Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 82)

Last 2 hour run of the plan for me. I can't believe I made it to this point. I really wasn't sure that I would get through all those long run without some kind of major injury but I can officially close that chapter. My feet/ankles do not like the long runs so this was a real mental struggle for me. After each long run my feet are sore for about 2 days but it does go away. So after each long run workout I would just have to think to myself - don't quit, just see how you feel tomorrow. I've done that through the whole plan and now here I am. So, today was really a joy. Knowing that I can do it, that I stuck to it, and it was my best long run yet. My nutrition was good, I wore my race clothes and they were comfy, and my pace was a little faster than what I've been doing.

Keep at it everyone! You can do it!!!

Yay! Excited for you!  I did my last long anything on Sunday.  I've totally abandoned the plan now as I'm finding that if I don't have a heavy workout scheduled I dont' want to do Anything! 

Yay for a good 2-hour run for you!

You are right Trigal38.  Waterloo is just about a 20 minute drive south and west of Belleville.  South of Columbia, IL and Jefferson Barracks Bridge.

I do a lot of my bike riding in the Mississippi River bottoms.  It's a good hill workout to ride down to the bottoms, do a good long ride and then have to do that climb out of the valley toward the end of the ride.

The long weeks of training are behind you Buddy. It's now time to savour the time in KONA, this is YOUR time!!! All the best for the race - you'll be awesome!!! WOOT WOOT! 

Awesome job!

Officially started the plan yesterday. Did an hour swim & 40 minute run, then woke up at 5am & did a 30 minute run. The plan seems good for me. It's not staring out too hard, but it is forcing me to be consistant which is what I really need. Tracked my calories pretty good since yesterday, I'd like to try and drop 15 lbs before the race. I've read that weight loss while training for a longer distance race can be very hard, but I'm hoping I can do it. It would definately help my running & cycling.

Oh WOW!  Your HIM is in Honu!    we'll have similar weather.  Mine is in Veracruz (MX).  I'll be thinking of you on Sunday.

I'm finding it much easier to lose weight during the taper than during training. 

Kathy,

I lost 2 lbs during my second taper week and was like WTF?

I got back out on the roads today after yesterday's blow up and had a nice 4.8 mile run. Much cooler - 82ish with a nice wind. Ahhhhh.....that's what it's supposed to be like :-)

Hey Pops - we are all pulling for you. Can't wait for the post race report!

 Trigal - great 2 hr run!!

 Kathy - Went out for a run 5 mile run at Noon and it was 96 degrees with a heat index at 104 to simulate race conditions.  My normal HR for this run and pace is 152 - yesterday I hit into Z4 at 174 bpm.  It was a death march and a day later I'm still revovering from the heat.  Kinda no use worrying about the weather as there is nothing you can do about it.  Easier said than done.

We will do this!!

After my heat run two days ago I had pretty sore calves so yesterday I ran in my compression socks for the first time. It actually felt pretty good. So today I did the same on a bit longer of a run and am concluding, as of this moment, that I'll be running with compression socks from now on. My legs feel not one bit tired. Granted it was a nice 66* when I started, but still ..... I'm convinced!

Any more dinners with celebrities Pops :-) Tell Chrissy I said hello!

Jessica,

I'm looking at this plan but I've got some questions. 

Here's the back story.  went from couch to first tri between december and may of this year losing 35 lbs in the process.  didn't use a training plan per se--just my past experince with various sports to guide/push myself along and only missed my goal at the first sprint by 90 seconds (1:31.24)

tri #2 (sprint) is this weekend and I've found an OLY August 6 that intersts me.  I'm also leaning in the direction of trying to pull a HIM October 1. 

First off--HIM doable? especially with the OLY in between?

Second, and more importantly how flexible are the weekly trainings? i.e. do the day specific excercises matter or is it the volume over the week (can you switch days around as long as you get all the workouts in).  i have a wonky schedule and my current training is based on whatever I can make work. right now it tends to be run heavy as it's my weakest event, but easiest to do after dark. swim and ride schedule's more hit an miss.  generally get 1-2 rides a week in and the same for swims--fortunately the swim's not an issue with my background and the bike seems to be improving (FWIW I live in a hilly area) 

I guess what I'm asking is is this the right plan for that goal or should I just focus on the OLY and save the HIM for next season?

Lastly--Hendersonville NC?  Just curious. (I'm from Asheville and now in Mt Airy)

thanks for your thoughts. 

matt

That is hilarious!

No excuses, you are doing the right thing by planning to slow down. I just asked about running in the heat in my mentor group. The answer was people typically try to eat or drink more but it's really all about pacing.

I wish Trek would build me a custom little tri-bike!

Sounds like you are having a great week Pop's. Your race will be the same. Have a plan (hydration, food, transitions, etc.) and stick with it during the race. The race may seem to go forever but after you will think it went really fast. Have fun and let us all know all the details! Good luck!

