Alexander Evis Official Coach Thread [TeamEN]
@"alexander evis"
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.
Coach Notes
Your Races
- Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City (2019-11-03) #70.3atlanticcity_19
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 Final Surge by clicking on Training Plans / My Plans. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.
>> Last updated by Coach on June 18, 2019
- On 6/17/2019 Load the Trial Test Week to end on 6/23/2019
- On 6/24/2019 Load the -- EN Half Bike Focused to end on 09/22/2019
- On 9/23/2019 Load the -- Post Half Iron Transition Plan, All Levels (2wks) to end on 10/6/2019
- On 10/7/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/3/2019
- On 11/4/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 2 (8 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 12/1/2019
- On 12/2/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 3 (7 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 12/29/2019
Training Plan Support in Your First Month
You can connect with @matt limbert as needed in your first month to get dialed in with your training plans and data. You can set up a call with him online here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1 and he'll be on this thread shortly!
Your Notes
Was injured most of the winter, still have some fitness but want to get back to full distance and be faster in 2020.
2017
- 70.3 Canada
- 70.3 Maine
2018
- HarryMan 70.3
- 70.3 Coeur d'Alene
- IM Maryland
- NYC Marathon
Basic Stats
- 43 year old male. ~180lbs.
- Recent best 5k 21:40. Recent best 10k was 46:25. LTHR ~163.
- Consistent 1:55/100y swimmer, been that way for years.
- Bike power meter hasn't worked in a while, best recent ride was 18.1mph for 50 miles around (and around and around) Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
- Running 3-4x/week total of 20miles
- Indoor cycling 1-2x week total of 2-3 hours
- Swimming 1x week 45min-1hr
Your Homework
Tell Me Your Season Goals
- What will make you consider this season a success?
- What's your biggest limiter right now?
Contact Points
As part of your journey to becoming a Self Coached Triathlete inside TeamEN, we are prepared to give you excellent support for your first 90 days. Our goal is to transition you from live, in-person support to using our digital resources and the Team to help you continue your progress as you execute your Three Year Plan.
These are all the key points in your first year where we must talk. Please remember to include your phone number.
- Welcome Call in Week One (set it up here)
- Training Plan 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 End of Year Gap and Year Two (TBD in this Coach Thread)
Questions
- Coach Questions - Right here in this thread. Always reply to this same thread, it keeps a record for us as we evolve together!
- General Questions - Simple stuff can go to the Q & A Central Forum for the Team to answer. For example, Best Bike? How to improve run cadence? How to flip turn?
- Need Help? - Please check the EN Help Site first!
- Admin Questions - Billing or orders or whatnot? Use the red chat button at the bottom of the Members Site (not forums) or email us here.
- Specific Questions about a Race or Power, etc? - You can post those into the targeted forum for that topic. Power questions to the Power and Pace Forum. Race questions to your specific race forum, etc. Not sure where to post? Put it in the General Discussion forum and we will sort it out. Whatever you do, PLEASE ask your questions!!
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 / Trial Member Welcome.
Your First Year Inside Endurance Nation
This will be unlocked after your trial expires.
Looking forward to working with you this year,
~ Coach P
Comments
Alex, Welcome to Endurance Nation. Our goal is to make your first month of Endurance Nation as simple and as awesome as possible! You can schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1
I'll monitor this thread for your first thirty days and help you get up to speed with your plan, your basic schedule, terminology, and all of our resources. Coach Patrick has just made your season plan in Final Surge, so you can sync your Garmin or Strava (only one!) and get your workout data uploaded.
In Final Surge: Workouts -> Garmin / Device Upload
Then chose either Garmin or Strava. Just chose one, otherwise you will get double workouts recorded in Final Surge.
Let me know how I can help. I look forward to hearing more and helping you crush it at Atlantic City!
@Coach Patrick @matt limbert Hey guys...on w/ Brenda now, note 70.3 AC is on Sep. 15, not the 3rd of Nov...will that change the plans you want me to upload?
Thanks!
Alex, I just looked at your season outline in Final Surge.
It won't change the plans. Coach Patrick started your season outline with Half Bike Focused plan, which is still good. It is a 20 week plan. You were starting on week 8, ending on Sept 22. We will just shift the plan to start on week 9 and end on Sept 15. All good.
I can take care of that for you. No problem.
The remainder of your season outline transitions you from Half IM training to the EN Run Durability training.
Thanks @matt limbert
Alex, You are all set!
Thanks @matt limbert ...and thanks for the video info @Coach Patrick.
Looks like my Garmin data is coming in fine. I probably won't have my power meter fixed by Sunday so Im going to do the HR test..hopefully by the time we re-test that problem will be solved
Q: My work/family schedule is a bit strange in that it's often easier for me to to do long workouts during the week than on the weekends. Is there anything I should definitely do/definitely not do when moving the workouts around?
