Karim Mohamed Official Coach Thread [TeamEN]
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
- Ironman Lake Placid (2020-07-26) #IMLP_20
Your Notes
been racing for about 6 years, did number of 70.3 and olympic distance races.
took a year off and now coming back into it.
I currently try to keep a 4/5 days a week activity schedule per month. on a good month i average 60 miles running.
I just got back to cycling so i try to ride at least twice a week ( about 25-30 miles ride)
I also do HIIT training after my runs.
finally; I also do Aikdio at least once a 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 September 4, 2019
- On 9/2/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 9/29/2019
- On 9/30/2019 Load the -- Run Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 10/27/2019
- ** Note the plans below are pending as there will be a new OutSeason® Plan by 10/28 **
- On 10/28/2019 Load the -- OutSeason for Triathletes (Bike Focus) Plan, 14wks to end on 2/2/2020
- On 2/3/2020 Load the Swim Camp to end on 2/16/2020
- On 2/17/2020 Load the Bike Focus Block, 2019 (6wks) to end on 3/29/2020
- On 3/30/2020 Load the Full Prep Block (4 wks) to end on 04/26/20
- On 04/27/20 EN*Full Bike Focused (12wks) to end on 7/28/2020
- On 7/29/2020 Load the Post Ironman Transition Plan, All Levels (4wks) to end on 8/25/2020
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!
- Insider Tip: Run Durability GroupMe Is you go to resource to stay accountable and connect with the Team (Run Group on GroupMe); if you need info on how to use GroupMe, you can find that here.
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
Hi. yeah this link definitely worked :)
placid was OK! didn't do lots of volumes but did some river road repeats and Wilmington to placid ride to have a feel of the 3 bears etc..
felt very good and not challenged at all
I could definitely use some help navigating the site, plan, etc... so please connect me with Matt as i'm a little bit overwhelmed :)
yes of course I would add races between now and prior to placid as you suggest/recommend.
few races in mind; GFNY 100 miles in May
IM Connecticut (formally quassy) good tune up before placid first weekend of June
PS: I'm going to continue my regular daily routine workouts till I'm on track then will start following the plan on my profile calendar.
thank you again
@karim mohamed that’s perfect. I’m glad you got a sense of the town and did the nice loop. Hopefully you had some good weather as well. I am sure that @matt limbert will be in touch ASAP.
The first order of business is to make sure you can see the plan and you are syncing your workouts then we can add in your “Custom“ Workouts from your current schedule so we can see how best to modify the schedule to fit your current lifestyle. 👍
~ Coach P
yeah weather was great! started raining only Monday when we were wrapping it back to the city.
i have done the placid 70.3 2 years ago with very little training and that was the nail in the coffin. wasn't a pleasant experience at all and it was one of the reasons i took time off.
looking forward to meeting @matt limbert .
good night and thank you again.
Karim,
Welcome to Endurance Nation! Congratulations on setting a new goal to take on IM LP and chosing Endurance Nation to help you get there!
I'm Matt and I'm here to help make your first 30 days as easy and awesome as possible!
I'll help you get up to speed with your plan, your basic schedule, workout terminology, and all of our resources. I'll send some links to articles, forums or coach videos that apply to your training. I encourage you to look around and let me know what you are interested in. There are ton of videos, coach lessons and forums that are available to you now. I'll show you around a bit and then turn you loose. Get smarter to get faster.
Chat with me here in your Coach Thread or schedule a call here: https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1
Here are some easy steps to get the most out of your training plan, Coach Thread, EN learning library and Final Surge. Again, Power user tip! Subscribe to this 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 and it helps to keep the communication moving. Click on the red star and check box just to the right of your thread title. This way you will get an email when we respond in your Coach thread. See video here to set it up:
Next, get 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.) Just chose one, otherwise you will get double workouts recorded in Final Surge.
This will help us document your other workouts and understand how best incorporate them. It will also help you track your progress.
In Final Surge: Workouts -> Garmin / Device Upload
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.
