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Jeff Phillips 2019 Official Coach Thread

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  • Hi @Coach Patrick

    I finished my half marathon yesterday and am happy with the results. 1 hr 36 min, 5th AG out of 49 (missed 4th by 1 sec and podium by 1 min 30 sec 😪). It's a PR for me at this distance by 8 min -- nice to have RDP and the Jan OS pay dividends!

    It was a hilly course and it also the first time I used power as my primary pacing method, I found it a very effective tool. The last ~5 months I've just been collecting data with Stryd, fun to be able to use it.

    As a reminder my season plan is 70.3 on August 10 and IMAZ in Nov. I've loaded up the bike focused Half IM plan and one tweak I wanted to reach to you on was a big week the first week of June, which is ~9.5 weeks out from the 70.3 This week is a little closer to the race than I believe what EN prefers, but it lines up perfectly from a work perspective.

    I listened to the webinar you created a few years ago as well as your recent podcast and am thinking of five rides over the week. Three moderate ones of 40-50 miles, two longer on either end of around 100 miles (the two longer rides I'd do on my tri bike, the moderate ones on my road bike).

    Three questions on the bike week for you:

    1) Do you feel this big bike week coming a little close to the 70.3?

    2) Given it's leading into a 70.3 and not full IM, are the distances appropriate?

    3) Would I reduce one or two bike workouts the following week and replace with runs?

    One other question as well:

    1) I'm using the time from my half marathon to set zones in Final Surge as that feels more appropriate for the HIM and IM than the all-out 5K I did a week ago. I'm assuming this is the "EN way"?

    Thanks,

    Jeff

  • @Jeff Phillips sorry man, somehow I lost you between camps. Excellent work on the half marathon you can tell the PC was critical. Looks like you really have the hang of the power meter. Yes to creating your zones from those numbers, that’s 100% fine because we are moving into your regular season.

    Your timing for the big bike week is fine. I like how you will break it up between your road bike and your triathlon bike. I would still want you to do the bike workouts the following week but you would probably need to dial the effort back based on how you feel. Everyone recovers differently so it’s really up to you.

    Finally, I do think the distances are appropriate because you will eventually build into the full distance. I would sit out with the ambitions of doing a bigger week and if life gets in the way you can always remove one of the bikes or cut some of the overall time down that week to accommodate life. In other words, it’s a good building block but not so critical that we can’t be flexible right now.

  • Hi @Coach Patrick I enjoyed tracking folks at IMLP this past weekend and hope you had a good week in NY.

    I wanted to reach out with a question regarding your guidance on an approach after my upcoming race -- I've got my HIM Saturday Aug 10 and then IMAZ in November.

    Given I'll be 16 weeks out from IMAZ post my August HIM, would you recommend I jump straight into Full IM plan after a few easy days, or bridge with another plan until after Labor Day (which would put me 12 months out) and then go full IM plan?

    Thanks in advance,

    Jeff

  • @Jeff Phillips I would recommend that you follow the two week post half iron recovery protocol first, just to absorb the work you’ve done to this date. Our bodies naturally need a rhythm of training whereby we can recover from harder sessions like a big race.

    With 16 weeks to go until Arizona you’ll have a good window of training time. It really comes down to how much volume you’ve done this year on the bike.

    Those first four weeks will give you a chance to put in some longer rides and runs and start the process of building the endurance up. It will be pretty comparable from a run perspective to what you’ve already done, but it will mean a bit more bike volume.

    The alternative to that will be to follow the bike focus plan for four weeks to really shock your system and get more threshold style working.

    If you have been neglecting those interval sets in your build up to the half, this would be a better option for you. Let me know what you think.

  • Hi @Coach Patrick

    My 70.3 is in the books. Time: 4:51:03. Overall Place: 8th overall out of 91 finishers and ~110 starters. 45-49 Age Group Place: 4th out of 9, grrr (this annoys me :)). 7 out of the top 10 were 40 years old+, where did all the fast dudes come from??? It was my first time racing in EN kit and I got a few shout outs from some of the athletes.

