Quick question: Anyone ever take totally unplanned days off. I've had a rough few weeks as far as work, etc and feel like I've been run over by a truck. Swapped some workouts around as I couldn't motivate to do my long run yesterday after I'd been up all night so was supposed to do it today but I kind of feel like I'd die if I tried....may be shorter anyway depending on how my gimpy foot feels.
Hate to skip stuff but I also don't want to dig myself into a hole I can't get out of.
@Allen- I agree with Art - stabbing pain is no joke and you should run the distance you can without causing damage that will torpedo other aspects of your race. After the race, do a full court press the figure out what's going on - shoe analysis, bike fit analysis, gait analysis, etc... The pain may go away with decreased volume after the race, but will rear its ugly head unless you take your recovery time after the race to get it taken care of. I also agree that the EN way is a little rough for new runners. Sounds like you may just need some time to just run and let your knees get used to it without the stress of an EN plan. You'll get to the finish line, and my one thing is to finish my race in a condition to welcome all of our EN members home.
@Shannon- I am a master of moving workouts around. Sometimes because of work and life, and sometimes on purpose to get a day off. For exmaple, work didn't allow me to do my long run yesterday. So I was able to do my uphill stride workout bewteen meetings and that was all for yesterday. Will do both the swim and the long run today. If it was a shorter workout, I'd say skip it and forget it. You may try and give it a go and even if you die trying, you at least got out there and tested the foot. How about this- Do the 20 minute test - run for 20 minutes (its much easier getting motivated for a 20 minute run) and if you feel good, keep going, if not - stop and live to train another day.
@Shannon I would just look at the workouts and shuffle if need be as others have said. If it is a key workout (long run, long ride, etc.) then look to move it to another day if it is just a daily swim or normal workout then bag it if you need the rest. Better to be undertrained then overtrained on race day. A few days here and there will not have a major impact on the end goal.
Hey Team - Great to hear about the many successful RR and long runs this week. Afraid I'm with Allen in the "Gimpy" camp. Went out last night to do the long run, and while my mind was ready to go, my left knee had other ideas. It was painful from the start and after 1.5 miles, I figured it should be warmed up, but still hurt so decided best to bag it. Came back and massaged out all the muscles around it for the next 45 minutes and then iced. Off to see my ART doc today. Confident that it will resolve it's self, but I could be right there with you Allen on having to walk some of the run...somehow will get it done.
Keep up the good work and get ready for a nice warm Idaho swim...!!
@Patrick - yes, I'm planning on neoprene hood - haven't decided on booties - did an open water 2.4m swim 2 weeks back in 62 temp and didn't need them....but sounds like CDA could be colder...
Hey Shannon - I"ve taken lots of days off in coming back from injury. I just have to trust what I feel from my body and when it doesn't feel good, I just don't go, or take it very easy. Not easy to look at all the workouts that you should be doing and let them go by, but if you feel like you've been hit by a bus, then you should probably take a little time off. Pushing yourself may make it worse....Just my 2 cents...
Shannon: I don't remember where, but Coach P said one of the reasons there are so few schedueld days off in the IM plans is that they beleive it is better for the individual to decided when they need them, rather than put some kind of *arbitrary* 3 weeks on/1 week mostly off kind of cycle (like Joe Friel does). Heck, in the podcast associated with this week's wkos Coach P says take a week off if you feel you need to. While taking a week off will undoubtedly materially effect your race day performance, 1 day certainly won't. Having said that, borrowing from the Sage of Sag Harbor (Al Truscott) and echoing what Mickael S said, make sure you get your long run and long bike done in a given week above all else... more or less regardless of what days you get it done. I am by no means a FOP-type and it is obviosuly N=1, but I have taken 5 un-scheduled days off since starting the IM plan... have got all my big wkos done though... I feel like (thus far) I have managed my fatigue level pretty well and those days off have unquestionably helped me do so.
So my messed up schedule had me doing the long swim and long run today. Not ideal, but you do what you do. It went pretty well. Swim was the swim. Its getting easier to find a rhythm and feel like I actually know what I am doing. Nice change! The run went well. Tried not to over achieve and follow the plan. Went 16.4 mi in 2:17. Not GH or PH numbers, but found my running rhythm with a high cadence and light foot strike and just got it done.
I'll miss all my EN CDA RR homies tomorrow on my long ride. Go get it done this weekend everyone!!!!!
the last 2 years at IMAZ the water has been 52ish. one year i did it without neoprene cap and one with. knock on wood, it doesn't bother me once i get in the water. i guess i am too rev'ed up to notice. by the way, i am usually a wimp with cold.