Thanks again.
Alex
We want to find the best schedule that supports your work/family schedule while giving you consistency and recovery in your training. We could first try just shifting the weekly pattern. Use the Saturday Long Ride as your "anchor" workout. Move that to the day that works best for you, then continue with same workout pattern. For example if we move the Long ride to Thurs, then you would have the off/run strides 50 minute work (typical Monday) on Saturday instead - freeing up some time and keeping with the original workout pattern. Does something like that work for you?
With your goal race in September - we can use these first couple of weeks to dial in a schedule that works for you.
Great! No need for you to do it, I can shift on FS....if I have any trouble I'll ping you.
Hey @matt limbert ...I am having trouble. Apols.
I clicked through the "Your Plan History" menu item, clicked the "Adjust Plan" Buttpon next to "2019 Half Bike Focused Plan (All Levels), 20 weeks". I then tried to do two things: 1) shift the end date to 9/14 and 2) update my run zones. Neither seemed to work? Its strange because when I was on w/ Brenda I managed to update my zones for the Transition Plan no problem.
Thanks.
Your Half Bike Focused plan looks like it is all set, it ends on the week of 9/14. Your next week starts with week 9 and week 20 is your race/taper week. We might need to tweak the final week (week 20 ) because the week is built around a Sunday race. In your case, its a Saturday race but that is any easy change on the taper week.
I do see that you updated the zones in the transition plan. Its odd that it didn't work for the half plan. Can you try the zone update again for that part of the season?
Thanks! My dates are fine, Ive been shuffling things around a bit, trying to keep them in order.
I tried again w/ the zones. No luck. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong? I go to "Your Plan History" --> "Adjust Plan" --> "Update My Zones" --> Select "Run Heart Rate Zones" from the Run Zone dropdown --> "Continue" --> "Confirm and Adjust" --> then I get a screen with a little green bar that says "*Your plan has been updated with your most current training zones."
But when I go back to the calendar, they haven't been updated
Also if you're not the right guy for this, let me know and Ill reach out to somebody else.
You were doing everything right! So, I got a hold of the admins at Final Surge and they helped sort it out. Your zones are now loaded for all your training. You are all set! When you get a chance, take a look and let me know how it goes.
Looks great! Thanks so much!
Alex, Great work on your run and bike tests. You might be interested in the Final Surge App
It makes it super easy to add comments about your workout. Click on the "pencil" icon to tap "how I felt" or "perceived effort."
Those comments are really handy when you are comparing workouts, tailoring your own training, evaluating progress and planning for your.
Check out the short video.
I have it! I like it. One thing for the their tech team: I’m using iOS and completed data doesn’t auto populate from Garmin unless I turn my phone off and on. Everything works smoothly on my MacBook using chrome or safari.
while I have you , I have a q about your philosophy on run hr zones. How so you think about them when going up or down hill? In the past I’ve just mentally shifted my zone up 5-10bpm going uphill and did my best to hold the bottom of the zone downhill.
thanks again!
Good to hear that you already have it! Perfect. Also good to know about the iOS. I'll ask about that too.
Running hills & heart rate. The short answer is: Your approach is good. I typically see the same slight increase in heart rate when going up hill. 5-10 bpm is reasonable.
The longer answer is that you need to take the length of the run/race/event and the length of the hill into account. The longer the running event and the longer the hill - the more you will pay for the increased heart rate. For long course or racing with longer hills it would be best to stay at the same heart rate by reducing pace (going uphill) and manage the effort. The tricky thing with heart rate and longer hills - and I'm sure you have seen it - is that the delay in the increase in your heart rate. At the beginning of the hill, you increase your effort but it take a 1-2 minutes for that increase in effort to show up in the increased heart rate. That increased effort and heart rate has a cost - and that cost is not worth it in the long course racing, when managing your effort over multiple hours is key. Those "extra" heart beats and effort could end up biasing the rest of the race/event at a higher heart rate because you just never recovered. By keeping a lower overall heart rate you could be faster to the finish than if you were faster on a particular uphill segment.
You have the right idea of managing your effort both up and down the hills.
Very helpful! Thanks!
Alex - Here is the recommendation from the folks at Final Surge:
"With the transfer of data from Garmin Connect to Final Surge, once the workout comes off the watch via Bluetooth and Connects to the Garmin Connect app, then the transfer into Final Surge is done in the cloud so it doesn’t matter at that point if the phone is on or off as it’s not happening on the phone. Maybe it’s possible they have Final Surge open and are looking at that same day as the workout is transferring from their watch to Garmin? In that case, they would need to pull down the screen to refresh that page on Final Surge to see the workout data populate. But, if they don’t have the Final Surge app open, sync the workout from their watch to Garmin Connect, and then open the Final Surge app, they should see the completed workout data. They should never have to turn their phone off for any of this. Let me know if they can’t get this to work and I’m happy to email with them directly."
