Fred D's Ironman/Half-Ironman focused Mentor Group --CLOSED (Page 6)

Nice! Congrats on the new purchases! do you have them at home now?? I got a very nice Felt B12 last spring and all i could do for while was look at it. 

Good morning team! I am at work for hopefully only a half day - i do have a couple of things to plow through.  I got in a good run last night but didn't manage my time well enough to get to the pool nearest to me during its lane swim time (only a 45 minute slot) and it appears with the holiday that i won't be able to swim at all until next week.  I'll probably pick up an extra bike but it's a bit of an annoyance - i like to be consistent.

I actually have a wedding to attend tomorrow so training on the weekend is going to be tricky as well.  But such is life right.

I really want to continue with the training plan discussion but also want to throw out another topic with is tune-up races and planning for other (less important) goals when building up to a big milestone like the IM.

I usually have a slate of run races but i am really confused as to what I should do and if it's reasonable to have other goals ... I'll go into it later but putting the topic out there.

I also have other topics just to get it out while I remember so we can pick them up later: heart rate training and adjusting zones, nutrition during events, nutrition for daily life - okay that's all that's coming to me now.

Fred D - 2011-12-29 5:53 AM

bdoss - 2011-12-30 1:18 AMWhen I finished IMAZ this Nov my GF asked me as I was trying to walk up the steps at our rental house " Think you'll do another one" I smiled and said   " 2013". Thats my plan as of 3 hrs after I finished. It was awesome. All the times for each discipline were right in line with my training times. The weather was spectacular. I loved every second ( except anything after mile 11 on the run ) I can't wait to do it again. If you train for 12 hrs and try to go 10 hrs then you are probably in for a bad experience. If you train for the times you are shooting for,have your nutrition dialed and take the day as it comes to you. Control what you can and don't stress over what you can't (control). It's all good!!

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It's all relative. My training hours in 2010 averaged about 9.5h a week and it was able to go 10:22 at IMLP. I trained without a coach and without any plan that year. In 2011 I had a coach and trained a lot more hours and went over 2 hours slower at my IM. So sometimes we don't get the results we train for....

Well said! Ditto! with it's all relative. I started building base last year around the October/November mark and when Spring rolled around (April) all training came to a dead halt! My new job literally left me with no time to train. The race was August and when July 1st rolled around all the panic buttons where going off! All of my lofty race goals went out the window and my only thought then was just Finish! ... the thought of bailing out of the race was evident and well justified but I decided otherwise. 

Training went from 16 to 18hrs a week down to barely 7hrs a week. I went to Louisville with the same attitude I had the previous year. First and foremost, to Finish and enjoy the race. The other one was to roll with the punches.  I finished the race 20 minutes faster with far less training. My longest run was 16 miles. Longest bike ride was 71 miles & swam only five times in July prior to race day. Quantity(base) and quality(specific workouts)  do go hand in hand.

As far as my training I would say I have between 8-12 hours per week to spend training and really cannot go above that due to family/work constraints.  To be honest, I really have no desire to go above that.  I am not planning to utilize a training plan for my June HIM.  My workouts will be highly structured though and with a purpose for each one.  I can say that I have never had this much fun training since I began the sport and part of that is I have figured out my body quite a bit and how it recovers.

Something I would like to discuss is bike training for HIM and we can also discuss IM.  I spend the majority of my time on the trainer year around except I like to get outside for a fairly long ride on the weekend (90 minutes to 150 minutes) when I can.  Most of my weekly rides are fairly intense around threshold.  Wondering how much intense work can actually be substituted for longer aerobic sessions at or near HIM race pace.  Most training plans will specify a weekly long ride at 3-3.5 hours depending on where you are in the plan.  Curiuous if spending 2 hours at HIM race pace is an equal substitute or if those longer aerobic sessions are key to HIM succss no matter what?

Enjoying the discussion so far.

Ryan

YAY, my daughter passed her Egg allergy test!!!!

Bring on CAKE!!!!!

i am also about 6 miles away from 500 for the year, in this groups world, that is not a lot of mileage, but it is more than twice what i ran last year and more than the last 2 years combined!!!

i'll get it all done tomorrow!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Glad to hear she's not allergic... 

Great question,

looking over my logs briefly from March to May last year i was getting on the bike 3-4 days a week, mostly 3.  Saturdays were 2-3.5 hour group rides, which entailed recovery, hard pace lining, attacks and long solo efforts.  The two weekday rides were usually intervals of some sort, races or the occasional group ride.  I would say if you are putting honest hard efforts during the week at an hour to hour and half and can get a good 2-3 hours on a weekend at varied or recovery/endurance pace you would be fine.  I do believe you need to ride longer sometimes though.  You need the 3-4 hour ride even if it is once a month, funny things happen to your legs once you get up over 2-2.5 hours, not so much in the intensity level, but more in the repetitive motion and long endurance level.

Keep in mind that i DO NOT ride like a triathlete, i do not pick a power level and sit on it for whatever it takes me to complete the course, i ride like a bike racer, my power fluctuates significantly in a race, i am either under power or recovering. I had adapted my body to do that through my training and racing, for me it was a 2h22m crit race for my half, all the shorter distances were as freaking hard as i could go till my legs hurt and my lungs wanted to explode rest a bit and get back at it.  This is probably not the ideal way to race, but it worked for me, because that is how i trained for it. That being said, sometimes you run outa matches before you finish.

another thing to consider is that the more intervals and intense work you do, the more recovery you need. I did ZERO speed work on the run last year, all my runs were aerobic base recovery pace, long, short and intermediate, it was the only way i could run halfway to the volume i needed and recover from the anaerobic beating i was giving my legs and body while on the bike.

The harder you train, the harder you have to rest.

ok so if you look at my logs you will see I've been lazy.

however ive been out for two runs this week, hopefully will be getting my bike back from the shop soon(tm) and now that Sicone lives here (Northampton) i might get more done

Good information and I agree regarding the recovery aspect.  Over the winter I basically increased intensity on the bike, increased volume on the run (all EZ), and swimming took a backseat.  It ended up working great.  That said, I will need to find a good balance once I start specific prep for my HIM and get back to more swimming and adding 'some' intensity on the run.

Thanks for the input.

Great!  I am aware of the concept but not sure how to best apply it to my HIM prep.  I have been meaning to get Coggans book and read it since only recently did I start using power.  Hope to find out more.  Thanks Fred.

Yup.  Thats it. 

Have you done a 20 minute test before?  It can take a few times to learn to properly pace it.  You will get better as you do more of them.  Although, they never seem to get less painful .

Ragnar is for fun. I'd like to run at or under the 10 minute mile mark for my long run, which is a little quicker than my long training runs. But, even if I don't do that, I'm ok with it. 

I want to do the marathon in under 5 hours. Ideally, I do it in 4:22 (an hour slower than my little sister's PR). But, that's about all I have in terms of goals.

Wishing everyone a Happy& Healthy New Year.