TWO off season marathons does not sound like a great idea. I started to OS plan in November last year on tired legs and there is NO time to recover while committed the the plan. I got about 6 wks in before I hurt my calf requiring two months to recover. I did a Northface Endurance 50K and a late season 1/2 Mary. Even if you have a great base it is alot to ask. You'll likely sacrifice the quality of your workouts. Just my 2 cents
Thanks Jamison - I took a look at Patricks video and it makes a lot of sense. There are a couple more details about my situtation that somewhat mitigate the concerns. I'm coming off 2 years of no structured training and almost no racing (2 1/2 marathons, 2 5k's) as I was finishing grad school. Prior to that I was dong full IM training and my last race going into grad school was IM WI2009. So I've had a pretty long recovery period I started marathon training at the end of May, and have only run one sprint tri since the start. I've been doing bike rides and some swimming but no "work" except for tempo runs and mile repeats in preparation for the marathon. So I don't have a full season of training & racing in my legs. There are 6 weeks between the two marathons, then about 3-4 weeks before I would start the OS. While I had specific PR plans, I'm putting those aside and running for fun & experience.
Am a few days into my trial membership and I am totally engrossed in all of the info on the site! I have been a runner for over 30 yrs now and a veteran of 15 marathons plus a bazillion other races...but just finished my first season of Tris. 4 sprints, 1 HIM. LOVED IT! I am hooked. I came across your site and am very intrigued with this "new world" I have discovered. I love the EN philiosophy and team support concept. QUestion...I have a 1/2 marathon late Jan and my A race Oceanside 70.3 on March 31st. Hope to follow that up with 2 other HIMs in June and Aug and probably some sprints etc. When should I start the OS? Now? Oct 1? Oct 1st to Mar 31st (race day) is 26 weeks. How would you rec. I do this? Thanks! Getting excited!!
Hopefully when you read/watched our marathon stuff, you saw that's it more a function of opportunity cost: training and racing a marathon comes with a huge opportunity cost for triathletes, specifically, the work on the bike and run that makes you a faster runner and cyclist. Not saying that doing 1-2 marathons is a deal breaker, but it absolutely has implications and consequences for your performance as a triathlete later in the season.
Within EN, our members get much, much, much faster on the bike and run during the winter. That speed forms the foundation of their PR's next season. Marathon training and racing is largely at odds with _that_ method and usually has the accompanying consquences regarding triathlon performance next season.
Again, we are triathlon coaches training triathletes so that's the frame of reference we use to approach problems like this.
Thanks Rich! I spoke with Pat at length about this issue yesterday and I'm making adjustments to my race goals accordingly. I'm very glad that I was able to look at the videos and speak with Pat prior to race day! The goal now is to minimize the negative impact, adjust the OS as appropriate and still gain the big gains in preparation for the 2012 season.
Hi Patrick - I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but I got your e-mail about fast-tracking my account. I don't have a "Join Now" option on the "My Account" tab. The only options I have are "Profile", "Cancel Membership" and "Hold Membership" Is there something else I need to do?
I signed up for the 5 day trial about 3 days ago and I just want to know how things work. I've been reading lots but I'm wondering the best way to communicate with the coaches. I've been told it's a bit too early to get a plan as it is the end of the 2011 season, but with an early May 2012 HIM I am thinking I should start my OS in Oct. When my 5 days are up, and I decide to be part of the EN team, do I automatically get a plan? Maybe I am being a bit too keen (reading all about EN has me really excited!) but I like to know what lies ahead. Sorry if I have repeated questions that are already on the forum (or the site for that matter) but I'm super excited to get going!
First I'm not sure exactly how much access you have with a trial membership so my apologies if you can't access some of the stuff I reference.
The coaches monitor this thread but when you have issues with in a week (micro thread) or season questions (macro thread). These are two threads are in the forum go to the training tab - training forums - general training discussion - then there will be a micro and macro thread where you ask the coaches questions. Also find the appropriate forum and post to the groups to get feedback from others.
As for the plan once you sign up you can select you plan and change it at anytime. For the OS you will have beginner, intermediate and advanced OS plans to choose from and the same when you move in to you HIM plan.
