Amulya Parthasarathy 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 Notes
Currently following the Run Durability 1 plan but im taking two weeks off to recover/rehab from a hip injury. I should be ready before the NovOS starts.
Your Races
- 03/17/2018 (Cycling) Solvang Spring Double Century
- March 30th - April 11th - Family Vacation to China
- 05/12/2018 (IM) Santa Rosa
Season Outline
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 10/23/17
- Complete the Trial Testing Week, save your Bike and Run Zones to the My Zones Page.
- On 10/23/2017 Load the -- Run Durability 2 (8 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/19/2017
- On 10/30/2017 Load the Intermediate OutSeason / Run Durability Plan, 14wks to end on 2/4/2018
- On 2/5/2018 Load the Intermediate EN*Full Plan to end on 5/12/2018
Coach Notes
Contact Points
These are all the key points in your first year where we must talk. You can schedule all calls with me for these times online here. Please remember to include your phone number.
- Welcome Call in Week One (set it up here)
- Coach Call in Week Two to talk about your season (set it up here)
- End of Trial Call -- We review your experience & Unlock Year One / Race Execution for you (set it up here)
- End of Season Call -- We review your year & Strategize for your “gap” and Year Two (to be announced)
For short or last minute questions, we recommend you use the Red Chat Icon on the main Members website.
We have also organized a complete chart of the best ways to contact us online here.
Your First Month on the Team
You have quite a few things to do when you start up. There are instructions on the top of the website, but you can review them under Resources / 0-- First 30 Days on EN. If you have any trouble, don’t hesitate to reach out via the chat icon on the main Members website here.
Your First Year Inside Endurance Nation
This will be unlocked after your trial expires.
Your Homework
Tell Us Why You Choose EN & Your Season Goals
- Please reply below with WHY you chose Endurance Nation and WHY you train/compete.
- Whenever possible, please identify your goals -- time, body composition, completion...the sooner you put them down the sooner we can get towards achieving them.
Looking forward to working with you this year,
~ Coach P
Comments
Hi Coach,
First off, congrats on you Kona come back!! That was amazing!
Thanks for putting in the season planning road map. I thought I also put in Ironman Santa Rosa (May 12th) also as my A race in there but I’m not sure why it didn’t show up (I’m going to claim technical glitchHi Coach,
First off, congrats on you Kona come back!! That was amazing!
Thanks for putting in the season planning road map. I thought I also put in Ironman Santa Rosa (May 12th) also as my A race in there but I’m not sure why it didn’t show up (I’m going to claim technical glitchWith regard to the hip injury, It all started off with the foot. I’ve been struggling with a pain/stiffness on the inside of the arch. It started about a year ago when I wasn’t actually running during that month at all. So plantar was ruled out. Tried a few things like massaging the foot/ankle, lacrosse ball etc but it was temporary relief. I’v been trying to run for almost a year and it hasn't been the same. I could fake it for about 2-3 weeks but then I have to stop after that because of the inflammation in the foot. I even tried new custom orthodics and that didn’t help. I saw my chiropractor/ soft tissue therapist regarding this and he thinks that It’s mostly due to tight hips. Sure enough if I do that pigeon stretch , the tightness in my arch releases almost instantaneously. I do feel a lot of tightness in my hips, lower back(just above the hips) and lateral quad closer towards the knee.
Another thing that I also noticed while cycling was that my right heel jerks inwards and outwards. If I lock the cleats without any play, then my right knee moves/jerks laterally quite often (eventually causing soreness in my knee). I don't know if the tightness in the hips is causing my foot pain or if some other bio-mechanics in my foot is causing tightness in my hips.
Not sure where this is going to lead but feel like it’s moving in the right direction atleast for now. I’m hoping that stretching my hips out and possibly strengthen my glutes will fix this. I’ve made two attempts to do my first full Ironman in the last three years but I haven’t been able to make it to the starting line so far.
The Solvang + Vaycay + IM is fine. I'd want some bike volume before you go anyway, so that's a good thing!
The hips..yes, it's all the hips. Really need to evaluate your work set up / driving...if you spend significant time in a chair all day, you might want to go standing desk or work in a lot of breaks so you can take care of your body proactively as much as possible. This is the best way that we can make sure your stretching has maximum effect...let me know!
Please be careful with the early run in the OS if the hip / foot is bothering you. Would rather you be conservative than put long term "run health" in jeopardy!
~ Coach P
I'm planning to do a three day long ride (125miles x 3 days) with my local tri club along the coast in Jan (13th-15th). We are going to be riding from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. I'm currently on the Nov OutSeason following the Bike Focused plan and riding outdoors on Saturdays (50 miles or so). I plan to increase my Saturday mileage by about 5-10 miles every week to prepare for long coast ride. Let me know if that is a good enough and if I need to change anything else.
