Nicole Adams Official Coach Thread 2020 [PlanEN]
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 (Please see my questions in the video!)
Your Races
- Ironman 70.3 Texas (2020-04-05) #70.3Texas_20
- Ironman Tulsa (2020-05-31) #IMTulsa_20
- Ironman 70.3 Boulder 8/1/2020
Your Notes
Hi, I have been competing in triathlon since 2001 and did my first Ironman in 2004. I have completed 11 Ironmans and many half ironmans but have had very mixed results in my career. My IM PB is 10:58 in Cozumel 2010 and my most recent Ironmans have been "moderate" in terms of results: Cozumel 2018: 11:39, Wisconsin 2019: 11:49. I was in the top ~15 in my AG but I feel I have a lot more to give than that. My best (recent) 70.3 is Galveston 2018: 3rd AG.
I have had good results in the 70.3 distance but have yet to reach what I feel is my potential. I am 43 (44 in May) so I would like to capitalize on my history and my LOVE for this sport and really dial in my racing. I am currently building up towards Tulsa 2020 but will have a short "break" in February due to a planned surgery. I am currently training 12-15 hours a week with mostly easier/base type training. I put in 1-2 harder workouts each week using the help of Zwift. I swim 4-5 times per week as I find I can really improve with more swim volume. I keep a steady amount of run volume with high frequency of shorter runs. I am currently running approx. 20-30mi per week. Overall; I bike 3x, run 5x and swim 4-5x per week. I do short strength sessions (15-20 min) 2x per week.
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 January 10, 2020
- ✅ 1/6/2020 Load the -- EN Half Bike Focused to end on 3/29/2020
- ✅ 3/9/2020 Load the EN Full, Minimalist, 12 Weeks to end on 5/31/2020
- ✅ 6/1/2020 Load the -- Post Half Iron Transition Plan, All Levels (2wks) to end on 6/14/2020
- 🔲 6/15/2020 Load the -- EN Half Run Focused to end on 8/2/2020
- 🔲 8/3/2020 Load the -- Post Half Iron Transition Plan, All Levels (2wks) to end on 8/16/2020
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 General Discussion 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
@Nicole Adams
Nicole,
Welcome! Super cool have you with us. Thanks for choosing us to help you reach your potential at IM Tulsa. You have some impressive past results. I think you can appreciate the progressive nature of our plans. You have a great start so far. In addition to the workouts and roadmap, Coach Patrick's lessons and the rest of the Team (multiple Kona qualifiers) are super helpful for dialing in your race execution. I hope you get a chance to check them out. We can chat here if you have any questions about modifying workouts etc. Let me explain a bit more about your first training block.
The OutSeason is 14 weeks. 4+1 test week, 4+1 test week, 3+1 test week. The test weeks are when you will redo you FTP test and track your progression. It is a bike focused block, but you can still add your swimming and there is a baseline level of running for durability. The intensity is focused on the bike with a variety of shorter intervals early in the week, longer intervals mid week, followed by a ABP (Always Be Pushing) ride that is around 3.0-3.8 W/kg, or a CNC (Cruise and Crush) ride that is around 2.5 W/kg but has a few max efforts (45 sec, 4+ minutes, then a 30' sustained effort). A lot of the athletes on the Team ride on Zwift and coordinate ride times using the GroupMe chat (see below for the link).
Running. You will see a description for TRP (Total Run Pace) this is a pace that is between Z1 and Z2. It should be easy and you should be able to carry on a conversation. That is the pace you will do a bulk of your work in this OutSeason phase. Here is it all about frequency and consistency. Early on, say the first 5 week block, focus on getting the duration in. If you feel good and want to mix up the pace based on the workout - go for it - but as you are transitioning back to structured training we want to play the long game. Consistency and frequency. As you get more consecutive weeks, you can earn the right to mix up the paces. But, early on consistency, frequency, and be conservative on the pacing.
Remember to give us an update on your homework,"What will make this season a success?" and "What is your current limiter?" What are your goals for Tulsa? and How do you rank your swim, bike, and run? I want to help you get the most out of your EN membership and training.