Got it! Wasn’t pulling down to refresh.
thanks!
Alex, those split long run days are tough aren't they! A little better this week than last, eh? And a good effort brick run on 4rth of July. Nice work.
Couple of questions for you: What will make you consider this season a success? What's your biggest limiter right now?
Also, you might be interested in EN Live on facebook. It keeps up with what the team at large is doing, along with more info on training and racing.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ENLIVE/
They are! I've found that second run also occupies a lot of mental space throughout the day.
I actually viewed the second half of that last split run as a ‘double fail’ because I was a) way, way above my target HR zone and b) not even that fast. Wrt yesterday’s brick run...I just determined to neg split on pace and to hell w my hr over the last 15mins.
My result goals for 70.3 AC are: Sub :38 swim, 21mph on the bike and 8:45min/mile on the run. If that happens, with 10mins for transitions, I'll PR. I'd like to be be top quartile of starters in my A/G.
My long-range goal is to graduate from "just finish" to "be competitive" at the full distance next year. So from a process standpoint, my goals for this season are:
1. Get nutrition right
2. Be comfortable "pushing" on the bike for long stretches without blowing up my run
3. Improve run pacing
What's holding me back?
1. There is free time to be had on the swim if I can get better form. I dream of getting to 1:30/100 for 2.4mi without having to work any harder. But I haven't been able to find a decent coach for years of trying.
2. I can be a faster runner.
3. I'm 5'9" and 180. Losing 20 pounds would be GREAT. But I've been 175-185 forever and I really struggle with eating well.
Thanks again!
@Alexander E Evis I have been thinking a lot about your season goals and limiters. We can see that you have the discipline and desire to do the work, so the next step is getting smarter on how you execute with your fitness. You are focused on the right things. Nutrition, pacing and body composition are all part of graduating from "just finish" to "be competitive. Nutrition (both daily food choices, fueling during/after your workouts and hydration) is especially key - learning what works for you will pay big dividends when you take on the IM distance.
For your goals this season - this weekend's challenge ride or challenge ride alternate are a great opportunity to work on your "Get nutrition right." As a longer ride, you will have to be "on" your nutrition and hydration. Keep track of what you ate and drank per hour. Weigh yourself, before and after and note how you felt along the way. Here some additional guidance from Coach P on your challenge ride:
http://members.endurancenation.us/TrainingPlan/TrainingPlanCentralPage/ENFULLPlanResources/BigDayGuidance.aspx
The upcoming ABP+Town Line bike workouts in the next few weeks are where you can find that line for "pushing" on the bike for long stretches. You nutrition notes are good, keep it up. They are going to be key for dialing what works for you!
You are making some good progress running. Last week was 2x 1km (~7min/mi @ 160 hr). This week was 3x 1km -1x7min/mi, 2x ~ 7:13/18 @160). You added another entire interval, on top of all the other good work you have been doing. Don't be so hard on your self.
On your swim limiter, we have a great swim ebook - that was written by Coach Patrick and Mike Roberts. It offers some good references for swim fundamentals and references.
https://app.box.com/s/q50ds6x5j9
Which is really a small part the learning to be a more efficient swimmer here:
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Swimming+Master
We also have a few talented swimmers on the team that would be happy to help. You can post a video in the team forums and they can offer some good feedback. It can be a short video - swim towards and away from the camera so folks can see both your hand entry, body rotation and then your legs and lower body.
For your body composition, we have a bunch of different resources you can use.
For example, you can jump into the "social accountability" aspect here: https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/sso?Target=/discussion/25772/weight-accountability-challenge
You’ll find some teammates really making great change there.
If you prefer self driven, then be sure to check out Coach Patrick's Seminar on Body Composition here: http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Seminars.aspx Then can set up a sheet planning your target weight for each month…basically 4lbs a month is a decent starter goal, or 1 lb a week. If you hit your goal for the end of the month before the end of the month, you can chill out a bit.
Thanks! The swim e book is v. helpful. I like the idea of posting a video for smart people to critique. I need to find somebody sneaky to clandestinely take a video at my pool.
I just got off w/ @Coach Patrick and mentioned to him that the "TRP Zone" hr zone on Final Surge was confusing me a bit. When the plan calls for a "Target Race Pace" interval on a run, I wasnt sure what I was supposed to be doing. 124-134 seemed way low given where my bike efforts were shaking out. I promised him I'd share a screenshot, mind passing it along?