@allen: not exactly sure what that pain could be, on both knees. what about running slower than 12min pace? is there a speed at which there is no pain? if so, that is better than 12min run and then walk. 14minute painfree shuffle is better for your knee than stressing it with the 12min mile intervals during the race and having you suffering. this advice is in the interest of your knee, not in the interest of having you go faster, although you would go faster with a 14-18min shuffle, than alternating miles. if you do end up doing your plan, then plan nutrition accordingly.
@everyone: nice work with long runs!!!! all those times are great. what matters is that you are doing what you can. bad idea for me to run the TOC TT course...it was fun to be the only guy out there along with the pro cyclists, but i had to run very slow so the volunteers didn' t panick that i was going to disrupt the race. ended up doing 16.5miles (8 on the actual course) and then a bunch of hill repeats on a quiet street (not easy to find today!). the hill repats were similar to the backside of the big climb at CdA.
i take days off as needed and use the days i do have for high yield stuff like FTP work on bike or climbing for running. now trying to prioritize consistency with swimming.
@Everyone - thanks for the advice on the knees. I took the day off today and they're starting to feel better. I may do an easy bike tomorrow to loosen them up and then do the long bike on Sunday if they are 100% by then.
@JT - I agree, one way or another we'll get to the finish line even if we have to walk most of the marathon.
Ahhh, another Ironman week is in the books. Got all my workouts in this week, made most all of my paces. Today was the 4.5 hr bike, for some reason I had been dreading this ride since last weekend. Don't know if it was the weather (cold and rainy) or the fact that I had to it by myself, but its done. I left this morning at 6'ish and it was supposed to be overcast with a chance of showers but warm. Instead it was cold, rainy, and I wasn't neccessarily dressed for it. I am racing an olympic next sunday in Walla Walla, WA called the Onionman. (It's the onion capital of the world for all you east coasters) So I won't ride next saturday, but I will most likely get my long ride in that monday morning over there. Lots of long quiet roads there, also lots of long steep hills. Anxious to try out my new bike in a race, and I haven't done an olympic in 3 years. My wife was teasing me that I won't hardly be warmed up before its over. I'm pretty excited that we only have 2 more weeks of intense training before starting to taper.
Did my first RR today. Overall, a success and I now believe I can finish IMCDA.
Ride: Temp 66, SE 5-7 mph wind, overcast. Rain during the ride from miles 53-68. Rode 102.2 miles in 5:58 rolling time. 4910 ft of climbing (yes I found some hills in IL) over rolling hills. Overall avg speed 17.0. 16.4 mph for first 43 miles while I rode with 2 others (non-EN) training for IMLOO. Negative split as rode @ avg speed of 17.5 for last 59 miles by myself. Kept HR in Z1 90% of the time and tried really hard to spin up the hills and not spike the effort. Love my 11-28 cassette. Felt like I could have ridden another 10 miles with no problems. Did 8 laps around a HM course I ran in March. Bike fit good. Only slight problem was in my right wrist as it got sore/tender from all the gear shifting. Some ice should help.
Nutrition: 1 bottle of 3x concentrated Infinit every 3 hours + 1/2 bagel halfway thru. Also 24 oz H2O per hour. No problems with stomach, cramps or bonking so plan worked. Had to pee 3 times so was well hydrated
Run: Sun came out and temp went up to 75. 7 miles in 61 minutes. Legs felt heavy first mile and still it was really hard not to go too fast. My EZ pace + 30" is a 9 minute mile pace. Ran miles of 8:50, 9:10, 9:05, 8:55, 9:03, 8:57 and each mile included a 30" walk. My HR was in the 133-138 range which is Z1 for my run. After mile 6, I sped up and ran mile 7 @ ;7:50. HR went up to 145-148. Rt calf that was tight on long run on Thursday was good. Overall, good run.
Things to work on for next RR: fewer stops and more continuous riding. More time in aero bars. Ice wrist.
Hope everyone had a good training day. Stay healthy.
A series of unfortunate events have conspired to clobber my week-end training. 3 flat tires (2 front, 1 rear) over 2 days. 7 year old hits lip on bed frame = 8 hours at 2 different hospitals (he's ok now). Between this and last week-end, I've had five flats, 2 of which had pin holes in the tube side facing the rim. Can't find the problem, but I'm darn close to going out and buying a new front wheel.
Only got in a 40 min run yesterday (Z4 the whole way to work out some frustration) and a 2.5 hour ride today (out of tubes!). Travel this week for biz and travel next weekend for son's baseball tournment). Gonna do what I can!