For any questions you have getting started - chat with me here in this forum or schedule another call with me here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1
A few thoughts on getting setup and organized.
First off, think of this as an opportunity to get fitter, smarter, and share your experience with the rest of the team. Coach Patrick has designed a Season Roadmap for you. The progression of workouts will get you fitter and prepare you physically to race but, getting smarter about training and race execution is what sets Endurance Nation apart from other programs. Here you have access to Coach Patrick (11x Kona qualifier), a library of his Coach Lessons, and the experience of hundreds of other athletes across all age groups - willing to share their advice and what has worked (or not) for them. We would love to have your experience and voice in those forums too.
Want to know the best equipment to buy? Where to stay for your race? How to triage you week of training when you have to travel for work? How to ride hills efficiently? How manage your power and heart rate on a hot day? You name it the Team can help you and make you a smarter athlete. There is free speed out there just by being smarter at how you play the game. Check out the GroupMe, forums and the learning section from the main Endurance Nation page to get started (see below for links).
Consider downloading the Final Surge App. This makes 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 for your race.
We definitely want to see those hours, miles, and heart beats - but we also want to know how you felt, mood, how mentally easy or hard the workout was, what you ate and drank on those long rides (helps dial in your fueling and hydration for long races), what went good (as a reminder) and what you want to work on next time. This takes your Final Surge account from just workout data to a full on training log - where you see your progression and become a smarter athlete.
To make comments, select the activity and click on the "pencil" icon to tap "how I felt" or "perceived effort." You can 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. 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. Just a quick not goes a long way.
Here are a few things to do:
#1 Subscribe to your Coach Thread.
Subscribe to your Coach Thread and get an email when we respond. Your Coach Thread is the best way to get a hold of us. It documents all of your training questions, its always here for your reference.
Here is how:
#2 Get setup in Final Surge.
Keep in mind, if you plan to ride inside on Zwift, then link your Strava account with Final Surge. Once you connect to Strava, you will have to disconnect your Garmin. Otherwise, you will get double workouts uploaded.
#3 Down load the Final Surge App
Final Surge | Mobile Apps
https://www.finalsurge.com/apps
#4 Join our GroupMe chat and join the Team
Our forums and GroupME chat its a great place to learn, ask questions and connect for accountability with other Team members. Need to buy a new training gadget? What is the best xxxx? Want some advice about your race we? We have someone on the Team that as done it before and can help you race like a veteran. Ask in the group chat, start a forum post, or just search the library.
Your new Friends are waiting for you.
GroupMe is an app you can download to your smartphone, visit on the web, and even search if you want. The forums are our long-term memory, these chats are a running dialogue with the rest of the Team
GroupMe
· EN Live 24/7 [Join Here]
· Run Group [Join Here]
· Zwift Chat [Join Here]
· Events [Join Here]
· Race Groups [Join Here]
Forums
You have complete access to the entire Team, Coach Lesson Videos, Race Execution Guidance and tons of race reports to help you learn more about training and racing.
SignIn
https://endurancenation.vanillacommunities.com/categories
Learn More about your Outseason Plan
SignIn
http://members.endurancenation.us/TrainingPlan/TrainingPlanCentralPage.aspx#full
#5 Customize your workouts in Final Surge
You will eventually do run and bike tests. You don't have to do them right away. But, in the next few weeks we'll schedule one when you feel ready. Then we will use your average heart rate during the test to set you customized workout zones. Once you customize them, the workouts will say 20' @ (135-145 heart rate) vs. 20' @ Zone 2.
Here is how you update your training plan with integrated and customized zones (there is a video here too):
https://www.endurancenation.us/help/final-surge-how-to-update-your-integrated-training-zones/
My goal is to make your first month of Endurance Nation as simple and as awesome as possible! I want to help you get the most out of your workouts, Final Surge, learn more about race execution and how the team can help you get to your race goals.
Talk with you soon,
Matt, Training Plan Coordinator
Hi Coach Patrick and Matt, I so appreciate you both getting in touch and sending all this useful information to me. I have just figured out how to find the forum so now that I am here, I will read through carefully and answer the coach questions. Thanks again and have a good weekend, Nicole.
