"Train Smart Race Fast" 3 months challenge (Page 6)

Plan for week 8 (it is 8 isn't it?)

2x swim (1x Speed 30m, 1x 800yd Time Trial)

2x bike (1x Distance 90m, 1x Brick 30m)

6x run (1x Distance 60m, 3x Moderate 45m, 1x Brick 15m, 1x Speed)

Another Month and another chance to jump into the train smart race fast wagon! How is everyone doing? There are a few of you that haven’t post in a while, I hope training is going well and you are noticing improvements. I know some of you had the misfortune to hit the daunting injury wall, so I hope you managed to figure it out, heel up and are on your way to get back on the horse.

Hi Jorge,

The week before last went pretty much as posted and as planned.  I think I missed one swim and will likely have another miss this week.  It's just tough for me to get into that groove.  I'm at the gym far more often (because of my PT work PT'ing there) and the pool keeps limited and quirky hours.  They were closed last Sat, for example, for no apparent reason.  It's bothersome.  Anyway, I try to brush it off and move on.

I'm still building up slowly.  I've set a Planned Training calendar in my blog for the Silver RPE-based Sprint prep since my first race is a sprint on 5/13.  I just wonder if I shouldn't be doing a longer term build up towards my A-race instead -- Timberman 70.3 in Aug.  What do you think I should do:  train long-term for the 2nd go at the half-Iron distance or keep the shorter term training plan geared toward the sprint in May?

Open to ideas and comments in my blog as well...drop by anytime, any and all.

Cheers, -Sunny 

Week 8 actuals

2x swim (1x Speed 20m, 1x 440yd time trial) my sprint races are between 400 and 800
3x bike (1x race 15mi, 1x Brick 45m, 1x Distance 21m) last distance aborted. felt no energy
6x run (1x distance 76m, 1x race 31m, 1x brick 15m, 1x speed 50m, 2x moderate 45m and 26m)

Week 8 went well except for the aborted long bike ride. Need to work on better nutrition from this point onwards as I can tell in my workout how well I've eaten the day of and before.

Week 9 plan

2x swim (2x Moderate 40m)
2x bike (1x Brick 60m, 1x Time Trial 60m)
6x run (2x moderate 45m, 1x brick 15m, 1x distance 75m, 2x recovery 30m)

Originakid, the past week was week 9

Week 9 Actual – 5x swim, 4x run as 1 LR, 1 easy, 1 moderate and one Time Trial, 2x bike. I missed one swim and run from the original planned but I ran a 10K race as a time trial and skipped one swim to let the legs/body rest and keep on pushing this coming week. Anyway it was a solid 9:25 hours of training!

I am happy to say that the race/test went well although it was very windy and hilly but I managed to push hard. Ideally I would have prefer a flat course but oh well, the results were close enough to guesstimate and adjust my training zones/paces. I *think* I am close or back to the fitness level I had last year before my training layoff so I am happy about that. I need to keep on working consistent in hopes to raise my fitness yet a bit more to be ready for FL 70.3

For next week I originally planned an unload week but since I was sick on week 8 and took some days off I modified the plan so I can have another training week (week 10) and then an unload one on the following.

Keep it up gang!

Back from the dead ( o/k/ injured) so I'm happy to be back and w/ week 9 actual: 4x run (1 on eliptical), 2x spin and 1 hour of yoga.

Week 10 plan lookin more like it as the pool re-opened: 3x run, 3x swim, 2x spin, 1 hour yoga

Very helpful, thanks!  I'll modify my training plan to aim towards my A race, Timberman. 

Cheers, -Sunny

I'm officially back!!

Week 10 Planned:  3x run, 3x swim, 2x spin, 1 hour yoga 

Actual: 3x run, 4x swim, 1 spin, 1 actual bike, 1 hr yoga

Week 11 plan: 3 x run, 3x swim, 2x spin, 1 bike, 1 hr yoga

How about everyone else? 

Week 9 is in the books and it was a tough one because the past two week I increased my training volume consistently and the body is getting use to it. This is what I did:

Planned: 6x swim (3 mid distance, 1FT, 1 TT, 1 Recovery), 5x run (2 easy, 1 tempo, 1 FT, 1LR) and 3x bike (1 tempo, 1FT, 1 recovery)

Actual: 5x swim (1 easy, 3 mid distance 1 weekly time trial), 4x bike (I recovery, 1 easy, 1 tempo, 1 LR), 5x run (3 easy/steady, 1 mid distance, 1LR) - Total training time 12:48 hrs

This was the end of 16 days ON cycle (training without rest days) and as the planned week 10 states I’ll have 4-5 unload days with maybe a day off and the rest easy easy sessions. Mentally I feel ready for more but I need to give my body a bit of a break just to catch on some recovery and ditch a few nagging but normal pains (NOT injuries!)