I did an Olympic distance race this morning (Memphis In May)...it was interesting. I found it to be rather short in comparison to all of the volume that we have all been doing. So, the last 3 miles was hard, but I am already recovered and considering getting out for another couple of hours to add some volume back in this weekend.
And...I actually got second in my age group. Guess that is good too...I have only done 70.3s to this point in my career. Kind of like the Olympic distance.
Anyway...back to prepping for CdA! Hope everyone is having a productive weekend!
Wow, were about to get to 5 weeks to go. Getting very real.
Rode for 4 hours yesterday with JT. A nice hilly 4 hours. He says something like 4700ft of gain. It certainly felt like it. I've found that the long runs are really staying with me longer as we progress. I won't know what to do with myself when we start tapering. Will be like a caged animal.
Art: try new rim tape, but before you put the new tape on, carefully run your finger over rim to see if there are any sharp areas. also, are you using flimsy race tires? go more sturdy. i like the vittoria rubinos. are you using flimsy tubes? get the regular ones unless you are close to qualifying for hawaii or to beating tucker. 100psi front and 110psi back should be enough. make sure you floor pump is accurate.
got in 6:24 of cycling over weekend vs. the assigned 7:30, but they were a good 6:24.
@Art- ; x 2 on the rim tape. Had a flat this morning as well and couldn't find the cause. When there is nothing in the tire causing the flat it's almost always due to rim tape getting worn and the spoke well rubbing on the tube. Replaced my tires, tubes and rim tape this afternoon. Went with Conti 4000's, they have great reviews and many EN'ers are riding on them.
@Stephen- doing an Olympic this coming sunday- haven't done one in 3 years. Did you taper at all? Or adjust the previous week in any way? This coming week is already built much like a taper week, so I plan to do the given plan and see how it all works out. I won't get my long ride in on saturday due to travel (6 hr drive) but plan on making up for it on Monday.
Wow, sorry to my CDA RR flat team members. I shook off the GVan voodoo curse and had no flats this weekend.
@Bruce- Sounds like you had a pretty good RR. We have the same nutrition plan (minus the bagel
@Stephen- Nice work!!!! I hope you got some thing for your 2nd place AG win. Very Nice!!! Good to see all this long volume stuff, hasn't messed with your short quick stuff. I'm looking forward to doing some shorter races later in the summer.
@Steve- I've always wanted to do Onionman. Maybe next year in the run up to IMC. Good Luck!!!
@Art- Sounds like we both had pretty crappy Saturday workouts. I was amped to get a good workout in on Saturday, but then it rained. And, then my speed cadence sensor went t.u. By the time I troubleshot it and got a new one my brain was done for the day. Got a very short trainer ride in.
Sunday I found redemption. Rode my "Hilly Course" into Port Orchard, WA and went 4:45 covering 85 miles with 4700 ft of elevation gain. Felt very good and I'm not sure I even clipped out once. Had it dialed in without getting cooked. Amazing what you can do without the flats, gale force wind, and a million stop lights.
I'm traveling this week (not to NYC like Art, but the metropolis known as Yakima, WA) I'm about to map out a way to get my workouts in. I'll be back Thursday, so my long/key workouts shouldn't suffer too much.
5 weeks Baby!!!!! Keep up the good work everyone!!!
I gave my knees Friday off and kept it to an hour of Z1 last night to loosen them up a little. Today my knees felt 100% so I did the long bike. I managed to hit all my Z4 and Z3 intervals and then did Z2 until I hit 56 miles at about 3:43. Decided to use the trainer today so I watched the final leg of the ToC during the workout to pass the time.
if the recommendations you received regarding your flats do not work, then the only alternative is to reconvene all the re-con team at CdA at the same spot, at the same time of day as the rehearsal, and have greg repeat his now infamous statement regarding flats, but in reverse. also, it might help if vicki sacrifices a goose (just a joke and not meant to promote animal sacrifice)!!!!
@Steve - all I did was to cancel my Saturday ride, so, no taper. I took the day off on Saturday, and felt okay for Sunday. I could feel the training on my body, but, I was still feeling somewhat strong.
Comments
Quick question: Anyone ever take totally unplanned days off. I've had a rough few weeks as far as work, etc and feel like I've been run over by a truck. Swapped some workouts around as I couldn't motivate to do my long run yesterday after I'd been up all night so was supposed to do it today but I kind of feel like I'd die if I tried....may be shorter anyway depending on how my gimpy foot feels.
Hate to skip stuff but I also don't want to dig myself into a hole I can't get out of.
Thoughts?