Thank you for the detailed information about the recommended plans and dates to begin each, that is very helpful. To answer your questions:
Thanks for sharing your goals and getting after it with the homework
already!👊
I love your definition of success and your thoughts on what a "good" run
is. That is we exactly what we look for. Setting up the good run starts
with pacing and fueling on the bike. We have some detailed race execution
guidance that can help.
You bring up a great point about the mental impact of social media.
😀Somehow my Strava feed that is fun to check out while training becomes
this warped unproductive thing the closer we get to racing.😂 I love that
you have the self awareness about this. It is a bigger problem than most
realize. We probably should talk about more and strategies to deal with it.
We talk about our 4 keys to race execution and one of those is to race
inside your box. With your box being everything you can control. We could
extend the idea of using the box leading up to the race, stuff like social
media that was positive early in training becomes a temporary distraction
We could add social media to the box and disconnect or manage our own
social media leading into a race. Great point!
We can definitely help you with developing an effective bike. I think you
will like the structure and the progression of the bike work Coach Patrick
has laid out. Developing the fitness and learning what you are missing in
bike execution will be the key to unlocking your run.
Thanks for all the homework. You are going to fit right it! I can't wait.
Talk to you soon.
That sounds great Matt, thank you so much! I am looking forward to the bike structure and of course to trying some different things in terms of race execution. I am a coach myself so I am trying to follow the advice I give my athletes:). I have had the help of coaches in the past but honestly have never found a good fit for myself. I have been self-coached for the past 1-2 years and have really enjoyed the freedom to adjust my plan as needed, when needed. What I have been missing is the structure to my workouts and the experienced ear to listen when I run into a challenge. I look forward to having yours and Patrick's support and expertise for the next phase of my triathlon life.
I did get a message from Brenda Ross to schedule a call for next week. Should I schedule this call with you instead? I am not sure if Brenda's call is for a different purpose.
Thanks again Matt,
Nicole
@Nicole Adams
Thanks for the note. It will be fun to work with you.
You can do both! 😀 Brenda will walk you through the resources on the site (i.e. how the forums work, where the coach lessons are, the race execution best practices, how to connect with the rest of the team). I will talk you through the workouts, any new terminology, format and plan structure, and Final Surge. Some athletes are not as comfortable moving workouts to fit their schedule or modifying day's work - so I work with them to sort through that.
If you are short on time, I would prioritize your call with Brenda. She can really help you get comfortable with the layout of EN site. It will definitely shorten your learning curve. You seem comfortable with most of the self-coaching aspects, so we can talk anytime or chat here. Your call. I'm happy to help.
Sounds great Matt, thanks for the clarification! I’d love to chat with you as well so will schedule a call with you.
Thanks for being to responsive, I appreciate your time!
Have a great rest of the weekend,
Nicole
~ Coach P
Hi Coach P and Matt,
I just had my call with Brenda, she was super helpful and very enthusiastic, a great welcome!
I just wanted to chat about a few things here. Nothing majorly urgent but it would be nice to get your thoughts on this:
Regarding my surgery: it is schedule for Feb 5th but I am on a wait list for an earlier cancellation. Fortunately it is of a preventative nature and will hopefully ensure my long term health. I hope that I will be able to ride the bike 2 weeks after the surgery and run and swim at perhaps the 3 week mark. I will definitely communicate more about this as I know more. If something happens that my recovery isn't as quick, I am open to the possibility that I may have to skip Galveston but my hope is that I will be well enough to resume full training with enough time to be ready for the race.
A question for you re: strength training: Before I picked up triathlon, I did a lot of weight training. Once I started running and biking more, I found the weight training made me very sore and fatigued and my runs and bikes were not enjoyable. I stopped weight training and found I was able to run and bike more freely and with less leg fatigue. I have incurred several injuries over the years and am very aware of the possible links between muscle weakness/imbalances and incidence of injury. I was recently advised to begin a weight training program after I saw a chiropractor for a lower back strain. I had a few strength sessions with a trainer and my legs are utterly smashed. It really takes the fun out of training for me. I have been good about doing core/balance/pre-hab at home but the chiro felt I was not getting as much benefit as I would if I were lifting heavier weights. My challenge is that I don't ever seem to get used to the sore muscle/fatigued feeling that comes with weight training. In your opinion, is heavier strength training going to provide an advantage or is it better to focus on the core/balance/rehab exercises?