Hi Matt! First of all, Hendersonville TN. It drives me nuts when I search for a business or something on Google in Hendersonville and it gives me results for NC, lol!
The plan is flexible. It's rare that a plan, as written, is going to fit into your existing schedule easily. Everyone has to adjust the days, some more than others. The key is to try to alternate sports from day to day and to keep your hardest sessions sepereated by a day. So if you hardest ride is on Friday, try not to have your hardest run on Saturday. The swimming doesn't matter as much because it doesn't create as much fatigue as bike and run.
As a coach, I am always going to recommend that an athlete take his or him time jumping up in race distance. I would love to see you tackle the Oly distance this season and save the HIM for next season, but ultimately it's up to you. I want to see people stay in the sport for a long time, and what sometimes happens is that people jump up in distance too soon, burn out on the training, and stop doing triathlons. If you become a strong Olympic-distance athlete, you will be a stronger HIM athlete as well, when the time comes. Sure, you can do a HIM this year, but if you wait until next year you will have a faster time and will be less prone to injury as well.

thanks for the comments.  I've been on the fence about the HIM this season. I like the idea, but the run scares me. I know the course well (used to safety boat for the event) and the swim and rideare doable, but I have a hard time getting over that 13 mile run mental block.

In training for the OLY and beyond any reccomendations in terms of a plan to look at.  I'm a clyde if that matters (5.10 and about 250).  running a steady 11 minute pace, bike is consistantly about 14 mph, but slowly coming up. swim a consistant 1.50 100 with very little training (I only hit the water 3 times before my last race)

I am planning for my first HIM October 8 (19 weeks away).  I've been doing tris since 2008, did 2 Olys last season.  My logs are accurate.

Over the winter I focused on swim lessons, and did Jorge's winter cycling program.  Starting up Masters swimming next Monday (50m pool), 3x / week.

Semi-started the BT plan a few weeks ago, got a little too excited about runs and ended up with a case of Morton's Neuroma in left foot (backed off the running for 2 weeks).  Doctor last Wednesday said there is no stress fracture, just be conservative, ramp up gradually, ice, massage, NSAIDs, etc.

At this point my biggest concern is managing the neuroma so it doesn't get worse.  So obviously my limiter is the run. Yesterday I gently restarted my running: 10 min. walk, 15 min. 30s/30s jog/walk, 5 min. walk (5 min. stretch), followed up immediately w/ ice on left foot, NSAID.  Total 30 min.  Today no pain, just minor neuroma tingling as before.

My planned schedule is Mon Swim/Run, Tue Bike, Wed Swim/Run, Thur Bike, Fri Swim/Run, Sat. Bike, Sun Run (or rest and do brick on Saturday).  I plan on gradually increasing run distance as my body allows, but right now I can't run for 60 minutes.

At this point my goal is just to finish the HIM.  Does this sound do-able due to my running limiter?

Thanks.

http://beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=52

Well, it took 2 days of driving but we finally made it to Veracruz yesterday afternoon.  About 100km from our destination we were passed by a car and a truck - full of TRI bikes from Campeche state.  MY PEOPLE!  Once we got to town and started trying to figure out our way through it (with failing brakes) we spotted them again (just in the nick of time) and followed them through the maze of the city to the general area of our hotel!  Just when we needed them.  They're staying at the host hotel and people I've talked to in town are calling it the "Ironman".    It is only the 2nd HIM in the entire country so I can see why they might.  We have only one IM in the entire country and 2 HIMs.

Two days of sitting and not doing anything I'm not sure were good for the old body but who knows.  And the long days (getting up super early to work before traveling) with short sleeps can't be too much better but I think I slept in this am (to 6am).  Now that we've gone though all the military checkpoints (and Not ONE false reten!) and got here safely I guess I need to do this thing.  ACK!

(drive to Frontera 027.jpg)

(drive from Frontera to Veracruz 011.jpg)

(drive to Frontera 014.jpg)

(drive from Frontera to Veracruz 019.jpg)

I've had a neuroma for years (kicks in at about 8 km if well rested) so I'll lyk on Sunday.  I also have it kick in at around 100-120 km of cycling.

Alright, I'm coming clean . . . I'm feeling a level of panic set in.  The source of the panic is that I know that the race will not be wetsuit legal next Sunday.  I've struggled in non-wetsuit legal races in the past.  It's obviously not that I can't swim that distance, but when I started to learn to swim years ago, I had (and apparently still have) some fear of the water.  Well, on Thursday, I did an OWS in my full race kit and it sucked.  I can chalk it up to a couple of things (or at least use the following excuses): (1) swimming in a tri top sucks and I will not repeat that on race day; (2) I was up at 4:30, biked, put in 9 hrs of work and not in a good frame of mind; and (3) the 96 degree mid-day run I had done the day before was still having an effect.  Instead of doing a continuous swim, I had to break it up and do 1/4 mile repeats.  During the last lap, I packed it in with leg cramps.

I know that I have put in the training, blah, blah, blah, but right now I'm not feeling that strong. 

To further complicate matters, my training partner who crashed the other week dropped out of the race due to injury. Since we had planned on traveling with our families to the race and were going to make a long weekend out of it, I now have sole responsibility for keeping my brood entertained while I deal with my jitters. 

I have an 80 minute easy pace run this morning in which I will try to work out my thoughts and center myself.  I have an opportunity to do another OWS next week, but am thinking against it as another bad experience could make things worse days before the race.  Plan on sticking with the pool for now.

It is one of those days when I ask myself - why the hell am I voluntarily subjecting myself to this?  Thanks for letting me vent.  Stay strong all!!!