John Jacobs Official Coach Thread [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
Your Races
- Your Top Event / Race for the Season is: Ironman Wales 2021 ( september 12th )
- Your Second Event / Race for the Season is: Outlaw Half Holkham 2021 (70.3) ( July 4th )
- Your Third Event / Race for the Season is: Mammouth Marathon 2021 ( marathon distance run ) (May 16th )
Your Notes
10 years training/racing triathlon. 7 ironman races 2 very tough courses including triathlon x, p.b was at challenge Roth 2019 9hrs 42mins. Have also raced many 70.3 races(p.b 4:24) olympic distance (p.b 2:08) a few marathons (p.b 3:05) and a couple of ultra marathons. I am a fulltime firefighter and my wife is an emt we have 2 children so i fit/juggle training in around shifts/family etc. I try to get my longer sessions in on weekdays when i am on rest days and my wife is at work/children at school obviously depending on where my shifts fall this does not always happen! Also have a half marathon run race April 11th 2021, i usually also enter a few cycling time trials and run races with friends as training events/fun.
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 21, 2020
- On 9/21/2020 Load the -- Durability for Triathletes 1 (9 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 10/18/2020 27 [ 4 weeks ]
- On 10/19/2020 Load the -- Durability for Triathletes 2 (8 months out) -- 4 weeks to end on 11/15/2020 27 [ 4 weeks ]
- **Transition Early**
- On 11/2/2020 Load the -- OutSeason (Bike Focus) Plan, 14wks to end on 2/7/2021 97 [ 14 weeks ]
- On 2/8/2021 Load the Swim Camp to end on 2/21/2021 13 [ 2 weeks ]
- On 2/22/2021 Load the -- Marathon [Balanced], 16 Weeks to end on 5/16/2021 83 [ 12 weeks ]
- On 5/17/2021 Load the EN Half Minimalist, 12wks to end on 7/4/2021 48 [ 7 weeks ]
- On 7/5/2021 Load the -- EN Full Minimalist, 12wks to end on 9/12/2021 69 [ 10 weeks ]
- On 9/13/2021 Load the -- Post Ironman Transition Plan, All Levels (4wks) to end on 10/10/2021 27 [ 4 weeks ]
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?
** The Athlete Roadmap Videos & Start Learning **
Join Coach Patrick for a walkthrough of the Endurance Nation Athlete experience to learn more about how our system works to help you achieve your personal best. You'll want to watch the Phase One Structure videos -- there are four -- to get completely up to speed!
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
@john jacobs Super cool have you with us. 😀 I see that you are already posting workouts Nice work. You are already crushing it. 👊
Check out your Fina Surge calendar. Your workouts and training blocks are all in there. You can move the workouts around to fit your schedule.
Our short term goals are:
Let's get after it! 👊
If any questions you have getting started - schedule a call with me here. If these times don't work for you in the UK (I am 8 hours behind you, we could do something in your evening, that should work) Let me know and we will work something out.
Talk you you soon,
Matt
------------------
Things to do:
#1 Subscribe to your Coach Thread.
Subscribe to your Coach Thread and get an email notification and response option. It will all get posted here for your reference.
How to subscribe screen capture:
#2 Respond below
Post a comment below or give me an 😀, 👍️ or a short GTG. Let me know you are subscribed and will respond back via email. Let's test it out!
#3 How to use your Coach Thread
This is totally up to you. You can post a lot or very little. You post. We answer. We find it is helpful for you and us, if you post a weekly update once you get started. Pick a day. Any day that works for you. Many athletes pick Sunday to summarize the week. Others pick Friday to end the work week and get ready for the weekend. Choose something works for you. Comment on how you felt this week, what went well, and what you want to work on for next week. Its good accountability and helps you keep you on track for your goals. After a couple of posts, you can decide on what the level of interaction works best for you!
#4 Consider downloading the Final Surge App
We definitely want to see those hours, miles, watts and heart beats - but we also want to know how you felt, mood, energy level, how mentally/physically easy or hard the workout was for you. The workout isn’t over until you make some notes. And the app makes this way easier.
Data + notes = complete story. Workout data is only only half the picture. Your comments provide the other half. You could be crushing all the workouts but feel terrible or feeling great. Work, family, sleep can all be factors in how you are training. So, how you felt is just as important as posting the workout.
To make comments, select the activity and click on the "pencil" icon to tap "how I felt" or "perceived effort." Just a quick note goes a long way.
Download Final Surge | Mobile Apps Here
#5 Quick Start Guide
Here is the reference guide on how to read the workouts, abbreviations and lingo.
#6 Customize your workouts in Final Surge
You can wait on this one. But remember it is an option. You will eventually do bike and run test. We will use your average power (or heart rate) for a 20' time trial to set you customized workout zones. Once you customize them, the workouts will say 20' @ (135-145 heart rate) or 20' @(100- 110 Watts) vs. 20' @ Zone 2. We can do the same thing for the run. Once you do a 5k race we can use your average pace or heart rate to establish run zones too!
Here is a video on how you update your training plan with integrated and customized zones.
#7 Connect with the rest of the team
We have swim, Zwift, run, and ultra groups. This is a private, invitation only community. Only Endurance Nation members and only talking training, racing, or gear. No other noise. We would love to have your you. Here is your invite.
