Newbz'z summer mentor group is FULL!!!! (Page 39)

I agree with David.  You can def do the HM in Dec.  You can check out Runners World for some plans they usuall have them in 16 week plans which you obviously have more time than that.  After you look at one of their plans you can get an idea of how they work and adapt your own plan if you like.

But just as David said, make sure you do it correctly or you might injure yourself.  I am the voice of experience in this category......trust me.  Make sure you use the recovery weeks.

Good for you, jp.  I'm doing the same thing (HM, this fall).  Good luck.

And, good luck in your tri, this weekend!

Pretty crappy workout week for me so far.  My girlfriend kindly gave me her chest cold.  Thought I was in the clear, but evidently not.  Going to the red sox game tonight, probably not doing much of a workout if I can fit it in at all.  If the rest of the week works out:

Wednesday:  run 3.5 / swim 1:00
Thursday:      Bike 1.5 hrs/ Swim 1:00
Friday:           run 3 / bike 1:00
Saturday:      Bike 3:00 / run 5 miles

the first thing to do is find one that fits in with your goals, and your life.

hal higdon, runners world, or jack daniels all have good plans that are slightly diff.
but all good.

i know higdon has a LOT of diff plans for all distances and lifestyles.

yeah, I followed the Jack Daniels plan for awhile, but couldn't keep up...I kept running out of Coke.

ETA: HA! beat everyone to that lame joke

Edited by jsiegs 2010-05-11 10:08 AM

hahahahahahaha.

we're endurance athletes here...it should be jack and diet.

Thanks for the advice.  Another questions: The hIM is certainly not flat, but much less hilly than what's around me.  So would it be better to do the ride in the hills or I have the ability to drive a ways and do a copmletely flat course (with probable winds)?  The hills around me are too big to put an even effort out (too high going up, spin out going down), which is my only issue with riding hills.  Theoretically, an even power output in the flats would correlate to even power output on rollers if I do my gearing right.  Any thoughts on where I should ride? (and i'm not sure where to go that actually mimics the course over 70-80 miles).

Thanks!

I think one of the most important things to consider (and often most overlooked) when picking a running program is your running base.  Some programs are meant for people with smaller bases...and some are meant for people who have been running 20-25 mpw for 1-2 years.  If you build a strong base between now and August, you should be able to pick almost any plan you want...but if your base is below 10-15 mpw for 3 months leading into a 16 week program, then you may need to make your own adjustments to ease into the program.

Always better do less than a program requires, than to do the program exactly when your body isn't ready for it.

It seems like it has rained almost every day herein Michigan.  I just had to resort to the dreadmill.  3.3mile easy aerobic run.  It is going to rain all day so I'm not sure if I'm going to ride the trainer or just rest my legs.  I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea to do a LTHR test on my trainer tonight.  I'm well overdue for a test outdoors, but my HR zones seem all out of wack indoors.

I think I'm going to pass on riding the drainer tonight and focusing on recovery and packing down as many calories as I can.  My legs are feeling pretty darn heavy right now.  I'd rather let them recovery so I can ride that much harder in 2 days.

For an OWS mass start...where do you like to start?

For my Oly...which is a simple 750m out...U turn, then 750m back.  In the pool, I'm about a 1:55 per 100yd swimmer at this distance.  Should I hang way back then pick my spots later to catch up?  Or should I just get right in the middle of the action.  After last weeks race, I think I expended way too much energy fighting in the scrum (going over the top of slow swimmers and avoiding getting run over by faster swimmers).  If I hang back, I can relax and go slow in the beginning...then as the field spreads out, I'll be fresh and can start moving my way up when there actually is room to pass.

What do you guys think?

