Ironman Worries
Hi to all that are more EN experienced than I am --- This is my second season with EN but my first IM year with EN. I am slightly concerned that I am not working enough (I know, I should not be saying this.....) for an Ironman in June (CDA). Can anyone please reassure me that by following the EN Outseason plan (without any additions) and then starting the IM plan in Feb I will be fine..... or should I really be adding workouts that are not on the plan about now.... Thanks to all who are willing to give me guidance! Lisa
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Lisa-
Hi! I'm not in your OS group, just lurking. But I hear the fear. Believe me. You will be ready. I am starting 2nd OS after 2nd race season with OS. Meaning I did my first iron race with EN, without the benefit of an OS, just taking their training plan on faith. I was slow and plodded through 16 weeks of EN prescribed training. I think I did better than I could have hoped. Bike mechanicals leading to nutrition lapses made me slow, but I was thrilled to make it.
Doing quick calc looking at a calendar- you are at week 9 of OS.
Week 20 puts you at 3/22. From there you have at least 12 weeks to IM (11 weeks if IM is 6/5, 13 weeks if it's 6/19, etc). You can talk to the coaches, but believe me, the distance will come quickly in the IM plan, and you will not have a problem. Folks here in the frozen NE went to CA camp last year. With indoor rides of no longer than 1 hour, they were able to knock out 6 hour rides and all said it was no problem.
All newbies have been there- the fear. "Everyone outside EN is going loooong now". Just think how many SAUs they are burning and how much they will hate their bikes by June! Follow EN and you will make it!
Best of luck.
Lisa,
This is my first OS on the EN plan but I have noticed that I am getting a lot stronger that when I trained for my first IM in 2004. I did a lot of the LSD training and that's what I was, long and slow at IM. I also got some overuse injuries by ramping up my running to fast along with some other first time errors.
To add to what has been said RnP have 12 and 20 week IM plans. I believe what I read was...the less experience you have the sooner they like to transition you in the IM plan around 12-14 weeks. See Rich's wiki post on this here:
http://endurancenation.us.dnnmax.co...ining+Plan
and discussion on a thread here:
http://endurancenation.us.dnnmax.co...fault.aspx
So for me on the beginner OS I should transition to the IM Plans earlier than the more experienced people. The down side to this early transition is less time in the OS and this is where the biggest gains to your fitness will be. So depending on your experience I'd say 12-20 weeks. Rich has an post in the training forum
Also if you are in a better climate than me you can use the long saturday bike workout (2:30 option on my beginner plan) and this will help your transition in to the IM plans. I would not recommend this on the trainer though. I did a couple 4-6 hour rides and they are mentally draining.
As for the run I see a couple of 1:15 and 1:30 runs on the beginner plan ( I purchased the plan before joining so I can see all 20 of the OS). You don't really want to be running over 2-2:30 for the most part due to recovery anyway.
The only exception that I could think of is if you are very new to or can't swim 2.4 miles. Then you might want to think about swimming some ASAP. For me I swam 1:31 in 2004 and have not been to the pool since before my last race almost 3 years ago.
If you have any further concerns post a new thread in the "General Training Discussion forum" and you will be more likely to get RnP's response.
Gordon
Lisa,
Have faith. You will be fine. EN's foundation is in it's plans and the results they have produced.
IMLP was my first IM and I just trusted I was in good hands with the coaches and the community. I never ran more than 13.1 miles prior to training for IMLP. There were a few people outside of EN that gave me funny looks when I told them I was doing an Ironman and had never run a marathon.
Dave
I am in the same position as you, with a November OS plan and IM CDA 2010 as my A race. As many have said before, I am keeping the faith and following the plan.
The two EN dudes, with their hip talk and koolaid drinking followers, seem to know what they are doing, so I will stick to the plan, add little or nothing to it other than weight lifting and swimming, and trust that things will unfold as advertised.
I can feel the additional speed and strength seeping into these old bones, and trust that the far will come around when those two EN dudes tell me the time is right as well.
Please pass me some more of that koolaid - I've got a mess of 30/30s to knock out today!
RnP are not running this so people can show up unprepared and fail. You know our team results over all. Saying this with a *smile--but talk to me when you are in the last 8 weeks of the training plan and let me know if you think you're not working hard enough. With three weeks to go, check in and let us know if you think you're "ready." It's not even January. Chill mentally in the OS, but work your butt off doing ALL the workouts at 100%. Make sure your transition out of the plan is where it should be, and let the fretting rest. Put that energy into being as productive as you can in the workouts at hand.
Hey guys,
No worries about CDA. I remember asking myself the same thing last year. Prior to EN, in the summer of last year, I was doing Joel Fries pre-pre Ironman workouts. When I switched to EN for the in October, the volume and time went way down. Yet the quality of the smaller workouts went way up. By sticking to the plan, I was able to do CDA, my first IM, and my 7 triathlon ever, in 13 some hours. So have faifth and play the patience game. You will love to learn that philosophy, right up through the race. Keep up the good work!
