Ironman Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 29)

dxc0162 - 2012-01-28 10:23 PM I think I am in big trouble here with my training. We got one guy already out for a 28 mile run and klassman going out for a 115 mile  bike ride. Am I way off on my training schedule?  Damn, I was hoping to work in a 10 mile run and hopefully a 25 mile bike ride tomorrow if my body will allow it and these guys are out doing some very serious distance.  Are these guys doing the normal thing or are they way ahead of this? Please let me know.

Doug -- Don't go by what I do or what I say.  The most I've ever trained for is a half Ironman distance.  My plan certainly didn't call for that many miles but I had the opportunity.  My father in law offered to do a sleepover and Star Wars marathon with all four of my kids.  As a result, my wife and I took him up on it and each had "free time" during the afternoon.  I liken it to how others are doing some things that are off their plans but generally good for fitness like a mountain bike ride or a long hike.

My best advice, which I'm trying hard to follow, is to pick a plan and follow it and then don't beat yourself up if you diverge here and there.

thanks klassman,

I am impressed on you ride. The longest I have ever biked in a day is a 107. I am only using my trainer due to the weather and roads here in NY. I find an hour on the trainer right now to be my quitting point. I am hoping to get a 25 mile ride in later this evening after I recover a bit from my run. At times i feel like we have a lot of time to prepare before July and then when I hear others talk about there training and distances I get that panic attack like I'm behind. I have a plan and seem to be fine with it. I can't wait until I can bike that far. Really motivating to read what you and others are doing. Keep it up!

crappy weekend of training, but often work just gets in the way...

I did get to try the spinnerval hill workout today, though (and swam 2500M after doing nothing on big saturday...sigh).

coach Troy had me doing HILLS-a little over an hour on the trainer

Warmup-10 minutes

First-long slow incline:

 2x8minutes simulating a 5% grade by using the big chain ring/15 (and 16  for soft me -at a cadence of 75ish followed by easy spinning x 4 minutes (small chain ring/15)

Second-Rollers

begin at big chain ring/21 at a cadence of ~100 to simulate going down the hill-stay aero/tucked; high turnover then every 10-15 seconds he goes bigger-down the cassette>19>17>15>14>13>12 pushing as best as you can, with cadence dropping-of course and punishing the legs; down and up the cassette three times then easy spinning for a couple minutes---4 reps

Third-Big Short Hill Climb

4x30 sec then 10 seconds; big chain ring/12 cadence ~65 (for me)-steady power then stand and climb for the last 10 seconds hard up the hill; rest 1 minute easy spinning....

cooldown

ouch

I'm having a glass of cabernet , dinner and going to sleep.

Happy training all!

BTW Kent I really enjoyed reading your blog. You must have absorbed some writing skills from your wife...

I believe that bike is about 6000' for the 112 miles.  Considering I live in NY near Bear Mtn, I have plenty of opportunity for climbing.

I'm not too sure about the run.

Good luck with the training!

I've seen lots of varying data.  On the low range I've seen the 112 mile Bike reported as 5200 feet of total climbing.  On the high-end, just over 7.000 feet for 112 miles.  I think the general consensus is that it's around 3100 to 3200 feet per 56 miles - so around 6300 feet of gain total. 

The run data I've seen is between 600 and 800 feet total for the 26.2 miles. 

Again, I see the course as three distinct sections of climbing per loop on the Bike, and two (short) distinct secions on the Run - per loop.  Very doable.

I need some help from seasoned riders. I have ridden one centrury ride, several 50 mile rides and too many 20-30 mile rides but tonight is the first time I have pedaled non-stop for an entire hour. No coasting, no resting.... just pedaling at 90rpm for 60 min.

This was on my trainer and I found it much harder than any long ride I have done on actual roads. It wasn't hard due to boredom, I wasn't really bored but just ancy to get off and stop pedaling.

I know I plan on spending close to 7 hours on the bike at Lake Placid but I assume I will not be pedaling the whole time. What should I expect? Do you all pedal non stop or take breaks while on the trainer?

dxc0162 - 2012-01-28 10:23 PM I think I am in big trouble here with my training. We got one guy already out for a 28 mile run and klassman going out for a 115 mile  bike ride. Am I way off on my training schedule?  Damn, I was hoping to work in a 10 mile run and hopefully a 25 mile bike ride tomorrow if my body will allow it and these guys are out doing some very serious distance.  Are these guys doing the normal thing or are they way ahead of this? Please let me know.

Are you following a plan?  I hope you say yes.  If so, forget what every single other person is doing.  Stick to the plan.  Seriously you really cannot compare.  Plans and goals are VERY different.  Some plans are higher intensity, lower volume, others the reverse.  Whatever you're doing just trust the plan.  If you're winging it, well, then I'd find a plan.  

Yeah the Trainer is brutal.  BRUTAL.  For me, an honest hour effort of non-stop pedalling on the trainer (18.5 to 19 trainer miles) equals the same effort (physical and mental effort) I would exert on  a gently rolling 40-mile ride outside. 

As JeNN  mentioned, hopefully you have a 'Plan'.  Perhaps we don't always follow the plan to a T - but it's a good guide.  And when we wander and get lost and all crap starts going haywire, we realize it's cause we stopped following our plan and we're quick to jump back onto the Yellow Brick Road, which is a Plan leading us to the 140.6 Wizard - Mike Reilly.      

