SWBKRUN Mentor Group-"Off Season?" What is that?!! (Page 34)

Page 4 isn't as conveniently opened on my second monitor...and can't be resorted...and page 4 is missing some people...if you don't want it just say so - you don't have to a butt about it. JK.

And Sunday beer is out because I have to head to my son's baseball tourney - I'm missing all of Saturday's games for the race.  Although Saturday night should be construed to mean anytime after 10am Saturday morning.

Barry, I definitely wouldn't "wing it!"  If you are going to wing it (which happens!  Life throws curveballs.) be CERTAIN not to miss or wing your long works on the weekends.  Use a schedule for this.  These are crucial....

I am however a hypocrit (sp?).... I haven't looked at a schedule in a couple years.... I just GO FORWARD!!

Sorrry...

I guess I just rely on instinct, and knowledge?

Edited by swbkrun 2009-05-01 12:21 AM

Suzy, I agree with you ( i think).  Maybe I am saying or approaching it wrong.  I can't get a personal coach...out of the question.  I am wondering if I should abandon a strenuous 3200 yd swim workout for a 1000 yd plan workout?  I am not whipped after the masters workout.  Same goes for the group rides...should I forego a good group ride for a shorter plan ride? 

Do you think you BQ'd because it was time and you had put in the work, or because of your Coach and the plan?  It looks to me like these plans are really basic, and my primary question is ... will the volume get me there if i put in the work? I know from looking at your logs that all your run workouts are very detailed and that has gotten you where you are, but these free plans look volume based without much detail. 

I have got to give this some thought pretty quickly and get on with it ... thanks

Hey Bary

Answer to blue question: Those that have done HIM/IM's before are better at answering this question, but I struggled with this issue to some degree last year.  I wanted to keep running at the same volume while adding biking and swimming. I wanted to keep my speed for my other running races so cranked out 60-mpw.  IMO, it cheats your tri training.  You are never as fresh for the other key workouts because you have done in your case 3200y swims or big rides.  The key is putting them together. Do I think you need to back off all the way from 3200 to 1000, no, but if you dont, I think you will be a good swimmer and a good biker, but might not be as good a triathlete.  I hope that makes sense.  Finding the right plan is a challenge, but worth it.  I saw your post on the regular forum, maybe ask the "what plan" question or up your membership to Gold and ask Mike Ricci from D3 for help.  Pretty cheap and you can ask unlimited questions.

Answer to yellow question: The coach and the plan he developed was what got me the BQ.  I put in the right amount of work, not too much or too little based on his brainpower.  I am sure I could have BQ'ed earlier, if I had him earlier.

By the way, Steve can wing it.  He has years of volume and experience behind him.  Read his intro, he has basically been doing triathlon since he came out of the womb!  Most of us in this group, are still trying to figure out if the zipper goes in the back or front of our wetsuit .

Suzy

Hey Barry, not an answer for you but some info - what I did.  Last year was my first year doing triathlons - please read "I DO NOT HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE".  I did a HIM at the end of the season last year and did "ok".  I followed one of the BT plans.  And excluding the "issues life throws at you" I followed it.  Hiring a coach is not really an option for me right now, so the end of last year I upgraded my BT membership to gold (I think) to get more training plans and the online coaching support.  I'm in a wierd situation with 3 "main" races this year, each building for my big race at the end of the season, all realted to one another, but weird timing.  I have been able to talk with them (the coaches) and get their input and suggestions about altering plans, focusing on one sport (I am a very weak on the bike), and working all of it around my weird schedule.  Not a lot of $ out of pocket, but a lot of very good insight and support.    

I have done some reading and there is a science to these training plans.  I know you must rest on "rest days" and can alter workouts within the training week, but should not put the long days right together.  But I don't know enough to answer your questions....hence, I did the online coaching   

I follow a plan but when a group ride, century, TT, Sprint, marathon, etc is scheduled I just include it in the training.   If the event is a bit less than my scheduled day I don't add to it because if I am racing I will go harder than anything else I will do in my training plan.  If it is over the planned training so much the better, but I also look at my week.  If I have a cycling race or running race I will replace my tempo ride/run with the race since I am getting the same type of workout done just might not be the distance or time I am supposed to do.

Again though I am not doing a HIM and am way overtrained for the sprints and Olympics that I do so maybe take my advice with a grain of salt.

OH NO!!! BigReub   That came across all wrong.  I asked a coworker to read it and she smacked me in the back of the head and used a word other than "butt".  Sorry man!  Thanks for the xls!! 

Good morning all...Nice swim this morning, going to run at lunch, and hit the bike hard this weekend. Bought some shnazzy new tires, so I'm going to throw them on.(Vittoria Rubino Pro) Bought the blue to match the bike.

So whats everyone got planned this weekend? Who is racing???

35K Time Trial this weekend for me.  Should be interesting.

5 or 10 k race.  haven't decided yet but after last weeks miserable performance i'm think 5 again.  followed by another 5 post race. 

