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Mike Westover Official Coach Thread
Coach P,
Congrats on the Kona race!
I’m in training for the NYC Marathon in 17 days, following the Marathon Balanced Advanced plan. I had the 20-mile run planned for last Sunday, but woke up that morning with shin pain (first time in 13 years) and decided to rest instead. X-rays indicate a stress reaction but not a fracture. The doc says to take another week of cross-training, and then if I can run without pain it’s fine to race.
A few questions:
1. What do you recommend for cross-training? Outseason-type bike intervals? Lower-intensity biking? Something other than cycling? It looks like any biking in the next few days would be indoors.
2. What approach would you take when starting to run again? Should I just follow the last week of the marathon plan?
3. If I race, how much should I adjust my race goals? My half marathon time (from Labor Day) and speedwork paces are right around where I was last fall when I ran 2:59 on a hilly course, and my plan had been to go for a 2:59 again. But I will be missing two weeks of training including the 20 miler, and I also had to cut the 18 mile run in week 19 short due to a cold. So while the other runs have gone fine, my longest run is 16 miles.
We can also discuss some of this on our call on Tuesday. Thanks!
Congrats on the Kona race!
I’m in training for the NYC Marathon in 17 days, following the Marathon Balanced Advanced plan. I had the 20-mile run planned for last Sunday, but woke up that morning with shin pain (first time in 13 years) and decided to rest instead. X-rays indicate a stress reaction but not a fracture. The doc says to take another week of cross-training, and then if I can run without pain it’s fine to race.
A few questions:
1. What do you recommend for cross-training? Outseason-type bike intervals? Lower-intensity biking? Something other than cycling? It looks like any biking in the next few days would be indoors.
2. What approach would you take when starting to run again? Should I just follow the last week of the marathon plan?
3. If I race, how much should I adjust my race goals? My half marathon time (from Labor Day) and speedwork paces are right around where I was last fall when I ran 2:59 on a hilly course, and my plan had been to go for a 2:59 again. But I will be missing two weeks of training including the 20 miler, and I also had to cut the 18 mile run in week 19 short due to a cold. So while the other runs have gone fine, my longest run is 16 miles.
We can also discuss some of this on our call on Tuesday. Thanks!
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Comments
At the end of the day you made the right call to listen to your body, now we move forward!
I am also thinking about running my town's half marathon on March 18 (4 weeks before Boston) if it won't disrupt training too much. I also like to give myself a little more recovery time between the biggest workouts and the marathon, so my thought is to move the marathon plan up two weeks, with the 20 miler 5 weeks out from Boston. Then I would have the half marathon 4 weeks out, a week of recovery, and then the last 3 weeks of the marathon plan.
The NYC Marathon went okay. Fortunately no injury issues during the race or since. The missed training showed, and I hobbled the last 5 miles to finish in 3:13. Still a BQ and not too bad considering with the missed training I only averaged 23 miles/week for the last 8 weeks.
@mike westover -
Here's your updated Season Plan, as promised. This is where you'll return to post all your "coach" questions as responses; I'll see them and reply. This first post is my best outline of how to proceed with your races, but you can ask any / all questions you want. So post away, know that I reply here usually M/W/F each week.
Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply.
Your Notes
Did the NYC Marathon on November 5th, using the Advanced Marathon Balanced plan. Missed two weeks of training at the end due to a lower leg stress reaction. No pain or issues with the leg since then.
Your Races
Main Race:
Season Update
These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won’t complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on the Training Plan page by clicking the Move / Change button. Learn more about each plan on the Training Plan Central Page.
Coach Notes
I don't want you getting too serious with the Marathon training until we hit mid-January (12 weeks to go); until then I want you on the Run Durability Plan, and yes riding a trainer (Can you dig it) to do some hard interval work while your run is just steady.
Goal here would be to get you back up to 5-6 runs a week, all steady in the 7:20 to 7:40 range just chilling. You'd have one quality run a week otherwise you are building the engine.
Ok to do some core strength here and even a bit of upper body strength: Shoulder Press, Bench, Seated Rows, Back Exensions and Kneeling Cable Chop...these are good to do 2x a week.
Let me know what you think and let's get to work!
~ Coach P
Starting to plan for after Boston. I just got in through the lottery for RAMROD (1-day cycling event with 150 miles, 10,000' climbing) on July 26, so I guess I know what's next! It is not a race and I have no particular time goal, but want to get in shape to enjoy myself as much as possible. The challenge is that I have been 100% focused on Boston recently, so I will need to rebuild bike fitness in a hurry. I also want to keep running for durability, looking to move back toward running races in the late summer and fall.
I am thinking about something like:
What do you think? Am I crazy to think this is do-able?
I like the idea of the bike focus plan, but I think you and I should check in before you started in case you were still not ready to handle the intensity. As you noted, you have a few weekends were you can do some volume on the bike to quickly wrap your fitness up, so we always have that in our back pocket.
Here's your updated Season Plan, as promised. This is where you'll return to post all your "coach" questions as responses; I'll see them and reply. This first post is my best outline of how to proceed with your races, but you can ask any / all questions you want. So post away, know that I reply here usually Monday & Friday each week.
Power User Tip: Click the Star icon by the Title of this thread to subscribe, and you'll get email updates when I do reply.
Coach Notes
Your Races
Season Update
These are your recommended training plans, including the date you should start each one (sometimes you won’t complete a full plan but transition to another one). You can change your plans on within Final Surge by clicking on the Training Plans > View My Plans. If you need help manipulating your plans in Final Surge, be sure to check out our Help Site. Remember, you can learn more about each plan and find related plan resources on the Plan Descriptions and Resources page.
> Transition Early <
Your Notes
2016: IM Canada 11:26, Seattle Marathon 2:59
2017: Second kid / less time for training, NY Marathon 3:13
2018: Boston 3:13, RAMROD (150-mile ride) in July, trail race in Sept
2019: Short course focus, only 3 hours/week training until August but managed 2nd overall in a sprint. Training for Seattle half marathon December 1Was averaging 10 miles/week running and 3x/week hard biking this year until August. Since then have been ramping up running, now at 30-35 miles/week (plus one short bike workout per week) on the balanced half marathon plan. Half marathon race is December 1.
For next year, I may do 1-2 half marathons early in the year, and then will focus on short course. Planning on a sprint duathlon in late April, then several sprint tris in June/July/August.
Goals for next year are:
1. Run - consistent 20-25 mpw baseline. March half marathon time 1:25, maybe less (was 1:23 from 2016-2018). Sub-19 sprint tri 5k
2. Bike - raise FTP from 230 back up to 250+, and work on holding that for 30-40 minute race efforts
3. Swim - would love to go from 2:10/100y wetsuit to under 2:00. But my focus is still more on the bike and run
4. Don't get sick! Maybe more dream than reality with a toddler in day care
Let's get to work!
~ Coach P