John's Steelhead report
So I'm a first timer with the EN program. Joined up in Jan, 2017 with the intent of improving times after self coaching for the last 8 years or so. I'm the average age-grouper who's raced a half dozen or so 70.3 races and finished IMWI in 2010 and then 2014. Have used Joe Friel's program over the last few years with mixed results so I decided to give EN a try after reading so many positive reviews.
Began EN with the run durability plan and then Intermediate 70.3 plan with races including a half mary in April, duathlon in May, and 70.3 in June prior to Steelhead as A race. Unfortunately, some personal issues in late February (divorce) left me short some of the workouts around that time. But, I can tell you (as if you didn't already know) that working out is a fantastic way to reduce the stress and frustrations that are an inevitable part of life.
Arrived to MI on Thursday night and just hung out with my two buddies, who were also racing, and our families. Standard shift from lots of veggies (I'm vegan) to carb dense foods on Friday and Saturday. Due to the kids, I didn't get the opportunity to follow week 20 plan as I had hoped but did get one swim, short bike, and short run on Friday and short run on Saturday. We brought our bikes to transition on Saturday - was nice to have the option to check them in ahead of time. Heavy lunch on Saturday and light food the rest of the day (per the EN nutrition recs). I'm used to having a huge supper the night before the race but I think one of my limiters in the half and full IMs has been nutrition as I often get intense stomach pains on the run. I have found that a very large and early breakfast reduces the need for on course chow and that has lessened the belly pain.
Up at 3:30 for breakfast - about 900 cal of pancakes and syrup - pure carbs. Tried to sleep for another hour but no luck (did sleep well Friday night though). Got to race site a little late due to parking so kind of rushed to get ready but all was well. Two gels about 1/2 hour before swim. I typically like to take a warm up swim to loosen up and it seems to prevent early muscle fatigue.
I did like the self seeding on the swim - first time I've experienced it. I will say that some of the folks in the 30-33 min corral overestimated as I ran into quite a few folks out there. Even swam up on a few back and breast strokers - I didn't expect to see them in the fast waves. Anyway, water looked to be calm from shore but I'd offer that there were some pretty good rollers. There were times when I couldn't track the buoys despite the large size. Swim time of 33:10 with pace of 1:43. Typically, I'll average about 1:30 or so with wetsuit so piss poor tracking on the buoys or the course was long. No biggie. I screwed up my garmin as I took off my wetsuit and had to reset it so not able to look back at GPS.
T1 was otherwise uneventful. I hadn't tested my FTP for several months and the last was 235 watts so I just left it there. Two years ago I had it up to 270 during a one hour TT in a race event. Was planning IF of around 0.84 - 0.85. Ended up with 0.85 with avg power of 191. Given the flat course, it was easy to keep it consistent. Overall, drank 3 bottles of gatorade endurance and 3 shot bloks on the bike. Had to pee a couple of times so definitely well hydrated. Despite a lack of wind, I guess I could have dialed down the fluids but the nutrition guide said 1-2 bottles per hour. I spend most of my training time on a trainer so I suppose it's a bit hotter than it was on the course. Overall, I was pleased with the bike time - 2:36. That's the fastest half iron bike split I've had but again, the temp was perfect, there was no wind, and the course was flat. My limiter has always been the bike, unless you count the fact that I've ended up walking on the runs at IM distance due to GI distress. I kept remembering "there's no such thing as a good bike followed by a poor run."
T2 was also uneventful.
Off on the run. Like many of you, I'm sure, starting out on the run is a weird experience. I don't feel like I'm running hard but when I check my pace, it's WAY too fast for what I should be doing. In previous races, I took that to be a great taper and just went with it only to start feeling the wheels come off around mile 6 of the HIM. With my two previous IMs, I'd start to develop severe stomach pains - I'm guessing intestinal ischemia from the fast pace. With that in mind, and after reviewing the training plan that said I should pace the first three miles at 30 sec/mile slower than my zone 2 pace, I simply forced myself to hold back at 8:15/mile or so. It felt unbelievably slow! But when I kicked it up to my zone 2 pace of 7:45 there were no stomach issues - I felt pretty damned strong. At that point, I really had no thirst or hunger and fearful of my stomach, decided to just avoid all intake for as long as I could. Training plan was to "race" the last 3 miles and so I tried to kick it up a bit going into mile 10. By mile 11, I was feeling a little weak but decided to avoid any fluids and just hold on as I could. So the last two miles weren't quite at zone 3 pace, but I figured that was better than giving myself a stomachache if I tried to drink. All in all, I finished at exactly my zone 2 pace of 7:47/mile. In hindsight, could I have finished a little faster if I had taken in anything during the run? Not sure... I'll have to think about that for the next race. My avg HR was at the bottom of zone 3.
My PR for the HIM was 4:59:28 and I finished here at 4:59:58. The year I PR'd, I was training for my second IM in 2014. Maybe 3 years older and I don't have the same performance ability but looking back at this training cycle, I did get sidetracked for a couple of months. I'm very pleased with the training program EN assigned to me - intermediate HIM with the run durability preceding it. No injuries during the training and I liked how I progressed over the summer. I'll be curious to see what the coaches plan for me this Outseason...
