If Coach P Were Planning your 2011 Season...
With the end of the 2010 season upon us and the OutSeason looming, there's a lot of questions about how to proceed with planning out a full year inside EN. People are picking events and signing up online, but it's hard to connect the dots across multiple races in such a way as to make your most important event also be your best. While there's no one right way, I'll walk you through a couple iterations on how you can think about your 2011 season.
Fast Then Far; Really
First things first, everything kicks off with a quality OutSeason. In other words, before you start playing the "start with the A race and just work backwards" game, STOP! You are way smarter than that; as an EN member you know we only "need" 12 weeks to get your IM or HIM race-worthy, and that the OS trumps all else.
The OutSeason, or OS, is where we do the really hard work of raising your threshold power (bike) and pace (run). Most folks see significant gains in the OS because we do a lot of hard work...and rest even more. If you want to have a breakthrough season next year, step one is preparing to execute across the entire OutSeason (don't let us catch you thinking about your A race if it's more than 6 months away!!!).
If you are racing in May/June/July, you should plan on an October start. If you are racing in August or later, you have two options:
Closing Out the OS
There are two things that should be on you mind as you look at the end of your OS: racing and resting. Both are equally critical and here's why:
Reverse Planning from A Race
Now it's time for the rest of your year...yeah, the part with the racing.
With your OS safely built into your year, we can now begin the process of thinking about your actual race fitness.
Most EN folks are training for a half or a full Ironman, and as such this document will assume that's the case for you as well. If you have some other unique event, then please head over to the forums for more advice.
Early Season May / June / July Race Options
The earliest possible exit date from the Oct OS start is February 28 or March 7. Do the math on the distance between your A race and either one of these dates and you'll know exactly what your preparation window looks like.
Ideally you will a minimum of 12 weeks to your A race, as this is the Race Prep cycle of how we train inside EN. If you have more than 12 weeks, which is possible, then you have some choices to make:
August or Later Race Options
There are two distinct flavors here. You are either doing an early season Half as a means of staying sane and building fitness or you are waiting it out until later in the year to really get your training done.
Early Season Racers: You should follow the guidance as listed above. Once you have completed the event, you'll want to plan on a mid-season training break. This break doesn't mean you don't do any work, just that you shouldn't be following a rigid training plan. You can still ride or run or swim, but ideally you'll pick (or make) some fun or epic events that help you stay fit without really requiring any serious training. For an Ironman athlete, a Summer Century ride is very appropriate; a 50 mile ultra-run is not.
Late Season Racers: Those of you whose "A" event happens in August or later, will want to delay the start of the OutSeason until January 3rd. This will put your OS end date as 5/22, and after two weeks of recovery, your Exit Date as June 5th. This makes the official start of your season June 6th.
With 6/6 in mind, we can begin doing the math on your preparation window based on the date of your A race. In terms of key dates, know that:
Fast Then Far; Really
First things first, everything kicks off with a quality OutSeason. In other words, before you start playing the "start with the A race and just work backwards" game, STOP! You are way smarter than that; as an EN member you know we only "need" 12 weeks to get your IM or HIM race-worthy, and that the OS trumps all else.
The OutSeason, or OS, is where we do the really hard work of raising your threshold power (bike) and pace (run). Most folks see significant gains in the OS because we do a lot of hard work...and rest even more. If you want to have a breakthrough season next year, step one is preparing to execute across the entire OutSeason (don't let us catch you thinking about your A race if it's more than 6 months away!!!).
If you are racing in May/June/July, you should plan on an October start. If you are racing in August or later, you have two options:
- The Split-Season Approach: Start with the early OS groups and pick an early Season Half as a prelminary A race before your later season big race (aka the ); or...
- The Delayed Pain-ification Approach: Do some cool fun stuff at the end of your season to fill up these last couple months of training without getting too serious. Maybe a fall half marathon or some similar event. Then after a short break you can start the OS in December or even January. (Hint: After October, January is the biggest OS group every year).