Suzy, Linda, and Tony...Thanks for the feedback.  Seems like a gold membership might be worth the $$ to get a little feeback from someone that knows.  Like Tony is saying...maybe substitute some of my group training in for the actual workouts of the plan and either dial them back or modify them when needed.  Got to focus on some running though as soon as my foot can handle it. 

Suzy...as I was reading your post, I was kind of luke warm with what you were saying until I got to the wetsuit part...you didn't have to throw that it  Realizing that there is alot to learn here...and maybe a good coach can cover the correct way to put on a wetsuit . 

Thank God it's Friday!

Whew! Finally got caught up on the reading, now if Ican just remember what I've read

Good luck on the 5k today Jeremy! You can do it!!!

Training plans- I really like the BT silver member plans because they do give really detailed workouts, which have given me a lot more improvement than just volume based plans. I do rearrange days quite a bit to fit my schedule, and if I have a race or group training I handle it the same as Dalessit. Of course, I'm just now training for my first HIM, and haven't been too good about getting my planned training in the last few weeks so I'm certainly no expert.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

I'll be running Bloomsday on Sunday with you Cadmus! Well, us and 40,000 others

My wife and I were talking about the coaching aspect last night.

Last year I went 100% on a BT plan, followed every workout, no variation

This year I am going with a BT plan but substituting group rides, 1/2 and full marathon training for runnnig and bike workouts where applicable.  Obviously the run training will be at a much greater volume than what is needed for a 10k in a tri but just makes me faster.  Also every plan I have seen uses basically 3 types of runs, short, tempo/speed and long, so I just subsitute the running plan runs for those days that match up.

I have notice that I have gone over some hump in my training where I have gotten significantly faster on the run/bike/swim than I was before.  Not sure why but that is just what happened for me, while not fast probably compared to many, compared to my last year training I have gotten much faster.

Next year probably won't do a BT plan but will work with a coach to develop a plan for us that gets modified as we get faster or need more training in a specific area.  That is the issue with a static plan, it doesn't change even if you get faster, hoping that the coach will help with that.

  Yep the wetsuit is a whole new beast. I bought one last week, never havent put one on before. It'll takesome getting used to for sure.

Tony    What are you using for the MCM?  

Suzy  had a coach for Boston

Anyone else using marathon specific programs like Hal Higdon?  I used Hal in the past.  Starting to think about something for Houston in January.


Edited by fattyfatfat 2009-05-01 9:40 AM

Umm Roni...Its May 1. Don't you owe us a new bikini picture?

I really like the runnersworld.com plans.  You punch in your time from a previous race, miles you run, how long you want the plan to be, what day you want to do your long run on and a few other variables and it spits out a plan based on projected times.

Kind of like using the mcmillian running calculator but it puts a whole plan around it.

So instead of the BT plans that say run for 60 minutes Z1-Z2 they give you run 4 miles @ 10:02/pace which I like much better, makes you run to pace instead of heart rate.

I'll let you know Saturday afternoon if "winging" it can get you through a HIM!!!!    For the most part, my life has not allowed me to follow too tight of a training schedule, so I have winged my training for the past 2 years.  Tomorrow's race is more of a test of my endurance and mental training.  However, I recognize that I'm at that point where I need to take the next step to improve, whether that be coaches or following a tighter training plan.  Also, I am toying with the idea of doing a marathon at the end of the season and if I commit I will get a good plan for that.

April wasn't a great month for me, other than the marathon on the 4th (I'm still smiling about that ). It's a new month, and I'm ready to get back to it! Really need to if I hope to survive Boise! 

April's Totals:

Bike: 13h 35m 43s - 191.05 Mi

Run: 12h 50m 06s - 72.65 Mi 

Swim: 3h 56m 50s - 11600 Yd

Come up and do MCM or OBX in your state,  I will be running MCM and drinking while wife does OBX.

So here is the game plan for Saturday.  These are conservative times - given my sickness and lack of training this month - but I am ready to ROCK AND ROLL!!!!

Swim:  (1.2miles) = 45minutes
T1: = 5 minutes (don't know what the distance is from water to bike, plus I suck here)
Bike:  (56 miles) = 3 hours - 17mph average, this all depends on the headwinds - it is a flat course
T2:  2 minutes
Run: (13.1 miles) = 2:15 - 10:30min/mile pace

Total Goal: 6:07   so well say under 6:15.  

I will take the UNDER....You're hardcore baby!! I'm guessing just under 6hrs. You'll be in the run, You'll look at your watch with 1 mile to go. You'll see 5:48 at that time. You'll then realize "HOLY SHIAT" i can do this under 6hrs. You'll pump out the last mile in 9 minutes, and finish in 5:57......You'll see. Your that good girl.

Dude, I'm an Army brat, I can't do the Marine Corp Marathon.  "HOOA" not "Semper Fi."   But I am considering the OBX.  Do you have a place to stay yet?

We're staying with a group of friends that are all going down to do the race, they have a big house on the beach.

SWEET!!!  You break six I'll buy you a new "shower puff spong thingy".   I actually had to google that to find out what its really called!  LOL!!!

Ain't Ready for the Marines Yet