The Ironman in 2019 thread

Training
1470

Hi JoeX! Thanks for the check-in - always nice to get the boost.

I’m in Full distance mid base, week 7. It’s been pretty tough, especially with the other racing commitments I’ve had, but I’m determined to get through this week and onto the recovery week next week. I MAY need to skip today’s bike workout in favor of the swim, but last night’s brick bike/run actually came off really well, despite a stressful day in court.

What’s going well? I’ve made an enormous stride in my swimming. I’ve found a website showing a progression in freestyle technique, (google ‘the freestyle catch progression’), and based off that, I’ve taken about 15 seconds of my 100m pace over the first 5 100ms, and about 5-10s off my pace over 2k! Fundamentally, the issue was that I was swimming with a straight arm, instead of having my elbow at a right angle. All of a sudden my kick is having an impact, my whole core is being recruited, and my shoulder isn’t the focus of all my power.

What’s going bad? Work is pretty stressful. We are down a few prosecutors, and so the workload is just mounting, and we just found out we aren’t getting the extra person who was due to start next week. Tensions are high. However, it’s meaning that when I do get onto the bike/road/pool, I have a good release for all that rage.

What race are you aiming for? Still looking at IM Busselton in December, with the 70.3 Murray Man in Barmera SA as a warmup race.

Any other developments? I’ve just bought a triathlon bike! No more riding with a roadie with clip-ons. I now have a 2016 Giant Trinity Advanced Pro 2, and I’m hoping to be able to borrow some decent wheels for the race. Now I just have to get a proper bike fit, and get some time on the bike.

My compliance with the program has been about 95%, despite the 6-hour solo race I did a month ago, and the 6-hour solo I’m doing at the end of July. After that though, I’m pretty much full-on triathlon.

GZ!

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1471

As an ex-prosecutor who has been in a similar situation, I feel your pain. Rowing used to be my outlet!

1472

Hey JoeX thanks for the shout out, I’m still trg but had a set back in june when i crashed my road bike and cracked some ribs. So no swimming or running for me for a fortnight and only easy effort bike sessions. I’m still sore but back doing all three disciplines and in Canada ready for IM Canada in Whistler on the 28th of July.

I hope everyone else’s trg is going well.

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1473

Ragged, Piute, and Tower are pretty tough progressions. I usually end up with my best 20-30 min power PR’s on those rides. I’m not sure there are any tricks to make them easier but they fit my strength which is pumping out Tempo, SS, and T power even when tired. OTH, don’t get me started on those 8-9 min @ 105% workouts like Washington. I find them impossible.

@JulianM good luck this weekend. Be smart. HVSPB is so badass!

@nickster, I’m doin Muncie as well. Come and say hi!

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1474

Nice one @JoeX, always love a roll call…

I’ve just come off a month of rest/unstructured training following my early season race. It’s been fun getting back on my road bike and just riding at whatever pace. I’ve spent this week testing my fitness ready to do a shortened base phase ahead of my next A-race in December (Patagonman). Well, it’s sort of base phase, mostly aerobic exercise, but I am throwing in some sessions to help a sprint tri in August.

In terms of what has gone well, I was delighted to have a significant bump in my ramp test FTP with little structured training. Something about approaching a ramp test well rested!

My run test (5k race) went less well. I was 30 secs slower than my last one in October. But I’ve been reminding myself that I’ve spent 6 month training my slow, long running and that will invariably impact my speed. I only did low intensity running in the building up for my iron event and, in hindsight, I wouldn’t change it. Even with the loss of top end speed.

I’ve been thinking about tips and the one thing I wish I knew before I started is to not sweat a small change in FTP at the start of a new phase. It might be disappointing to have only a small improvement, or no improvement, but if you have been following the plan, than your overall biking will be stronger! You’ll be able to do things you couldn’t at the start of the training cycle.

Oh, if you have had a big bump, bear that in mind when attempting the next few workouts of the new phase. It’ll take a little bit to adjust to the new target levels, but you will.

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1475

I’m interested in this choice, how come you’ve opted for a build (well, modified one) programme as oppose to a speciality?

1476

I really wish TR had a off season run and swim focused plan where bike was down to two.

I have started increasing my number of easy runs in LV build HIM in the build up to outlaw X, my run has fell off compared to everything else.

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1477

I feel ya! Building toward IM Canada and having some bone issues again. Moving from treadmill to road and increasing intensity to sharpen the edge for a test half marathon I was sidelined limping and not being able to stand on the effected leg. Many weeks of inactivity with the hunch of a sacral stress fracture. Started blindly following the recommended rehab protocol. Just been 9 weeks since the injury and turns out after a bone scan that it was in fact a stress fracture in the hip. MRI scheduled to see progress but and back to swimming, cycling, and starting up some walk running. Going off body feel at the moment and taking it slow.

