Due to travel up to Nottingham tomorrow for my race and due to it being slightly warm a bunch of trains are being cancelled due to the tracks buckling 
. Might be alright tomorrow though! The weather forecast currently is for rain all day during the race, but not looking too cold despite this. On a positive note I could probably skip the sunscreen 
. Also I’m down to the final four taper workouts. Soon I will be free!
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Soon you will be free, love it! 
Congratulations on finishing the programme, my top tip for race day is…dry those feet!
Yes! I’ll pack a change of socks for T2 and make sure to have a towel. Rain also means I need to pack a tail light. Going to be a long transition if I need to change my entire outfit
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31 days till my race (IM Vichy)
As usual life has got in the way of training a lot … and I’m no where near ready … but HAYHO … i’ll still enjoy it
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Okay I took @mountainrunner ‘s top tip and went to Rice Up! the day after Ironman Switzerland and has their standard bowl; jasmine rice, chicken meatballs, parsley, broccoli, puffed rice and mild red curry sauce…I honestly felt I could taste the goodness!
We’ve got a few more races behind us and more coming up and I’ve never really been satisfied with any advice I’ve seen about what to do after an Ironman event. So I’m thinking we put a general protocol together ourselves…what are your thoughts?
I think it’s a good time to restructure or alter your nutrition, your whole body is basically injured at a cellular level, so surely some focus is relevant.
Active recovery has to be a part, generally the advice is to do a few swims and a bike in week -1, perhaps walks, and up that slightly in week -2, if you’re moving back into training then introduce quality sessions and easy running in weeks -3 and -4.
I don’t think you can structure the social element, but I always try to put some sort of post race celebration in weeks -1 and -2, even if it’s just a quiet catch up with a couple of friends.
Thoughts?
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This is a really good point! Well the whole general protocol is!
I think this helpful, but I thought I’d mention my experience of follow up races. I was desperate to use my ironman fitness to have a PB attempt in a middle distance race. I read round a lot (having not raced long distance before) and, hardly surprising, you get a variety of advice about when is a sensible time to come back. Some say 4 weeks, some say 6 weeks, others say longer…
It’s going to be one of those ‘depends on the individual’ type things you get in the endurance world, but it seems to me the longer you leave it, the better chance you have at racing to a level you are happy about. I wanted to do a local middle distance race but it fell 4 weeks after my ironman, I felt like I could have done it but wouldn’t have been satisfied with the performance and opted not to race. So I guess it comes down to whether you are happy going to the effort and expense of racing if you aren’t able to do your best race.
This was validated by a 10k trail race I spontaneously entered 3 weeks after the ironman. It was… pretty tough and I was miles off the pace I was happy with. As was the parkrun (5k) I then tried to run the following week. Hopefully the olymic distance I just entered for 4th Aug will hit the competitive spot (9 weeks after).
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Thanks! I’m having a look around the preexisting TR plans to reuse, the maintenance plans have too much intensity as do the recovery weeks in most of the others…at the moment I’m thinking the Base Sprint Low Vol might be a good start for weeks -1 and -2
I’ll give Goddard -4 a go myself but weeks 2 and 3 might be more appropriate for the bike.
Next race is a good point. It will vary but I think for a confident race you’re going to perform in, a general plan would be 8-10 weeks after.
Hi Guys
My couple of pence if ok with all. I think the statement regarding the weeks is correct, easy sessions and no running week 1. More intensive swims and bike week 2, easy running 30 mins max also.
I think for me the bike intensity is a little high, I like to do a few more spins although my end of week 2 go to ride is Berkshire, I can sense how I am after that.
Week 3 and 4 are pretty normal and specific to the next race for me. That said, even at the end of week 4 the runs max are say 75 to 90 mins at IM pace.
Maybe my recovery takes longer because I eat biscuits and cake. Will eat more sensibly this time as I have a 70.3 a few weeks after my full so don’t want to put too much on.
