Scott Schneider 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.
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Your Notes - Beginner
I have completed 3 half-ironman races and a number of shorter distance races over the past three years. Also done a marathon in 2016 (5:28) and a few half-marathons.Most recently, I completed Ironman 70.3 Arizona with times of 46:07 swim, 3:21 bike and 2:49 run (7:09). I have also completed Oceanside 70.3 twice. Last August, I attempted my first 140.6 at IM Coeur D'Alene. I finished the bike with 10 minutes to go before cutoff, but was forced to withdraw at mile 11 of the run because of muscle cramps. I am currently signed up for Oceanside 70.3 on 4/7/18 and am strongly considering IM Santa Rosa 5 weeks later on May 12th. I was originally considering trying to get a slot at IMAZ next November, but thought that, since I am already at 70.3, I could continue my training and just work up to the full distance by May? I am big for endurance racing - 6'04/230lbs with probably 8% bodyfat if not less. Training time is a challenge as I am a full-time police sergeant working shift work, have two young kids, and am in grad school. I am changing shifts at the beginning of the year which will free up more training time.
Your Races
- 04/07/2018 Oceanside 70.3
- 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 11/01/17
- On 10/30/2017 Load the -- Run Durability Plan 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/26/2017
- On 11/27/2017 Load the -- Run Durability 2 (8 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 12/24/2017
- [TRANSITION EARLY]
- On 12/4/2017 Load the Beginner OutSeason Plan (Run Focused), 14wks to end on 3/11/2018
- On 3/12/2018 Load the Beginner Full Plan to end on 5/13/2018
- On 5/14/2018 Load the -- Post Ironman Transition Plan, All Levels (4wks) to end on 6/10/2018
Coach Notes
How to Train This (And Every Fall) Inside Endurance Nation, GroupMe Chat for RDP
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
RACE EXECUTION and how we can help you get faster by being smarter on race day. There are no medals for great swims or getting to the top of a hill first — on race day only your finish time counts. There are many ways of being faster, and here are some of the resources we have to help you out.
- The Four Keys of Race Execution Video: The Coaches walk you through the macro level elements of a successful race.
- Distance Specific Guidance: Learn the fundamentals of racing Short Course and Long Course events, from each discipline to pacing zones, etc.
- Race Specific Pages: We have aggregated information on specific races from the internet, race reports and even our own coaching resources. You can find your race Master Racing Page section.
- The Race Forums: You can search for race reports or connect with your teammates. There are sections for 70.3, 140.6, and Marathons.
If you have further questions or need more support, please reach out via your Coach Thread or to me using the Red Chat Icon at the bottom of the site.
~ Brenda
En OnBoarding Coordinator & Race Director
Your Homework for Our Call
Time Management - Your schedule is pretty crazy! I'd like to know what your basic week looks like now....and if you can give me a link to your Strava Account, even better. This way I can see what "normal" is for you; and that will help me figure out how to dial in your EN Experience.Bike Execution - 10' off the bike cut off is no joke, especially considering you swam a 1:28 (pretty good!). I think we'll need to work on getting you faster on the bike through fitness as well as cunning and guile. If you have any pictures from that race of you on the bike / your ironman set up, I'd love to see them!
Race Nutrition - Cramping SUCKS. As a bigger guy, you'll experience worse heat than most. Give me a quick bullet list of what you've eaten in the past for racing so I can see how it stacks up and advise you accordingly!
Looking forward to working with you this year,
~ Coach P
Comments
My schedule can be crazy, but I am very disciplined and organized, so that has enabled me to stay on track. My schedule will be changing somewhat at the beginning of the year, but here is what it looks like right now:
MONDAY: Kids to school by 8, then I am free until about 12. I have optional training to attend from 12-8PM, but it is flexible. I can show up late, stay for as little or as much as I want, or I can even skip it entirely if I need to. For my last 70.3, I was fitting in my long run on Monday, and sometimes a swim before work.
TUESDAY: Kids to school by 8, then I am free until I pick them up at 2PM. My daughter has softball for 2 hours next to the Y in the evening, so I would drop her off and get in my long swim. I would bike on the trainer in the AM.
WEDNESDAY: Kids to school by 8, then I am free until about 4pm. This is my most open day, and when I was doing my long bike. I can also squeeze in some other work in the evening after the wife gets home if needed.