    I am extremely happy with how I executed this race -- I stayed within my power and HR ranges and stuck to my nutrition plan.  Below are some comments/ thoughts on work needed leading into IMAZ.

    Days leading to race: Not the best taper as I had a busy work trip across the country and only got in the night before I had to drive to race site, but I was able to get in two 30-40 min runs with some pick-ups and a 1,600m swim (in a 13 meter lap pool!). I controlled my eating, the biggest issues were lack of rest and stress. I don't think this impacted me much, if any, on race day, but certainly not ideal

    Swim: 28:44, shortened to 1,700m. Water temp in Lake Superior was 49 degrees, so form, good technique, etc. went out the window pretty quickly as I was focused on controlling my breathing. I am a pretty consistent 1:30-1:35 pool swimmer, but still have yet to translate that to a good OWS. I've been more focused on bike and run, and believe I need to push some longer swims leading into IMAZ.

    Bike: 2:36:09. I had planned NP of 195-200 watts for bike (FTP of 245, weight 74.8 kg, w/kg 3.3) with a HR cap of 138 in plan but moved up to 142 on race day, but ended up at NP of 188. I was at 192 NP on the out portion of bike, but slowly watched my watts slowly go down on return leg as I pushed into headwind. I was more concerned with HR than watts at that time, knowing I'd hit my goal time no problem.

    Bike nutrition was 24 oz bottle of EFS Pro, one EFS Liquid Shot, one small Clif bar and sips of water. EFS Pro and water separated by 10 min intervals, with pulls of Liquid shot at the 30 min point and the clif bar at the 60 min point. This equates to ~300 cal per hour, 71 g carb per hour, ~1,000 mg sodium. This worked well and I had no stomach distress. Question going into IMAZ, should I continue to use EFS Pro and stop at special needs, or go to GE off the bat. My body does well with GE and that is simpler perhaps to execute.

    I did all of the prescribed 3, 3.5, 4.5 hr bike rides (mostly indoor, a couple outdoor) in the HIM plan, but that may be another area to address? I did start to fidget on the bike after 40 miles, which I found odd given the volume of long rides to date. Below are various pics of my position (my hand is out because I was waving to photographer). I'd love to be lower in the front, but when I either drop front-end or raise saddle, I get an issue where my left glute shuts down and my hamstring and calf do all the work, leading to pain behind my left knee. I tried adjusting my position this summer and the pain came back, so this is the compromise I've found. Any ideas you'd have would be appreciated.


    Run: 1:36:03 I had an excellent run and this is the second race where I've used Stryd effectively to measure my input and then look at pace and HR as outputs. It was a rolling course and I ran the first 3 miles at 8:05-8:15 (30 sec slower than goal pace) (260-270 watts), the next 7 miles at 7:35-7:45 (280-290 watts), then the last 3 at sub 7:15, watts who knows? I might've been able to run those first three miles faster, but this is how I trained and I'm happy with the performance.


    Run nutrition was clif blocks every 2 miles, with Gatorade every other mile. I’d dump water on myself at aid stations and use my hand-held water bottle for quick drinks in between.  This seemed to work well.

    You mentioned above the bike focus plan to focus on threshold vs. jumping into the Full IM plan. Given my mile 40+ discomfort on the bike, I'm leaning towards jumping into the full plan after the two week HIM transition plan. I'd like to get more volume under my belt and feel my threshold at this time of the year is probably where it's going to be. 5-10 more watts to my FTP may not do me much if I have to sit up over 112 miles.

    Thanks in advance for any perspective, guidance, thoughts you may have on the swim, bike, run!

  • @Jeff Phillips first things first, congratulations on a great race. For the troop is legit, I know it can be annoying but that’s a great place to go. As you think about the rest of the season I think it really positions you well for Arizona and that your fitness is in a healthy place that we can also build off of.

    I agree on the long course plan, but only after that test! 👍

    Looking at your bike fit, I think part of the issue is that you are just rotated backwards. If you look out for behind your elbows your shoulders are the problem is that as we move you up, then you have to also go forward. You can’t just go up from that rear position.

    head over to the TTBIKEFIT YouTube channel, do the slomo Kona Vid and look at the pros. A more aggressive position is all about the rotation forward.

