Ed Croucher Season Planning
It was great to see you yesterday. I watched your Face Book video on season planning today. It of course got me thinking. I have signed up for 2 races so far. I am doing Eagleman in June and Ironman Maryland at the end of September. I am pretty set on my training plan for Eagleman. I intend to add a lot of swimming. I have a couple of bumps leading to the end of September Ironman. I will most likely be assigned to the New York State Fair detail for the last two weeks of August. That limits my bike rides to max of 2 hours during those weeks. Fortunately, I can get a big block of running and swimming done during that time. I was thinking about a big bike week/camp the week of August 11 - 16. This is right before that detail. Something like you mentioned during the Face Book video. I would like your thoughts on the placement of a big week with these schedule hiccups in mind.
Comments
@Edwin Croucher - A great to see you as well. I agree, doing a bigger bike focus the week before the detail would be perfect. During that time we have to remember to drop down the run volume a bit just to make room for additional running in the next week and all the cycling you want to do.
The mistake most people make is to not reduce the running a little while they increase the bike dramatically. In your case we want to look to affectively double your average weekly mileage from the prior six weeks, my guess is somewhere in the 400 to 450 mile range.
@Coach Patrick , The weekend following the NYS Fair is Ironman Lake Placid 70.3 and I will be there from Thursday thru Sunday. This is 20 days before Ironman Maryland. Which would be more beneficial to IMMD, racing the 70.3 or just doing a big volume weekend?
@Edwin Croucher Super hard to say. It depends on what your summer will look like....if you have been able to go big on the bike then going fast is great (aka racing a half). If you haven't been able to go long, then you've likely been off the bike or ABPing it, in which case the Volume would be a better tool.
Any sense of what history has shown will happen? Or big life events happening?
Thanks!
~ Coach P
@Coach Patrick Well, the three weeks prior to LP 70.3, will have some long work hours. We have the State Fair and Woodstock details. So, I will approach that time as I did last year where I kept my run frequency & volume fairly high, 35+ miles and hit 1 hour bike workouts. Here in April, I am planning on a volume week leading into that period. What I don't have this year is the mid summer Ironman. I really feel that big day setup my success at Maryland. The recovery period was new. If I can get some big volume rides and a run early in August I think that will give me the big fitness boost and not require so much recovery. June is going to be a great month. I am racing two 70.3 events and plan to lay it all out for each of those races. The second race is Tupper Lake. Our family vacation starts that day in Lake Placid. I will be swimming big every day. There will be two or three quality rides of 50 - 60 miles and some light running. That should have me in a very good place to focus on Maryland. Thursday prior to Lake Placid 70.3 we have rented a house. If the plan is volume, I would try for a big ride Thursday, 150 miles or more. I would ride the IMLP course on Friday. Swim Friday Saturday and run long Sunday. If I plan to race, I would treat it as a race rehearsal but really push my paces.
Thanks
I think your tentative plan sounds good. Even though you don’t have in midseason Iron Man, that doesn’t mean you can’t build a Fitness you need. In fact, you might need to dial that long ride back a bit if required.
The best way to tell is go back and take a look at your TrainingPeaks and what your numbers were leading into that Iron Man last year. Given how consistent you have been, my guess is that you will be at or slightly better than those numbers by the same time this year.