THURSDAY: Kids to school by 8, then I am free until I pick them up at 2PM. No softball, so evenings were open for trainer ride or another swim.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY - These are my work days, and they are long. I get up at 4:30 and don't get home until about 7PM. Can't work out during lunch or anything. Sometimes I have enough gas left in the tank to get in an hour on the trainer or do a short run when I get home, but it is not great quality. This will improve in January as I am switching my schedule to go in to work at 2PM and work until 3AM. I sleep better and am able to get in at least an hour or so every day before work without much trouble.
I fit in my school around everything else. It is all online, so I can do it whenever and wherever.
TRAINING: I live about 2 miles from the YMCA for swimming, and have a 24 hour Fitness about 5 miles away where I can swim after hours if needed. I have a Computrainer as well as a regular Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer set up with my TT bike. I ride a road bike outside. I have a good 26 mile bike route out my front door with 2000' of climbing that I have easy access to, so I don't need to go far to get most workouts in. For occasional open water swimming, I have access to San Diego Bay, but that is more of a drive (30 min one way). For my last two 70.3 races, I was aiming for 2 workouts per sport, per week minimum. If I was going to miss or cut something short, it was always the swim. I am not the fastest swimmer in the world, but it hasn't slowed me down much.
BIKE SET UP: Here is the link to my race day photos at Arizona a couple weeks ago with some good photos of my bike set up:
http://www.finisherpix.com/gallery/photos/en/USD/1995/452
NUTRITION: I feel like I have figured my nutrition out, at least up to the 70.3 distance. My last two 70.3 races (Oceanside last April and Arizona) I felt good. I know dehydration killed me at IMCDA because after one hour in medical with a saline IV, I was fine. I just will never, ever drink orange Gatorade again. Like, ever. Gross.
Pre-race - I will have a banana and a Powerbar, along with water. Sometimes I will add Carbopro or Gatorade.
Bike - I use one bottle of Infinit Go Far with one scoop of Carbopro every hour (400cal) I will also sip on water as needed. I also take Base Salt regularly along the way.
Run - I have been relying on what's on the course for the run, supplemented by the Base Salt that I carry with me. This may or may not be ideal for 140.6 since I really am going by feel and don't really know how much I am actually consuming. I just make sure I grab something at each aid station.
Hope that wasn't info overkill. I really look forward to crossing the finish line in May with your guidance!
-Scott
We can use all of this information to help map out what your year will look like..that's great. Thank you!
Your bike position could use a bit of tweaking. As a bigger guy you are strong, but we need to shrink you on your bike. Your head is really up there, blocking the wind. And your hip angle is really open (greater than 90-degrees)...basically your seat needs to come forward and up (on a diagonal) so you can lower that front end and get out of the wind. This is something you can start tweaking / exploring in the winter.
Ps, let's get you to change your profile picture here when you get a chance!!!
I finally have a set of P1s pedals in the mail...I had used my Computrainer for my original bike test, so should I re-test with the pedals now using a standard trainer? Also, is the FTP I calculate indoors on the trainer even useful for developing pacing strategies outdoors? I realize my power will be less indoors, but are the numbers so different that they can't be used?
~ Coach P
**So - a few questions:
1. Do I need to re-test bike and/or run since it has only been a month, or keep using the same numbers?
2. My bike power numbers were based on my Computrainer. I have since switched to Powertap P1s pedals and a Kurt Kinetic trainer. Do I need to re-test to get a new FTP using the pedals, or stick with previous Computrainer test?
3. Just jump into week 2 of the Outseason I assume?
4. I know swimming in the Outseason not a requirement traditionally, but my Outseason plan runs until March and my first race of the year April. That doesn't seem like enough time?
My shift change is January 5th, and that should free up a few more hours during the week. I am also on a break from school until the end of January.
Because some days I have more money than common sense, I have registered for IMAZ 2018 as well. So I am now committed to Oceanside in April, Santa Rosa in May, and now Arizona in November.
You can get all the related Information by going to training plan/20 playing Central and then the outseason section.
@Coach Patrick I am hitting the last few weeks of the December OS. I looked ahead and see that it ends with a 10K time trial or 1/2 marathon. The long run during the OS for Level 1 doesn't exceed 70 or 75 minutes - about 7 miles for me. I assume I shouldn't do the 1/2 marathon since it is almost double what I have built up to at this point? I didn't look at the Full Training Plan yet, so I am not sure what happens to run volume. Oceanside is 6-7 weeks out, so will I need to start adding more volume to my runs during the week to prepare, or is the full plan going to have me ready?
Thanks! - Scott
Just a heads up that @Sheila Leard Is doing the same thing if you want to put your heads together.
