Just saying hello!
Hey Coach P.!
Just kinda checking in to say hello, "Hello!" :-), and to kinda bring you up to speed on where I am at triathlon-wise.
Where have I been all season?!? Working with a run coach (Liz Ryan) to get my run legs back in shape. Basically, she provided training regiments to get ready for the LA Marathon and today's Scripps Ranch 10K. While I am not running at topline speed, yet, I am nearing full strength, run-wise.
So, now I am moving into triathlon season which will end with the September 23rd IM Augusta 70.3. My plan is to follow-ish the EN 2017 Half plan with subtle modifications which I will send you in a follow-up message.
Ultimately, my 2018 triathlon season goal is to establish a sustainable endurance condition as opposed to the injury riddled condition I had coming out of the 2015 season.
Otherwise, I am going to spend the next week or so coaming through EN's wealth of knowledge to mentally get up to speed to become a better EN'der. Already read some good info.
btw, after Augusta I plan to go back to my run coach to get ready for Boston. Why?, she's a pure marathoner that I want to learn from and just to complete the process (legs were bad for LA and not full speed for Scripps). So, my EN 2018 out season will be focused on sustaining bike and swim while pushing hard through the run season. My 2019 triathlon season will begin 1 week after Boston.
btw, this Friday I'll be making a 1 week trip home which will end with the Sunfish Sprint triathlon up in Meridian, Ms. Essentially, that'll be the kickoff to my triathlon season. By then I'll be ready to brief you how I can fit Augusta training into my work schedule to get your insight and feedback.
Anyway, hoping you're enjoying an excellent 4th of July and triathlon season. ttys…
Andy
Just kinda checking in to say hello, "Hello!" :-), and to kinda bring you up to speed on where I am at triathlon-wise.
Where have I been all season?!? Working with a run coach (Liz Ryan) to get my run legs back in shape. Basically, she provided training regiments to get ready for the LA Marathon and today's Scripps Ranch 10K. While I am not running at topline speed, yet, I am nearing full strength, run-wise.
So, now I am moving into triathlon season which will end with the September 23rd IM Augusta 70.3. My plan is to follow-ish the EN 2017 Half plan with subtle modifications which I will send you in a follow-up message.
Ultimately, my 2018 triathlon season goal is to establish a sustainable endurance condition as opposed to the injury riddled condition I had coming out of the 2015 season.
Otherwise, I am going to spend the next week or so coaming through EN's wealth of knowledge to mentally get up to speed to become a better EN'der. Already read some good info.
btw, after Augusta I plan to go back to my run coach to get ready for Boston. Why?, she's a pure marathoner that I want to learn from and just to complete the process (legs were bad for LA and not full speed for Scripps). So, my EN 2018 out season will be focused on sustaining bike and swim while pushing hard through the run season. My 2019 triathlon season will begin 1 week after Boston.
btw, this Friday I'll be making a 1 week trip home which will end with the Sunfish Sprint triathlon up in Meridian, Ms. Essentially, that'll be the kickoff to my triathlon season. By then I'll be ready to brief you how I can fit Augusta training into my work schedule to get your insight and feedback.
Anyway, hoping you're enjoying an excellent 4th of July and triathlon season. ttys…
Andy
0
Comments
I encourage you to check out our 2018 plans as well, remember they get better every year! But I will work with you no matter what you decide.
With all that said, just updated my EN account to add on Final Surge and have that setup. My big race (won't call it my "A" race) is September 23rd Augusta IM70.3 and my primer race will be the August 12th Chula Vista Challenge International Distance triathlon. I have the Sunfish sprint triathlon next Saturday the 14th.
After Sunfish, I like the workouts that come with the Short Course Advanced training program and will use the last 4 weeks of that plan as a guideline to get ready for Chula Vista.
After Chula Vista, I'll to the last 6 weeks of the Half IM Minimalist Plan for Advanced. I'll do more than what's on the plan; but, that plan provides training with a tighter focus that will help with my work and travel schedule.