Will at least be swimming, cycling, and walking Canada.

Be smart and be heathy! See you in Canada

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1478

I did a run brick this past winter and followed pfitz 18/70 while doing the low volume general build. Prioritized running and dropped workouts from the cycling plan and replaced recovery spins when needed.

1479

3

Thanks @JoeX !

My insider tip is don’t forget your nutrition bottle at home! I premade my nutrition bottle the night before steelhead and realized 30min before the race I left it in the freezer. I grabed a bottle of gatorade endurance at 2 of the aide stations, but was out of calories to burn by the time I hit the run.

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1480

What race are you aiming at?
IM 70.3 North Carolina Oct 19 2019

What phase of training are you in?
HD LV Week 1

What’s going well?
My first A race of the season went well. It was an Olympic distance and I finished in 2:25:03 which was under my goal of 2:30. I am making some huge improvements on the bike since starting TR at the end of 2018. The ramp test this past Monday took me from an FTP of 256 to 274. And I survived the next workout which was encouraging.

What’s going bad?
Running, running is going bad. I strained my calf about 2 weeks before my Olympic and did zero running for the two weeks leading up to the race. That coupled with a very hot and humid race day made for a much slower run than I anticipated. I ran for 1.5 years before getting into triathlon and was often plagued with these types of injuries. My body does well with long slow runs and tends to fall apart when I add intensity. The good news is the HD run workouts seem to have less intensity than the Olympic plan.

Insider tips you can share?
I don’t know that this is an insider tip but before my Olympic I switched from a Bontrager tire (don’t remember which one) to a Continental GP 4000S II. It felt amazing. I could definately tell I gained some free watts. I thought about the 5000 TL but the 4000s were half the price and already a huge improvement. Maybe those will be my next set of tires. I also tried to find a used slowcooker to wax my chain but was unsuccessful. Those watts will have to wait for my 70.3.

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1481

Alen, this post of yours has been really thought provoking to me. All of it, but especially the bold parts, has me reconsidering my race schedule for early next year. So much so, that I think I’m going to scrap the idea of attempting the full IM in March 2020. I’m going to be better off focussing my efforts on the two 70.3 distance events which I’ve already entered (10 November and 26 January). My current schedule has the HD LV plans (base, build, spec) timed perfectly for the 10 November event. Then I have 9 weeks until my A race, 70.3 South Africa on 26 January (I’d appreciate any input from members as to what plan to go with between these two events).

After that, I will then focus my training for the rest of the year around the full IM (usually end March) 2021 with the 70.3 in January 2021 as a primer. Doing things this way is going to allow me more than enough time to complete SSB1 (6w) and SSB2 (6w), maybe Sustained Power Build (8) and then do the Full Distance plans for Base (12w), Build (8w) and Speciality (8w). I’ll feel MUCH more prepared and mentally know that I’ve done the absolute best that I can.

1482

I do too! There is an article somewhere on TR that talks about maintenance, where you do a VO2 and threshold session a week and a long aerobic ride every 2 weeks. So it feels like there is a structure there for a plan. I kind of think this must appear on the forum somewhere? Guess it wouldn’t be too hard to pull together.

And this maintained your bike fitness? Did you manage the all the weekly hard pfitz workouts alongside the cycling? What about swimming?

I would like to do a similar run focus phase whilst maintaining the other two disciplines. Just feel like it would be difficult to get hard run sessions in as well as a couple of short but ultimately hard bike workouts. Maybe I should just give it a go.

This article…

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1483

I hit all my key workouts for the run program and maintained my bike fitness in terms of FTP. Not doing long cycles took away some cycling endurance and comfort for longer rides but it came back quickly. Swimming I was able to do 4 times per week and actually improve it as well. I wasn’t too strong of a swimmer before though.

I think it’s important to plan the focus block we’ll before your A triathlon race though and get a build / specialty phase in before the event.

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1484

Glad you found it helpful.
Is this going to be your first IM that you’re planning on doing? It kind of feels that way.

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1485

Yes indeed. I’ve never had any intention to do a full distance IM. It’s only been recently that I’ve developed the desire to complete just one to “tick it off”

1486

In that case, what you’re planning on doing is way too much SSB1+2, sustained power, then full base + build + specialty is a recipe for burnout or injury. If you are in 70.3 shape, then all you need is about 20 weeks of specific training. 28 is even too much for me but 48 is nuts!
A HIM is closer to an Olympic than a full but it’s not that far away from a fitness standpoint. It is more about efficiency, attrition minimization, and pacing and nutrition.
Think of the training as a race. If you start too fast, chances are you will slow down at the end.
If you want to do that, make sure to give yourself extra recovery between each plan. I wouldn’t hesitate to take several days to a week off at a time.