@Shannon- I am a master of moving workouts around. Sometimes because of work and life, and sometimes on purpose to get a day off. For exmaple, work didn't allow me to do my long run yesterday. So I was able to do my uphill stride workout bewteen meetings and that was all for yesterday. Will do both the swim and the long run today. If it was a shorter workout, I'd say skip it and forget it. You may try and give it a go and even if you die trying, you at least got out there and tested the foot. How about this- Do the 20 minute test - run for 20 minutes (its much easier getting motivated for a 20 minute run) and if you feel good, keep going, if not - stop and live to train another day.
Keep up the good work and get ready for a nice warm Idaho swim...!!
@Patrick - yes, I'm planning on neoprene hood - haven't decided on booties - did an open water 2.4m swim 2 weeks back in 62 temp and didn't need them....but sounds like CDA could be colder...
So my messed up schedule had me doing the long swim and long run today. Not ideal, but you do what you do. It went pretty well. Swim was the swim. Its getting easier to find a rhythm and feel like I actually know what I am doing. Nice change! The run went well. Tried not to over achieve and follow the plan. Went 16.4 mi in 2:17. Not GH or PH numbers, but found my running rhythm with a high cadence and light foot strike and just got it done.
I'll miss all my EN CDA RR homies tomorrow on my long ride. Go get it done this weekend everyone!!!!!
the last 2 years at IMAZ the water has been 52ish. one year i did it without neoprene cap and one with. knock on wood, it doesn't bother me once i get in the water. i guess i am too rev'ed up to notice. by the way, i am usually a wimp with cold.
@allen: not exactly sure what that pain could be, on both knees. what about running slower than 12min pace? is there a speed at which there is no pain? if so, that is better than 12min run and then walk. 14minute painfree shuffle is better for your knee than stressing it with the 12min mile intervals during the race and having you suffering. this advice is in the interest of your knee, not in the interest of having you go faster, although you would go faster with a 14-18min shuffle, than alternating miles. if you do end up doing your plan, then plan nutrition accordingly.
@everyone: nice work with long runs!!!! all those times are great. what matters is that you are doing what you can. bad idea for me to run the TOC TT course...it was fun to be the only guy out there along with the pro cyclists, but i had to run very slow so the volunteers didn' t panick that i was going to disrupt the race. ended up doing 16.5miles (8 on the actual course) and then a bunch of hill repeats on a quiet street (not easy to find today!). the hill repats were similar to the backside of the big climb at CdA.
i take days off as needed and use the days i do have for high yield stuff like FTP work on bike or climbing for running. now trying to prioritize consistency with swimming.
over and out.
GH
@JT - I agree, one way or another we'll get to the finish line even if we have to walk most of the marathon.
Ahhh, another Ironman week is in the books. Got all my workouts in this week, made most all of my paces. Today was the 4.5 hr bike, for some reason I had been dreading this ride since last weekend. Don't know if it was the weather (cold and rainy) or the fact that I had to it by myself, but its done. I left this morning at 6'ish and it was supposed to be overcast with a chance of showers but warm. Instead it was cold, rainy, and I wasn't neccessarily dressed for it. I am racing an olympic next sunday in Walla Walla, WA called the Onionman. (It's the onion capital of the world for all you east coasters) So I won't ride next saturday, but I will most likely get my long ride in that monday morning over there. Lots of long quiet roads there, also lots of long steep hills. Anxious to try out my new bike in a race, and I haven't done an olympic in 3 years. My wife was teasing me that I won't hardly be warmed up before its over. I'm pretty excited that we only have 2 more weeks of intense training before starting to taper.
Did my first RR today. Overall, a success and I now believe I can finish IMCDA.
Ride: Temp 66, SE 5-7 mph wind, overcast. Rain during the ride from miles 53-68. Rode 102.2 miles in 5:58 rolling time. 4910 ft of climbing (yes I found some hills in IL) over rolling hills. Overall avg speed 17.0. 16.4 mph for first 43 miles while I rode with 2 others (non-EN) training for IMLOO. Negative split as rode @ avg speed of 17.5 for last 59 miles by myself. Kept HR in Z1 90% of the time and tried really hard to spin up the hills and not spike the effort. Love my 11-28 cassette. Felt like I could have ridden another 10 miles with no problems. Did 8 laps around a HM course I ran in March. Bike fit good. Only slight problem was in my right wrist as it got sore/tender from all the gear shifting. Some ice should help.