As for more reading in the resources tab find the wiki and go there. click on the table of contents and look at the self coaching link and look at the season planning tool kit. This will give you a plan for your season at the macro level and something to take to the coaches for discussion in that thread. Further down is the OS stuff. Read through and feel free to ask questions.
The OS is great make sure you sign up for the Oct OS group once you get your membership set up. In the community tab- find groups and the 2012 Oct OS groups should be on the first page. These OS specific groups are great for motivation and excitement.
Question on no swimming in the OS... 2012 will be my third season and I've essentially taught myself to swim freestyle for real and worked down to around a 1:25/100 easy pace over these two years. Since I don't have a huge swimming background I'm concerned that I'll lose some of the technique that I've worked hard to develop, and I think I can squeeze another 10sec/100 out of me with some work. Can you incorporate one drills swim (maybe 2000m, mostly 100s?) in to the OS program to maintain? What would be the best time/day so that I don't jeopardize the real workouts since those are most important? Or, you can tell me that no swimming really works the best and to stop questioning and do as I'm told since that's why I'm here!! Thanks!!
Good question and I'm sure others are thinking the same . I assume you've read our "no swimming" guidance. Basically, our belief is it's about return on investment and our data across thousands of athletes is that on race day, athletes who've been swimming for months and months doesn't swim much faster, if at all, than the the typical EN athlete who holds off on making small training time investment much close to their race...but if you do decide to swim in the OS anyway, we have a .pdf you can download that includes our Swim Clinic eBook, 20wks of Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced swim workouts.
To answer your question, Monday and Friday, days off in the OS plan, would be the better days to swim if you wanted to.
That said, it would probably be best if you got the feedback from the rest of team. I highly recommend you post the General Discussion Forum something like "I'm new here and I think this whole no swimming for months and months thing is totally whack! Please give me your feedback!" Our athletes who've been with us for years will give you their candid opinions and experiences. This feedback is much more valuable than anything Patrick and I could tell you here.
Hi Brian - I'm just getting started with EN, and I was a bit surprised by the no-swim approach in the OS. RnP have a lot of experience and results to back up their plans, so I went back to my IM swim finishes and training log to see how much time I spent in the pool to get various results. Here is what I found
In 2005 I was swimming masters 2x week, around 9000/yards a week and 2.5 hours of in-water time each week. I was swimming with some VERY fast triathletes (a pro, a couple of multiple-Kona qualifiers). The workouts were tough, ended late in the evening and involved a 20 min drive each way to the pool. However these workouts brought my swimming back from a 25+ year "off season" (I swam competitive Age Group as a kid through high school). They also left me pretty tired!
In each subsequent year I spent less time with masters, and less time swimming overall. In 2009, I swam all workouts on my own, averaging 6000/yds week, 2 hrs in water time per week MAX. Many weeks I only swam once. As you can see the times aren't all that different. Taking IMFL results out of the calculation, the times are only about 2.5-3 min apart. IMFL was an abberation due to weather (high winds) and stupid swim execution on my part.
For this OS, I'll probably stick closely to the plan and not swim most weeks. I MAY opt to swim on a Monday or Friday from time to time though. I like to use the swim as a recovery workout after a hard weekend. During the workouts, I keep pace and distance relatively low and focus on form. I almost always use a pull-buoy on all my swims. My local YMCA pool is less than 2 miles from my house so there isn't a big time-hit in prep & travel. I also work from home on Fridays so I have a lot of flexibility on when I can get out to jump in the water.
If you are already at a 1:25/100 easy pace, you are probably going to have to put in a very large effort to get to down to 1:15/100. Form has a lot to do with that, but once you get below 1:30/100 you are going to have to focus on holding form at high workloads. In order to translate that to IM or HIM distances you are looking at holding good form, at high workloads, over long distances. It's not likley that you are going to make that happen with 2k of 100's working on form. In order to hit the level of performance that you are looking for, your swim training will more closely resemble OS bike workouts in intensity. THAT is most definietly going to impact your OS bike workouts. There just isn't going to be sufficient recovery time, unless you have a LOT of flexibility in your non-triathlon life.
