Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 135)

So pleased you are getting back 'on it'.  That's the way!  Ironman spirit!  sorry your race turned out that way.  funny I was checking the results yesterday and I thought your number was 94 - well good for you - you won that age group!  Then I re-checked, no 95.  dammit!

I started my Fink HIM training today - I'm 21weeks out from my next HIM so I just jumped into Finks Just to Finish program at that point, it's lighter than I have just come off coz it's kind of the beginning.  Did a 30min run in Z2 today - actually did 36 mins as i needed to finish the lap of the park so that was 5.8km and I was happy.

Swim squad tonight - no doubt 3km....as usual.

That really is unfortunate about the course changes.  You know I can relate and it does take the wind out of your sails after all the buildup to that one day.  It sounds like you made the best of it though and had a pretty good run.  Sometimes things are just not meant to be but the longer harder journey will make crossing the finish line all the sweeter.  You are a tough cookie and I am thrilled to hear you signed up for Chelanman.

I did the Olympic there a few years ago and would have gone back if I wasn't committed to Vineman which is a week later.  I think the course will actually play out very well for you.  The swim there is one of the most enjoyable I have ever done.  The water is so clear and fresh it actually tasted good in your mouth.  There is a line under the water connecting the buoys so you don't really have to sight.  You can keep your head down and just go.  Water temps should be pretty good too.  Also, there are the primary turn buoys and then intermediate buoys along the way.  I asked the RD if you could swim to the inside of these.  He said yes, just go around the main turn ones.  Had a free lane to myself just to the inside of the sighting rope.

The bike is an out and back followed by a loop.  The out and back is relatively flat with a few rollers.  The loop drops down to the Columbia River and than a long climb back up.  Other than that climb its pretty fast and you get the long descent to rest up before heading back up.

You should have a great run as the run course is also pretty flat and if anything it might be a bit warm but you are used to that.  Crowd support and organization of the race are great.  You will have a blast.  It is one of my favorite events and I really wish I could be there.

Ran the Seattle Marathon saturday and had a good day.  Ran strong and on goal pace until 22 miles and than my joints started to ache.  Walked/trotted in from there to save the wear and tear but had a lot of fun and was very pleased to get to 22 as well as I did.  The most amazing thing was I felt so good the next day that I rode just over 19 miles in an hour.  Will swim today and maybe do a short run.  Five weeks before my next IM.

Congrats on the swim and HM! I know others think differently but I personally find ocean swimming much easier and more enjoyable than lake swims. I think the additional buoyancy makes swimming easier. Is your race in the ocean as well? You do need to be ready to deal with variable conditions--currents can switch directions and gain/lose strength even between waves in a tri start, or during a swim leg. It can be hard to judge conditions if it's not familiar waters--sometimes things look calm but it can still be a difficult swim (i.e. deep, slow offshore currents), or look awful but actually aren't that bad if you keep calm (high surface swells).

I am still concerned about my OWS issues in my last "race". Unfortunately I don't have many opportunities to do supervised OWS with other people before my next race. I'm a strong swimmer, body-surfed in Hawaii for hours at a time, and have placed well in tropical ocean swims, but really don't enjoy cold water swims in the swtsuit and the bad experience last week didn't help.

My race is actually in a lake.  But there is an OWS society that puts on practice swims in the ocean, so I figured--if I can deal with that, I can deal with a lake.  I have done several lake swims as well though.  I should be able to get a couple more of the ocean swims in prior to my race. 

Yeah, bad experiences can definitely make it difficult for your next swim if you can't find a way to practice.  Could you even just get in the water a couple times and swim along shore with a spotter?

5 weeks - getting close!  It's an exciting time, some big training weeks ahead and some nice tapering.  Glad your bike improved - my next HIM is 20 weeks away on Sunday so it's time to train again.  I'm going to hit the ground running and jump in to a hard program - either Fink Intermediate or Competitive up to the HIM on the plan.  I've got the base so don't want to go back to the start of doing 5 - 6 hours a week.

Bike is my focus this time.  Swimming - well squad continues 3x a week 3km a time.  Running is 3 x a week - just do what it says on the plan.  It's the bike that is my issue - Time in the Saddle most important as well as some bike handling.

Picking up the Trek tomorrow so will be hitting the track next weekend for aerobar acclimatisation!  Still also need to practice bidon handoff etc.  Excited to be getting back into it.  4 weeks break was plenty!  Am sooooo over winter!

Let me know how the Fink plan works.  I will also be way more competitive going into my next HIM next June/July.  I am looking for a plan that will help me to improve on the HIM time that I will post in 5 weeks.  Never too early to look ahead, right!

All the Fink plans I've seen are for full IM.  I'm interested to find out where your starting in his plan as he has a full 10 weeks of building that would be a huge decrease in volume from our current fitness levels.