Greg
Lisa and Al, I'll see you at IMCDA. I'm sipping the kool-aid sparingly although the EN philosophy makes a lot of sense to me. IMCDA will be #2 for me, but I'll be laying it out there for a Kona spot even though I judge my odds to be only 1 in 3. If I blow up, it's my fault, and I'll follow the plan more closely for IMAZ. That said, my training volume is down a little from last year when I was on my own.
Meanwhile, I finally re-caulked the tub that the wife has been asking for the past 4 years...picked up some major SAUs for that. And I bought her a new refridgerator today. I'm in the black now!
Nicely done Paul!!!!
Folks -- Rich has fired up a "history of EN" thread over here that answers a lot of these fears as well...
I'll post over there today...
P
Lisa-
Quick testimonial....
IMCDA 2009 was my 4th time at the distance and 1st time with EN. I came into OS in November of 08 after having not done a lot after IMCanada in 2008 (August). Not only did I feel better prepared coming into the actual IM training because of the OS I also managed to PR at IMCDA09 by 27 minutes AND went UNDER 12 hours for first time AND ran the whole marathon!
It works.....just keep drinking!
Hey Lisa!
Short answer--yes, you will be fine doing what is prescibed. Sample size of 1 (moi), but that's what I did my first year and I PR'd by 95'. But I hear clearly what you're saying.
That said, the extra stuff around here falls into a few different categories, as I see it:
1. The extra challenge stuff that the coaches throw in for fun. As a self-coached athlete, one has to decide whether it's smart to participate or not. Some people are in non-IM years, and can easily work those things in. Others can absorb a lot of work so it's not a problem for them. Someone like me, however, has to tread carefully. Adding some of those challenges would put me in the hospital. I have learned to play it smart after an overload that burned me out last year.
2. Epic weeks/weekends. The coaches have ways of helping people factor those into the plan and recover after. It's at one's peril not to do the recovery part.
3. Extra stuff we, personally, throw in as part of the leeway of being self-coached. For me, I do a bit of swimming 1-2x/week. But what I do you can't even call "training"--about 1300-1500m of EZ swimming and drills for the most part. It's mental health for me. But the past two weeks the OS has been kicking my butt, so I haven't gotten in. In general, throwing in "extra" stuff like that doesn't much to the load. It's more to keep a feel than training.
4. Then there's the extra stuff people do around here in the course of the season that I do not get at all. Never have. In the past few years there have been a select few who have veered so far off the course of EN training that it didn't even look like EN training. Some did SO much more running AND riding AND racing than I have ever heard RnP even come close to recommending in building up to an IM. Some have burned out and moved on, some injured as a result. I truly, truly don't get why people do that at all. But it is a self-coached scenario, and sometimes you can't save people from themselves.
(Been there, I know.) Others just feel they know better. But in the end, the people who have done the big time extras with no real time to recover...it's bitten 99% of them in the ass.
Read Rich's Elephant in the Room post. That's a good one.
I'm lurking- so I hope you Nov peeps don't mind if I butt in for just a sec. Lisa- you've gotten great advice from everyone in this thread. Linda's points about the extra challenge stuff is spot on. The thing you have to remember is that everyone here is coming into the haus with different backgrounds, different goals, and different limitations. It's up to each of us as self-coached athletes to review and understand the guidance that R&P have given us and then figure out how to apply that to our own circumstances (with the help of others in the haus of course!)
It's really easy/tempting with all the many different challenges, camps, and reports of cool stuff that folks throw out there to get caught up in the excitement and think that your EN peers are doing it all. We are not! We are picking and choosing when to participate and how much- based on what other things are going on in our training & life.
So, to give you another tangible example. I start the Jan OS on Monday. With my injury history- I know that I have to maintain some PT exercises and work on flexibility. The 100 pushup challenge was a little "kick start" for me to get back in a routine of getting down on the floor 3 times a week to do some of that work. Nothing big here- just maintenance stuff I can do at home (minimal time investment- maybe 2 hours extra per week total). For both my mental health and for flexibility, I will also get back to my yoga practice. That's another 2 hours a week in addition to the OS plan. Finally, I'm a slow swimmer- I could use lots of technique improvement. But I won't start swimming regularly until April (I have a Half IM planned for June)- and even then it's just gonna be drill work.
So that's me. But I'm not you. What you need start thinking about is specifically what is it you think you need to "add" to the plan and WHY do you think you need it? Formulate that specific question and after mulling it over yourself (considering the basic guidelines and principals R&P have laid out for us all)- put it out there for the rest of us to look at and help you with.
And just ask Patrick and I for help or advice if you need it.. Seriously.