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Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please!
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| General Discussion | Triathlon Talk » Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! | Rss Feed  |
 2009-07-29 4:59 PM |
Extreme Veteran  580  |  Subject: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please!I am training for IMFL (this will be my first) and I have a couple of questions about modifying my training plan as the hours ramp up. As it is, I follow Don Fink’s plan, but I move things around to fit my schedule and my life. I always attempt to keep the purpose of the workout intact (interval, pace work, long, brick, etc) and to be mindful of how I schedule my more intense workouts. For example, Don Fink has you swim 3x/wk for 1 hour each. I swim 2x/wk for 1.5 hours each. Both total 3 hours. I am not worried about this as I have done all of my tri swim training this way. Another example, I will modify a bike (shorten or lengthen 15-30 minutes) to make it fit into my schedule (1 hour lunch break). Usually, I take 15 minutes off a workout during the week and add it to either another mid-week workout or the weekend. At the end of the week I have logged the hours prescribed and gotten the benefits the workouts as intended (I think!). I am looking ahead at what is to come and it is clear to me that as the hours ramp up I am going to have to do more shifting than I have in the past. I do all of my mid-week training before work and at lunch at the gym at my office. I try not to workout at night at all. I have 2 young boys and I work full time so evening hours are precious, plus I am up bright and early to train so I go to bed fairly early. I do my long runs during the week before work and my long ride/brick on Saturday or Sunday. I try to take one of the weekend days as a rest day so I have an uninterrupted day with my family. As my long runs build to three hours I will probably have to modify that for a couple of weeks (by doing a long run on Sunday), but I will manage that when the time comes. Otherwise, I am going to keep waking up super early during the week. I do most of my running before work and I do all of my cycling (except my long ride) on a spinner at the gym at lunch as to not have to ride my bike in the dark. I have a trainer at home and use it in a pinch. I know that I have read that keeping your long workouts in tact is important and I never short change those. Ok, so with all of that said, here is an example week per the plan and how I would change it. Do you see any big issues with what I have laid out below? Plan: Mon – REST Modified for my life: Mon – Swim: 1:30 ; Bike: 1:00 Essentially, what I have done is rearranged some of the workouts, combined the swim workouts, and made all bike times during the week 1:00 or less (my lunch break). My gut feel is that I will be ok (e.g. still appropriately prepared) with this approach, but I am curious to see what you all (with much more experience!) think of my plan. Technically, I could do some of the biking at night on the trainer to make it uninterrupted time, but I just am not sure if it is so significant that it is worth wrecking havoc on my schedule. I appreciate the feedback! Edited by irondreams 2009-07-29 5:00 PM |
| 2009-07-29 5:21 PM in reply to: #2316006 |
Champion 10471   Dallas, TX | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! Hopefully a coach will chime in here! I don't have anything to add... other than I have taken the same philosophy for fitting the 26-weeks to a Half Ironman Training Plan from the "Training Plans for Multisport Athletes" book.  I just look at the totals each week for each discipline and fit it into my schedule... without changing the long rides/runs. |
| 2009-07-29 6:35 PM in reply to: #2316006 |
Master 2411 Goodyear, AZ | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! I am so glad you asked this question, it has been on my mind too as I train for IMAZ, and I am in the same boat with work, family etc. I was also wondering if breaking up a ride (say a 2 hour ride into 2x 1 hour rides) is a good idea or if I need to just get up super early to do the 2 hours at once. I do have a coach and get a monthly training plan from him as well as talking with him at least once per week. He is Ok with me mixing up the week day training to fit in around work and family life but always lets me know which are the key workouts (or breakthrough workouts as they are called in some plans). He wants me to be fairly consistent in getting the long ride on the weekend (which it looks like you are doing also) and when my plan calls for something with high intensity/race pace, he wants me fresh for it and recovered before another intense workout. I have also been sticking to doing the same activity on the same day each week, just because it seems more fair for my family. |
