Hi all, looking for some suggestions on damage limitation.
I have a 70.3 in 6 weeks. Started plan builder since the turn of the year but struggling BIG time with consistency (2 children under 3) and motivation. My last race was a 140.6 in November last year.
Swim: to begin with, I’m a terrible back of pack swimmer. Only swam 3 times this year, with the longest swim at 1500m. Even with regular training, I struggled to go below 2:30min/100m in races.
Bike: last workout was March 8. My ftp is 200. Race is a hilly one. Despite the inconsistency, I expect to enjoy the bike course.
Run: most consistent of them all, but barely. I do a long run every weekend, longest run currently at 19km. I have yet to do do a single brick session at all this year.
If I am able to keep myself accountable to train daily now for 6 weeks, what can I do to make the most impact on the race? Swim more? More bricks? Long rides?
Swim more, but find out why you are not swimming faster. (Would guess sinking legs is the biggest drag).
Running I would not do any big changes to, you dont need to do brick sessions.
Bike: What volume plan are you doing? Try going low volume and just add longer warmup/cooldown if you have the time to extend sessions instead of doing more sessions.
Story of my life!
Its hard but I would suggest getting classes and figure out whats is wrong mechanically. Its hard to tell because you probably have many years of bad mechanics and will take eyes on deck to see the flaws and then time in the water to correct the problems.
I am currently working on my technique with an instructor… in 3 sessions Ive been pointed the following problems:
Elbow hitting water before had (correction is higher elbow)
Hand entering palm first (correction is finger tips first)
Not holding water on catch and pull… (correction is learning how catching water feels and try to feel the water when swimming)
Elbow too low in the water during the pull
Pulling the elbow back and not the whole arm
hips should be higher
My arm is exiting early
AS you can see its a lot. Ive been trying to hit the pool 3 times per week and really concentrating on drills and slow swim to practice better habits.
With 2 young children is hard. But unless you practice and correct the mechanical problems, there will be no much you can improve.
swimming is 90% technique and 10% fitness.
Ive seen people at the pool, that I am pretty sure my pace for an easy 20 mile run would be their 2 miler max effort, and yet on the pool they lap more than once!
Absolutely you could drop the swim times significantly by focusing on technique. but I’m not really sure if that’s going to be possible in the 6-week lead to the race- swim gains are small and take ages, not to mention a lot of time/days in the pool which might not be realistic if the OP is already struggling with consistency and has young kids. It’s something I think benefits more from a long-term view, and I’m not sure if it’s the best ROI on the kind of timeframe. (With that said, if you can do a couple of sessions with a coach you might be able to identify your biggest issues/low hanging fruit and use those as a focus)
But 6 weeks out you’ve already done most of what you can fitness-wise, so my focus would be more on the execution/preparation side of things;
Get in an open water swim if possible, especially if you’re not a confident OW swimmer. It won’t make you faster, but if it helps you relax and deal with some of the factors that can slow you down, you’ll still benefit on the day.
Practise drafting, swimming straight etc- free speed, and leaves you fresher for the rest of the race.
Practise transitions. You’re never too experienced.
If you haven’t already, get in a couple of longer rides at your intended HIM intensity, using the nutrition and gear you’ll be using on the day and a short brick run after- again not so much for fitness as much as to check that your bike intensity is realistic and you can run well.
I’d prefer to have at least 1 ‘over distance’ run before the race, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessary.
Eat well. Sleep well. Don’t get sick or injured IAAP.
Thanks for that Joel. I followed the swimming thread and your learning journey has given me belief. For my case, I believe it’s a combination of wrong technique, poor swim fitness and lack of core strength to hold the desired form.
Thanks for these suggestions. These are definitely achievable - OWS, long runs above 20km and long rides at race IF.
I have lowered my race expectation - just enjoy the race and finishing it with a smile. I’m not quite sure how much fitness I kept from 6 months ago and am pretty sure I’m not in a good shape to enjoy the suffering if I don’t do anything about it in the next 6 weeks.
You’re not gonna race this race. It’s a matter of survival at this point.
can you cover the swim distance? If not, that’s priority. If you can, then maintain that fitness and focus on bike. That’s gonna be the biggest ROI. Then do your best on run.
@leocbuc finishing nicely with a remarkably close time from @Jonathan , same AG so if they were off in a similar wave they could’ve been chasing each other down the red carpet
March Training - how’s everyone going with their preparations? It’s 5 weeks till IM Port Macquarie and I’m feeling on top of things.
I’m on a mid-volume IM plan and was perplexed when I’d been doing the sessions and now the AI - auto detection has swapped Friday’s 1hr endurance ride for a 4hr endurance ride. This is taking mid-vol into high-vol in my books and working fulltime does not allow that luxury. That said I will have a go at it this long weekend to see how I fare. I’ve sent the same question through to Ask a Cycling Coach hoping this would make the podcast, but nothing yet. Keen to hear the thoughts of others on this.
Other than that here’s my summary of 65hrs training for March
18hrs running
33hr cycling
11.5hr swimming
2.5hr strength training (dropped off as the heavy mid-week days took over)
Included a practice 70.3 (first since Canberra Dec 2004)
Bad month of training between me getting sick and kids getting sick and projects at home with the change of season. Cycling is going okay besides some failed workouts. Got some miles in running. Swimming has not begun for the year. September seems far but creeping up quickly.
My season is effectively done. Have been unable to run more than 10 minutes at a time w/o pain. MRA (MRI w/ contrast) confirmed a labrum tear due to significant cam deformity. Conservative treatment (rest and PT) have done nothing but aggravate the pain, so after meeting with 2 separate Orthos who both recommended the same thing after seeing the MRA results, have scheduled “hip preservation” surgery where they’ll repair the labrum and reshape the ball portion of my femur. Surgery will be May 8th. Tris are out this summer, but there’s a good chance I’ll be able to at least swim the swim-leg of MiTi 70.3 in August. If nothing else, I’ll still travel and cheer or volunteer or sherpa.
In the meantime, I’ve found that some running and biking, even with the pain is better than the mental health decline I was experiencing, so I’ll continue to dabble up to the day of surgery.
In good news, the swimming is still going strong w/ 5 or 6 days a week. Got a knock-off GoPro last week, so taking some underwater video for the first time. Still need someone to take some side shots for me, but from the front-view, I can see my left hand coming deeper than I want, so focusing on ingraining that change. Between that and some sprint focus, I’m hopeful that I can set a new 100yd PR in the next 5 weeks before surgery.