I have been following the OS Level 1 pretty closely, although I have been forced to stick with just the main set on some of the workouts due to time constraints. But I hit the 10 mile split run you recommended the past two weeks and even fit the 1800yd swim in between, and felt good so I am hoping I have more fitness built up than I think I do.
If I am doing my math correctly, I have Oceanside 70.3 during "Camp Week." How should I fit that race into my training week? I was planning to pace it like a full to test out my fitness/nutrition strategy since IMSR is only a few weeks later. IMSR is my A race.
Thank you
I completed my first week of the Full Plan after finishing my Outseason. You mentioned this was a critical week in determining how I should handle Oceanside 70.3, so I figured I would update you on how it went:
I did 2018 EN Full Run Focused week 12 (no testing)
Ran 4.5 miles
Swam 2K yds
Ran 6.5 miles
Swam 3750 yds
Split run 6.75 miles / 5 miles
Run 5.75 miles
Ran 5 miles
Long Bike – Computrainer 3 hours @ Z2
ABP Bike – Computrainer 1 hour @ high Z2
The only workout I did not get in was the 30 min brick after the long bike. That was more of a lack of time.
I don't do the workouts on the days you have them listed - I have to fit them in around my crazy schedule, so Mondays may be two workouts, and long bike is on Wednesday etc.
The long bike was what sucked this week – The plan called for 4.5 hours, but it was raining pretty good so I elected to use the trainer. I was pretty sore and stopped at three hours. The workout quality wasn’t there. After taking the next day off I was fine though. I plan to get outside for the long bike this week. Three hours on the Computrainer was awful..
Scott
@Coach Patrick
I have read the Race Execution articles, looked through the boards, but still a bit confused. I have a Garmin 520 with Powertap P1s pedals. - do I pace using NP with auto lap every 5 miles? Average power auto lap? just 3-sec power? There seem to a be several varying suggestions.
Greatly appreciate it
Monday - Run 40' @ TRP
Tuesday - Run 30' @ TRP, then Bike 3 hours on Computrainer (all the zone 3/4 interval work) followed by 1:45 hours outside with 1400 feet of climbing.
Wednesday - Swim 2200
Thursday - Run 12 miles @ TRP, then Computrainer Z2 60'
Today - I will run another 60' and hopefully get in 3700-4k swim before work
Really looking forward to seeing the improvements in Oceanside from following EN!
+ dO the Wed FTP ride from the IM plan
+ keep you volume up at regular IM levels; so I don’t fall into a bunch of super short some workouts.
Otherwise, that’s it. Taper and then really give that race your best. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the race execution section with the guidance on the half specifically so you are prepared mentally and physically to conquer this challenge.
After the race I’d like you to do an easy swim on Monday just to shake the legs out. Tuesday is a study bike of about 60 to 75 minutes. Then we are back on our regular training schedule for Wednesday and beyond. Certainly encourage you to be patient with yourself as he will likely be feeling a bit of fatigue from Oceanside. If you didn’t run all the way until Saturday post race I wouldn’t be upset so listen to your body!!
Just wanted to check in after completing Oceanside 70.3 today.
Total time: 6:59:35. Last year was 7:13:58, so about a 14-minute PR.
Swim: 45:24 – EXACTLY the same as last year – down to the second.
Bike – This was my first-time racing with a power meter. My pacing goals were based on the half-ironman race execution guide and my current FTP (247). I took your advice and was primarily watching my average NP with auto-lap every 5 miles. It was hard to keep my power down on some of the hills, but I ended up leaving the bike feeling pretty good.
Time: 3:32
Ave Power: 169w
NP: 201w
Run time was 2:29. This was where the wheels came off a bit. The guide said, based on my numbers, I should hold a 9:30 pace the first 3 miles then bump it up to 9:00 for the remainder. Wasn’t happening. I was keeping it close to TRP for the first loop, and ended up with a 10:59 average pace with an average HR of 144bpm. The first loop was decent, but during the second loop, I started having some GI issues and was fatiguing fast. I’m pretty tired tonight, but hopefully I will be able to get back to training in a couple days as Santa Rosa is now only a few weeks away.
So – I am really stressed out about being ready for Santa Rosa. I am following the workouts in my full plan, but I finished Oceanside today questioning my fitness to do a full in just 34 days. Am I overreacting? My DNF from Coeur D’Alene still weighs heavily on me if you couldn’t tell
I am focusing on the nutrition element because the smoother bike means that you should have been in a better place to handle the stress of the run. The fact that you did not leave me to believe that there is a calorie problem here. Your legs should feel good by this weekend, if they don’t just get back into steady work and I promise they’ll be coming around by Monday.