| 2009-07-29 7:51 PM in reply to: #2316006 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! irondreams - 2009-07-29 6:59 PM Modified for my life: Mon – Swim: 1:30 ; Bike: 1:00 The first concern that I would have is that there is no indication of intensity with these workouts so it is hard to get a handle of how exactly this will work from a training load/recovery stand point. However, some general thoughts: * Your long run and ride are the bread and butter workouts for Ironman; as such I would separate them if at all possible so that you have at least one day between them * I would skip the mid-week brick and just ride instead of a :45 bike/:15 run * Not sure if the Saturday brick is a normal occurance but except for a couple of race simulations, I would instead do a long ride and then run in the evening on a regular basis * I would bump up the Thursday ride to an hour as well * Since your week day bike rides are short you are going to want to get some solid intensity in these rides (i.e. hill repeats, ride steady at HIM effort, 2x15-20' at 1 hour effort, 4-6x5' fast with 3' easy spin between) * The general structure should alternate hard days and easy days so with a Saturday or Sunday long ride, I would use Tue/Thurs as the other hard days (and one of these would have your long run) * I know you wanted to leave Sunday (or Saturday depending on the week) free but if possible I would do a short 30 minute run in the morning or evening if you can make it work. Good luck, Shane |
| 2009-07-29 7:57 PM in reply to: #2316140 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! riorio - 2009-07-29 8:35 PM I am so glad you asked this question, it has been on my mind too as I train for IMAZ, and I am in the same boat with work, family etc. I was also wondering if breaking up a ride (say a 2 hour ride into 2x 1 hour rides) is a good idea or if I need to just get up super early to do the 2 hours at once. I do have a coach and get a monthly training plan from him as well as talking with him at least once per week. He is Ok with me mixing up the week day training to fit in around work and family life but always lets me know which are the key workouts (or breakthrough workouts as they are called in some plans). He wants me to be fairly consistent in getting the long ride on the weekend (which it looks like you are doing also) and when my plan calls for something with high intensity/race pace, he wants me fresh for it and recovered before another intense workout. I have also been sticking to doing the same activity on the same day each week, just because it seems more fair for my family. For the first bolded section I would say that you should discuss this with your coach. For the second bolded section, IMO if you are paying a coach to develop a plan for you, these are the things that you should be discussing with your coach so that they can develop a plan for you based on your family/work schedule. That way your coach is developing workouts based around the time you have to train and you don't have to modify them so that you can attempt to address the purpose of the workout. The more info/feedback you can provide your coach, the more effective the training plan will be. Shane |
| 2009-07-29 8:11 PM in reply to: #2316229 |
Extreme Veteran 580 | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! gsmacleod - 2009-07-29 7:51 PM irondreams - 2009-07-29 6:59 PM The first concern that I would have is that there is no indication of intensity with these workouts so it is hard to get a handle of how exactly this will work from a training load/recovery stand point. Thanks, Shane! I have a couple of follow up comments/questions. Each workout has a specified intensity, I just didn't post all of the information. So, yes I am riding Z2 come days, 100+ RPM other days, and Z4 intervals other days. I always try to separate high intensity days. On your comments: *I do separate my long run (usually T or Th) from my long ride (usually Sat) *Plan has both a mid-week brick and a weekend brick, but I understand that there are various schools of thoughts on bricks *The Thurs ride in this example was 0:45 to reach the 18 hours specified for that week of training *As noted above, the weekly rides each have specific purpose *If I run on Sunday, do I not take a rest day? Thanks again for taking the time to respond! I really appreciate it! |
| 2009-07-29 8:29 PM in reply to: #2316265 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! irondreams - 2009-07-29 10:11 PM Thanks, Shane! I have a couple of follow up comments/questions. Each workout has a specified intensity, I just didn't post all of the information. So, yes I am riding Z2 come days, 100+ RPM other days, and Z4 intervals other days. I always try to separate high intensity days. On your comments: *I do separate my long run (usually T or Th) from my long ride (usually Sat) *Plan has both a mid-week brick and a weekend brick, but I understand that there are various schools of thoughts on bricks *The Thurs ride in this example was 0:45 to reach the 18 hours specified for that week of training *As noted above, the weekly rides each have specific purpose *If I run on Sunday, do I not take a rest day? Thanks again for taking the time to respond! I really appreciate it! The separation of the two long workouts is great; you had them listed Fri/Sat so I mentioned trying to separate them if possible. For the bricks, while there are valid reasons to do them (practice transition, race simulation, to squeeze in some extra run volume, you enjoy them ) you would likely be better served by getting a solid bike workout in as opposed to a short bike/short run brick.Yes, no rest day The Sunday workout would be light and easy but IMO a 30' run on Sunday would be more beneficial than the 15' run off the bike that I cut out of your plan.Shane |