I will have a huge amount of time between my events, (10 mo's), and I do not know how to go about training volumes over the winter/early spring prior to starting new plan.  I do want to take some time off, but do not want to lose gains make going into next year, not sure how to handle this.  Any thoughts BT?

Last big workout tonight, before taper starts next week.  Rode 56 miles in 3 hrs 10 mins and then did a 20 minute run.  Sub three hour bike was totally doable in race conditions without traffic intersections - although, this ride was on really flat roads and Lake Stevens will not be so kind.   I was more interested in a final check on nutrition and hydration - I think I have it dialed-in. 

I have a 20oz bottle with a double dose of Infinit and a 20oz bottle of water.  My Garmin alarm goes off every 15 minutes and I take a swig of Infinit and a swig of water. I also have either a Shot Blok serving or a gel every hour.  Seems to be working well, will be able to add more water when I have bottle exchanges at the race. I felt really good off the bike and settled into a really comfortable 9:15 pace on the run - hopefully will be able to pick that up quite a bit with some race adrenaline.

Spent all day Sunday at Ironman Coeur d'Alene, watching and volunteering... AMAZING!!!  Signed up on Monday for 2013... All In!

Once you volunteer it's inevitable!  Welcome to the crazy scary world of knowing you're doing an IM next year!  Time's flying by!

Haven't gotten it all into a calendar/diary format yet to see what it looks like.  I think I'll put Fink Just to Finish side by side with Intermediate and then with BT Beginner Plan next to that.  Then see what looks doable and most advantageous! 

Picked up the Trek - I am in love it's just beautiful.  Shame it's still  winter and raining here in Oz.  Roll on summer!  In the meantime the Trek will be replacing the Giant on the drainer!

That's a great ride! Good to have things figured out.  what a confidence builder for Lake Stevens.  Excited for you.

Way to pull the trigger on Coeur D'Alene.  I watched my professor finish there this year.  It was his 4th.  What a rush. 

So I'm in bike focus week, and since I knew starting the week I'd be heading out of town Friday afternoon and not getting back until sometime Sunday, I decided to get all the biking done by this morning.  And of course I overdid it a bit.  Here's what I did for the week:

Mon: 40 mile ride, 19.0 pace

Tues: 60 mike bike, 18.0 pace

Wed: 40 mile bike, 18.0 pace; 1 mile swim

Thurs: 35 mile bike, 17.5 pace; 6 mile run

Fri: 25 mile bike, 17.5 pace

Once I got to 140 miles on Wednesday, I figured I might as well try for 200 if it was possible, and it was!  My legs still feel like they could ride more, but I don't want to be on the seat for a couple days.  I'll probably do one short run and possibly swim since I still need another 30 minutes on each of those, but since the schedule calls for 7.5 hours on the bike and I did 11, I figure it's ok if I don't do get to those.

Also, for those of you who somehow are still dealing with winterlike weather, yesterday's entire ride was in 100 degree heat.  The week started with 78 degree weather and it's just gone up every day, but as I told a friend who said I'm crazy, at least the bike creates wind.

Wow--wish you were here to bike with me!  Eugene is a real running town and there's an active master's swim scene but finding people to bike with is hard. Our tri club no longer does group rides for some reason. I'm hoping to do a 48 mile ride (closer to 56 if I ride to the meeting point and back) tomorrow with a local bike club. Supposedly, the leader goes 12-15 mph and it's no drop, which I'm guessing means it's all guys, the leader  goes 18-20, and I'm finding my own way back to town after I die. Whatever--will carry a county map!

Just not happy with my biking. No matter how much/hard I do it, I just suck. 43/55 in the du bike leg is pretty bad. I chug past most people on uphills without working too hard, then they pass me back on flats and downhills like I'm standing still. I think it's that I'm starting from nothing as opposed to years and years of base in running and plenty of technique and conditioning as a kid and teen in swimming. Still convinced that my body type places me at a disadvantage for bike speed/power. I don't see many top pros that are 5'7" and 115-120. Marathoners, yes. Bikers and triathletes, no.  I know strength isn't supposed to be a factor in endurance events yada yada but have to wonder--maybe it is in someone my size!

I did a hard 51 mile ride Wednesday on my favorite route--a smoothly paved bike trail with only a few road crossings and one long, well-graded hill (about 3 miles) so faster than the du course and averaged 18 mph. Which would get me.....maybe next to last in a local race. Ugh!

On the plus side, it looks like I'm going to be able to buy the (red!) Trek 1.5 that I've borrowed, which will give me something reliable to train and race on when I'm home.  It's a very comfortable fit and faster than my 1.2--not saying much but I need all the help I can get!

