Raising the Bar - 2 IMs this year - advice on volume for 2nd

scott dinhofer

So here I sit with the aches, pains and great memories of IMKY this past weekend, looking at the calendar and realizing that i have twelve weeks to go until IMAZ. I planned this season with two well spaced IMs as a way of really climbing the fitness ladder this year. I also chose to go back to AZ because of how much fun i had with the group of ENers I met there last year.(more on that below)

My question is this. Given that i am now at an "IM level" of fitness, do i want to follow the 12 week intermediate plan and dial back down to a lower level of activity? or do i want to hack the plan and keep my longer run/bike volumes a little higher? increase daily volume and keep total weekly mileage higher? or just stick with the plan?

I will be jumping into the plan at the beginning of week 10 after two weeks of recovery from IMKY.

one note is that i will be adding a High Volume, high altitude work week when I join Al Truscott (one of the peeps i had fun with at IMAZ last year) and 7 other ENers for the Aspen Training camp in week 6 of the plan.

thoughts? comments?

Dave Tallo

To start, congratulations on your Lou accomplishment! Make sure you bask in that for a while before you start to take on IM #2!

 

I'm pretty sure there is some EN best practice advice in the wiki that describes the two-a-season approach, but I'll add my own thoughts.



In leadups to the second IM, I've done both big and small volume. Both "work." I would suggest lifestyle would be the biggest factor - if you have the will and the time to put in the higher volume work, go right ahead, but the moment that it stops being fun, back down.



I'm still on the fence about the relationship to results, though. I did the LOU->AZ combo a few years ago, and AZ was the smallest volume I have ever done leading up to an IM, but it was a PB race. However, in other years, I've just jumped back into a program for other races at week number X, and aside from shortening the longest run, was able to follow those to race to potential. 

This year, I've done IM #2 as very big volume, which is still a bit of an experiment, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a LOT of flexibility and extra time.



 

brianrobkelly@hotmail.com

hi scott, congrats on IMLOU. I am doing IMOO, then IMFL 8 weeks later (I have asked myself many, many times WTF I was thinking that Nov day last year when I pushed the button on florida!) I am curious to watch your plan. Keep posting and good luck!

Nate Parady

Scott, make sure you read Patrick's "Placid to Kono" post on page 2 of this General Training Discussions. He hits on a lot of what you are up against. its 10 weeks versus 12 weeks but pretty much the same challenge.

Good luck!!!

Jeff Braaten

Scott, happy to have met you at Lou. I was in the same place with Louisville my second race of the year following IMTX. I was in the advanced plan and didn't change anything other than taking a day off here and there if I just didn't want to workout. The toughest part for me was just the mental fatigue of continuing the workouts and the time it took from my family to do a second race. Louisville has ended up my best race yet but I won't do two in the same year again. You can carry the fitness to the next race but I wouldn't be worried about your performance if you take a few days off here and there for a mental recharge. Good luck.

Coach Rich

Scott, the money is still:

• Running frequency. Add 1-2 additional runs per week, assuming you can recover from them and your body can handle it.
• Running volume: let the frequency add that volume, then add 1-2 miles to a couple of your existing run. Not too difficult to increase your weekly run volume by 10+ miles/wk.
• FTP: my experimentation with high volume training says that, in the end, there's "no replacement for displacement." Big volume might make you faster but a higher FTP absolutely does make you faster. The money is still on FTP intervals and those 3-4hr rides with a lot of work vs the 5-6hr rides. Volume does work but, as Dave alluded to, when you're in the trenches doing it you really start to noodle the ROI on race day for the time spent doing it. I think increased running volume above is a higher ROI opportunity: add 10 miles to your running week only adds about 1:30 of training time but the pay off, I think, is better than an additional 1:30 of cycling.
• Body composition: truly the 5th sport of IM racing, after SBR, and race execution. Set goals, develop a plan, and hammer at it every day.

Al Truscott

Scott - here are my thoughts/2¢ on how to manage the next 12 weeks:

• Weeks 1-2: follow the EN "transition plan". You should know by now if your legs are going to have massive stiffness and/or soreness. If they do, stay away from running until week 2. If  your legs are feeling fatigued but not sore at this point, you can start with some easy runs this weekend, 20-40 minutes, and by middle of week 2, you may be ready to put a little effort - like some strides and an hour run - into it.

• Weeks 3-4: Intensity focus. Ideally, find a sprint or Oly tri to do each weekend within 1 hour driving range. That race counts for one swim, your bike intervals, and your run intervals and a brick. Don't taper for the race, in the sense of it's OK to do Friday's workout before a Sat race, or switch Friday swim to Sat before a Sunday race. Work on building a Thursday long run to 1.5 hours by week 4.

• Weeks 5-6: These will include the Aspen camp. I am going to STRONGLY encourage the campers to NOT do any rides longer than 4 hours. For the 3-4 hour rides, uphill portions @ a grade of 3-6 % should be @ a steady .8-.85 IF (adjusted for altitude), in the aerobars. These climbs range from 5-17 miles long. We'll do at least one day as a shorter uphill time trial, at .9-.95+ IF for 45 minutes.You'll need to decide if you want your days to be cycling only, or to be more of a Big Tri Week; I'll be doing the latter.

• Weeks 7-12: Follow the standard IM race prep plan, but don't sweat the 2.5 hour run in week 7; 2-2.25 is fine. As Rich notes, run frequency is preferable; with your previous IM Lou training as a base you don't need to kill yourself with multiple overly long runs.

scott dinhofer

@ Rich, I am very focused on body comp. i did IMAZ last year at 187, i bounced to the low 190s in the OS (too much good ski living) and got down to around 175 for IMKY, goal for IMAZ is 160-165, lower would be nice, but i have to be realistic... i know that in '12 i will be racing sub 160 body weight, i suspect that mid 150s is probably an ideal race weight and 160-165 is a good "walking around." one thing that tells me i am really on track with this is that my cholesterol # was my lowest i can remember in at least 15 years@ 183, can't ever being under 195.

@al - VERY good input! looking forward to Aspen in a few weeks!

@nate - Heading over to that post now

@Jeff - was awesome meeting you as well, as my second in-person encounter with ENers in person, i continue to be amazed by the awesome peeps in the haus! I felt the drain on the season in the last few weeks. daily workouts become challenging in the fall with shorter days, i am a morning person, but now it means doing workouts in the dark and starting long rides in the dark, that said, i enjoy the change in weather and look forward to losing the humidity... i probably have 7 hard weeks in that i have 10 weeks between IMKY recovery & starting this, take out the week i am in Aspen & the 2 week taper, it shouldn'tIM be bad... if it goes well, i am thinking about doing IMAZ as a 2nd event to IM MT next year (a week longer gap between those two than this year) I thought about Florida, but i think the weather there is much more variable than Tempe.