    Honestly, the part I’m most excited about is your leftovers. Your ability to finish with that, I agree that you certainly have a lot more in the tank to be faster. I agree that listening to your heart rate was more important than just using watts on the bike or being over aggressive on the run, but still there’s lots of room here for you to improve.

    When you get to Arizona, and even your race sim runs, I think that you should run by heart rate for those first 6 miles, and to let the Watts fall where they will.

    This will have you running a little bit faster than normal but with in your aerobic space and then you can transition over to stride. This way we are restricting you early on but we’re just keeping your run performance in alignment with your bike effort.

    Run form looks great though, now you just have to be patient for the first two weeks as we start the volume and begin the build to Arizona!

  • Hi @Coach Patrick

    Thanks for providing perspective on training around my upcoming trip last week in the monthly coach lesson. 

    To refresh your memory, I will be in Hong Kong Oct 15-21, which is Week 15 of the Full IM Bike Focused Plan (for IMAZ). Not ideal from an IM prep perspective, but I’ll roll with the punches – I won’t lose it all after a six-day trip. 

    For context, I’ve done the following plans since joining EN last fall and a have a good base: four rounds of RDP from Sep-Dec, Jan OS, Half IM Bike Focused Plan to August, Two-Week “Recovery” plan, and now into the Full IM Bike Focused Plan. 

    I wanted to review my plan with you on how to work through and around this training hole and see what other recommendations and perspectives you may have. 

    Pre-Trip (Weeks 12-14)

    1.      I will move the race rehearsal swim and race rehearsal bike + brick run up one week into Week 14

    2.      I will look to stack up some long rides prior to the trip and keep swim and run volume

    3.      Question: Should I be do rides longer than what is prescribed in Weeks 12 and 13?

    4.      Question: There is a split long run on Sunday of Week 13 (70-75 min each). Should I complete those runs or add a second long bike instead (Sat is ~5 hr ride)?

    During Trip

    1.      Riding will not be possible

    2.      The hotel has a pool and I may bring some swim cables so I can attach to a railing and swim some

    3.      I may be able to get in a couple short runs with some pick-ups to keep legs going

    4.      I am cognizant of not pushing too hard when jet lagged

    Post-Trip (Week 16)

    1.      Recover from jet lag as quickly as possible

    2.      I will attempt workouts over the week as my body allows, but will not have many expectations

    3.      The Saturday long ride of Week 16 will be priority ride and I should be in a good spot for run race simulation in Wk 17

    4.      Question: Should I look to delay tapering into IMAZ a few days to get another long ride and/ or run in the books?

    Thank you in advance for any suggestions/ guidance!

  • 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


    Your Races

    • Ironman 70.3 Traverse City (08-30-2020) #70.3TraverseCity_20


    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.


    • Last updated by Coach on 10/24/2019
    • On 11/25/2019 Load the    Post Ironman Transition Plan, All Levels (4wks) to end on 12/22/2019
    • On 12/23/2019 Load the    Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 1/19/2020
    • >> Transition Early <<
    • On 1/6/2020  Load the    OutSeason for Triathletes (Run Focus) Plan, 14wks to end on 04/12/2020
    • On 4/13/2020 Load the    Swim Camp to end on 4/26/2020
    • On 4/27/2020 Load the  -- Bike Focus Block, 2019 (6wks) to end on 6/7/2020
    • On 6/8/2020  Load the  -- EN Half Run Focused  to end on 8/30/2020
    • On 8/31/2020 Load the  -- Post Half Iron Transition Plan, All Levels (2wks) to end on 9/13/2020
    • On 9/14/2020 Load the  -- Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 10/11/2020
    • On 10/12/2020 Load the  -- Run Durability for Triathletes 3 (7 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/8/2020


    Your Notes

    Completed Superiorman 70.3 in August, time of 4 hr 51 min.

    Ironman Arizona coming in November`I've been following the EN plans pretty much to the letter over my first year. 4 rounds of RDP, Jan OS Bike Focus, Half IM Level 2 Bike Focus, IM Level 2 Bike Focus


    Let's get to work!