I have a quick question. For week 16 if the Int IM plan I first bought I have just a 2 hour run on Thur. The plan load when I joined shows a 5k time trial. Which one should I do or just pick on how I feel?
I'm a trial member, but have a basic understanding of your philosophy. I completed Timberman this year and, due to some health issues, didn't have the race I would have hoped for. The bug bit me though, and I'm psyched about getting back on the horse for next season.
I can really only afford to race in a couple HIMs in late August/September 2012 with a late spring half marathon along the way. I have been improving my running over the past couple of years and I have been toying with the idea of IMLP 2013, but really feel like I have to improve on riding steady and increasing overall power before that's an option. I just invested in a PT so I'm just starting to adjust to that and I realize HIM and IM are different races, but do you think the skeleton of the 2012 season above will allow me to improve while still having good races? I have read about "big bike weekends" and such, do you typically put those into the training plans from the start, or is that something mention as we plan them and bring it up in the micro thread?
Hi Claire, Historically, the key to improving within our "system" has been to participate in our OutSeason training program -- you'll get much faster and it's definitely a great venue in which to learn how to train with power.
We are going to create a Big Bike/Big Tri training weeks, as standalone .pdf's or training plans, that the members can then insert anywhere into their training plan. You can then ask us in the Macro Thread about where/when/if the best time for that would be for you, given your race and training schedule.
I'm really excited to be a part of the team. I am starting to believe in the structure and hope this is for me. A little about me...I have a distance running background for the past 10 years, and started with tri's in 2009. I did IM CdA in 2010 (11:08), and now registered for IM WI 2012 with goal of significant improvement.
A couple of quick thoughts and questions on my day three:
1) After testing on the bike and run the past two days, I know I've got my work cut out. But it should be a good winter, and I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements.
2) I can't leave the swim....I know I've read all over the webpage that it won't hurt me, but I am new to the water, and would love to bring my swim time down 10+ minutes (1:16 in CdA). I will try to get some early morning pre-work swims in on my otherwise "rest" days. I'm not thinking about high volume but more working on intervals (~2000m/session). Acceptable?
3) I am registered for IM Steelhead (70.3) on 8/26 (two weeks before IM WI). I registered for this thinking it would be a good race to do as a warm-up before IM WI. I did not know it was so close (usually its in early August). If I promised myself not to go "all-out", could I use this as a last training day before my taper? I'm already registered, and have a few friends also doing this event....
4) I am not registered for any other events before 8/2012....was thinking of a marathon in April (4/14/2012) and a local tri or two in July....sound acceptable, or should I be thinking differently?
Sorry for bombarding you with all these questions, just trying to figure this whole thing out. Thanks!
Eyad, no worries...that's why we are here!!! Lots of work in the winter is totally fine....the best time for it. Besides, having hard numbers you can improve is very easy (and motivating!). Yes you can swim on Mon/Friday...but you can ONLY do Technique. Find the Swim eBook and start working through the drills..good swimming is all about technique and you need to build that up before adding effort, especially when your winter bike/run training will be all high intensity work.
Steelhead is wicked close. You can race the swim and bike, but you'll need to dial back the run so you recover....we can make it work. A marathon at the end of the OS is okay, just know that it will punch a 3-4 week hole in your ability to train until mid-May....leaving you about 12 weeks to get ready for IM. Do able for sure, assuming of course you remain healthy with those long runs etc. Ideally you'd run a half marathon then, really hard, and maybe schedule in a fun weekend of big bike volume instead of racing (say memorial day) to capitalize on your OS fitness without compromising your seasonal progression.
I just want to say I'm excited I found EN. I did my first tri in '99 and at one point took several years off due to a hectic workload, getting a masters degree and health issues that caused me to gain 35 pounds.
I trained using VDOT and Daniels Running Formula (abbreviated for tri/IM/HIM) WAY BACK in 2000 and got so much flack for it! I've always questioned this "go long in the dark winter months" methodology of training, and have always taken winters off from swimming.
It's like I've come home... to somewhere where intelligent training has been honed and perfected by coaches way smarter than me. I'm looking forward to seeing where this OS plan and subsequent HIM training leads me in 2012.