It's super easy to make comments about your workout. 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.
Final Surge | Mobile Apps
https://www.finalsurge.com/apps
You can also setup Final Surge to send you emails with your workouts every day.
We have you getting started with the Run Durability program. This is the best way to slowly increase your run volume needed for racing the Ironman distance. A good place to start is learning the "how" and the "why" behind the program. Coach Patrick has put together a couple of video explaining just that here:
(Scroll 3/4 of the way down the page - "Run Durability for Triathletes") - check out the videos there.
Chat with you here or talk with you soon.
Matt, Training Plan Coordinator
Hi Matt.
I know we have a 6PM call today. I managed to finish work early today so i'm pretty much available anytime from now till 6. feel free to call me earlier if your time allows.
thanks
Karim
Karim,
It was fun to talk with you. here is how to link your Neo Tacx to Strava.
Connect the Tacx Training App to Strava to sync activities:
If this works - you can connect your Garmin to Strava too. This will help you automatically push all of your bike and run data to Strava. Then connect your Strava to Final Surge. Then you won't have to wear two heart rate monitors - unless you want to - and all of your workout data will be in Final Surge.
Here are some links and resources that are part of TeamEN, you get access to them as part of your first 30 days - so you can see what is available.
Daily Nutrition webinar here:
https://www.screencast.com/t/tKL7FyF6CR8x
Fueling recommendations here:
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Race+Fueling+Webinar+(Jesse+Kropelnicki)
More details on daily nutrition and fueling here:
Reminders:
-Add additional strength workouts & Aikido into your Final Surge log - so you can see the total load that you are putting on your body.
-Add short comments to your workouts with the App - so you can make notes on what worked for you, how you felt, aches etc. Numbers from Garmin, Neo and Strava are great but they only tell HALF the story - the other half is how you felt. Combined they tell the complete story of your workload and how your body is responding - easy to find trends and set goals for next time.
Additional notes:
Endurance Nation athletes are typically busy and most are small business owners. So, one other thing that I think should be stressed - is stress. Between work, family, and training...maybe there should be a LSS - for Life Stress Score. In practice, if work and/or family cause a missed workout, we need to mentally shift gears and call that a free recovery day that we've banked, and not see it as a loss. And it's DEATH if we then try to make it up by doubling up workouts the next day. Consistency is king! If we can't get the entire workout in then use this for triage:
1. Cut the Interval Length but Keep the Total Amount of Intensity. IOW if 2 x 15' on the bike isn't working for you, can you do 3x10 with more rest or 4x7.5, etc. Still 30' just getting after it in a different way.
2. Do the Time but Drop the Intensity. If #1 doesn't work, then get in your 2x15' at .9 or .85 instead.
3. Do the Time Only. If #2 doesn't work, then just get your 45-60 minutes done.
If You have Zero Motivation and #3 is Wicked Unappealing, Do Nothing. Stretch, core, etc is okay but take the day. Better to save now than pay later.
If you go to the Zero Motivation Option: you'll want to check in on your quality of sleep, nutrition, wellness to make sure this isn't a bigger issue.
Chat me up here or talk to you again soon.
~Matt
hi.
i linked my tac to strava and the syncing worked perfectly but it's not syncing with final surge, i did make sure that i linked my strava with FS, not sure what is wrong
I had to upload it manually btw
Karim, I think it worked. Your Saturday ride is loaded twice. This post has pictures, which may not show up on your mobile - FYI. But, I can see both the manual and Strava data in your Final Surge. Check out final surge and this post when you get a chance. Nice job.
It might just take a few minutes to go from Tacx - to Strava - to Final Surge.
Keep your Final Surge connected to Strava and let's see how the upload for your next bike workout goes.
Here is the screen capture from Final Surge with the double upload of Saturday's ride.
The "Green" workout is the manual upload, but if you click on the "Grey" workout - it is the same workout data. Below is the screen capture of the "Grey" workout. In the Workout Details - it says "view on Strava" and that typically indicates that the data uploaded from Strava.