In case of Augusta, while I won't be IM70.3 primed, my goal is to be primed physically, as best as possible, and just let it ride race day. Hopefully, I'll still PR my 5:25:54 from the 2015 Augusta without wrecking the bike into the ditch like 2015 and without severe leg spasms throughout the 2015 run, hopefully. :-)
In case of Boston 2019 (prior to Boston I'll do the December 2nd California International Marathon with a friend.), while my Boston goal is to approach a pure marathoner effort, I will continue to cycle and swim train; but, with the focus to strengthen my legs (i.e., increase my power). In other words, 2-to-3 short (30-to-60 min) focused rides with an occasional long ride to loosen the legs up. Same with swim training. So, I'll be using the EN-way for the cycle and swim training. (said "sustain" before, but really meant "focus")
Hope all of that provides a better big-picture of what I am driving for between now and Boston 2019.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of your weekend, Andy
Hey Coach P!
Last time we talked, I had plans on training for Boston 2019 and even improved my time with a 3:15:13 at CIM. Welp, that 3:15:13 will get used for Boston 2020, because I got injured. Nothing serious (except location), right adductor strain, lower abdomen strain and I believe a sprain to the pelvic joint where the lower abdomen attaches. The severity is location, location, location...
Anyway, hadn't run in 5 weeks (been spinning on the bike) and my attempt at running this past week confirmed that any attempt at Boston 2019 would be a bad idea. Soooo, I am transitioning to Tri season.
With that in mind, on February 25th I'll kick it off with the EN 6 week Triathlon Bike Focused Advance plan to get my bike legs spun up. In case of running, it'll be restricted to two (2), one hour AlterG treadmill sessions and a Saturday mid-to-long distance run for the next 5 weeks. In case of swim, even though the plan doesn't have any swim training, I am currently working with a Coach Kendyl Stewart to strip down and rebuild my swim to get it ready for EN training. So, I will be swimming.
The point of all of that mess, is to give ya a heads up that in a week I will submit my 2019 race schedule, including A Race (70.3 Superfrog or 70.3 Santa Cruz), B Race, etc, etc..., with the intent to start focused training by April 15th.
Happy Tri Season!,
Andy
@Andy Spratley Thanks for the heads up! I look forward to seeing your roadmap, and would like to learn more about exactly how are you injured yourself. That’s a pretty specific area with pretty detailed the trauma. Just want to understand the circumstances so I can do a better job of advising you as you navigate this path back to recovery. Feel free to add it into your season roadmap notes section! 👍 thanks for the heads up! I look forward to seeing your roadmap, and would like to learn more about exactly how are you injured yourself. That’s a pretty specific area with pretty detailed the trauma. Just want to understand the circumstances so I can do a better job of advising you as you navigate this path back to recovery. Feel free to add it into your season roadmap notes section! Thumbs up
Hey Coach P!
Just submitted my season plan. btw, my current "A" race is Ironman Superfrog on September 15th. I kinda hate the run leg of Superfrog (did back in 2017, on 2 bad hamstrings).
So, I may do Ironman Santa Cruz instead. But, I in California on business travel which restricts my weekend travels. In other words, no 4 day weekends. Between now and this weekend will verify the logistics of shipping my bike back-and-forth.
In case of my injuries, basically roughed up my pelvic floor (adductors, right in particular, lower abdomen, etc) by jumping into Boston 2019 training ahead of schedule. Just 2 weeks after CIM, I did a track workout that was pretty hard, followed the next week with a healthy fartlek workout. Then, the following week was to be Week 1 of Boston training which included a tempo workout that I did on TIRED legs, at night, in Mississippi humidity, on a darkened concrete path. Returned to La Jolla and and on jet-lagged legs did a workout of 3 x (1Km @ 10K + 4 x 150m @ 800m pace). It was a FUN workout, but by the first 150 I was screwed. Had my fun and finished the workout; but, had to shutdown running the next day.
With all that said, I 99.99% healed, run-wise. By the time I am ready to crank up to full speed for Triathlon season this coming April, I'll be 100% or fully healed and my overall conditioning (bike, swim, strength) will stronger than it has been in 3 years. Lesson learned, allow a solid 3 weeks before pushing a threshold effort after a lactic marathon or IM70.3 effort.
