Ironman USA Lake Placid

well, my jockstrapping plans are coming along, but somehow I don't think that's what you were looking for 

I'm in my downtime forced from having surgery. I was tired at the end of the year so this is good. Some have suggested it may take me 3-4 months to feel back to my old self which scares me.

I can't wait to start training again. I have a coach so I'll be following what he has in line for me. This is our 4th year together and we have a plan based on the good/bad from previous years.

I will build my run up more gradually as increasing my long runs leaves me fatigued. I'm doing most of the year 2 build weeks/1 rest week as I do better with more rest and stay healthier with less colds. We will be doing longer runs off my long rides to help me develop to be a stronger post riding runner. Probably up to 9 miles off long bikes...oh my husband was thinking a 80 mile ride with a 8 mile run might take most of the day...or I'll be very tired afterwards.

I hope to improve my swim technique this winter otherwise I'll probably be one of the last folks out of the water.  

I won't do much racing pre-IMLP. I will do an Oly and a couple sprints. I may do a 12 hour road bike race first weekend in May if March/April weather allows for longer rides. I'm considering doing Mooseman HIM as a relay doing just the bike, handing off my chip then riding some more and then do a short run just a brick workout day on hills with friends.

This season I'm trying to do what my coach suggests more as I figure this IM is a big deal and he knows best what is good for me.  

I need to continue to work on stretching more and keeping my legs looser I tend to get tight everything and hope to be consistent at working on that so I can stay injury free. 

I signed up with the "virtual coach"  that they have - I entered LP as my A race, told it how many hours I could train this year, and it set up an annualized training plan building up to LP.

I just finished up my 2007 season with a marathon on 10/28. Set a new PR and feeling good about my run. Took a week to recover and am onto a swim focused maintenance plan that will take me to the end of the year. I'll be getting in some core strengthening as well. January 1st I dive into Be IronFit IM training plan_prob some where between intermediate and competitive plans as time allows for training (not that I am competitive, but I want to have a good time at LP)

 ~pam

I'm in full on rest mode following my marathon debut at MCM. Nothing structured for Novemeber. Focusing on my family and coaching my son's 11 yr old hoops team.

Dec 1 (ish) I'll begin IMLP trininging using the plan here : http://opentri.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I am still in marathon mode as well, I did Chicago and am doing Harrisburg this weekend.  I have tried and succeeded for the most part to keep some bike and swim training each week.  After a couple of weeks recovery from the marathon, I plan on kicking off a winter maintenance program focusing on the bike (which means a lot of trainer time this winter). 

I am still debating on which Ironman plan to use, but am leaning towards one of the plans here on BT.  It also depends on whether I go directly into IM training after winter maintenance, or schedule a spring half and use a couple of the bridge programs.  Right now I am leaning towards a couple of sprints and oly's and going directly into an IM plan.

I know reading the race reports from Florida has me anxious to get started!

I believe that registration for people not racing this year will be on monday morning.  In that case, you could potentially do the ride with your friend, and if you REALLY want to guarantee a spot in the '09 race, you could consider a road trip up to LP on Sunday night and camp out or go up early Monday morning. 

I imagine that you would have a blast watching the race in person this summer but I doubt it will be of any significant benefit to your performance the following year so I would suggest the former, not the latter be the bigger factor in your decision, as well as how important the MS ride is to  you and your friend.

I registered online for LP and IMFL  this year and had no problems with either.  If you are ready to go when registration opens with a good internet connection, you should be ok, unless they are able to fill all race slots on-site of course.  (But I doubt that they will).

Man, am I missing some pages or has this thread has been silent for 5 months!!  Does everybody realize the race is a mere 9 weeks from today??!!  Are you all too busy training to post here?  How is the training going anyway?

 I have fully recovered from Boston, and am now frantically trying to bump my bike endurance up, while still maintaining the running fitness I built up over the winter.   

I have resigned myself to the back of the pack swimming, which is where I have always, and will probably forever be.  My goal will be to simply "survive" the swim.

We can draft off each other at the back then Mike as swimming is my weakness as well.  I'm in upstate NY and it is 47 and raining right now so it is kind of tough to grasp that in nine weeks it will be the middle of July.

Otherwise the training is going well. 

Actually, I dont know about the rest of you, but the two weeks prior to the race will be taper weeks for me, so really there are only 7 training weeks left.  YIKES!!!!