I'm sure I'll have questions, but right now the material is answering all my questions. Thanks Rich & Patrick!
I think I answered your question on BT.com? Glad you're enjoying it here . FYI, PnI are about 18hrs away from making some stuff live that should dramatically improve the trial membership process, making it easier for you guys to "get" what we do here during your trial.
Yes! You graciously responded to my question over at BT. Like it more here. (Don't tell.) This is going to be painfully fun. Yes, I will be cursing you on my bike: I should not have looked at the future workouts. I'm scared of my first FTP test, but hey, it's reality whether I know it or not. Knowledge is power - literally in this case. (PT Pro+ scheduled to be delivered to my house tomorrow.)
The process is pretty straightforward to me, but I am the self-starter who loves to read everything I can get my hands on type of person.
A common theme you'll see here is that PnI are continuously working to improve things. This summer, with our coachy-coachy hats on, it was all about improving the race execution tools we have here and our team mojo at the races. But this membership drive has helped us identify many things we can do to improve that process, which you'll all see shortly.
Lastly...and I'm saying this here cuz I'm hoping that other trial members are reading this thread...people create a trial here at EN with questions about words like "coaching," "training plans," "coaches," etc. However, the real value here, which is so hard to get across without letting you come inside, is the ginormous level of support and resources that the team creates for itself.
By support, I'm not talking about group hug, kumbaya, we're all delicate snowflake stuff. I'm talking crazy smart people with a ton of experience who've created for themselves a community where sharing that experience is what earns respect. Being fast isn't what buys you respect in EN. Being smart and sharing what you know with those who know less is what buys cred here. We have several MOP and BOP athletes I wouldn't hesitate to put into a Self-Coaching Cage Match with any athlete, or coach for that matter, in the world.
Anywho...it's a very unique space. I highly encourage you to interact with our members, browse the forums to see this team stuff for yourself and decide if it's a good fit for you.
Coaches, I'm planning to run the Philly marathon on 11/20/11 and then start OS training for 2012. In 2012, I'm likely doing a 70.3 on 6/24/12, and I'll be training for Mont Tremblant IM on 8/19/12. I'd like to supplement my Philly marathon training with some cycling. Interested in your recommendations. Thanks.
I'm a trial member, and have several questions. My big event for next year would be Ironman Florida. I'm not new to Ironman, and have four years of long course racing under my belt. How do you decide what training plan is appropriate for an individual? Can I join and put my membership on hold until I'm actually in the event? Coaching is probably a one year deal for me; I get to do it up right for one more event and then maybe move on with life I would like to make sure next year is really my year before I commit. I also am a 'crazy winter marathon' person. I have a couple events on my calendar for winter and spring already. I tend to stay busy over the school year, slack off in the summer while my kids are off school, then pick it back up for fall. Can you work with me on this kind of schedule? I'm not sure I've left enough time in my schedule to complete an OS plan...
@Kevin: I got your email and will redo your Season Plan to reflect the marathon above. Look for an email from me later today.
@Sarah: I don't believe you've submitted your races to us yet so I can make a Season Plan for you? Please go to the Trial Members Central link above and do that for me, thanks. Yes, you can join and then put your membership on hold. See the My Account tab above.
Comments
TWO off season marathons does not sound like a great idea. I started to OS plan in November last year on tired legs and there is NO time to recover while committed the the plan. I got about 6 wks in before I hurt my calf requiring two months to recover. I did a Northface Endurance 50K and a late season 1/2 Mary. Even if you have a great base it is alot to ask. You'll likely sacrifice the quality of your workouts. Just my 2 cents
Thanks Jamison - I took a look at Patricks video and it makes a lot of sense. There are a couple more details about my situtation that somewhat mitigate the concerns. I'm coming off 2 years of no structured training and almost no racing (2 1/2 marathons, 2 5k's) as I was finishing grad school. Prior to that I was dong full IM training and my last race going into grad school was IM WI2009. So I've had a pretty long recovery period
I started marathon training at the end of May, and have only run one sprint tri since the start. I've been doing bike rides and some swimming but no "work" except for tempo runs and mile repeats in preparation for the marathon. So I don't have a full season of training & racing in my legs. There are 6 weeks between the two marathons, then about 3-4 weeks before I would start the OS. While I had specific PR plans, I'm putting those aside and running for fun & experience.