| 2009-07-29 8:54 PM in reply to: #2316006 |
Extreme Veteran 580 | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! Shane - this is great feedback, thank you! |
| 2009-07-30 7:24 AM in reply to: #2316327 |
Champion 9407 Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! irondreams - 2009-07-29 10:54 PM I do enjoy bricks and frankly, I am all about time management and getting it all in during one session is helpful. The problem is that except for things like race simulations, you are likely getting less value out of your 5:00/1:15 brick than you would from a 5:00 ride in the morning and a 1:15 run in the evening. Another note, I would rarely, if ever, run more than an hour off the bike. So, when, if ever, do you suggest rest days? When you need them or when life dictates. Best of luck with your training, Shane |
| 2009-07-30 7:40 AM in reply to: #2316006 |
Champion 7558 Albuquerque, New Mexico | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! I'll preface this with "I am not a coach." From a cardio-vascular or calorie in/calorie out balance, two 1-hour rides is the same as one 2-hour ride. Now if you're training for an event that is less than an hour, I'd be more inclined to do the two shorter rides. Since you're training for an event with significantly longer duration, I'd make sure that I keep enough 2-hour rides in the schedule to be ready for the longer training rides and race. For me, that might mean skipping a 1-hour run one week to get a 2-hour ride in rather than a 1+1. I might do the 2-hour ride two weeks out of three but weather also plays a factor. I'll take the 1+1 if the weather doesn't really make a 2-hour ride practical. I'm all for adding time to a session if it still fits with the rest of life and won't significantly affect later training. |
| 2009-07-30 8:15 AM in reply to: #2316006 |
Master 3546 Millersville, MD | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! Just wanted to encourage you to KEEP your sunday family/rest day. Yeah you might get some benefit out of going to 7 days a week, but I can hear in your original post how important that balance is... and even if it's only a half hour run (which will take an hour out of your life by the time you get ready and get cleaned up)... it sounds like it's important to you and possibly to your family emotionally to have a day devoted to them. Another encouragement - you CAN squeeze those long runs in on a weekday morning. You might have to get up at some god forsaken time, but you can do it. Plan it out so you get to bed early the night before, and get up at 4:00AM, or 3:00AM if necessary, and bang out those 3 hours. An IM plan should have very few 3+ hour runs in it anyway as far as I'm concerned, but that's between you and your coach. I had a few 3 hour runs in my self coached half iron training (wouldn't do that again based on my experience and my increasing focus on total weekly/monthly training stress (as opposed to obsessing about individual workouts)... every single one of them was done on a tuesday morning before work (and I catch a 6:22AM train to work). Yeah it was tough, but it let me keep my long ride on saturdays and gave me Sunday's off for family and church responsibilities. More about training philosophy - I have no problem with you knocking 15 minutes off a workout and adding it somewhere else. I think you'll have a better IM experience if you run for 2 hours twice a week (with a couple other short runs mixed in) than if you run for 3 hours once per week. More volume total with less recovery time needed. And it's so much easier to find time for a 2 hour workout in any given day than it is to find time for a 3 hour workout. Same thing applies to the bike in my opinion, though the recovery need is usually less there... and I think there is some importance in terms of mental toughness and saddle/fanny contact to learn to ride LONG. Swimming is the exception - focus on technique and by the time you do that the fitness will be there. Don't just swim thousands of yards reinforcing bad form... you won't get much faster at all. Edited by JoshKaptur 2009-07-30 8:20 AM |
 2009-07-31 9:40 AM in reply to: #2316006 |
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| 2009-07-31 9:51 AM in reply to: #2316006 |
| Pro 4608 Brooklyn, NY | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! I've had to make modifications too, I think we all do. Luckily I have a coach so I will ask him to do it for me so I still get the maximum benefit. I second squeezing the long run in on a weekday morning. It's no fun but it's so great to get it out of the way so you can keep that weekend day for your family. I'm in my 25th week of IM training and I have experienced some incredible mental highs and lows and feel that personal time becomes more and more important each day. Someone else commented on the longer ride vs two short rides. I think that's really important because IM training isn't just about logging the hours for hours sake, it's about preparing your body to endure through fatigue and you need the longer sessions to help do that. Lastly, you should really try to do more biking on your trainer than a spin bike. It's simply not the same and you may find yourself feeling it come race day. The bike is a critical part of the race and can make or break your run. Maybe you could do your trainer ride in the morning and run at lunch instead? Good luck, sounds like you have the right attitude about training balanced with life! |