That first week of January should also be a big cycling week. Riding almost every day and hopefully cracking 350 miles. You could do 7x50 mile rides in a row or at least seven consecutive days of riding. You can finish with a longer ride on that weekend and then we basically taper in to the weekend itself.
Why don’t you outlined what you think is possible and I can advise you from there!.
1. Need some guidance on how to fit in my run when my cycling volume is sky high? I've dialed down the run's in the big cycling week and also on the two back to back long ride weekends. Should I still do this or skip the run completely?
2. What is the intensity that I should be riding during the big cycling week? My goal is to do a two hour ABP or Z2/Z3 ride on Zwift (or close to 50 miles) for 5 days and then two outdoor rides on the weekend before I go into the taper week. I've never done such high volume before but I have the time and and I'm mentally prepared. So as long as my legs holds up and I'm able to get my ass on the saddle (saddle soreness could be a factor too
Thanks again for the tips. I did this ride last year and I was nowhere prepared as this plan dictates. The result was that I suffered every day and not to mention saddle soreness.
With that kind of volume, all intensity is out. I would keep it all steady for every ride, with the goal of having your last hour or 30 minutes be your “strongest.” This is entirely an Exercise in Endurance. You can break things up by shifting to stand on repeat intervals if you want. Otherwise, completing the week itself will be an accomplishment.
I'v had a minor setback due to an injury. After my Saturday ride on 12/16, I had severe back pain on my lower back. I’m able to walk without pain but running is out. The transition from sitting to standing and vice verse is also painful. I’m able to ride my bike as long as I hold a steady position for the most part.
It turns out that I have a muscle knot as big as a golf ball on my mid back almost on my lat muscle on the left side. Surprisingly the pain is nowhere in that area but is causing pain on my lower back on the left side. I'v been seeing my chiropractor twice every week since then and it's helping. He’s digging out the knot and it's progressing slowly since i’v started treatment. He's telling me not to worry or stress about it and it will be gone by next week. He’s assured me that I should be ready for my big ride on the 13th.( fingers crossed there)
I’v replaced the run workouts on Wednesday and Sunday with steady endurance Z2/Z3 so far. I’m able to mostly complete the bike workouts as scheduled so far.
On the positive side, I can see my fitness improve tremendously but at the same time I do fee the fatigue kick in this week. I’m going to take Friday off as an additional rest day. Any feedback on how and when I should transition back to running?
Coach,
I think I finally have some positive news.
On the lower back pain front, the root cause seems to be tight hips and lats. The damn tightness in the hips finally released on Friday (1/5) after suffering almost three weeks. The pain is almost 90% gone as of today and im able to sit and stand without suffering. That was quite a relief as it got me seriously worried if there was something underlying that was wrong. With regard to the knot/lump on the back, I had a second opinion from my physician and he said it’s a lipoma and has nothing to do with the back pain. He said it looks like it’s been there for a while and may be a coincidence that I just noticed it now. He suggested that I keep an eye on it and if it becomes bothersome or grows any larger, I may have to have surgery to have it removed. The downside of leaving it as is is that it may cause some slight muscle movement restriction.
On the training front, I’v been able to keep up with the schedule that you outlined. This week I rode in total 300 miles (Tue-Sun). Garmin tells me that my VO2 max for cycling is 55 and I feel good. I can feel the difference in my fitness today.
For next week (week of the ride), I’m going to transition into swimming and will test out some easy running and see how it holds up. I’m still not 100% sure if I’m ready for running yet but will give it a try.
Some follow up questions.
Post coast ride (Week 11 of OutSeason) should I use that as a recovery week with easy swimming and may be running? I’v put in some estimated TSS according to best bike splits and Training peaks/WKO4 estimates my TSB at -71 on the day after completing the coast ride.
Week 12 of OutSeason, I’m assuming that I just follow the plan?
Thank you very much for customizing my training plan. I haven’t felt more confident in my training and preparedness for the coast ride.
Just have a couple of questions.
1. I have a double century coming up on March 17th. I'm currently on week 9 of the 2018 EN*FULL Bike Focused (PlanEN Level 2). I'm currently increasing the bike mileage on my Saturday ride which is currently between 70-80 miles for the last couple of weeks. I'm planing to increase that and go up to 100-120 miles until the weekend before the double century. Should I change or be doing anything different apart from this? I'm also planning to do the ride on my Tri-bike. Is that advisable? The course is pretty flat and I don't feel any difference in comfort riding the tri-bike vs road bike on long rides. But I also want to make sure that I don't so something stupid if it is not advisable for a double century.
2. I'm recovering from a hip/lower back injury which happened in Dec. I'm currently running 4 times a week for about 20-30 minutes on each run and one long run which is currently 40-45 minutes. I'm trying to slowly increase volume and pace and things are progressing. Starting this week, I'm planning to split the long run on Thursday into two 25 minute sessions and slowly increase the volume each week and try and bridge it with the training plan. Should I be concerned that I'm behind on running? Should I be doing anything different.