    ~ Coach P

  • @Jeff Phillips - Great to consult with you! Here are my thoughts as we move forward...let me know what you think!

    Lessons Learned


    • Weather...makes later season training hard. And you need that outdoor time to keep your peak fitness, if not consistently than planning that key weekend out there. 
    • Fatigue...it’s real. Going the full year can really suppress your high end threshold values (you lose sharpness) unless you can be crafty. Likely something to focus on this year is doing a better job of checking in with your self assessments. You could start this at a weekly level, and eventually get more granular by the end of the year? That’s a good goal.
    • Fitness / Sharpness...the inverse of fatigue. From the workouts I can see that you could do more outdoors than indoors as the season wore on. The endurance stuff “hurts” your speed and as you get more savvy, you’ll have to dial back the long ride intensity on the weeks you want to hit your intervals. Long rides easier if you want intervals higher, or intervals to 90% FTP if you want to ride 100 miles at target race pace. Make sense? 


    Speed on Race Day


    Race Specificity is key: ride/run in conditions that mimic race day is really important; especially while you are a young long course athlete.


    • Terrain...hilly courses take skill, flat courses take aero/sustained power, windy courses take patience and finesse. We have to be ready for the race you have picked.
    • Temperature...define target temps and try to spend time in them, at a minimum on the longer runs. 
    • Fatigue...long rides alone aren’t enough to simulate the fatigue of the swim. To fix this, you can do:
    • Some swim + bike bricks, with swim at IM pace and bike at HIM effort. 
    • Get better at nutrition out of the gate in your training rides. No need to eat more than a fig newton pre long ride. We need you to start eating at 10’ in on the bike in training like you will on race day. 
    • You could also up the intensity on the bikes if bike only is the only option; the Race Pace Plus work is a great way to make the last 90 minutes of your ride really, really suck like race day. 🤣 


    Targets For 2020


    The bike is where it is at for you this season.


    Improve the FTP: 

    • Gains on the Bike for FTP….OS Bike focused plan following WKOs for first phase. 
    • In Phase 2 we start to add in 1 Zwift race in place of week day workout. 
    • In Phase 3 we have you do a zwift race for 1 mid week workout and zwift race + endurance time for the weekend. 
    • The main goal for Zwift races is to have you really challenge your beliefs of what power is possible on the bike. 


    Bike Volume Matters: How can we make that happen?

    • 1x long day per month in the OS? 
    • Long rides outside in May/June/July vs regular weekends


    The Run is all about Run Durability Time: Frequency matters early, not speed. You are fast already, or rather fast enough without stressing at this point. Stronger on the bike is a better play for you, and will allow you to run faster by default.  If needed, we can inject some speed for you mid season, but I’d rather you not modify the plans for the run while we work to make you stronger on the bike. 


    Fire away with your questions here in the forums...

  • edited June 16, 2020 3:44PM

    @Jeff Phillips - Got your checkin brobeans! Thanks for doing it! 👊

    Here's what you said: 

    Rankings are as follows:

    • Swim Fitness vs Last Month: 3
    • Bike Fitness vs Last Month: 2
    • Run Fitness vs Last Month: 3
    • Body Comp vs Last Month: 2

    Next month's focus: 1) Getting longer rides on my TT bike on the weekend 2) Swimming outside at least 1x per week and 2x on VASA 3) Build into longer, faster runs

    Extra help request: I don't have any questions at this point. Thank you for reaching out

    Nice work on the VO2 session - OUCH! 💥 I I saw your note about adding Spear to the long runs. Since you're still on the split run protocol this is what I recommend you do. Make sure you finish the second half of the first run in the morning, the longer one, with the speed work. It doesn't have to be more than a mile maybe 2 miles or you're pushing it. The afternoon is just backing that up with a steady run.

    You are a smack dab in the middle of to challenge Ryann workouts. I see you didn't get the first one done, so we do want to try and prioritize that in the next few weeks. That longer session somewhere in the 5 to 6 hour range will really boost your fitness. It doesn't have to be done at a high intensity, it's just getting the timing. This is where we make that "step change" in your fitness for the season.