Closing Out the OS
There are two things that should be on you mind as you look at the end of your OS: racing and resting. Both are equally critical and here's why:
- Racing A Half Marathon: With a 20 week build of 5k fitness, and some slightly longer runs over the last 6 weeks of the OS plan, you are more than fit enough to do a half marathon. In fact, I think it's pretty critical to have some kind of event towards the end of your OS cycle so as to keep you motivated and heading down to the pain cave on a regular basis. This is also a great way for you to calibrate your vDOT from all the 5k testing by connecting it to a longer event.
- Resting for One to Two Weeks: Recovering from the mental and physical load of the OutSeason is super critical. So many folks get pumped up on performance and skip right to racing and/or training for longer events. Assuming you can do this, you'll be pretty darn beat by the middle or end of your season -- just when you need to be peaking. Learning how to rest and recover is a skill that needs to be developed and honed, just like anything else we do. Start working on this sooner rather than later, as this is when it matters the most.
- How To Choose Between One or Two Weeks of Rest?
- One Week: If you have an early season race of A-level importance that is 12 weeks or less away.
- Two Weeks: If your early season race is longer than 12 weeks away by the end of the rest period) or if your A race is later in the year.
- How To Choose Between One or Two Weeks of Rest?
Quick Math Review:
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Reverse Planning from A Race
Now it's time for the rest of your year...yeah, the part with the racing.
With your OS safely built into your year, we can now begin the process of thinking about your actual race fitness.Most EN folks are training for a half or a full Ironman, and as such this document will assume that's the case for you as well. If you have some other unique event, then please head over to the forums for more advice.
Early Season May / June / July Race Options
The earliest possible exit date from the Oct OS start is February 28 or March 7. Do the math on the distance between your A race and either one of these dates and you'll know exactly what your preparation window looks like.
Ideally you will a minimum of 12 weeks to your A race, as this is the Race Prep cycle of how we train inside EN. If you have more than 12 weeks, which is possible, then you have some choices to make:
- Beginners -- I would suggest you drop in a 20-week plan to your IM or HIM and get guidance from the coaches on how to integrate via the Macro Level thread. The more time you can spend prepping for the final 12 weeks of volumne, the better.
- Intermediate -- Up to you to decide whether you want to go beginner route above or if you want to implement the Basic Month as a means of staying fit with minimal plan before the final 12 weeks begins.
- Advanced -- You only need the final 12 weeks to be ready, so drop in the Basic Month and plan on inserting a Big Bike Week of training (see Wiki) to build up some solid fitness before your race build begins.
August or Later Race Options
There are two distinct flavors here. You are either doing an early season Half as a means of staying sane and building fitness or you are waiting it out until later in the year to really get your training done.
Early Season Racers: You should follow the guidance as listed above. Once you have completed the event, you'll want to plan on a mid-season training break. This break doesn't mean you don't do any work, just that you shouldn't be following a rigid training plan. You can still ride or run or swim, but ideally you'll pick (or make) some fun or epic events that help you stay fit without really requiring any serious training. For an Ironman athlete, a Summer Century ride is very appropriate; a 50 mile ultra-run is not.
Late Season Racers: Those of you whose "A" event happens in August or later, will want to delay the start of the OutSeason until January 3rd. This will put your OS end date as 5/22, and after two weeks of recovery, your Exit Date as June 5th. This makes the official start of your season June 6th.
With 6/6 in mind, we can begin doing the math on your preparation window based on the date of your A race. In terms of key dates, know that:
- 12 weeks is August 27/28
- 20 weeks is October 16th
Thanks to the later season race date, almost everyone will be able to get in the full 20-week cycle of training (I am thinking IMFL, IMAZ, IMCOZ). But even if you are racing at the end of August, you will still have plenty of time to get fit. And let's not forget you can still start earlier to afford yourself more time to build your fitness; that's totally up to you!
