Mark Stovall Official Coach Thread [TeamEN]
@"mark stovall"
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 - Click to Watch the Video
Your Races
9/29/2019 Three Gap Fifty - 58 mile ride, 6300 ft of climbing in the Appalachian mountains in North Georgia. It will be a challenge since the closest hill to me is 200 miles away!
Your Notes
Swam for the University of Georgia back in the early eighties. three Ironman races, a dozen Half's and more Olympic distance races in the eighties and nineties. Last Ironman was in 2010 and I have done virtually nothing since then.Started light running, swimming and biking on the trainer about two months ago. Swim about 4,000 yds/wk, run about 12 miles/wk and just started the trainer last week. Still consider what I am doing as exercising and not training. My goal the last couple of months was to get my weight down before I got serious about training. I had hit a high of...*gasp...249lbs. I weighed in at 227 this morning so the weight is coming down nicely. My goal is to be at 195 by the November
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 July 10, 2019
- On 7/8/2019 Load the Metric Century, Balanced (12 Weeks) to end on 9/29/2019
- On 9/30/2019 Load the Post Half Iron Transition Plan, All Levels (2wks) to end on 10/13/2019
- On 10/14/2019 Load the Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/10/2019
- On 11/11/2019 Load the Run Durability for Triathletes 2 (8 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 12/8/2019
- On 12/9/2019 Load the Run Durability for Triathletes 3 (7 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 1/5/2020
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 Homework
Tell Me Your Season Goals
- What will make you consider this season a success?
- What's your biggest limiter right now?
Start Learning
Every month we hold live events as part of our commitment to make you just as smart as you are fit. Feel free to visit our Coach Lesson page and our Office Hours page to find the next opportunity to connect with Coach Patrick and your Teammates.
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 General Discussion Forum and set the title or tags for that topic. Race questions to the Racing 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
Mark, Welcome to back! Three Gap FiFty - what a cool event. Congratulations on your weight loss so far. The exercising you have done so far will set you up nicely for the structured training and focus that Coach Patrick has laid out for you. If you have questions about the workouts, this thread is a place to do it. Next week you have a bike and run test, which will set your training zones.
Here are some easy steps to get the most out out your training plan, Coach Thread and Final Surge.
First, Power user tip! Click on the red star and check box just to the right of your thread title. This way you will get an email when you get a response in your Coach thread.
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.
Next, getting setup in Final Surge. 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. (Chose Strava if you ride on Zwift.)
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.
As you get all your tech setup (Connecting to Final Surge) either Garmin or Strava. Also consider downloading the Final Surge App. This might make it way easier to add comments about how you felt, ate, weather etc (for the bike) and sets, paces etc (for the swim). Those are all super helpful to you as you track your progress, prepare and plan your 70.3 at Waco.
Final Surge | Mobile Apps
https://www.finalsurge.com/apps
It makes it super easy to add comments about your workout. Click on the "pencil" icon to tap "how I felt" or "perceived effort." Then add a few notes about what you ate/drank (helps to figure out what works best for you on the bike), how you felt mentally, the weather or any aches etc. Just a quick not goes a long way.
Those comments are really handy when you are comparing workouts, tailoring your own training, evaluating progress and planning for your ride. It also makes it easy to look at and plan for your upcoming workouts.
You can also setup Final Surge to send you emails with your workouts every day.
Let me know how I can help. I look forward to hearing more, helping you build your fitness and reach your body composition goal!
My goal is to make your first month of Endurance Nation as simple and as awesome as possible! For any questions you have getting started - chat with me here in this forum or schedule a call with me here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1
Talk with you soon.
@Mark Stovall
Thanks Matt. Is there a way to have the workouts show my actual pace and power ranges instead of saying "zone 3" or the like? Many thanks.
Mark, Yes there is! That is exactly what your run and bike tests are for next week. You will use your avg power and heart rate from those tests to update your plans. Then, each workout will be detailed with your heart rate and power zones. For example, run intervals will look like:
Run: Cruise Intervals
Choose Your Ability Level:
-Level 1: 3 x 1km (1') @ Zone 4 (156 - 167 bpm).
-Level 2: 4 x 1km (1') @ Zone 4 (156 - 167 bpm).
-Level 3: 4 x 1km (1') @ Zone 4 (156 - 167 bpm).Remainder of time @ Zone 2 (139 - 148 bpm).
Mark, here is what the Final Surge guys see:
"Garmin activity from the 11th, the 17th and a Strava workout from yesterday the 25th. So, it does appear that workouts are syncing. Usually it’s all or nothing as we don’t see Garmin only send over a sporadic workout ever. Is that accurate.