Hi Greg,
Hopefully when you read/watched our marathon stuff, you saw that's it more a function of opportunity cost: training and racing a marathon comes with a huge opportunity cost for triathletes, specifically, the work on the bike and run that makes you a faster runner and cyclist. Not saying that doing 1-2 marathons is a deal breaker, but it absolutely has implications and consequences for your performance as a triathlete later in the season.
Within EN, our members get much, much, much faster on the bike and run during the winter. That speed forms the foundation of their PR's next season. Marathon training and racing is largely at odds with _that_ method and usually has the accompanying consquences regarding triathlon performance next season.
Again, we are triathlon coaches training triathletes so that's the frame of reference we use to approach problems like this.
Hi Annie,
Please read this blog post I wrote last week, it should give you more insights on how the OS fits within your season.
Thanks Rich! I spoke with Pat at length about this issue yesterday and I'm making adjustments to my race goals accordingly. I'm very glad that I was able to look at the videos and speak with Pat prior to race day! The goal now is to minimize the negative impact, adjust the OS as appropriate and still gain the big gains in preparation for the 2012 season.
Hi Patrick - I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but I got your e-mail about fast-tracking my account. I don't have a "Join Now" option on the "My Account" tab. The only options I have are "Profile", "Cancel Membership" and "Hold Membership" Is there something else I need to do?
Greg
Perfect...thanks!!
Thanks Coach!
Amy,
First I'm not sure exactly how much access you have with a trial membership so my apologies if you can't access some of the stuff I reference.
The coaches monitor this thread but when you have issues with in a week (micro thread) or season questions (macro thread). These are two threads are in the forum go to the training tab - training forums - general training discussion - then there will be a micro and macro thread where you ask the coaches questions. Also find the appropriate forum and post to the groups to get feedback from others.
As for the plan once you sign up you can select you plan and change it at anytime. For the OS you will have beginner, intermediate and advanced OS plans to choose from and the same when you move in to you HIM plan.
As for more reading in the resources tab find the wiki and go there. click on the table of contents and look at the self coaching link and look at the season planning tool kit. This will give you a plan for your season at the macro level and something to take to the coaches for discussion in that thread. Further down is the OS stuff. Read through and feel free to ask questions.
The OS is great make sure you sign up for the Oct OS group once you get your membership set up. In the community tab- find groups and the 2012 Oct OS groups should be on the first page. These OS specific groups are great for motivation and excitement.
Gordon
Hey Brian,
Good question and I'm sure others are thinking the same
. I assume you've read our "no swimming" guidance. Basically, our belief is it's about return on investment and our data across thousands of athletes is that on race day, athletes who've been swimming for months and months doesn't swim much faster, if at all, than the the typical EN athlete who holds off on making small training time investment much close to their race...but if you do decide to swim in the OS anyway, we have a .pdf you can download that includes our Swim Clinic eBook, 20wks of Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced swim workouts.
To answer your question, Monday and Friday, days off in the OS plan, would be the better days to swim if you wanted to.
That said, it would probably be best if you got the feedback from the rest of team. I highly recommend you post the General Discussion Forum something like "I'm new here and I think this whole no swimming for months and months thing is totally whack! Please give me your feedback!" Our athletes who've been with us for years will give you their candid opinions and experiences. This feedback is much more valuable than anything Patrick and I could tell you here.
Yep, and this is a conversation we have people this time of year every year
. Again, best to ask the crew directly for their experiences with this.
Hi Brian - I'm just getting started with EN, and I was a bit surprised by the no-swim approach in the OS. RnP have a lot of experience and results to back up their plans, so I went back to my IM swim finishes and training log to see how much time I spent in the pool to get various results. Here is what I found
Results
In 2005 I was swimming masters 2x week, around 9000/yards a week and 2.5 hours of in-water time each week. I was swimming with some VERY fast triathletes (a pro, a couple of multiple-Kona qualifiers). The workouts were tough, ended late in the evening and involved a 20 min drive each way to the pool. However these workouts brought my swimming back from a 25+ year "off season" (I swam competitive Age Group as a kid through high school). They also left me pretty tired!