As indicated, the week of April 15th is my Triathlon season kickoff week. So, no rush.
btw, I submitted 3 races; but, I plan to do a bunch of sprint triathlons along the way as training efforts or workouts. Will send you a complete list of everything I plan to do this year by this weekend. It's going to be fun.
@Andy Spratley hey there. I’ll check on the Roadmap this weekend.
Im glad that you’ve done a fair amount of healing. As some have said in this team, the hardest workout is the only you DONT do. 😬 if you’ve just raced, you are fit. The goal is to transition what you have, while many of those workouts are intended to build new fitness. Next time I got you. 👍
Let’s continue to be cautious on the return...and the more diverse your training the better of you’ll be!!
chat soon,
~ Coach P
Hey Coach P,
Yep I agree and thanks! Working on the being cautious with my return. I have my good days of being cautious and not-so-good days. :-)
This week had a good start to cycle training with a FTP test on Wednesday. Result was FTP=236 Watts (; but, I was so sore from the previous weekend (new strength training regiment) that I deferred kicking off the EN 6 week Triathlon Bike focused training until next week. I feel like I could have squeezed out some more watts, but I feel more comfortable with training over the next 6 weeks based on 236 and retesting after a solid training base.
Anyway, hope the training weekend was productive for ya,
Andy
btw, while I submitted the road map, here is a list of races I plan to participate in this year:
Otherwise, as a member of the Triathlon Club of San Diego I'll have access to their club races - http://www.triclubsandiego.org/membership/club-races/ - Most likely will look to participate in the Aquathlons. Also, will participate in as many of their OWS workouts as possible. Their Sunday morning OWS is a coached workout.
Good call on being patient with the workouts. We certainly are not in a rush, and you have more than enough opportunities to race this year! 😂
I am pretty sure I have your roadmap on my agenda for this week, so stay tune to. Don’t get too upset about the 236 number. It’s all up from here. 🚀
@Andy Spratley
Here's your updated Season Plan, 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 my best outline of how to proceed with your races, but you can ask any / all questions you want. So post away, know that I reply here usually Monday & Friday 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.
Coach Notes
So Great to have you "back on track" with the triathlon stuff. Kudos to you on that marathon performance; as we noted, there's only so much you can do with super quality / hard running and staying healthy. IOW, there's a balance we need to strike; we can help you do that with more of a tri focus and hopefully not sacrifice any of that baseline run speed (keep it where you can Freshen it up in a few weeks and you are all set!). 👍
I have you finishing out the Bike Focus plan, right into the "end" of the Short Course plan for your Oly-ish event. Then we are off to a bit of recovery and the full build to SuperFrog. This gives you time to:
Let me know what you think!
Your Races
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 within Final Surge by clicking on the Training Plans > View My Plans. If you need help manipulating your plans in Final Surge, be sure to check out our Help Site. Remember, you can learn more about each plan and find related plan resources on the Plan Descriptions and Resources page.
Your Notes
https://www.athlinks.com/athletes/77011874/results
Races I trained for:
2018 California International Marathon (CIM) - December 2nd - 3:15:13 (9 weeks of focused training)
2018 IM Augusta 70.3 - September 23rd - 5:33:16 (Wasn't a true focused effort.)
2018 Scripps Ranch 10K - July 4th - 40:14 (4 weeks of focused training)
2018 Los Angeles Marathon - March 18th - 3:23:43 (13 weeks of focused training)
Pretty good fitness; but, not in sharp or top notch condition. There is a 2 year story behind it.
2017 was focused on recovering from several 2016 injuries, including 2 high hamstring strains, a lower abdomen strain, a calf strain. But, 2017 started with me getting flipped off my bike by a dog in the Mississippi Gulf Coast country side which took a couple of months to get right hip and ribs to heal. The rest of 2017 was just getting my run fitness back while maintaining a base bike and swim effort. Big 2017 races were IM Superfrog and the Santa Rosa marathon. Not great efforts, but regained my endurance.