| 2009-07-31 10:15 AM in reply to: #2316006 |
| Extreme Veteran 580 | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! Thank you for the feedback, everyone! I feel like re-arranging training is a dirty little secret. We all do it but we just don't talk about it I figure, if I had a coach, I would have laid out my life schedule and he would have planned accordingly. I am simply taking a generic plan and modifying it to fit me (hey, whatever makes me feel better, right?), just like a coach would (except I am not one!).I think what gives me the most heartburn is the brick /no brick issue and the length of my long run. Don Fink's plan has you brick 2x/wk. One short brick during the week and a long brick on the w/e, building to a 6 hour ride, 1 hour run. The long run builds from 1:30 (right now) to 2:00 and stays at 2:00 / 2:15 until late September/early October where is builds over three weeks to 3:00 hours before the taper. These 2 areas seem to be the ones with the most differences of opinion on the most prudent way to structure these workouts. Thanks again for the great advice! |
| 2009-07-31 10:21 AM in reply to: #2319304 |
| Extreme Veteran 580 | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! LazyMarathoner - 2009-07-31 9:51 AM I've had to make modifications too, I think we all do. Luckily I have a coach so I will ask him to do it for me so I still get the maximum benefit. I second squeezing the long run in on a weekday morning. It's no fun but it's so great to get it out of the way so you can keep that weekend day for your family. I'm in my 25th week of IM training and I have experienced some incredible mental highs and lows and feel that personal time becomes more and more important each day. Someone else commented on the longer ride vs two short rides. I think that's really important because IM training isn't just about logging the hours for hours sake, it's about preparing your body to endure through fatigue and you need the longer sessions to help do that. Lastly, you should really try to do more biking on your trainer than a spin bike. It's simply not the same and you may find yourself feeling it come race day. The bike is a critical part of the race and can make or break your run. Maybe you could do your trainer ride in the morning and run at lunch instead? Good luck, sounds like you have the right attitude about training balanced with life! Thanks! Right now I do my long runs (up tp 2 hours) in the mornings and will likely continue as the hours build. I agree that personal time is very important! As far as the spin bike vs trainer, I agree that it is different, but since I do all of my long rides on the road on my bike, I feel like I am still ok because I am getting the most important ride in on my bike where I stay aero the entire ride. I have the spinner set up as close as possible to my normal position. Your idea to do the trainer in the morning and run at lunch is a good one though and I might try to incorporate that on occassion. |
| 2009-07-31 10:30 AM in reply to: #2319396 |
| Pro 4608 Brooklyn, NY | Subject: RE: Rearranging IM training plan to fit daily life - feedback please! irondreams - 2009-07-31 11:15 AM Thank you for the feedback, everyone! I feel like re-arranging training is a dirty little secret. We all do it but we just don't talk about it I figure, if I had a coach, I would have laid out my life schedule and he would have planned accordingly. I am simply taking a generic plan and modifying it to fit me (hey, whatever makes me feel better, right?), just like a coach would (except I am not one!).I think what gives me the most heartburn is the brick /no brick issue and the length of my long run. Don Fink's plan has you brick 2x/wk. One short brick during the week and a long brick on the w/e, building to a 6 hour ride, 1 hour run. The long run builds from 1:30 (right now) to 2:00 and stays at 2:00 / 2:15 until late September/early October where is builds over three weeks to 3:00 hours before the taper. These 2 areas seem to be the ones with the most differences of opinion on the most prudent way to structure these workouts. Thanks again for the great advice! I do just one brick per week and it's always long. The run is a minimum of 5 miles and I've gone up to a maximum of 7 miles done after a 114 mile ride. My rides are generally 75+ at this point. Back when I first started my rides were more like 50/60 and the run ranged from 3-5 miles. I think some people do a short transition run more than once/week where they do maybe 15 minutes, but rather than do that I've just had one substantial brick and been totally fine. I have 1-2 other days where I run and bike in the same day but not back to back. |
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