In each subsequent year I spent less time with masters, and less time swimming overall. In 2009, I swam all workouts on my own, averaging 6000/yds week, 2 hrs in water time per week MAX. Many weeks I only swam once. As you can see the times aren't all that different. Taking IMFL results out of the calculation, the times are only about 2.5-3 min apart. IMFL was an abberation due to weather (high winds) and stupid swim execution on my part.
For this OS, I'll probably stick closely to the plan and not swim most weeks. I MAY opt to swim on a Monday or Friday from time to time though. I like to use the swim as a recovery workout after a hard weekend. During the workouts, I keep pace and distance relatively low and focus on form. I almost always use a pull-buoy on all my swims. My local YMCA pool is less than 2 miles from my house so there isn't a big time-hit in prep & travel. I also work from home on Fridays so I have a lot of flexibility on when I can get out to jump in the water.
If you are already at a 1:25/100 easy pace, you are probably going to have to put in a very large effort to get to down to 1:15/100. Form has a lot to do with that, but once you get below 1:30/100 you are going to have to focus on holding form at high workloads. In order to translate that to IM or HIM distances you are looking at holding good form, at high workloads, over long distances. It's not likley that you are going to make that happen with 2k of 100's working on form. In order to hit the level of performance that you are looking for, your swim training will more closely resemble OS bike workouts in intensity. THAT is most definietly going to impact your OS bike workouts. There just isn't going to be sufficient recovery time, unless you have a LOT of flexibility in your non-triathlon life.
Just my 2c worth.
Hey Coaches,
I'm a trial member, but have a basic understanding of your philosophy. I completed Timberman this year and, due to some health issues, didn't have the race I would have hoped for. The bug bit me though, and I'm psyched about getting back on the horse for next season.
I can really only afford to race in a couple HIMs in late August/September 2012 with a late spring half marathon along the way. I have been improving my running over the past couple of years and I have been toying with the idea of IMLP 2013, but really feel like I have to improve on riding steady and increasing overall power before that's an option. I just invested in a PT so I'm just starting to adjust to that and I realize HIM and IM are different races, but do you think the skeleton of the 2012 season above will allow me to improve while still having good races? I have read about "big bike weekends" and such, do you typically put those into the training plans from the start, or is that something mention as we plan them and bring it up in the micro thread?
Thanks! I think it's great what you guys do here!
Claire
Historically, the key to improving within our "system" has been to participate in our OutSeason training program -- you'll get much faster and it's definitely a great venue in which to learn how to train with power.
We are going to create a Big Bike/Big Tri training weeks, as standalone .pdf's or training plans, that the members can then insert anywhere into their training plan. You can then ask us in the Macro Thread about where/when/if the best time for that would be for you, given your race and training schedule.
Hi Everybody,
I'm really excited to be a part of the team. I am starting to believe in the structure and hope this is for me. A little about me...I have a distance running background for the past 10 years, and started with tri's in 2009. I did IM CdA in 2010 (11:08), and now registered for IM WI 2012 with goal of significant improvement.
A couple of quick thoughts and questions on my day three:
1) After testing on the bike and run the past two days, I know I've got my work cut out. But it should be a good winter, and I'm looking forward to seeing the improvements.
2) I can't leave the swim....I know I've read all over the webpage that it won't hurt me, but I am new to the water, and would love to bring my swim time down 10+ minutes (1:16 in CdA). I will try to get some early morning pre-work swims in on my otherwise "rest" days. I'm not thinking about high volume but more working on intervals (~2000m/session). Acceptable?
3) I am registered for IM Steelhead (70.3) on 8/26 (two weeks before IM WI). I registered for this thinking it would be a good race to do as a warm-up before IM WI. I did not know it was so close (usually its in early August). If I promised myself not to go "all-out", could I use this as a last training day before my taper? I'm already registered, and have a few friends also doing this event....