One more thing on that @matt limbert ... I think this is what really got me.
FS auto-populates your zones once you enter them into the app, so in the workout instructions, the "TRP" zone intervals were telling me to go 124-134bpm. If you look at the first 30mins of my run this AM, my HR at 8:45s was closer to 150 (ignore all those crazy readings at the beginning). See above.
@Alexander E Evis - here are some of my notes from our 7/9/2019 Coach call. Before we move on to them, I wanted to clear up the Zones part. The TRP is meant to be Total Run Pace, the midpoint of Zone 1 and Zone 2…it’s the more "traditional" steady pace that folks are comfortable running (you mentioned how difficult it was to run in Zone 1, for example).
You can read more on the zones here: http://members.endurancenation.us/TrainingPlan/TrainingPlanQuickStartGuide.aspx
Target race paces are Zone 2 / MP for a Half Iron, TRP for an Ironman.
Current Status: ~ 75% compliant with the plan….
Injury history with ankle: Fractured cuboid, tore a tendon. Did a ton of running last year; thought he had PF….beginning of tear, then rolled ankle in the Fall (awkwardly) and was it. Feels it more in the morning….then after an hour. Runs in Adidas Bostons, with an insole by "Curex Running" for stability. Rolls foot on a frozen water bottle. Stretches post running…
Stability exercises would be key for the ankle, especially for the long term as we move up to longer distances. Here is a sample wobble board you can get online: https://amzn.to/2JD4YiV note this has 360 rotation at 15 degrees and you really only want 10 degrees on the inversion (ankle rolling inwards towards arch / other foot). You can solve for this with a folded towel under that one side.
Race performance…. PR as 5:25 :37 / 2:55 bike / 1:55 on the run. Loses it all on the run. Focus is on run durability and bike pacing / nutrition. Already making great strides on the nutritional side, and that should really help with performance on race day!
Race Pacing for the Half….all the info you need is on this page!
Master Race Execution Page (Half & Full)
@Alexander E Evis
Welcome to your SECOND MONTH inside Endurance Nation!
To help you continue your progress, we have a few short questions for you. You can copy the questions and put your answers in your reply to this thread (no need to copy the questions, just keep the numbers the same!).
** Rankings **
Please rate the following items on a Scale of 1 to 3 (1 = Unsatisfactory, 2 = Satisfactory, 3 = Great!):
** Subjective Information **
** Additional Learning **
Now that we are beyond the initial learning curve of Endurance Nation, it's time to give deeper into some additional resources that can really help you out.
You have several options:
** Need Coach Input? **
Don’t forget you can schedule a check in call with Coach Patrick online here: https://calendly.com/pmccrann/15min
We are looking forward to your answers!
Hi! OK, here goes:
Swim Fitness: 2 (do you guys do swim camps)?
Bike Fitness: 1.5
Run Fitness: 1
Body Comp: 0
Biggest improvement is in-workout nutrition; need support with off-course nutrition and come the off season will be asking about ROI from gear selection (in terms of seconds per dollar!). Always, always looking for better run endurance.
So far, yes I would recommend EN.
Alex, Coach Patrick does not have swim camp yet! But you never know. Have you looked into a Master's swimming program near you? You cold join them, but even if you don't they will have the best insight into the swimming community (i.e. camps, workouts, instruction etc) near you.
I look forward to seeing your bike and run fitness improve over the next few weeks and I'm glad to here you are dialing in your in-workout nutrition.
Can you tell me more about "off-course nutrition?"
There isn't much, unfortunately, in the way of masters swimming near me. What would be ideal I think would be a few video sessions each separated by several weeks. Anyway, sth to think about.
We'll see...I think I just re-injured my foot (just got back from MRI/Xray) so maybe swimming will get more focus than I intended.
By "off-course nutrition" I meant eating right when I'm not working out or getting ready to work out. I'm just outside the healthy end of weight for my height (5'9"/180) and can't seem to get down at all despite burning 10,000 calories a week exercising. My diet sucks!
Alex, we can start with some videos posted to the forums. Once a few weeks is a great idea. If you want to get swim coach help. EN has a partnership with TriSwimCoach, with discounts for TeamEN members.
https://www.triswimcoach.com/
Whooah. I'm sorry to hear about your foot and interested to hear more when you get the results.
What did you think about Coach Patrick's body composition seminar above? Here is another talk from Coach Patrick on smaller steps you can do to get things headed in the right direction.:
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Body+Composition+in+Baby+Steps
If you want professional help TeamEN members can get a discount from Core Diet
Here is a webinar from them:
https://www.screencast.com/t/tKL7FyF6CR8x