Soooo....I think my attempts to just get set up to be a co-author on this page sums up the difference between Gary and I. I am technologically challenged. In an era where everyone and everything is digitally connected, I am barely hanging on.
This also is the difference between how Gary and I train for triathlons. Gary has his Garmin programmed, connected to his lap top with charts and training programs. I have a garmin that Gary programmed for me and it takes me at least 5 minutes to figure out how to switch it to the right screen. Invariably something will not read right and the more I fiddle with it the worse it gets.
I did look at a training chart once but couldn't quite figure out how to follow it then forgot my password to get back in to the site. The whole thing is way too confusing so I have adopted the Pattie training method. I do the thing I hate the most everyday which is run(plog in my case). I swim the course just so I don't panic in the swim and ride the bike course so I don't embarrass myself by collapsing half way up a hill. I throw in abuse by my yoga teacher so I retain a smidgen of flexibility and the tyranny of my spin coach so I can actually ride a little more efficiency on the bike. Just so I spread the fun around Sonya kneads all those supposed muscles I've developed back into working order. Training plan done.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Marathon meets Ironman
I just did one of my A races last Sunday, the Honolulu Tinman. More on that later. My next A race is the Honolulu Marathon, Sunday, December 14. That gives me twenty weeks to prepare, which is just right for a marathon training plan.
About a year ago I read Matt Fitzgerald's book "The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition: A Cutting-Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond the Wall." Besides being a contender for the title of world's longest book title, this book is a thorough presentation on how to eat for optimal endurance running results. Fitzgerald includes training plans for marathons and half-marathons, at three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I followed his intermediate (Level 2) plan to prepare for the Hapalu Half Marathon this past spring and had good results, so I thought about using his twenty week marathon plan to prepare for the upcoming marathon.
The problem I encountered was the amount of running this plan required. While training for the half marathon I hardly had any time for other activities. Now that I have invested so much time into learning to swim, and considering how much I need to improve, giving up on biking and swimming from now through the end of the year was not a happy thought.
Training Peaks has a really cool feature called the Virtual Coach. It pretty much automates the pencil and paper training plan development process laid out in Joe Friel's book, "The Triathlete's Training Bible," Part IV. I played around with it a bit to get a feel for what it was going to suggest, and, same as Fitzgerald, it had me running and nothing else.
Somewhere along the way I read an article on Training Peaks about training loads for Ironman events, and how important it was to not run too much. The author recommended spending more time on the bike, because the bike builds endurance that transfers well to running while significantly reducing the risk of training related injuries. Since I am committed to continued triathlon training with the goal of doing the Honu Half Ironman in 2016 (gotta get better at the swim!!), I decided that this was a "What have you got to lose?" opportunity to try an experiment. Blend triathlon training with marathon training. Focus weekday workouts on running skills, do a long run on Saturday after a Friday rest day so the legs are fresh, then do a long bike on Sunday. The long runs should be much less than what a pure marathon training plan calls for, and the bike rides should be predominantly a comfortable zone 2 pace. Because I am nowhere near Ironman capacity the goal I set was to end at the recommended volume for half Ironman, with a roughly 5% per week increase over twenty weeks, but with the periodization recommended by Friel.
I will go into this plan in more detail in future posts. For now, I am in what Friel calls Transition, a week of light activity, preferably not directly related to triathlon. Monday I had a massage, Tuesday I did my weekly weight session, then for a change of pace I went to yoga after work with my wife and co-author Pattie. I ran this morning, but really slow and only for thirty minutes. Transition is weird in much the same way as taper, except in taper mode you fret a lot about the challenges that lay ahead, whereas in transition you can relax and appreciate a job well done.
About a year ago I read Matt Fitzgerald's book "The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition: A Cutting-Edge Plan to Fuel Your Body Beyond the Wall." Besides being a contender for the title of world's longest book title, this book is a thorough presentation on how to eat for optimal endurance running results. Fitzgerald includes training plans for marathons and half-marathons, at three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I followed his intermediate (Level 2) plan to prepare for the Hapalu Half Marathon this past spring and had good results, so I thought about using his twenty week marathon plan to prepare for the upcoming marathon.
The problem I encountered was the amount of running this plan required. While training for the half marathon I hardly had any time for other activities. Now that I have invested so much time into learning to swim, and considering how much I need to improve, giving up on biking and swimming from now through the end of the year was not a happy thought.
Training Peaks has a really cool feature called the Virtual Coach. It pretty much automates the pencil and paper training plan development process laid out in Joe Friel's book, "The Triathlete's Training Bible," Part IV. I played around with it a bit to get a feel for what it was going to suggest, and, same as Fitzgerald, it had me running and nothing else.
Somewhere along the way I read an article on Training Peaks about training loads for Ironman events, and how important it was to not run too much. The author recommended spending more time on the bike, because the bike builds endurance that transfers well to running while significantly reducing the risk of training related injuries. Since I am committed to continued triathlon training with the goal of doing the Honu Half Ironman in 2016 (gotta get better at the swim!!), I decided that this was a "What have you got to lose?" opportunity to try an experiment. Blend triathlon training with marathon training. Focus weekday workouts on running skills, do a long run on Saturday after a Friday rest day so the legs are fresh, then do a long bike on Sunday. The long runs should be much less than what a pure marathon training plan calls for, and the bike rides should be predominantly a comfortable zone 2 pace. Because I am nowhere near Ironman capacity the goal I set was to end at the recommended volume for half Ironman, with a roughly 5% per week increase over twenty weeks, but with the periodization recommended by Friel.
I will go into this plan in more detail in future posts. For now, I am in what Friel calls Transition, a week of light activity, preferably not directly related to triathlon. Monday I had a massage, Tuesday I did my weekly weight session, then for a change of pace I went to yoga after work with my wife and co-author Pattie. I ran this morning, but really slow and only for thirty minutes. Transition is weird in much the same way as taper, except in taper mode you fret a lot about the challenges that lay ahead, whereas in transition you can relax and appreciate a job well done.
Latest Training Peaks Live Chat
@IronmanTri: Reminder Live Chat tomorrow! w/ @TrainingPeaks @ApoloOhno @CrowieAlexander & @Mirindacarfrae #AskTP. http://TrainingPeaks.com/TPLive.
Shared via TweetCaster
You can ask panelist a question by flagging a tweet with #AskTP. Follow @TrainingPeaks on Twitter to see answers. Weird to see answers without questions.
You can ask panelist a question by flagging a tweet with #AskTP. Follow @TrainingPeaks on Twitter to see answers. Weird to see answers without questions.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Motivation
Winds of Hawi is a personal expression of the triathlon lifestyle.Triathlon has been called the new golf, and as its popularity grows, so too does the number of people who consider taking on this unique activity. Some of those people will be determined to excel and will struggle to come in first, in their age group if not overall. But there are only a few designated winners. Everyone else who shows up needs to understand that there are other reasons to devote so much time and money to this activity. For beginners it is enough just to complete a triathlon. After that comes improvement, and it is here where most people should look for their motivation. This is our motivation, and it is this that we hope to share with you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)