Earlier in the week you uploaded from Garmin - and it looked like this.
it took a while to show. but now i know not to upload manually.
i will head out soon for my long run and won't upload anything and will see.
thank you again
@Coach Patrick thank you checking on me the other day.
slowly but surely following the plan.
on another note; the Juice performer Discount code (ENJUICE1) is not valid when I tried to check out on Amazon
please let me know if you have a new one. I LOOOVE BEET.
thank you :)
Hi Coach.
I got my premium membership with best bike split (thank you for the 30% discount) and I wanted to know who should I add to my coach profile? you or @matt limbert and what email should I be using.
thank you
Karim, I don't have a Coach account but, I can help you get the most out of your your account. I have used Best Bike split to plan for some of my races.
awesome... thank you!
in your race setup and position. Do this a couple of times. Upload the data
and weather. The software with calculate your unique drag and rolling
coefficients. That will provide you more accurate estimates. You will need
power data to give you the best estimate.
Karim, Nice work and consistency this week. We expect your legs will come around as you adapt. The day off tomorrow will help too! 😀 We can check in next Sunday (at least) and see how you are progressing. Learn anything this week?
thanks for the follow up.
yeah I think I over did the squats and lungs that's why i suffered the days to follow..
also; this coming weekend I'm gonna have a quick super sprint that I will be doing and i'm not sure how Im gonna incorporate my workout but I will definitely do my best.
I guess you can say I learned not to over do my squats and also learned something interesting from (best bike split) if I lose 20 pounds I can shave off about 7 minutes from my desired bike split in placid ..LOL
Karim, Those are great learning points. Losing some weight certainly helps, better execution, a bit more strength, appropriate gearing, hydration and fueling - you can find a few of those minutes across the board. You can replace the sprint race with the workout. I look forward to hearing about it next week!
Karim, How was the Sprint?
BTW. I love your consistency and use of the notes BTW.
@karim mohamed
Sprint was great!
came 3rd in my Age group (out of 15) and 38 over all out of 133.
i'm satisfied with the results especially the swim since I have been to the pool only that one time this week in nearly 2 years. AND no wetsuit.
my moto is: without consistency you will never finish!
so i have my little vision board and I check off the days every time I finish my work out and to keep track;)
thank you for following up and i'm looking forward to an epic season with endurance nation, you and @Coach Patrick
Congratulations! We're stoked for you! Keep posting the pictures. Love it.
@karim mohamed Good to see you are feeling good on the runs and recovering well, almost finished with your first Run Durability block. Nice work.
thank you.
it has been challenging this week and it will stay that way for 3 more weeks but I always find a way to get it done.
bring it on ;)
oh! I just signed up for IM70.3 Connecticut.
I will update my race calendar .. soon 🙄
Hey Karim, I saw your chat with Brenda. In a few days, Brenda will make a .pdf of this Coach Thread and send it to you.
Look for a note from me in Final Surge. Use the message thingy in Final Surge if you need to get a hold of me. I would love to help.
Here is something to keep in mind as your Season plays out.....Coach Patrick made a video to talk about what the differences are between the levels and which one makes sense for you and when. If some of the aspects of TeamEN appeal to you - but just not right now - you can always dive into the learning and community of TeamEN when or if you want to in the future.
We can chat about it here or give me a call https://calendly.com/new-member-phone-call/1
for now I will be on Plan EN and will definitely upgrade if i feel i need to.
i'm more of self sufficient and I tend to work on my own #lonewolf ;)
#lonewolf - nice! PlanEN sounds perfect for you. Keep TeamEN mind in the spring when you start your IM bike work and IM specific training - you may want consider looking at our race execution lessons, so you can learn and apply them in the longer training sessions and race rehearsals built into your plan. We can chat anytime. Go get 'em.
gm.
I was wondering; the workout load the past 2 weeks seemed to me a little bit less than normal. I was even able to combine them and have 2 days off ...
also today seems the last day on my calendar, I don't have any workouts going forward.
please advice
thanks