    Get some!

    ~ Coach P

    Ps - When you get the chance, please login to Final Surge And sync either Garmin or Strava, but not both. I am getting a lot of double workouts reported! https://www.finalsurge.com/GarminConnectSync

  • @Jeff Phillips I got your Check-In update, and have pasted it below. This is part of our monthly process to stay connected, so thanks for filling it out!

    Saw your note about the VASA, and it's a really interesting point. I personally use it a little differently then following a strict swim workout. If I do intervals, they are very short portion of the session or the overall session short. For example 5 x 100 and then some steady state time. For 10 x 100 and that's the work out. I find it's hard enough on the Vasa so that I don't need to do a ton of repeats. I also will often just do steady state work for the duration or distance (I do a lot of 1 mile steady work).

    Love your idea of the fall 50k, and I am 100% OK with you doing it on the durability plan. My recommendation to you would be to make sure that you had at least three weeks of running 30 miles a week under your belt after the DIY try. By the third week you should be able to do back to back 12 milers (sat and sun). This assumes you're doing it just to do it, I'm not doing it to be fast. So let me know.

    Nice work with those race rehearsals!

    ~ Coach P

    As a reminder, Jeff Phillips Is on the TeamEN (Coaching + Community Level) and is following the EN Half Run Focused, 12wks.

    His Rankings are as follows:

    - Swim Fitness vs Last Month: 3

    - Bike Fitness vs Last Month: 2

    - Run Fitness vs Last Month: 3

    - Body Comp vs Last Month: 2

    Next month's focus: Dial-in DIY race pace targets and nutrition. Continue to rely on VASA Erg as water is a little too funky to swim outside right now. Maintain consistency and focus on rest/ recovery

    Extra help request: One question I've got in relation to the VASA -- I adapt the swim workouts from the plan a little when I use the ERG, but more or less try to follow them. (Lakes have been getting funky with the hot weather so I'm doing more indoor swimming) Is there anything to keep in mind with this approach that you've learned? 

    I'm contemplating a self-supported 50K run sometime in October. Post DIY, I'll take the 2-week rest plan, then jump into Run Durability. I'd consider the run after the first or maybe second block of durability, rather than loading up an ultra plan. This will be for 'fun' and I'm less concerned about time

  • @Jeff Phillips - I wanted to follow up on our conversation from this weekend about how to manage your winter training as you are part of Best Buy camp. I think your review of the downsides associated with fast running is correct. So, from here through the end of December let's have you dial back the pieces on that Wednesday run. I would prefer to have better quality on Tuesday and Thursday on the bike.

    Instead of running fast on Wednesdays, you can work in some terrain changes. I know you have a treadmill so this could be something like a 2 mile warm-up followed by 3 to 4 repeats of five minutes at a steep grade at a fast paced walk. This will really challenge your glutes and be a tough session for you. The first one shouldn't be too hard but by the time you get to the third or fourth you should be feeling it. Give yourself two minutes of rest between at an easy jog.

    So challenging with out the fast twitch activation!

    ~ Coach Patrick

  • Hi @Coach Patrick

    Thanks for the note above. I'm not sure if you meant to send to Sid as he's in NOS now. Either way, I'll apply the comment to me as well given I'm doing RDP along with the bike camp. There are two "fast" workouts per week (2x1 mile at ~6:45 pace) in RDP and I'll swap out one of them for a Zwift race and the other with the above treadmill workout you mentioned.

    I was going to talk to you and @matt limbert when JOS gets closer (I'll do bike focus) in terms of how to incorporate the Best Camp bike workouts with JOS bike workouts and also the run.

    Thanks

  • @Jeff Phillips - it was the right note to the right person, but the wrong context. I knew you weren't in the off-season so my apologies.

    Yes, I specifically want to eliminate that faster running for you right now in the program. I can see from the results your teammates are highlighting that you are working harder which is a great first step. I wanna make all the room for that to happen right now.

    On some level level feel like you are losing what you have on the run, but we're simply creating more space for that run to develop later!

    See you tonight...

    ~ Coach Patrick

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