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1487

A couple of reasons really. Firstly it’s the plan that’s got me the fittest I’ve been on the bike a couple of times previously. In all the years I’ve used TR SSB and then the SPB have got me some decent results and in the last few years I’ve been able to manage well on the High Volume plans as well as swim and run. Last year I couldn’t run for 6 weeks because of Achilles issues as I was due to start the SPB so did the High Vol SPB with extra rides as well and came into the TT season and PB’d at all distances in a relatively short period of time. Since TR started I’ve only touched any of the Speciality plans a couple of times.

Because though I want to hopefully be at my best in October this year I’ve put it off until now. I had a couple of weeks off after Maryland last year and since then have done

Traditional Base Mid Vol
SSB Mid Vol
Oly Tri Build High Vol as a short VO2 Max block
40k TT Speciality High Vol with a few of the longer stepped rides (Ragged+2 etc) extended with endurance power to make a 3hr ride each week in the build to this weekends HIM

I haven’t raced many TT’s this year partly due to the weather but PB’d at 50 miles a few weeks ago albeit only buy a few seconds so something must be going OK. The year progression in terms of plans will have gone (roughly) Base, base, build, speciality, build, speciality.

My rough plan is to do a modified version of SPB losing one of the easier rides and exchanging the shortest interval day for a long ride, maybe even outdoors :open_mouth:

I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do after that but I’ll probably look at basing something around the Full Distance Tri plan for the remainder of the time - I don’t need to worry about a taper as I’m travelling 10 days before the race and that will take care of that.

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1488

Hello!

Reads like everybody is doing really well!

What phase of training are you in?

Just over halfway through low volume build: looks like recovery week coincided with a holiday to Italy last week: did a couple of short runs, some mountain biking, and various water-sports

What’s going well?

The cycling, I suppose! I’ve added a little extra volume with outdoor rides and Zwift races and have set a bunch of new power records, though my Zwift FTP is about 30W higher than I’ve set it in TrainerRoad :smiley: Funny how a bunny/competition helps one ignore the pain. Otherwise I think I’ve been pretty good at adhering to the training plan, and trusting the process.

What’s going bad?

Swimming and running! :smiley:
As a lapsed swimmer, I’m still nowhere near the distance required. While the HIM distance might have been a good target (and only(!) 300m more than an Oly), I don’t think I’m going to be prepped in time to not be a burden on the support team.

I’m still going to keep training, but I reckon I’ll be a DNS unless I’ve comfortably knocked off the distance a couple of times beforehand :cry:

As for running, I’m pissed at my progress. I’ve moaned before I’ve been beset by both an ankle niggle and then my asthma flaring up this spring, so my run training has been inconsistent, and I’m well behind on the volume I’d like to have hit by now. Pretty sure this time last year I’d hit 1000km as I followed Pfitzinger’s base and 10k plans, and was just commencing the half-marathon plan. I’m probably going to look at going 80/20 for the rest of the plan. Having just calculated my paces I note I’ve been doing a load of Zone X :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

What race are you aiming at?

IM 70.3 Weymouth: 22nd September. However, as mooted, I’ll probably enter the Birmingham Half Marathon if it doesn’t work out.

Insider tips you can share?

Don’t chase fitness.

ETA:

Triathletes who try to build fitness for periods exceeding twenty-four weeks tend to burn out, become injured, or lose motivation.

Fitzgerald, Matt. 80/20 Triathlon: Discover the Breakthrough Elite-Training Formula for Ultimate Fitness and Performance at All Levels . Hachette Books. Kindle Edition.

Hmm. This me. I did kick off my tri-specific training in January, right after following SSB I & II, so that’ll be near 11 months of structured training :smiley:

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1489

Hey everybody

Current phase: Already finished my A race for the year, my first 70.3 (05:22), so I guess I’m not not really in a phase right now. The race was also my last race of the year, since I’m working abroad from July, so training right now is just to keep the body moving and have fun.

Going well: I guess my recovery is going really well right now, considering I’m averaging 9,5 hours of sleep a night, and maybe working out 30min every second day.

Going bad: I wouldn’t say I’m demotivatied, but right now I find it really easy to skip a workout, even if is scheduled. It’s just hard going to the pool, when I know that I won’t be swimming again until around February.

Future races: Targeting 2 Olympics in late spring 2020, and atleast 1 70.3. It will probably be with the point of getting more experience, for a Full in 2021.

Tips: Can’t come up with any good tips right now.

Do anyone have any experience with keeping/improving swim strength, when you don’t have the option of swimming? I’m looking at around 6 months of no swimming, and I’m trying to keep as much as of my endurance. I know I’ll have to work up the breathing part again, but hopefully I could keep, mayby even improve, my pulling strength.

Thanks in advance!
FrozenEagle

Edit: Name

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