Well, survived the ride. I think there were four or five women and twnety guys, the leaders went about 22-24 mph, but we split pretty early on into two groups. Way behind the lead pack but the slow group was considerably slower, so I ended up in the gap. They had given turn directions to anyone who wanted them so I didn't get lost. Eventually three of us in the "gap" between groups converged (I caught one guy on a long hill and then we caught up to someone ahead) and we finished the last half of the ride together sharing lead duties. About 18 mph for the open road part of the ride--not bad. So ready for a rest day tomorrow.

Just finished reading Chrissie Wellington's book--I was able to grab it just as it was being put on the new book shelf at the library!  Really enjoyed it--esp. funny to know she also struggled with being a klutz and space cadet.  Just loved what she said about never knowing if your legs will be waiting for you in your transition bag in T2!

mshawgo-

Those are some serious miles.  I looked back at my logs, and i only managed 110 miles during bike week.  I am now inbetween week 4-3, and am inserting second bike week, and only have about 170 miles this time around.  If I were you, I would be really happy with my bike, and expecting good things for HIM.  You'll do well.

HR- 

Good to hear that it went well.  You'll do more than just "hang in there" on race day.  With your background, your setting up real nice for a great HIM.

I got in a brick workout to wrap up recovery week.  I rode 27 miles at a 17.6 mph pace followed by a 6.2 mile run at a 7:57/mi pace.  My goal pace for race is 16-17mph on bike and 8:00/mi on run.  It's good to finally be able to set some goals heading into this thing.  I'm not so unsure of my abilities now, and feel like I'm only at the tip of the iceburg really.  Looking forward to this race and beyond.

After a couple of false starts today is the beginning of Fink Intermediate (to take me up to 20 week's time, HIM)

Today is 45min run and swim squad tonight - I think his swim drills are only an hour but I'm sticking with my squad which is between an hour and an hour and a half, depending how I feel!

The 45min run was good, though my lower back is a bit tight - figure I'll give it a good stretch before squad.

In an effort to ward off cramps in the pool I'm drinking my water today and I've eaten pretty healthily and taken my magnesium.  fingers crossed!  I will have a GU half an hour before see if that helps.

I know I'm not doing the Beginner 1/2 IM training this time but I like this group and I'm not leaving!

Hey everyone. I'm starting week 7 of 16 of my training. My week 6 totals were 4200m swim, 47m bike, and 17m run. This week should have a higher bike and run. Anyone mind letting me know how this might compare to your week 6 results? I'm getting a bit nervous about the tri. Individually I dont think I will have a problem. But adding it together makes me worried a bit to be able to jog the whole run.

Also, anyone doing the Big Kahuna half IM in September in Santa Cruz? Would be cool if anyone was. Let me know.

Happy training!

Welcome Tracy and Jaegee!

Still training for my first HIM after a weather-related fiasco nixed my first one (the sorry tale is in a previous post from last week). I'm a strong runner and swimmer but really struggle with the bike. In my last "race" I felt my run was quite weak for me, even though the bike was shorter than planned (29 instead of 58 miles due to snow/sleet at upper elevations) and I attribute that mostly to pushing the bike pace too hard on a fairly tough course at nearly 5000 ft. elevation. 

Tracy: I think you need to experiment in training to find a pace that allows you to still do a strong run afterward. In training I've found I can average about 26-27 kph (about 16-17 mph) and still have a strong 6-mile brick run after; any faster and the run is much slower/more difficult.  I'm physically capable of riding the HIM distance at 29 kph (18 mph) but my run then suffers.  So I think it's just a matter of finding a realistic pace/effort level and having the discipline to stick to it regardless of what others are doing. I find it difficult as, like you, this involves much of the field blowing by me, some of them by too much to make up on the run.

That being said, I guess one needs to do some stand-alone rides at faster than planned race pace, and some harder bike intervals, to push back the "realistic" pace, once the goal becomes not simply finishing the HIM but improving performance.

Jaegee: Can't advise as I didn't follow the program that closely at the beginning! You might note that many who haved done first HIM with the program think it is a bit light on bike mileage, esp. for slower riders. For example, someone who follows the program to the letter and rides less than 18-19 mph on long rides (i.e. me!) would never actually bike the race distance by following this plan!

Welcome Tracy and JaeGee.  Based on advice from others, I have upped the bike portion of my training in the past few weeks. 

I am now just under 4 weeks out from my HIM and I have a bike question.  My longest ride is 82km (just this past Sunday).  My HIM is point to point, so the bike leg is 94km, rather than 90 (59mi rather than 56).  I figure with tapering, I really only have 1.5, maybe 2 more weeks of 'training'.  So, do you think it will be better for me to get that last long ride in to get up to 94km, or would it be better for me to do several harder/hillier rides?  My race is relatively hilly and at a higher altitude than I have been training at.