I'd love to get your advice on this, thank you so much,
Nicole
Hi, another question:
For my Saturday long ride, I have the following instructions:
"Choose Your Ability Level:
- Level 1 [TSS: XXX, IF: XXX]: Warm up 20’ @ Zone 1 to Zone 2, then ride Zone 2, including 4’ of Zone 4 effort every 30 minutes for a total of 8 efforts.
- Level 2 [TSS: XXX, IF: XXX]: Roll right into Zone 2, including 5’ of Zone 4 effort every 30 minutes for a total of 8 efforts.
- Level 3 [TSS: XXX, IF: XXX]: Roll right into Zone 2, including 7’ of Zone 4 effort every 30 minutes for a total of 9 efforts."
What should the TSS and IF be for this ride?
Thanks!
Nicole
@Nicole Adams
Arrggh. We'll have correct that - the TSS score should be around 115-140 depending on the level.
Gotcha, thanks!
Thanks Matt!
I know we are Scheduled to talk at 4pm central, can we reschedule to Tuesday afternoon perhaps?
Thanks so much!
Nicole
Sure thing. Tues is totally open. Do any of these times work for you?
Awesome, thanks so much Matt!
@Nicole Adams
Nicole, Super fun to chat with you this afternoon. Thanks for the time. Here are some links that you might enjoy on race execution and developing some bike strength.
Race Execution:
Use the Table of Contents links at the top of the page to jump to that parts that interest you.
The 4 keys to race execution video is a good place to start. Patrick talks about
#1 Racing is Execution NOT fitness
#2 The Line - is where you start racing. For the IM, that is mile 18 of the marathon. All your decisions set up your ability to race when you get to that line. There is no such thing as a good bike split followed by a poor run. The bike sets up the run.
# 3 The Box - All day long you are going to race inside a box defined by what you can control. Ask yourself "What do I need to do right NOW to create the conditions for success at The Line?
# 4 One Thing - Before the race, you need to be able to answer the question: "Why am I doing this race?" During the course of your race day, expect your body to have a very convincing conversation with your mind: "This is really starting to get old and very painful. You need to give me a good reason to keep going forward. If you can't give me a good one, I'm gonna slow down."
While these may seem simple, the process of pacing, adapting to conditions, and managing fueling/hydration is more detailed in the text and in the video.
Here is the archive for IM Texas. It has race guidance, plans and reports:
Detailed Race Preparation and Planning resources (Impact of Heat on Pace calculator, Pacing with Power on the Bike, etc.)
Getting Stronger on the Bike - Understanding your Training Plan Structure
All of the Training Plans are explained here. The Half IM plan is about halfway down the page. 6' video and a few short paragraphs.
Talk to you again soon!
Matt
Hi Matt!
First, thank you so much for taking the time to visit on Tuesday. I apologize for my delay in getting back to you. Renovating a house is so time consuming, I wouldn't recommend it;)!!
I so appreciate you getting those links to me, I look forward to exploring the information. I can already see there are some very smart mantras in there that will help me in racing.
I look forward to touching base again after my bike test and will probably have more questions for you about the actual training at that point.
Thanks again, it was wonderful to meet you via phone!
Nicole
@Nicole Adams
Nicole,
Thanks for the note. It's always nice to talk training and even more fun to talk racing!
I really curious to hear more about what you think. Good luck with the test (and the Renovations).
Go get 'em!
PS. I just realized you are about 12 weeks out from your Texas 70.3. Which makes it a perfect time to start doing your homework on race execution. I think this could play out really well. After you get a chance to look around - let me know what you are interested in.
Thanks Matt! Have a great weekend!
@Nicole Adams Just checking in! How is it going?