Nutrition: 1 bottle of 3x concentrated Infinit every 3 hours + 1/2 bagel halfway thru. Also 24 oz H2O per hour. No problems with stomach, cramps or bonking so plan worked. Had to pee 3 times so was well hydrated
Run: Sun came out and temp went up to 75. 7 miles in 61 minutes. Legs felt heavy first mile and still it was really hard not to go too fast. My EZ pace + 30" is a 9 minute mile pace. Ran miles of 8:50, 9:10, 9:05, 8:55, 9:03, 8:57 and each mile included a 30" walk. My HR was in the 133-138 range which is Z1 for my run. After mile 6, I sped up and ran mile 7 @ ;7:50. HR went up to 145-148. Rt calf that was tight on long run on Thursday was good. Overall, good run.
Things to work on for next RR: fewer stops and more continuous riding. More time in aero bars. Ice wrist.
Hope everyone had a good training day. Stay healthy.
A series of unfortunate events have conspired to clobber my week-end training. 3 flat tires (2 front, 1 rear) over 2 days. 7 year old hits lip on bed frame = 8 hours at 2 different hospitals (he's ok now). Between this and last week-end, I've had five flats, 2 of which had pin holes in the tube side facing the rim. Can't find the problem, but I'm darn close to going out and buying a new front wheel.
Only got in a 40 min run yesterday (Z4 the whole way to work out some frustration) and a 2.5 hour ride today (out of tubes!). Travel this week for biz and travel next weekend for son's baseball tournment). Gonna do what I can!
I did an Olympic distance race this morning (Memphis In May)...it was interesting. I found it to be rather short in comparison to all of the volume that we have all been doing. So, the last 3 miles was hard, but I am already recovered and considering getting out for another couple of hours to add some volume back in this weekend.
And...I actually got second in my age group. Guess that is good too...I have only done 70.3s to this point in my career. Kind of like the Olympic distance.
Anyway...back to prepping for CdA! Hope everyone is having a productive weekend!
Rode for 4 hours yesterday with JT. A nice hilly 4 hours. He says something like 4700ft of gain. It certainly felt like it. I've found that the long runs are really staying with me longer as we progress. I won't know what to do with myself when we start tapering. Will be like a caged animal.
Great job Steve!
nice work, guys.
Art: try new rim tape, but before you put the new tape on, carefully run your finger over rim to see if there are any sharp areas. also, are you using flimsy race tires? go more sturdy. i like the vittoria rubinos. are you using flimsy tubes? get the regular ones unless you are close to qualifying for hawaii or to beating tucker. 100psi front and 110psi back should be enough. make sure you floor pump is accurate.
got in 6:24 of cycling over weekend vs. the assigned 7:30, but they were a good 6:24.
on to the next week...
gh
@Art- ; x 2 on the rim tape. Had a flat this morning as well and couldn't find the cause. When there is nothing in the tire causing the flat it's almost always due to rim tape getting worn and the spoke well rubbing on the tube. Replaced my tires, tubes and rim tape this afternoon. Went with Conti 4000's, they have great reviews and many EN'ers are riding on them.
@Stephen- doing an Olympic this coming sunday- haven't done one in 3 years. Did you taper at all? Or adjust the previous week in any way? This coming week is already built much like a taper week, so I plan to do the given plan and see how it all works out. I won't get my long ride in on saturday due to travel (6 hr drive) but plan on making up for it on Monday.
@Bruce- Sounds like you had a pretty good RR. We have the same nutrition plan (minus the bagel
@Stephen- Nice work!!!! I hope you got some thing for your 2nd place AG win. Very Nice!!! Good to see all this long volume stuff, hasn't messed with your short quick stuff. I'm looking forward to doing some shorter races later in the summer.
@Steve- I've always wanted to do Onionman. Maybe next year in the run up to IMC. Good Luck!!!
@Art- Sounds like we both had pretty crappy Saturday workouts. I was amped to get a good workout in on Saturday, but then it rained. And, then my speed cadence sensor went t.u. By the time I troubleshot it and got a new one my brain was done for the day. Got a very short trainer ride in.
Sunday I found redemption. Rode my "Hilly Course" into Port Orchard, WA and went 4:45 covering 85 miles with 4700 ft of elevation gain. Felt very good and I'm not sure I even clipped out once. Had it dialed in without getting cooked. Amazing what you can do without the flats, gale force wind, and a million stop lights.
I'm traveling this week (not to NYC like Art, but the metropolis known as Yakima, WA) I'm about to map out a way to get my workouts in. I'll be back Thursday, so my long/key workouts shouldn't suffer too much.
5 weeks Baby!!!!! Keep up the good work everyone!!!
art:
if the recommendations you received regarding your flats do not work, then the only alternative is to reconvene all the re-con team at CdA at the same spot, at the same time of day as the rehearsal, and have greg repeat his now infamous statement regarding flats, but in reverse. also, it might help if vicki sacrifices a goose (just a joke and not meant to promote animal sacrifice)!!!!
gh