I’m not worried about your run volume, the frequency is the most important part. You are on the right path and if we can build you up to five of those runs a week I would feel pretty confident going into the early-season races. Remember, even if you want to be stronger it’s more a function of what your body can handle then would you want to be able to do. You will be there soon enough I promise!
Just wanted to give you an update and was looking for your guidance on how how I should proceed for the next few weeks. On the running front, I'm progressing slowly but it is progress. I'm running anywhere from 4-5 times a week with my longest run on Thursday which is about 80 minutes currently. The other runs are are anywhere from 25-40 minutes. I've been having some great days and some not so great days with running. There are some aches and pains in the ankle/Post tib etc but I'm taking care of it by backing off a bit when they arise and also through stretching/ice/massage with my chiropractor.
I needed your feedback on a couple of things.
1. On Saturday 3/17 I'm doing my double century. I think I'm prepared for the ride but wanted your guidance how i should plan my work recovery/workouts after the ride on Saturday if needed for the following week.
2. I'm going on vacation to China at the end of the month. I depart on Friday 3/30 and will be traveling back on Wednesday 4/11. I will not have access to a bike during this time. I may be limited to running and swimming. The two hotels that I'm staying have 20M and 26M pools. How do you want me to change my workout during this time? I may be limited to one workout a day for up to an hour if I'm lucky.
Post Century -- For this week you can just take Monday OFF and Swim Tuesday...then back on it for the rest of the week!
China Trip -- So cool!!!! I think we'll want to divide your time pre / post trip. During the trip try to get an hour of activity per day. That could be 30' swim +30' run, or a 60' swim or a 60' run, etc. All we want to do is keep your body rolling / fitness level generally high.
Before you travel, we'll want to make sure you get in some good rides and your long run. Long run on Thursday 3/29 is easy. I think next weekend (24/25) you should plan on biking long again on both days as you are able. This will help "make up" for lost bike time on your trip.
Once you are back you'll need time to adapt. I suggest Thursday / Friday are swim only (or just a short run). Then Sat/Sun as planned with seem big bikes.
What do you think?
~ Coach P
With regard to running, from what I've noticed I think it's more distance related than pace. The sweet spot seems to be around 40-55minutes as long as i'm in Z3/Z2/TRP for this distance. Things seems to creep up when long runs starts going beyond 80 minutes on Thrusdays. I'm constantly having to think/modify pace and distance on every run to make sure i can continue running the next day to keep up the the running frequency.
With regard to the post century and workout during vacation, i think I'm all set. I don't think a one hour workout every day should be a problem.
Thanks again for your assistance and modifications to my plan. I don't want to jinx it, but even with some small setbacks my over all fitness is at it's peak.
I don't think I've ever felt more fitter than thins in my life. The big block of cycling preparing for the coast ride earlier this year really boosted my over all fitness. Hopefully this year will be the year that I will be able to get my foot at the starting line for an Ironman race (fingers crossed
PS, good luck training on vacation!
Just wanted to give you an update on my running and seek your advice. For the last couple of weeks I'm averaging about 4.5-5hrs of running per week with my longs runs around two hrs (12miles) in mostly zone1. What I've noticed is that running is Z1 seems to be fending off most of the aches/pains/injuries so far. Given that IM Santa Rosa is in two weeks, how should I proceed with my running? I have not run more than 12 miles for my longest run recently, but i'm feeling more confident that I should be able to do longer runs in Z1. Should I attempt to do longer run this week? This will be my first Full Ironman that I'm attempting to finish.
If you haven’t already, please check out our race execution stuff for how we want you to pace the bike and the early parts of the run. There’s a lot of basic execution things that will help keep you in the right space, such as walking each run a station to keep your heart rate down and to allow you to fully in just the one couple fluid you’re allowed to take (which is always sports drink, no water). Want to make sure you have the basics down as well.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2671864714
This is the longest run I’ve ever done. So crossing 13.1 and doing a 15 mile run today really helped in breaking a huge mental barrier. Overall I feel good and this is probably the first race I’m going into without any major injuries (at least as of today) 😁. My plans is to see my chiropractor a couple of time between now and next week to workout some minor aches and tightness. Also will try to fit in a couple of yoga sessions if I can to stretch out the body a bit if that is okay?
I also went through the race execution page and watched the FourKeys video. Thanks for all your guidance coach. This make me feel real confident. Keeping my fingers crossed 😁.
As you look at your race plan, take a minute to review your long rides and runs so you can set some target goals for heart rate, and power if you have it, so that you know you are racing in the same ZIP Code as you have trained.
I am super excited to follow you on race day, let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help!
Full race report is at https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/discussion/24764/amulyas-2018-imsr-race-report
Thank you for all your help!!! Could not have been more pleased with the results.