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Yep, was kind of squeezing this in while I was busy with other stuff and hoping for a quick win. I’ve been through the workouts for active recovery, endurance and threshold, keeping it short in the first weeks is key so…
Week 1
Active Recovery: Dans 0h30 14TSS
Short enough to sound like an easy time on the bike, so gets you in the saddle. Gets the blood flowing, but no hard efforts.
Endurance: Carter 0h45 34TSS
Again fairly short, not too demanding cardio-wise, but extending the effort and time in the saddle.
So actually I just did Dans, I could feel the fatigue in the legs from the race and I’d recommend it but with some faster spinning around 95 in the last five minutes as my legs were feeling a bit heavy. No pain from my shin either.
Good news on the shin. Take it steady with that.
Dans, Volunteer or Taku are my go to rides in Week 1 and maybe early week 2 depending on how I feel. Petit for a longer spin (60 Is long sometimes ).
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Yeah so what I’m thinking is a period building TSS up, just with AR, Endurance and Thresh sessions so that you’re in a position to move into one of the regular training plans.
Is 200 too high a target over four weeks?
I went on a couple of 5k walks in week1. Taku-1 and Taku in week2. FTP test start of week3 which wasn’t pretty. Tried to start a plan (Olympic) and failed the first 2 rides.
Decided to take another week off. This Ironman event has really hurt me a lot more than I know.
It would be great if there was a post-event ‘training plan / active recovery plan’ so to speak.
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So, all please read this first. All recovery is personal and less is often better. I have looked back to my post IMSA plan where is was starting to look towards a 70.3 early June and then full mid Aug.
Week 3 looked like
Pyramid set max level Z3 TSS 50
5x3 min Sweet spot TSS 46
Easy 3hr spin Z2 low end TSS 135
Total TSS 231
Week 4
Structured build to Z3+ TSS 51
4x6 min Sweet spot TSS 55
3hr Z2 TSS 147
Total TSS 253
Do check the math!
Personally week 3 was a challenge but the longer ride on the weekend really worked well. Week 4 was fine. @indigorallye personally far too soon for any consideration of FTP test.
Thoughts? Again I stress it is so personal to our requirements.
I’m with this sentiment. I think it’s really hard to be specific. Recovery is personal and dependent on lots of other factors.
The amount of both physical and mental energy left in the race which can have a huge effect on motivation and ability following a race as well as where the race falls in the bigger scheme of a season. Has it been a stepping stone to another race later on or has it been a season long target? Have you been focussed on getting the best out of yourself or have you just been wanting to finish?
A couple of people I know are wanting to get to race in Kona via the Legacy scheme and really are just racking up races rather than be thinking about absolute performance. There can be a world of difference between recovery from a maximal performance and a deliberately sub maximal one.
I think you need to have a plan of how you want to approach recovery taking into account your own personal circumstances but to be flexible with it and don’t worry about changing things up if it’s the right thing to do.
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Good luck to all for Outlaw tomorrow.
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Indeed!
I think we have @rjessop there and raring to go 
And on the starting line at Hamburg I hope we have @leestorer and @Maki_NarusawaTrotter, and @anthonyng15, @rootscreative, @dominikrymsza and @PDE77 all at Canada and @wfenwick and @TrevRob at Lake Placid…?
Looks like a busy weekend and I haven’t even searched the 70.3s!
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We did but… Got out of the swim and the bike is cancelled due to flooding! Starting the run leg at 09:30 instead. I’m annoyed and relieved at the same time.
That’s a bummer, a Tour de France style set back, but the race is still on - tear it up! 
I would also suggest wool socks, best performing wet socks ive used are the normal weight swiftwick. Thin weight synthetic material does nothing for me with regards to blister prevention once they get wet. Super thin smart wool still get blisters for me.
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Sorry to hear about the injury! That’s quite a long time off from serious run training. Can you do water jogging? I’ve heard of some people having success with it.