Planned for next week 5x swim (3 easy, 1 TT and 1 FT), 4x run (1 easy, 1 LR, 1 FT, 1 transition) and 2x bike (1FT, 1 LR). This might seem like a lot of training for an unload week but Monday to Thursday I’ll basically just do one easy session a day (swim) and have 24 hrs in between for recovery/unload (an entire day off) This should be easy enough to have me fresh and ready to go by Friday. Using this type of training cycle should allow me to recover and at the same time keep my weekly volume around 8-10 hrs.  BTW, Welcome back Mark!

What about the rest? Keep on training smart!

"BTW, Welcome back Mark!"  Thanks Jorge and sorry if I mixed the week numbers up. I guess I was little out of sync!

 Good Work Everyone!

Week 9(actually 10)

2x swim (2x Moderate 40m) Actual: 2x swim Moderate-- got the distances in 30min instead of 40min.
2x bike (1x Brick 60m, 1x Time Trial 60m) Actual: 3x (1x Brick 45m, 1x Distance 60m, 1x Time Trial-- 15mi Time Trial completed in 35:04 (23.95 MPH) on trainer.
6x run (2x moderate 45m, 1x brick 15m, 1x distance 75m, 2x recovery 30m) Actual: 6x (2x moderate, 1x brick, 1x distance, 1x recovery, and 1x recovery after bike but very short time/distance)

Week 10 was challenging for me now that I'm starting to focus each workout and they aren't all done at easy for cardio purposes. The bike work is turning up and the time trial was done with road shoes & clips. This was my first clip experience and I could feel a tremendous difference between the cages & clips as I could pull on the up stroke.

Week 11 Plan

Swim: 1x distance 35m
Bike: 2x (1x distance 90m and 1x transition Brick 45m)
Run: 5x (2x recovery 30m, 1x distance 60m, 1x transition Brick 15m, 1x Time Trial 3.2mi)

Week 11 will be challenging as well since I am travelling Sunday and returning Tuesday. This can really affect my ability to get a good workout in. I have a run time trial this week, so I'm excited to see if I've built upon my last race's performance of 23:15. I feel like I have...

"First we need to get our body ready for the base phase by doing unstructured easy sessions for at least two weeks. In this case, I’ll use the rest of December for that. No matter what, I’ll do some training EVERY day. All very easy and simple: maybe 10-20 min easy jogging or 10-20 min of easy swimming or 30+ min of easy riding. (By easy I mean your barely break a sweat!) Everyday other day I’ll also try to do at least 10-20 min of easy strength training (nothing with heavy weight. More like active stretching and balancing exercises). Other options could be long walks, yoga, hiking, skiing, etc."

Hey guys....It almost feels that I am back to here...So I will stay here for a couple of weeks hopefully getting my legs back into rhythm.

A run: 

A ride:

Week 11 Actual

1x swim (distance 35m) Actual: 2x swim Distance
2x bike (1x distance 90m and 1x transition Brick 45m) Actual: 5x bike (4x warmup, 1x transition Brick)-- but didn't do the running part of the brick because of shin pain.
5x run (2x recovery 30m, 1x distance 60m, 1x transition Brick 15m, 1x time trial 3.2mi) Actual: 3x run (1x distance, 2x moderate)-- Hurt shin in the airport by taking a long stride in heeled dress shoes. It has been aggravated ever since and has been taking a toll on my running. I can go tempo+ but not for > 3 miles before it flares.. :0

Week 12 Actual

Didn't post a plan earlier and since week is practically gone, why not just get it over with and plan for next week!

Actuals:
1x swim distance
1x bike warm-up
2x run (1x temp, 1x recovery)

This week sucked! The shin is something I don't want to hurt my performance in my first tri on the 25th so I couldn't really run. I've been trying to take it easy and use rest, ice, heat, and elevation. I also was teaching a class all week so that put the hurt on my swimming & biking plans... All in all not much good to report.

I want the week over with so I can get to my tri, finish in less than 00:60:00 (it is a sprint (400m, 10mi, 2mi), and get the shin worked out.

Week 13 Plan

T-Gator #1 Sprint Triathlon on Sunday

2x swim (1x Moderate, 1x Speed)
3x bike (1x Strenght, 1x Distance, 1x Moderate)
3x run (1x Distance, 2x Moderate)