4) I am not registered for any other events before 8/2012....was thinking of a marathon in April (4/14/2012) and a local tri or two in July....sound acceptable, or should I be thinking differently?
Sorry for bombarding you with all these questions, just trying to figure this whole thing out. Thanks!
Steelhead is wicked close. You can race the swim and bike, but you'll need to dial back the run so you recover....we can make it work. A marathon at the end of the OS is okay, just know that it will punch a 3-4 week hole in your ability to train until mid-May....leaving you about 12 weeks to get ready for IM. Do able for sure, assuming of course you remain healthy with those long runs etc. Ideally you'd run a half marathon then, really hard, and maybe schedule in a fun weekend of big bike volume instead of racing (say memorial day) to capitalize on your OS fitness without compromising your seasonal progression.
But whatever you decide we'll help!
I trained using VDOT and Daniels Running Formula (abbreviated for tri/IM/HIM) WAY BACK in 2000 and got so much flack for it! I've always questioned this "go long in the dark winter months" methodology of training, and have always taken winters off from swimming.
It's like I've come home... to somewhere where intelligent training has been honed and perfected by coaches way smarter than me. I'm looking forward to seeing where this OS plan and subsequent HIM training leads me in 2012.
I'm sure I'll have questions, but right now the material is answering all my questions. Thanks Rich & Patrick!
Andi
Hi Andi,
I think I answered your question on BT.com? Glad you're enjoying it here
. FYI, PnI are about 18hrs away from making some stuff live that should dramatically improve the trial membership process, making it easier for you guys to "get" what we do here during your trial.
Welcome aboard!
Rich,
Yes! You graciously responded to my question over at BT. Like it more here. (Don't tell.) This is going to be painfully fun. Yes, I will be cursing you on my bike: I should not have looked at the future workouts. I'm scared of my first FTP test, but hey, it's reality whether I know it or not. Knowledge is power - literally in this case. (PT Pro+ scheduled to be delivered to my house tomorrow.)
The process is pretty straightforward to me, but I am the self-starter who loves to read everything I can get my hands on type of person.
Andi
A common theme you'll see here is that PnI are continuously working to improve things. This summer, with our coachy-coachy hats on, it was all about improving the race execution tools we have here and our team mojo at the races. But this membership drive has helped us identify many things we can do to improve that process, which you'll all see shortly.
Lastly...and I'm saying this here cuz I'm hoping that other trial members are reading this thread...people create a trial here at EN with questions about words like "coaching," "training plans," "coaches," etc. However, the real value here, which is so hard to get across without letting you come inside, is the ginormous level of support and resources that the team creates for itself.
By support, I'm not talking about group hug, kumbaya, we're all delicate snowflake stuff. I'm talking crazy smart people with a ton of experience who've created for themselves a community where sharing that experience is what earns respect. Being fast isn't what buys you respect in EN. Being smart and sharing what you know with those who know less is what buys cred here. We have several MOP and BOP athletes I wouldn't hesitate to put into a Self-Coaching Cage Match with any athlete, or coach for that matter, in the world.
Anywho...it's a very unique space. I highly encourage you to interact with our members, browse the forums to see this team stuff for yourself and decide if it's a good fit for you.
I'm a trial member, and have several questions. My big event for next year would be Ironman Florida. I'm not new to Ironman, and have four years of long course racing under my belt. How do you decide what training plan is appropriate for an individual? Can I join and put my membership on hold until I'm actually in the event? Coaching is probably a one year deal for me; I get to do it up right for one more event and then maybe move on with life
I would like to make sure next year is really my year before I commit. I also am a 'crazy winter marathon' person. I have a couple events on my calendar for winter and spring already. I tend to stay busy over the school year, slack off in the summer while my kids are off school, then pick it back up for fall. Can you work with me on this kind of schedule? I'm not sure I've left enough time in my schedule to complete an OS plan...
@Sarah: I don't believe you've submitted your races to us yet so I can make a Season Plan for you? Please go to the Trial Members Central link above and do that for me, thanks. Yes, you can join and then put your membership on hold. See the My Account tab above.
I've tried the link on the Trial member Central page and so far it does nothing. Let me know what to do next.