However, it does appear he’s been syncing and un-syncing these several times, and that can really mess things up. Especially on Garmin’s end.
Have him log into his Garmin Connect account and click on Profile-> Account Settings -> Account Information. Scroll to the bottom and make sure Final Surge is only listed once:
If he ever disconnects Garmin, he needs to log into Garmin Connect first, disconnect it here, then log completely out of Garmin Connect. Then, he can go into Final Surge, disconnect it, and then reconnect it. That will ensure it doesn’t mess things up on Garmin’s end and create multiple syncs. When that happens they usually stop sending us the workouts."
Let me know if that helps.
@Mark Stovall
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!
Mark, good work getting your Strava & Final Surge sorted out. Good to see the workouts posting. Keep it up.
~Matt
@Mark Stovall
@Mark Stovall
Welcome to your THIRD MONTH inside Endurance Nation!
This month we focus on helping you become more independent as part of your growth as a Self-Coached Athlete. Whether you are planning your season, preparing to race or transitioning to a new endurance challenge...Team Endurance Nation is ready to help!
If you haven’t done so already, please set up your Month Three Coach Call here.
** Training Focus **
We consider anytime in your season when you are more than 12 weeks away from your event to be a training focus. There are different phases of training (OutSeason®, General Prep, Sport Specific), but they are fall under the same umbrella.
Now that you are through your first two months of Endurance Nation, You have learned a few key “rules” of how we play the game, and you are ready to take charge of your experience.
Training Lesson Recap:
Taking Charge:
** Racing Focus **
Once you are within the final 12 week window to your event, it’s time to really focus. From key workouts to nutrition to logistics, there’s a great deal to cover. There’s a fine line between a great day and a day where you want a total do-over.
Key components of your final push should include:
** Additional Support **
In addition to The Forums and other Team-related support, you still have the chance to connect with Coach Patrick across your first year. Right now it’s time for your three month call with Coach Patrick; and you can book it here.
Tip: Find all your other call windows across your first year, please visit the EN Staff page.
Be sure to check out our Three Year Plan in Resources / Wiki so you can see how we recommend improving from season to season.
Coach Phone Consults
If you are looking for support above and beyond the traditional Endurance Nation experience, you can book a consult with Coach Patrick. These are billed at $100/hour and Can be on almost any training or racing topic. Please click here to learn more / get started.
Congratulations for moving forward with you training as you build to your race goals. We can’t wait to see what you are capable of this season!
@Mark Stovall How is September treating you so far?
Hi Patrick. Training has been going well with a focus almost exclusively on the bike since January. Foot injury plagued me for much of the last several years but my last couple of weeks of runs have been injury free. Going slow to be sure but starting to work in 2-3 times per week.
Question 1: Gulf Coast Half Ironman was cancelled in May. Still hoping that Ironman Arizona stays on the calendar! I changed my plan to the OS until the Ironman plan kicks in but would love your thoughts on that.
Question 2: I have 3 sec power showing prominently on my Wahoo Element when i ride in order to ride the watts I want. I was going to set up intervals every five miles and also show interval average watts for my really long rides and for race day to better stay on track. What do you do in terms of bike computer setup for an Ironman?
Question 3: Is there an Ironman Arizona Camp this year?
Hope you and yours are well. Both my boys (twins) settled in your neck of the woods after graduating. One is in Boston, the other on Cape Cod. They love it p there having never lived farther north than Atlanta!
@Mark Stovall - thanks so much for checking in. I had no idea about your boys, if you ever need someone to check in on him let me know. I always need my excuse to get out and about. Really pleased to hear that you've done the right thing by focusing on the bike. The return from Run injury can take a really long time, and I delivered return is really important. That's why we have a run reentry protocol which is a mix of Run walking for at least six weeks before we get back to full on running. Otherwise the ramp rate (increase) can be too much.
Question one -- I love The OS program, but we have other options for you as well. You essentially have until the end of August to get ready...that's 12 weeks. How about we split the difference? You do the first five weeks of the OutSourcing program, and then we do six weeks of our bike focus program. That leaves you one week short, which we can easily fill in with Big weekend of volume (2 days) for a boost before going full race prep. The bike focus program will extend some of the work you're doing to make it a bit longer which is helpful.
Question 2 -- IM bike computer set up.
Main (live) Screen:
Lap Data Screen:
Question #3 - fortunately we have no camps planned for this year at all. I'm just afraid that there is too much uncertainty given the current environment for us to do anything worthwhile. That's not to say that people won't get out there and train, just that it's not happening officially. It might be worthwhile checking in with the team in the forums or on our chat groups in August to see if folks have something planned for the race prep period!