#8 See the big picture and explore ways to get smarter
See the big picture. Join Coach Patrick for a walkthrough of the Endurance Nation Athlete experience to learn more about how our system works to help you achieve your personal best. You'll want to watch the Phase One Structure videos -- there are four -- to get completely up to speed!
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.
Explore the Forums
All these topics are covered in our forums: 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.
Search our Race Forum for race plans and race reports. Learn from the shared experience of the entire Team
Read the General Training Discussions and get training tips and execution advice from other TeamEN veterans.
Learn how to race like veteran. Dial in your race execution using EN race guidance
#9 Smart Trainer Integration
If you want to join us on Zwift here is how. We have big group of athletes that ride together and use a voice app to talk - just like like a big group ride. Logon on and join a group ride. Use the Group Me Zwift Chat to stay up to date on when we are riding.
We have workouts already built for Zwift and Trainer Road for the OutSeason, HIM and IM plans. Scroll down. Find your plan - link to the pre-built workouts are on the right
If you have a smart trainer and a Zwift or Trainer Road account, download the workouts for Zwift to your computer or login to Trainer Road library.
For Zwift: Unzip the workouts into Documents -> Zwift -> Workouts -> "rider number" folder on the device you use to stream Zwift. My "rider number" is 126713. It will be the only numbered folder under workouts.
For Trainer Road: Use this like to request access to the EN workout library. Request access by sending a message "Request Invite to Trainer Road" to ppisaj2s@inbound.intercom-mail.com
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.
#10 Whew. You made it.
You don't have to do it all a once but, we would love it if you responded below. I'm here talk you through all of the above. I would love to hear from you.
Matt
EN Training Plan Coordinator
Hi
Thank you very much for taking me on I appreciate it so much. Sorry i have been quiet/not replied I haven't been able to access this until now. I have been using final surge and been moving the workouts around to days that suit my work shifts ( 2days then 2nights then 4 days off ). I've now bookmarked this and started reading the guides/info on the different plans, it all looks really good ,seems to really suit me and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it . As far as season goals go I have sat down with my wife/family and have decided to attempt to qualify for Kona at IM Wales! Looking at the last 5years of results in my age group I'll need to go sub 10:30. I did 9:42 at Roth last year 1:01/4:59/3:36 but wales is tougher/slower course! I love the fact that the plan workouts are zwift compatible and i will be downloading them/using on zwift. Equipment wise i have tt/triathlon bike, gravel bike for commuting/winter training both bikes have a power meter. I have a wahoo Kickr and treadmill at home also a treadmill and gym/weights at work, i use a garmin 735xt for running and swimming. One thing i noticed is the outseason plan has no swimming, i am a member of a pool/health club (25m indoor 20m outdoor pool) which is only 10mins from home. I swim with my friend and pro athlete Joe Skipper regularly and would like to keep this up year round ? We also ride and run together occasionally, although unless its an easy session we have to handicap it or he does a lot of turning around/back ! 😂
Cheers John
@john jacobs Great to hear from you. Glad we got it sorted out. Thanks for the update. Its good to see and hear that you are moving the workouts around to fit your schedule. That is super key right now. We really want you to find a pattern that works for you. You have a challenging situation with the 2 days and nights on, and 4 days off. And who knows how it works out if you have lots of calls during your on. I love how you got your family on board. At the level you are competing at, it is a family / team sport!
You have all the tools to have a great season. Being able to train with guys like Joe Skipper is awesome. Swimming is fine, especially if it is easy for you. Generally speaking, we limit swimming during the outseason because we focus our time and energy into the bike. The logistics of swimming is time intensive for most folks and the return on investment is low for the time commitment. In your case, keep swimming if you want during your Durability blocks (until Nov 2). These blocks are focused on run frequency and consistency. The goal of the run durability block is to use frequency and consistency to strengthen your bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscle to handle the stress of running. We are making you injury proof, while building some fitness. After Nov 2, you will shift into a bike focus and we will keep the run in a maintenance mode as we shift into intensity on the bike. This is where you need to watch out for the additional fatigue from swimming. The OutSeason is where you will make your money on the bike and where we invest the most focus for the OutSeason.
My recommendation would be to swim until Nov 2, then be conservative with the swim and be mindful of the bike workouts and how you are feeling overall. If swimming starts to impact the bike workouts, dial back the intensity in swimming. Our focus, now, needs to be on consistency in run frequency and bike intensity when you start the OutSeason. We need to be great at being consistent and learning to read your body for signs of building fatigue (from work, family, training). You already have a good sense of that as a long time athlete and we want you to apply that experience with the construct of our plans. Give us an update once in a while. It will keep you honest and reflect on your training progression, plus we can give you some feedback as you move along.
Let us know what you think.
Hi Matt
That all makes perfect sense and sounds good to me ,thanks. So I'll continue to swim but make it the lowest priority and if something needs to give/a session needs to be dropped it will be the swim first and foremost. Likewise i generally commute to work by bike so I'll make sure these are an easy spin and if they get in the way/am tired I will drive ! I am already loving seeing what sessions i need to do and just cracking on and completing them without wondering if I'm doing the right thing/second guessing myself all the time. I think this will be really good for me having only been self coached in the past. Once again thanks very much.
Cheers John