I think that it most mass starts(I am able to form this hypothesis because I'm MOP/BOP in OWS) the group as a whole starts fast, but the back half tends to slow down and settle into a pace.  In my experience SIGHTING IS KEY!  It might not be a good idea to rely on BOPers(keep in mind, I am one in OWS) for direction.  In my last OWS due to my lack of sighting and dumbness I followed someone of course and up to a rescue kayak.  I swam probably 100yds extra in a 500yd OWS due to poor sighting.  I typically like to stay to the outside and go at a nice clip and then cut into the inside and cruise with people at my pace.  Make sure that you can effectively keep your line though.  I let people get in my way and was swimming over people for about 75yds.

Haha, I can't wait for you to have to swim in a non-exciting way...you'll suffer on the drainer, head to the gym and run on the dreadmill, then jump in the...grool?...for some laps.  I wanted to keep the "dr" theme, but "drool" just didn't make sense, so the best I got was grool, for grueling pool. 

Yeah...I do think everyone goes out fast to start.  I might start back outside.  Sighting shouldn't be a problem because if you go too far outside, you end up on the beach.  Once the back pack slows down, I'll hope to pass on the outside and hopefully draft the MOPers the rest of the way in.

Good plan.  That's exactly what I did for my first OWS.  I went in scared sh&^less without a plan and everything worked out perfectly. 

haha the worst part about the pool I train at during the summer is that the heat is cranked up so high.  It seems like the water is boiling by the time I get done with my warmup.

Nah man, below 84 and I'm an ice cube.  85-86....niiiiiice  

As much as I hate to do it, I think I'm going to sacrifice one of my weekly runs in order to put more time in on the bike.  I'm going to alter Hal Higdon's Novice 2 marathon program so that it fits nicely with my HIM and marathon.  It is basically the volume I had originally planned on but it has 4xweek runs instead of 5.

Yep.  That's my plan this year (first Oly not until June 20).  It was my plan last year too, but I cut back into the masses too soon and got myself into serious trouble. 

Yeah...I think the 500m mark is where people tend to slow down.  In my first sprint (750m) I felt good the last 200m as I had plenty of room to operate.  But this last one (500m) it was thrashing the whole way.

With my Oly comin up in about a month all of this discussion is helping me make my race plans for the OWS.  I hadn't thought about any of these things and probably would have had a lot of regrets come race day without someone bringing it up. 

I like the idea of starting in the back of the pack so I can get a feel for the race and (since it's my first tri) a feel for racing a tri, period.  I know my swims are decent right now.  I am not worried about how poorly I might swim because I will have a couple of OWS for practice in with a wetsuit by race day.  I just don't want to get beat up and drown with all the commotion from race experienced swimmers.  I am hoping to be a MOP'er at the end of the day.

Tonight's swim (pool) was decent.  My main set was 10x100 @ 1:25 on 15-20 seconds rest.  I was able to hold this for most of the sets but the last 3 were failures.  I went around 1:30 with 20 second rests except the last one.  That one was probably a 25 second rest.  I was suckin some serious wind after that one.  I felt really like I had a realy nice glide for the early sets but as I got tired things got fairly sloppy.  That's to be expected I guess.



Edited by DirkP 2010-05-11 7:43 PM

if you are not a fast OWS i would deff hang the side/back, starting way up in the front is a good way to get RUN OVER. People will actually try and swim over you and it wont be a fun time at all.

Just got back from my 8.69mile long run.  I missed my 4mile turnaround because there wasn't a street sign.  I ran a little farther, turned around, and then mapped it out on BT.  This is my longest run yet.  I'm curious to see what my recovery is like.  I just downed one serving of GU Recovery Brew.  Hmmmmm, maybe some cake next.

mmmm cake.


So if i were in your shoes, and had the time to do this.

over the next 10 weeks,
i would take 3 and jsut ride, a lot. as much volume as you can safely do and still get in the other workouts.

from there, shift a bit for 2 weeks into a mix of volume, and threshold work (10-20 min intervals once a week, and 4-8 min intervals once a week).

after that, take 3 and a half weeks of slightly lower volume, but more tempo work (and do one of these rides within your longer ride).

then taper.


this would leave you in good shape for your half, and hopefully if you pace it smart have legs left over to run.