John
Began EN with the run durability plan and then Intermediate 70.3 plan with races including a half mary in April, duathlon in May, and 70.3 in June prior to Steelhead as A race. Unfortunately, some personal issues in late February (divorce) left me short some of the workouts around that time. But, I can tell you (as if you didn't already know) that working out is a fantastic way to reduce the stress and frustrations that are an inevitable part of life.
Arrived to MI on Thursday night and just hung out with my two buddies, who were also racing, and our families. Standard shift from lots of veggies (I'm vegan) to carb dense foods on Friday and Saturday. Due to the kids, I didn't get the opportunity to follow week 20 plan as I had hoped but did get one swim, short bike, and short run on Friday and short run on Saturday. We brought our bikes to transition on Saturday - was nice to have the option to check them in ahead of time. Heavy lunch on Saturday and light food the rest of the day (per the EN nutrition recs). I'm used to having a huge supper the night before the race but I think one of my limiters in the half and full IMs has been nutrition as I often get intense stomach pains on the run. I have found that a very large and early breakfast reduces the need for on course chow and that has lessened the belly pain.
Up at 3:30 for breakfast - about 900 cal of pancakes and syrup - pure carbs. Tried to sleep for another hour but no luck (did sleep well Friday night though). Got to race site a little late due to parking so kind of rushed to get ready but all was well. Two gels about 1/2 hour before swim. I typically like to take a warm up swim to loosen up and it seems to prevent early muscle fatigue.
I did like the self seeding on the swim - first time I've experienced it. I will say that some of the folks in the 30-33 min corral overestimated as I ran into quite a few folks out there. Even swam up on a few back and breast strokers - I didn't expect to see them in the fast waves. Anyway, water looked to be calm from shore but I'd offer that there were some pretty good rollers. There were times when I couldn't track the buoys despite the large size. Swim time of 33:10 with pace of 1:43. Typically, I'll average about 1:30 or so with wetsuit so piss poor tracking on the buoys or the course was long. No biggie. I screwed up my garmin as I took off my wetsuit and had to reset it so not able to look back at GPS.
T1 was otherwise uneventful. I hadn't tested my FTP for several months and the last was 235 watts so I just left it there. Two years ago I had it up to 270 during a one hour TT in a race event. Was planning IF of around 0.84 - 0.85. Ended up with 0.85 with avg power of 191. Given the flat course, it was easy to keep it consistent. Overall, drank 3 bottles of gatorade endurance and 3 shot bloks on the bike. Had to pee a couple of times so definitely well hydrated. Despite a lack of wind, I guess I could have dialed down the fluids but the nutrition guide said 1-2 bottles per hour. I spend most of my training time on a trainer so I suppose it's a bit hotter than it was on the course. Overall, I was pleased with the bike time - 2:36. That's the fastest half iron bike split I've had but again, the temp was perfect, there was no wind, and the course was flat. My limiter has always been the bike, unless you count the fact that I've ended up walking on the runs at IM distance due to GI distress. I kept remembering "there's no such thing as a good bike followed by a poor run."
T2 was also uneventful.
Off on the run. Like many of you, I'm sure, starting out on the run is a weird experience. I don't feel like I'm running hard but when I check my pace, it's WAY too fast for what I should be doing. In previous races, I took that to be a great taper and just went with it only to start feeling the wheels come off around mile 6 of the HIM. With my two previous IMs, I'd start to develop severe stomach pains - I'm guessing intestinal ischemia from the fast pace. With that in mind, and after reviewing the training plan that said I should pace the first three miles at 30 sec/mile slower than my zone 2 pace, I simply forced myself to hold back at 8:15/mile or so. It felt unbelievably slow! But when I kicked it up to my zone 2 pace of 7:45 there were no stomach issues - I felt pretty damned strong. At that point, I really had no thirst or hunger and fearful of my stomach, decided to just avoid all intake for as long as I could. Training plan was to "race" the last 3 miles and so I tried to kick it up a bit going into mile 10. By mile 11, I was feeling a little weak but decided to avoid any fluids and just hold on as I could. So the last two miles weren't quite at zone 3 pace, but I figured that was better than giving myself a stomachache if I tried to drink. All in all, I finished at exactly my zone 2 pace of 7:47/mile. In hindsight, could I have finished a little faster if I had taken in anything during the run? Not sure... I'll have to think about that for the next race. My avg HR was at the bottom of zone 3.
My PR for the HIM was 4:59:28 and I finished here at 4:59:58. The year I PR'd, I was training for my second IM in 2014. Maybe 3 years older and I don't have the same performance ability but looking back at this training cycle, I did get sidetracked for a couple of months. I'm very pleased with the training program EN assigned to me - intermediate HIM with the run durability preceding it. No injuries during the training and I liked how I progressed over the summer. I'll be curious to see what the coaches plan for me this Outseason...
John
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