2018 was about qualifying for Boston 2019 and getting my run speed back. Big races were Los Angeles Marathon, IM Augusta 70.3, CIM. Accomplished my run goals, buuuut…
2019 was to be about hammering Boston 2019 with the remainder of the year focused on Triathlons; but, 2 weeks after CIM, I jump started Boston training only to strain my chronic right adductor, lower abdomen and generally beat up my pelvic floor. As of today (2/26/2019), just about all is almost healed and when I kickoff my 2019 Triathlon season all will be healed.Pretty good fitness; but, not in sharp or top notch condition. 2 weeks after 2018 CIM, I jump started Boston training only to strain my chronic right adductor, lower abdomen and generally beat up my pelvic floor. Thus, 2nd week of January had to shut down running and eventually canceled Boston 2019.
The past 6 weeks has been a muddled mess of getting my bike legs in shape and trying to get the swim going all the while sustaining a base strength training effort.
The next 6 weeks will be using the EN Triathlon Bike focus planned to get my bike legs into race shape while easing back into running with 3-to-4 easy runs per week, with 2 runs each week via an AlterG treadmill. In case of swim, once a week working with Coach Kendyl Stewart (see Olympic team) to strip down my swim and rebuild it. Also, will swim 3 times per week (1800-to-2400 yards), including one of the Triathlon Club of San Diego's OWS swims. For strength, working with a personal trainer once a week to do the same as the swim, strip it down and rebuild it.
Let's get to work!
~ Coach P
PS - Let's update your profile picture when you get the chance…it really helps the Team to "get to know you" a lot better.
You can do that by following this animated GIF (below)…good luck!
Hey Coach P!
Greatly appreciate the update. Will update my profile pic first chance.
btw, slight hitch in my current get-along. When I was 8 months hold, had a mild case of chickenpox. When I was 5 years old, had a mild case of shingles. My Mom has been warning for years that I would be susceptible to getting shingles again, especially after I turn 50. Welp, I am 53 and Tuesday March 5th starting feeling pain in my left ribs, thought it was from the previous night of swim training, but by Thursday evening the rash started showing up and it continued to grow through to Monday-ish. Was kinda able to train through Monday, but by Monday night, after my AlterG 60 minute session, a secondary infection developed from the rash and I haven't been able train since. Believe I've knocked out the secondary infection and the shingles have finally started to crust over. So, it's just a matter of getting the fever out of my system and getting my body right. I am 30 minutes pass my last dosage of Tylenol and I don't feel like I am going to die. So, things are looking positive.
Anyway, will start studying my season plan to prepare any questions.
Thank ya, thank ya! Andy
@Andy Spratley - OMG. Not the shingles part. The part where you remember what your parents said to your 48 years ago. 🤣 I am sorry to hear it, but let's use this time to plan and get all of your gear in order. That way when you are back, you can crush it!!!!!
Please keep me posted!
~ Coach P
btw, last Sunday, on the spur of the moment and with aide of a pretty girl, signed up for today's Ironman Superseal Olympic Tri. Welp, Friday night body started showing signs of healing and that continued through Saturday. Even when I woke this morning, wasn't sure if I was going to or could proceed with the race.
Annnnyway, I did and while I was slow at all 3 legs (and T1, :-0), it was a steady pace effort and endurance felt good through the finish. In particular the run which was probably my best physical effort of the day.
Note the only knock against this race is that the bike has a 1 mile, no pass, lane to get to and from the main course. So, if you're stuck behind
slow riders, then you're screwed and I was. But, Coronado was beautiful today and even with a steady crosswind, then conditions were great.
What does all that mean? Still has some injury healing to do (not much) and shingles healing to do (getting there), but have more confidence in my endurance base and looking for forward to some steady training.
That's is my story,
Andy
p.s., in case of a 11:02 T1 time, there is a quarter mile stretch from water exit to transition and I walked it nice and easy, then had a relaxing time at my bike, because that is what I wanted to do today. :-)
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/short-course/superseal/results.aspx?y=2019&rd=20190317&race=superseal&bidid=1808&detail=1#axzz5iNkm7e97