ADollar79's Group--closed and in the base building phase! (Page 3)

Seriously, you're giving us homework?  It's way too early for that! 

Yes.  Now sit down before I send you to the principal's office

(or I stayed out too late and forgot to find resources as promised )

Sounds like a much more productive night than mine.  I wrapped Christmas presents and sat in BT Chat all night.  Geez, no wonder I'm single...that's probably the dorkiest comment I could come up with.

Nah....I spend plenty of nights like that.  BT chat is where you REALLY learn things. 

Because I really need to learn more about the hoo haas we were talking about yesterday

haha

Lynne, I know you can do it!  You just did a 10K last weekend.  Really what's another 2K?  Even if you walked that 2K, it'd max be another half an hour.  You've done tris that go longer than that.

Does the race site give any indication of a race pace?  That might help you determine where you'll be in the pack.  Since it's a walk/run, I'd imagine it will be more relaxed than what you experienced last week.  The 1/2 mary that I did in Oct stressed that the course would be closed based on a 12:30 mi pace, but the course was open for well over four hours. 

And I wouldn't worry about being last.  If it's a great race for you, then who cares where you are in the pack?  Do what you can at a pace where you won't injure yourself.  I have no doubt that you're capable of doing the full 12K.  But it really comes down to how you feel, have you recovered from the 10K and the injury from last week?  If you're truly concerned about it, I say decide on race day. 

Oh the old legs feel fine, but I tell ya all last Sunday I laid on the couch and moaned all day...ouch the old thighs were certainly burning. I am going to warm up properly this time!!!! I just check the race results from last year and there are plenty of people that took 2 hours to finish it.  So I guess no worries. I'll just go and have fun.  

Yay!!!  We'll be cheerin' for ya!

Good question John.  I hope I read it correctly and this makes sense (I am working on the fly today). 

I would recommend aligning the Oly plan with your "A" race.  You don't want to peak too early and then miss the opportunity to have a kick a$$ race.  What I typically do if I have multiple plans running during my season (like marathon and ironman....ugh...thanks for reminding me) is to identify some of the workouts that I really enjoyed and repeat those during the lag times. 

So you have a couple of choices.  You could take your current training and hold a 2-3 week pattern to extend your couch to sprint plan by an extra 2-3 weeks (just repeat a few moderate weeks).  Or when the couch to sprint plan ends, you can work to maintain your base by devising your own plan for 2-3 weeks (yes, you can do that).  I would recommend the latter.  I would look to see how you feel when  you finish the first plan.  If you feel great, then I would drop the training down about 10-15% before kicking off the next plan.  If you are stuggling, then drop it 25-30%. 

What I do a lot of times is print off the plans and identify key workouts that I really like (these are usually swim are bike intervals).  I have a chart of good workouts that I keep handy for the off season or lag periods.  I can just go to those and throw together a light training week...using it both as a base building and recovery.

As far as your races, you will be slightly over trained for your sprints...but that is ok.  Of course the other thing you COULD do is build in taper and recovery weeks around your sprints thus making the sprint to oly plan 14-15 weeks long.  I doubt this would interfere too much with you trying to peak for your Oly (so long as you don't need too much recovery time).  It depends on if you would rather race your sprints on slightly tired legs while maintaining your Oly plan...or if you want to have fresh legs for those races and alter your Oly plan.  (there really isn't a finite answer).   If the Oly is truly your "A" race and the one you really care about, then I would opt for the lowering training during the lag time and kicking off the Oly plan with a strong base. 

Does this make sense?  And did this answer your question???

By that

Lynne it is all in your head.  Go out and enjoy the run.  Don't push it too hard....keep it as a nice easy training day. 

And when you are running, don't worry about how many are in front of you....how many are behind you....just think that YOU are out there and that there are millions in bed who couldn't do that to save their lives.  The finish line is your goal!!!

Drew--

The first thing you need to do is identify which race is your "A" race...which one do you really care about....which one do you want to train for.   I would probably choose the Hivee Oly...since it is a longer distance. 

If you select one of the BT plans, I would just back into a start date that is 16(?) weeks from the race.  For a late June race that is probably mid-March.  You should strive to maintain and build some basic fitness between now and then.  Take a look at the plan and see how much you will be doing the first week.  Are you trained for that yet?  If not, then that is what you work on between now and then.  I would suspect that the plan will start with about 4-5 days of training and about 10 hours on the week. 

You will be fine for your sprints.  As I mentioned to John, you will be slightly overtrained.  You will probably want to alter the plan to include and extra day or two of very light training both before and after the sprints.  Recovery is HUGE!  You will have the base and you can gut it out for an 75 minutes or so.  

In terms of the rest of the season, you are kinda all over the board with a century and half marathon.  There is not a plan out there for your challenges outside the motto of run and ride lots.   If you feel good after your Oly....then you are half way there in the running and 25% there on the bike.  Your weekends will need to become long rides and long runs. 

I would probably look into a Oly to Half Ironman plan for some general structure.  It will slowly build your running and biking volume.  I wouldn't focus on the swim volume but work to just maintain your current base. 

What I love about training plans is that while they are written for everyone in a one size fits all mold, they are easily customizable.  You can add mileage to just about any plan.  But keep in mind the 10% rule.  In order to slowly build and stay injury free...you should only add 10% more each week.  So if you are running 20 miles a week....don't jump to 30.  Jump to 22-23...it is safer that way.  The same with biking (though you can fudge a bit).  Bike 20 miles one weekend....then 25-30. 

Think through how you want your season to evolve and what your priorities are and we can go from there.....

There is no definitive answer.  Racing is good because it helps sets benchmarks.  The key to B & C races is to NOT race them at 100%....you take them a bit easier and try to enjoy them more (thats really tough when you are competitive).

Personally, I like to race about once a month.  That seems to be a good rule of thumb that works for me.  Every 4-5 weeks gives me time to focus on my limiting factors from the previous race.  For instance, if I race an Oly and struggled on the run...maybe I need longer runs or more bricks.  I will focus on that area while maintaining/building the bike and swim in preparation for the next race. 

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I wil take a look at your plan when I get back to the office so that I can print it out and give it more delicate attention. 

Ok....back in the ATL and time to get back on track!!!

Anyone have an exciting weekend?  Mine sucked a big one was ok.  That was seriously one of the most emotionally draining weekends I have ever had.  And to make matters worse, I had horrible workouts.  UGH!!!

I promise to find some nutrition info for you all that is much shorter than the hammer chronicle download.  I still believe it is one of the best reads out there but some of it is just a bit technical. 

So to kick it off the week....who uses any type of nutrition when you train?  What has worked, what hasn't, what are you curious about?  When do you use it? 

Also, is anyone using a heart rate monitor in training???