@Coach Patrick
On the bike for Oceanside, I was doing one bottle of Infinit “Speed” with one scoop of CarboPro added. This worked out to about 330 calories per bottle. I added two Salt Stick capsules per hour, which was about 800mg of sodium/hour total. At the aid stations, I would drink some water (maybe half to ¾ a bottle). That’s it. I went through 3 bottles of Infinit in 3:30 and six Salt Stick capsules. Peed twice.
I decided to use what they had on the course for the run, but really didn’t have a plan. At home for training runs, I usually carry a bottle of Infinit Speed with me (without the CarboPro) and a Base Salt tube. When I began the run at Oceanside, I was feeling pretty good. I remembered reading that, if I felt good, I should try to get some calories in me, so I started with one or two cups of Gatorade at each station. I think I had a gel at some point, a cup of water here or there. But mostly Gatorade. I tried to get a few Base Salt hits in every mile. By the second lap, the stomach issues were slowing me down even more. I switched to just water for most of the second loop, along with the Base Salt.
After finishing the race, I called and did a phone consultation with Infinit. I ordered a custom bike and a run formula, which I should have sometime this week. I will still have a couple weeks to test them out before Santa Rosa. They max out at like 400mg of sodium, so I was planning to supplement with additional sodium and water. I was also planning to get a fuel belt and carry concentrated bottles that I could mix with water at aid stations for the run. I’ll get you the exact nutrition breakdown on them when I receive it, but it should be similar to the Infinit Speed.
OK - so my Infinit custom mixes showed up yesterday. Here is the nutrition breakdown:
Bike Formula: 342 calories/81g carbohydrate/4g protein/502mg sodium
Run Formula: 301 calories/75g carbohydrate/502mg sodium
I don't have much time to practice with them, but pretty similar to what I have been doing with their off-the-shelf blends. Picking up a Fuelbelt today.
Got in a 16-mile run Tuesday and just under 5 hours on the bike yesterday, so feel like my fitness is decent. I have been getting some good feedback from the team in the forums, and I am working on a draft race plan. Thank you in advance for the advice on my nutrition/hydration. I think it is the key for me to finishing the race.
If you do. InfinIT, that’s it. No powders or gels really. It’s meant to be standalone. So if you need 425
cals (making that up) then it’s 1.25 bottles, etc.
i would go with 1 salt stick poll per hour and really no water.
On the run the ge is fine but you need to have a fueiling plan.
Myonly caveat to you is is that I had a similar
infonit issue (in IMs). Calories were good for the bike but I strugggled on the run with gut issues. Turns out my mix was too calorically demsen(Val’s to fluid ratio was off) so no concentrating for you. Check out the resources > wiki > nutrition section for some run calorie guidelines.
We can do this!!
~ Coach P
Santa Rosa didn't go as planned, and unfortunately I was a DNF. I missed the bike cutoff by three minutes. Incredibly disappointing. Just can't seem to finish one of these. Here's the short version -
SWIM - of the three disciplines, I think I suck the least at swimming. I swam a 1:30 when I DNF'd at IMCDA in 2016, and have consistently done 45:00 swims at the 70.3 distance. I was planning for 1:30 but was willing to accept a 1:40. My Garmin said I swam 5,074 yards. I just don't know how its possible that I swam an extra 600+ yards.
I sighted frequently and never felt like I was way off course. So, according to my Garmin, I held a 2:15 pace, which would have given me a 1:35 swim. So with the extra yardage, I ended up with a 1:54 swim. Ouch. Not off to a good start.
BIKE- Two main things killed me on the bike. First, after about mile 56, everything basically from my shoulders up locked up. It was brutal. I do ok with aero up to about 50 miles, but after that it was unbearable. I am considering dumping the tri bike and going to a road bike since I am sitting upright anyways. Might as well be comfortable. The second thing that slowed me down was my fault. When I took the cassette off to install my Aerojacket, I didn't torque down the cassette enough. All the bumpy roads started to loosen it, and at about mile 70, it was rattling and loose. Of course bike techs were MIA, so I had to try to pull off my wheel and try to tighten it by hand. Then, a couple of gears fell off into the tall grass. Can't make this stuff up...Anyways, found them, got it assembled, and it held thankfully. But that cost me time I didn't have. I was at 7:15 at 103 miles when my battery died.