Right now my 'Cycle Plan' is following Jorge's Winter Bike Plan.  He has some tough intervals and occasionally I do stop at the end of an interval, or once in a while if the lactic acid builds up painfully high - or if I need to get my heartrate down - I will stop for One Minute, just to let the body reset.  So, for me, probably half my trainer rides I end up stopping once or twice for a minute if not to use the bathroom, fiddle with my fan, or to tend to a screaming child.   

Oh, which reminds me of the Trainer checklist:  You MUST have a large fan roughly 24 to 30" from your direct face.    You need some type of stimualtion such as a TV screen, Radio Blasting, magazine, movie playing on a laptop;  if you just stare at a wall you're a sadomasochist. 

I must say, the Winters where I spend consistent time on the trainer, my Spring cycling is much-much better. 

Fully agree with the above, follow YOUR plan, that will be the key to YOUR success.

If you don't have a plan, then go find a plan NOW !

5 Weeks into Don Fink's Iron Fit and I love it!!!

The routine of the workouts makes themm very easy to schedule

Plus the swim workouts may be limited but I did #33 for the 3rd time in 5 weeks today and say my

12x100 times drop from mid 1:40's to mid 1:30's my body is going through changes

I LOVE IT!!!

Outstanding work Jeremy!!

The one knock I've heard about the Iron Fit Plan (before I chose to use it last year) was the Swim Workouts were not varied and boring.  However, I found this too be the exact opposite!! I love the Iron Fit Swim workouts.  I find they vary a lot and I love the added straight endurance swims.  I do admittedly shorten up some of the 16 X 25 intervals to 8 X 50; and do replace the drills section with a straight pull bouy set , but I always get in the full distance as layed out.    

As DC has mentioned, I'll take the break as needed.  If my HR is too high going into the next session or my legs just have too much build up, take that extra minute and let the rest really count.  When out on the open road, there might be places where you can pedal non-stop for 40 miles and thats awesome.  I've never treated trainer miles logged the same as open road miles, just no comparing them in my book...

During the LP bike course, I don't expect to be cycling the complete 112 miles.  This is my first IM distance event and want to enjoy the race, even if that means coasting / minimal pedaling through every aid station on the bike course which is every ten miles if i recall. 

I would think it is at least fair to say there is 7 miles (14 for 2 loops) on the decent into Kenne where you do not have to pedal if you did not want to. Whats everyone else think?

thanks for the responses....

I do have a plan, i do have a fan, i do like green eggs and ham..... 

I am using a computrainer and have been doing my middle distance rides using the lake placid course. I just can't coast on the computrainer as i have to pedal to make forward progress.  since i am new to this an hour non stop feels so different that outdoors.

again thanks for the input everyone.

Thanks for mentioning this DC, I'm also also wondering about bike training in terms of climbing.  Thinking ahead, but for long rides would it be a good idea to get in that 6000-7000 ft of climbing, then finish out the rest of the ride?  Total miles covered may be lower, but I'll be able to feel what the climbing is like.  Or maximize saddle time and train for the distance?  Not ignoring the hills but logging more miles compared to gain.

Just worried that if i train for the hills, i'll have more confidence in them but won't be logging long mile rides (even if out for 5-6 hours).  Or just do 1 weekend as a long ride with LP gain incorporated, and the next as not as many hills, more mileage oriented.

I like that idea of switching out the drills to pull bouy sets, I think I'll try that.  Thanks!

I have to stand up and stretch at regular intervals, every 15-20 minutes, for about a minute and it refreshes me.  I find mental blocks just before halfway through workout and last 15 minutes I fight to get through.  Trainer is hard, but that continuous pedalling adds up quickly and you are getting a big bang for your buck (time spent).

I am following the same plan--noticed the same thing as well. In the competitive plan, he adds bricks to long runs on weekends. I know a few other of the known training gurus, including coaches at Endurance Nation, have gotten rid of the long weekend brick. Here is their blog giving reason why they chose this (and I tend to agree with their view point being an amateur here):

http://www.endurancenation.us/blog/training/rethinking-the-value-of-the-brick-run-for-long-course-triathlon/

My concern with the Fink plan is that, at least so far, it seems way more heavy on the run versus the bike. I know eventually the bike hours edge up, but  3 x 1 hour runs per week seems a little much for me, and this continues for the whole plan (with the long run getting longer of course). I would think once the interval runs begin, maybe shorten the run time a bit? But they don't.

Thirdly, I am training via HR zones as described by Fink. I have not done a true HR max test (and I think I should); so I am using estimated calculations. I am having the hardest time getting my HR to Z2 for both the bike and run. I feel like I am pressing way too hard to get my heart rate up--isn't Z2 supposed to be relatively easy workload? Anyone with good suggestions on how to do a max HR test for bike/run that won't take me out for the rest of the days training?

Happy training all!

The Run test I did before starting all this I found on BT forum ( http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=633 ).  All the tests are pretty straight forward and worked well for me.  Hard part was finding a spot to be able to ride -hard- for 30 min nonstop so a trainer may be able to work for this also.

I'm following the Fink competitive plan.  A few things... after having done IM Louisville, I wished I had done more run training, so as for this being weighted a bit more heavily to the run, I think we'll all be happy about it come race day.  Also, the length of the weekday and Sunday runs really levels off a good bit with only small incremental jumps until we get to the peak phase .  I think that you'll find that you become very accustomed to 1 hour runs and they'll no longer be too much.

As for pushing to get to Z2, it seems that your zones are off if they are that difficult.  Until you do a threshold test why not just use RPE.  What I'll be doing to check my HR zones, I believe, will be a threshold test on the Tuesday following the recovery weeks.  It is a time when I'll be well rested and ready to push a bit.  As this test is only 30 minutes it really shouldn't take you out of other training.