do the following:

  • Now Thru 70.3® Ohio, you don't run longer than 45 minutes. 
  • You can run every other day, but you can't run back to back days. 
  • So one week has 4 runs, the next has 3, then 4 then 3. 
The week should look like this:
  • Mon - OFF
  • Tue - AM Bike, PM Run
  • Wed - Swim
  • Thu - AM Bike, PM Run
  • Fri - Swim Only
  • Sat - Bike / Run as planned
  • Sun - Bike only.
The "other" week looks like this: 
  • Mon - Run
  • Tue - Bike
  • Wed - Run + Short Swim
  • Thu - Bike
  • Fri - Run
  • Sat - Bike Long
  • Sun - Bike ABP for 60', then run 45' right after. 
I see some good consistency on the bike, but I'd like to see you get back after it on the run. Let me know!

Let's get to work!

~ Coach P 

Tagged:

Comments

  •  Coach, I purchased the Vasa. How can I incorporate this into my training. By the way, I've lost 10 lbs since talking to you and 17 lbs since may. My knee is holding up but haven't run more than 6 miles yet. 

    Ken
  • @Ken Smith - I saw your note on the dashboard and replied to you there, not sure if you saw that? Here is the basic outline of how the Vasa works:

    *  you can wear your Garman 920 XT, create a new indoor bike profile and set the circumference of the wheel to be 100mm so that it records your workout like a swim. As soon as you save, you need to go into Strava and TrainingPeaks and edit the workout type to be swim.

    *you need about three weeks to build up the strength to actually be able to use it. So do your normal swim workouts for this week, but find three separate times you can get on the Vasa, and swim.

    * set of the damper door to be two. Warm up with 100 m of two arm pulling, similar to breaststroke.  Then swim 100 easy focusing on keeping your elbow high.  When do the 50 left arm only, 50 right arm only, and you are ready to swim. 

    * weeks one and two you should aim for 15 minutes of total some time on the clock. Week three you should be able to get 20 minutes in each session.

    * by week four, you should be ready to replace one or two of your swims of the Vasa, following the same mission of work/rest as outlined in your swim workout.  Some recommend that you keep one swim session in the pool or open water so your choice of which one You want to do. Note that your 100 m times on the bus it will not match the pool, your job is to focus on keeping your still count up and seeing if you can improve from session to session by being able to push a higher number of watts or sustain a higher cadence over time.

    * @Ian Kurth  and others have a swim benchmarking test are used to track an approved awards. Personally with less than six weeks to go to your Race I think you're better off focusing on this swim time and Technique then trying to increase watts. 

    As for the run, what does your weekly volume look like? I am more concerned about that than any individual run session.

    Nice work on the body comp, let's keep it up!
  • As always, thank you for your response. I posted the above before I saw your dashboard post. I am running every other day 5-6 miles at a time.  Have knee soreness the following day after the run so every other day works out well. Haven't been able to run any longer than 6 due to discomfort right around the 6 mark. 
  • @apex -  no worries! I just wanted to make sure you saw it. It is my web designer in security showing through… We really need to create that section of the site.

    I am OK with alternate days running and 5 miles is more than enough. That would be 20 miles a week in the big weeks which is great.

     If you aren't already, put ice packs on both knees as soon as you get out of the shower for 30 minutes. I would also investigate how you can improve your ankle mobility as that can alleviate some of the stress.

    In addition to simple calf stretching,  you can also buy a good calf stretch machine on Amazon or something like a wobble board that will challenge you. Keep me posted! 
  • Vasa workouts are brutal. Lol. 15 minutes level 2 and a puddle of sweat. Must admit though I'm improving with slightly increased power and distance for the 15 minutes. 
    I have IM OHIO this weekend. Feeling stronger with bike rides of 60,80,80 on Sundays with bike rides during the week as scheduled. Any last minute advice? 
  • Epic!!!!  Don't worry too much about the numbers, if you get the frequency in on the machine things will improve quite quickly. I had to do several weeks for 15 minutes before I could do 30 minutes… And now I can bang out 60 minutes no problem. For the record, it could be just as much a mental thing as physical.

    Sounds like you are right on track for Ohio.  I am not worried about your swim, but I do want to see smart pacing on the bike and a good run. I did find a good run by walking to eight stations and running between them… Use that alternating strategy to give your knee the rest needs. How does that sound? If you have a different plan, let me know!
  • Sounds good Coach. 
  • Down 37 lbs. Ran 10 miles Saturday, biked 90 Sunday, ran 6 recovery Monday, and biked 30 hard yesterday. Obviously my FTP is not as good as it has been but I'm working on it. VASA is amazing and convenient. 
  • Thoughts about doing Lake Placid?  Have only done chatt x4, Tahoe, and Louisville 
  • edited August 17, 2017 1:39PM
    Deleted repeat post
  • @apex  I think P- is out of touch in Tremblant this week, so maybe he'll chime in once he's back, but here are my thoughts on Placid.  Next yr is the 20th Anniversary of Ironman Lake Placid, so there will likely be Epic level EN MoJo on the course!  It's not a "down-river" swim like Chatt, but is one of the easier swims on the IM circuit with the underwater cable to follow in a gorgeous lake.  The Bike course has a little bit of everything, in each of the two loops you get to start with some rollers, then a ~5-7 mile screaming downhill section (think 50+mph if you're brave enough), a ~20 mile roughly flat pure head down TT section and what seems like ~15-20 miles of stair step climbing to end the loop with some rollers in between.  It's certainly a challenging bike course but also beautiful (probably ~10-15 mins slower bike than Louisville and although it's more challenging than Chatt, it's also only exactly 112 miles).  I thought the run at Placid was pretty brutal with a couple big uphills per loop and a long gradual decline rolling out and back, but from what I hear the run isn't quite as bad as Chatt and you have a higher probability of the weather being less hot than Chatt.  Would be hard pressed to find a nicer race than Placid.

  • John, thank you for the reply!  Will definitely consider this race. I guess I avoided it in the past due to lodging costs. Don't know if that is true. 
  • Ken - my two favorite IM course OVERALL are LP and Arizona. Arizona for its mild weather and spectator friendly set-up. But Lake Placid has had on the same course now for 20 years, and it has a special vibe all its own, on a par with Kona. Because scores of ENers will be there next year, I'm sure there will be houses rented for groups of us - I stayed in one each of the two times I went. If/when (and it better be soon - word is its nearly sold out) you decide to go, hit up the EN LP thread, and see if anyone is looking for additional housemates. Everything can be in walking distance, relatively inexpensive, and with a full kitchen, that way.
  • Just signed up for Placid!  Now lodging search, thanks for the advice. 
  • @Ken Smith - be sure to check in with the team, places will start popping up soon and you'll likely be able to get your own bedroom for privacy, etc. It makes it much more reasonable! And between you and me, Placid is a key race for next year!
  • Last 3 runs have been 11,9, and 8 miles.  Feel as if I'm peaking at a good time. Did 1:20 on trainer 2x 20 ftp Monday. 
  • @apex - I think you most certainly are! A good lesson learned for us that maybe you don't need tons of volume to be ready for the big day. Sometimes smarter is better than harder. :-) Let's keep it going!
  • edited August 27, 2017 10:54PM
    Coach!  Ran 14 miles Saturday 9:38 pace and rode 103.2 today. I am so grateful that I can attempt to run let alone build distance and pace. I am so excited 
  • !!!!!! WOW !!!!!!

    super impressed. What incredible progress. Now...let's continue to be smart about it.  B)

    ~ Coach P 
Sign In or Register to comment.