Between Suggested Plan Ranges
Looking forward to playing for the next couple of weeks on your site....Thanks for the free look, it has been eye-opening already.
I am very interested in the "Out-season" plans because I have heard wonderful things about your product. I want to continue to increase my speed this out season but have a more than full-time job, 2 kids in high school, a wife, a social life, a couple of rental properties, etc. so time is very important in my life.
My issue is I am right in the middle of your suggestions between the Intermediate and Advanced out-seasons plans. My Sprint PR is 1:20:59, my Oly PR is 2:30:06 (really :06 seconds), my HIM PR is....well haven't done one for a couple of years but at least one, hopefully two are on the schedule for 2011.
My current logs have me averaging about 33 hours of training a month so far in 2010, so around 8 hours a week with one day completely off. This is my third year of solid training and my focus this season was being Competitive, not just completing.
Which plan has worked better with your athletes in the middle of your suggested ranges? Moving up a little or moving down?
I am very interested in the "Out-season" plans because I have heard wonderful things about your product. I want to continue to increase my speed this out season but have a more than full-time job, 2 kids in high school, a wife, a social life, a couple of rental properties, etc. so time is very important in my life.
My issue is I am right in the middle of your suggestions between the Intermediate and Advanced out-seasons plans. My Sprint PR is 1:20:59, my Oly PR is 2:30:06 (really :06 seconds), my HIM PR is....well haven't done one for a couple of years but at least one, hopefully two are on the schedule for 2011.
My current logs have me averaging about 33 hours of training a month so far in 2010, so around 8 hours a week with one day completely off. This is my third year of solid training and my focus this season was being Competitive, not just completing.
Which plan has worked better with your athletes in the middle of your suggested ranges? Moving up a little or moving down?
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Comments
here is a copy of that info
how to choose the right level plan
Overview
The skills, knowledge, and other resources communicated in these plans is the same across flavors. IOW, we don't speak to you slowly, draw in crayon, or put you in the corner because you are doing the Beginner plan. Our goal is to give everyone the same level of knowledge, Beginner to Advanced, 1x to 15x Ironman athlete, by the time they race.
The plan flavors are spread across the team as: 20% Adv, 70% Int, 10% Beg.
First, understand that we are your coaches. It's not like you're walking into a store, picking between one of two plans on the shelf with no exchange policy. We'll make the call on which flavor to put you in and, if we've made a mistake or you and us feel you need something different, we can make that switch.
Second, understand that the primary tool we use to manipulate your training load is intensity, not volume. Outside the Haus, coaches often just open up the Triathletes Training Bible or other similar speadsheet/percentages of annual hours driven tool and just...ramp up the volume. The primary difference from week to week is a gradual uptick of volume, often to a ludicrous level.
Or primary tool, however, is intensity. Your weekly prescribed hours in the OS plan are dead flat. They probably don't change at all or maybe by just a few minutes from week to week. Our IM and HIM plans are similar, with very little variation in volume from week to week, until we get closer to your race. The net is that's hard to convey the differences between the EN Int and Adv plan by talking in the terms you're used to hearing -- in hours.
Intermediate to Advanced
The differences are:
¦The "hardness" of the intervals in the Adv ramp up very quickly. You're basically raising your hand for the Varsity squad. We don't have to be particularly nice to you...cuz you're trying to red shirt the varsity. We don't worry about bruising your widdle head, scratching your belly, etc. So the dial on the intensity knob goes from a 6 to a 9 in about 4-6wks, let's say, but it levels out at a 9.
¦For the intermediate plan, we will also get you dialed up to a 9, but we'll take 8-10wks to get you there. The build up is more gradual.
¦The volume ramp up for the HIM and IM training plans is similar. Adv gets dialed up to your max volume more quickly...but don't worry about these plans yet, it's September and none of needs to be thinking about this stuff yet.
The net is that we recommend that if you're on the bubble between Int and Adv, work with us in the Int plan first. Take it for a spin and give it about 4 weeks.
Beginner to Intermediate
With the Beg OS I'd say that we turn the intensity dial up to about a...7.5-8, taking about 8wks to get there.
The HIM and IM Beginner plans are more like "coming off an injury, need a long ramp up for whatever reason," plans. They are not Beginner as in first Ironman.
When I started last year I was in the middle too. The Intermediate plan worked out perfect. If you've never done an OS with EN before, then you'll definitely start out thinking that "this isn't so hard" but it will definitely get hard and you will definitely see lots of improvements. So I'd recommend going with the INT plan if you haven't done the OS before.
@Matt, trial members don't yet have access to the wiki.
In general, we prefer people to go down a choice, not up, as you can always change/amend a plan to make it more challenging but we've seen people follow a too-hard plan into a wall. So, in your case, Beginner.
As a member, however, you can swap any plan you like into, out of your account as you like and can always ask us for advice on what is best for you.