I pulled into the bike dismount and was stopped by the race director who took my timing chip. My kids were standing on the sidewalk watching. I was crushed.
The good news was I had no leg cramps like I have experienced in past races. I still have some nutrition issues to work out, but getting better. I am pretty confident that if I had the 20 minutes from the swim and 10 or 20 minutes back from the bike, I would have been able to grind out the marathon and finish.
I am at a loss.
I am still signed up for IMAZ in November. Not sure how the EN finish guarantee works, but I hope I qualify. I have about six months to address my weaknesses and get ready.
The best way for me to analyze your bike is to see some data. There’s a lot of extenuating factors that go into bike performance and that kind of data helps. Sounds like you have a pretty crummy bike fit, so that would be the first order of business. The time difference between a road bike in a try bike is usually 30 to 40 minutes on race day and at the pace you were riding you would’ve been at the same time split without those issues if you were on a road bike which still puts you in jeopardy. Tri bike is absolutely the way to go.
Total bummer on the cassette, but that’s a good lesson learned. That is something that you do two weeks before race day and you ride at 5 to 6 times before the event so that it is ready. This is why we do our final race rehearsal in our complete race set up so that everything is tested and proven and you have time to fix any issues. We can’t prove it, but chances are that because that would’ve started coming loose after 200 miles of riding on it long before you got to race day.
Even though you didn’t do the marathon, it’s still important that you give your body some time to recover. Instead of four weeks, I recommend using the half iron post race protocol to give yourself a two week guideline. Loaded up and then follow what you can.
With the amount of time you have between now in Arizona, there’s no rush to start training immediately. You can however identify an excellent bike fitter and get that set up right away. If you had your bike fit, but still have shoulder issues, you likely will want to see somebody else.
After you recover, I would like to load up a run durability program with some bike volume in the warmer weather to accelerate your bike fitness before Arizona. Load up the recovery for now and then let’s check in soon.
Not sure if you have a way to view data in Garmin Connect? I attached what I have for the bike. I was really surprised my power average was so low. I was trying to stay around 165w average, although the rolling terrain was hard for me to remain evenly paced on. Need more practice I guess.
Up early race morning and had a Naked Juice smoothie, Powerbar, and coffee. Sipping Gatorade and half a Powerbar up until 1 hour from start. About 15 from swim start I had a Gu and a few swigs of water. Energy on swim was good, but was starting to feel a little hungry when I got out of the water. Started consuming Infinit custom bike mix immediately out of T1.
BSN was at like mile 65, so I had four bottles with me for one per hour. I stuck with this along with one salt stick capsule per hour for the first 4 hours. At about mile 40 I added in a few sips of water with each swig of Infinit because it was starting to taste gross and I was starting to burp it up a little. Peed 3 times during the bike so felt hydrated. They said there was no water for mixing bottles at BSN, so I had four additional bottles pre-mixed in my BSN bag to make it faster. The bottles were all super warm and disgusting. I eventually had a kind volunteer at an aid station put ice in all the bottles, which helped a little.
I continued sipping Infinit chased by a few sips of water and a Salt stick every hour. By the time I got off the bike, I was probably 1 to 1.5 bottles behind (planning for one per hour). Towards the end of the bike, I was feeling a little nauseous, not sure what from, but that slowed my Infinit drinking down. I continued sipping water and taking salt. I had zero leg cramps, which is a first (neck and shoulders was a different story).
Up to about the halfway point on the bike, I felt like nutrition/hydration was working well. I don't want to have a complicated nutrition plan, but part of me thinks I need some variety after mile 56 - maybe some Cliff blocks, or Powerbar or waffle thing. I know that can affect osmolality, so I didn't mess with it. Plus I hadn't really practiced it. Energy felt good though.
For upcoming races, I was going to ask you what your thoughts were on the following options:
Re-try IMSR next year
Texas
Maryland
Finally, I figured out that I do have a the free versions of both Strava and Training Peaks. My race data looks like it has been uploaded. Not sure what I need to do to give you access to what's there? Do you recommend I upgrade one or both accounts to the paid ones to get better data?
Unless Gatorade tried to kill your family, it’s the best way to go in terms of frequency and digestibility and access. While you are recovering, I do recommend you go to resources/wiki/nutrition and read up on our recent nutrition recommendations which I strongly advise you to use Gatorade and to do that sweat test.
Also, did you do a race plan and submit it to the team before the race? Usually they will catch something like bottles left in a bag until halfway.