- Option 1: Straight to Race -- Insert the 20 week plan into your training cycle. If you need more time than 20 weeks, I suggest you would suggest you drop in a Basic Month plan to get the endurance juices flowing, then transition to the full 20-week plan when ready.
- Option 2: "B" then "A" Race: -- Some of you will want to have some kind of test before you race. In this case an August or September 70.3 event is perfect. This gives you the option of either:
- Training for the "B" Race as a 12 week cycle (or slightly modified), and then transitioning to a full "A" build up over the remaining 8 to 12 weeks.
- Training for the "A" Race and simply inserting the "B" race using the Season Planning Toolkit.
Random Notes & Highlights
- A Full OS cycle trumps a 20-week race build up every time.
- 12 weeks is the ideal build time to prepare for an "A" race.
- Late season races:
- Are great for newbies b/c you have a year to get in your training, no compressed schedules;
- Allow you to split your year or delay your start.
- Early season events:
- Tend to favor veterans as they need less time to get their fitness up to speed and everything else dialed in.
- Require you to start OS in October and compress the training cycle.
Other Permutations & Final Thoughts
Please note that there are a million and one other things that I didn't include in this doc. Such as how to shorten the OS or how to insert a fall marathon or how to deal with a summer leave of absence from your job as video store clerk. Ultimately that's what the forums are for, and I look forward to helping you sort all that out online over there!
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Comments
Adam
Adam,
See this wiki post that I added at about the same time that Patrick wrote this peice.
"We strongly recommend that you do not end your season and then drop right into our OS plan. You'll want 2-4 or more weeks to decompress, pretend you're a normal person, etc before you committ to making yourself much faster. "
I sometimes need help doing this
Steve - I have NO DOUBT you will be under 12 hours at IM CDA next June. IM WI in 05 was hot (remember?), and all our times were slow. I think you'll find, come next spring, based on your training over the winter, you will be looking at a much faster goal.
The best place to get season planning help is to post your question directly to the Coaches over in the Macro thread. They'll give you an answer by Monday, if not sooner.
Before you query the coaches, make sure you check out this article in the wiki; they like it if you have a basic outline in mind based on their spreadsheet calendar.
I look forward to training for CDA next year alongside (virtually) you.
Thanks Al for your help and encouragement. Like wise will look forward to training alongside you as well.
Here are my plans: Chicago Marathon 10-10-10, Valpo Half Marathon 11-13-20, possibly HUFF 50K trail run 12-13-2010, Muncie 7-2011, Steelhead 8-14-2011, IMFL 11-5-2011. Should I start OS in Jan.? Then what?Here are my plans: Chicago Marathon 10-10-10, Valpo Half Marathon 11-13-20, possibly HUFF 50K trail run 12-13-2010, Muncie 7-2011, Steelhead 8-14-2011, IMFL 11-5-2011. Should I start OS in Jan.? Then what?
based on the op, i gotz a question...
my 'A' race is in the Fall and not sure which one. Maybe Hawaii if (odds unlikely) lottery hits. Maybe Silverman if $ is good. Maybe B2B cuz its more convenient. So, hard to plan backwards from a phantom A race. I'm guessing that I need to take this one phase at a time? let you guys steer me into plans and when to start them? I'm starting OS in Nov to prep for a strong Spring....Nail Brasstown Bald, PR at a big oly in Chattanooga, and, basically, drop some training buds! After reading some more here, might consider the local 1/2mary at March's end.
Then, it looks like a transition phase until the race plan. I've haven't really discovered what a transition phase is. And, as I said above, I guess I'll know when I'll be starting the race plan by Feb at the latest. Lottery will be done and I will have to commit to Silverman on B2B by then.
One more, sidenote... HARD intervals on the bike, no prob. I'll give you guys everything I got. For the run, speedwork scares the shitake out of me. I seem to consistently tweak a hammy or calf when I try to go 'fast'. I've started using MP -2min as my speedwork (that correlates to about an 8min/mile for speedwork, quit laughing, will ya?). I anticipate that ain't fast enough for the haus.