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Ironman Wales 2011
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Still scribbling ideas although have a pretty good idea of what i want now and a design that i kind of like and that my already tattoo'd mates think looks pretty cool... just wrestling with the decision to actually get the thing done though .. oh and still debating where of course.. leg or arm .
Mr Rose - nice one. So for the rest of the yr are you typically looking at something like 3 swims, 3 bikes 3 runs a week ? Do you still run and bike long in this time and what sort of distances ? Assuming a summer IM, when do you start putting in "big" miles ? Just interested, I train all year round (mainly cos I just like training) but from this I blag my way through VLM and a couple of 1/2 IMs each yr as I can bag 3 hr bike rides and LSRs (when its VLM time), which fits in nicely around my nippers sports (I am involved in running a couple of the cricket teams too). Finding or making the time for 100M bike rides is the one thing preventing me doing an Iron Distance, how many do you think are required ? is it a 6 months of long rides thing or more like 6 in total ? For VLM I would do about 8 to 10 decent length long runs ? Would a decent IM performance need about as many 100M rides ?
Sorry to be a pain, I value advice from the stars.
Like Rosie, easy training starts today, with 2-3 weeks unstructured stuff...... Full on stuff from November
loved being back on the bike today...... I've been so grumpy
Rosie - any idea how IMW compares to IMLanza ?Haha bring that IMW 2012 thread already! Nice RR MR Rosey. Must be really hard mentally to tackle things at your end. You have my endless admiration for that. Using power for training and racing is fantastic yet costly
I take it you share hardware as per your explanation of wheel gear available to yourself at IMW 2011.
On the training front I kindda bonked this weekend and after a sad, painful and excruciatingly slow Half Marathon run ... I had no energy for my 5h+1h Brick on Sunday. I find that nutrition both on and off the training sessions is more difficult to me than the actual spinning/wobbling.
The plan ... from waaay back was that if i finsihed it would be an Mdot with the wales dragon, but have since had second thoughts about the IM wales dragon and am thinking something like this instead ... needs work but you get the idea .... undecided
yeah that would be good .. will check the Mrs isnt working and get back to you .
cheers Pebble, I will download the SRM this week but I will only have the first 70-80 miles as I broke it. I don't have a read otu of NP, just the conversion in WKO or training peaks so I will find out.
and yep, 80% was about right although I am now trying to work out how to improve the bike time.
ways to do this,
stay at 80% (why not - i had a good run off it) and increase my overall bike power this year to increase watts and therefore speed.
lose weight and stay with the same wattage, possible but I will aim to improve too so this may work double.
get more aero, this solves another issue, why buy a better bike, get better on the one I have, its comfy and bomb proof - titanium, not carbon.
so now if I can nail all 3, I have a real winner, no extra effort (80%), less weight on the run and more aero means faster.
the increase bike power is my first aim, the weight will come and the aero is throwing money at it with a decent bike fit, no brainer really
agree, but I still do them, they have a purpose though, nutrition and enjoyment. I do more timed rides in the last months, so 4hrs 30 at race pace followed by a run or a 5 hour of the same, this will probably be over 100 miles but its more race simulation for me.
If you want to improve then doing sessions that test your body but allow for recovery will do better than knackering you out for weeks.
If you took the wind out of both, IMW would be tougher I think. Its a momentum thing, Lanza is 3 or 4 big climbs, Wales was unrelenting.
On the bike, if you add the wind then they are both tough but I think IMW is a more technical course that takes a bit more thought. Pacing is key for both but Wales you can go off too hard too early due to the hills in the latter stages.
Swim easier at Lanza but more people in closer proximity, Run is easier at Lanza due to the rolling nature of the run and the nice heat, its hot but not unbearable, if ou added heat to the Wales course you would have to have medics at each aid station.
OK, heres a piece of advice I am willing to give to anyone that asks, if you are serious about your training but don't really have the experience or time to plan and schedule what you need to do to make those improvements, GET A COACH.
Finding time to do 100milers is hard ? Why not go out at 5am, even 7 hours gets you home for midday, get the missus to put coffeee powder in your recovery shake, then take the kids swimming, falling asleep then is either impossible or downright dangerous !
Number of rides is not the main thing, confidence is a factor, as Pebble said, go and do faster shorter rides first and then extend, 2 hours hard, 3 hours hard, 4 hours hard over the period of 6 weeks with recovery 3 hours rides in the other weekends with a hard run, you will soon gain speed and endurance.
Now to the question, 3/3/3 ? I do what my coach sets me and my coach sets me what I tell him my goals are. This year they are as follows.
Swim - small focus - break 6 mins in the pool for 400m - big focus - 57 mins at next IM and not be tired
Bike - small focus - improve power by 10% (this is a commitment I have to Computrainer for the next 5 months) and then improve overall bike fitness so I can bike quicker and get off and run quicker
Run - small focus - do a 10 miler in an hour /get close to 1.20 for Helsby half - big focus - get faster off the bike, period.
I will send my coach those targets and then work with him to deliver while helping me to maintain a family life and keep injury free. Its not always possible and one or two may fall by the wayside, this is because at the end of the day I am an IM triathlete and not a swimmer or runner, the reason the other targets are there is to give me mini focus's that will aid in the overall goal.
My other issue is, hawaii slots get faster each year by a % factor, I need to match that and because I am on the cusp of the last slot/rolldown, to take that element out of it, I need to improve by another %'age of two on top of that, I want to place in my AG, not be waiting on someone to say no - small goals these are not but why aim low.
And lol, I am far from a star, I have just been doing this for a while. For those that don't know me, I am 40 this year and have 10 years and 12 IM's under my belt, I am just consistent. Now I need to be consistently faster
Hope that helps a little, and lastly, no, I dont' do the volume in the winter on the bike, its too damn cold, brrrrr.
Fantastic advice Mr Rose, thanks for that!
What recommendations would you guys give to someone thinking about starting to train/race with PowerMeters?
Josh
As you wear.
Pebble – nice advice. I did a 26.5M training run this VLM campaign (still got cramp at 23M though !) but I only usually do 1 or 2 24M ish per campaign, like you say the rest are 20ish. So I see your point, 4 hrs hard is more regularly achievable on the bike.
Mr Rose – thanks. I see, so your training will be structured towards smaller goals which will all count towards the big picture, I like your bike improvement plan too. Having the focus of mini goals allows for a mental change too.
I could indeed start my long rides an hour or so earlier, to ensure I’m back in time for the cricket /football although it fits better if some of these rides are 4 hrs anyway. Some weekends I wouldn’t get the “me” time anyway to train for more than an hour or so early doors, so shorter would have to do. I already do my 3 hr rides at a pretty hard (for me) pace so I’m not a million miles away anyway. Interesting stuff.
Get a coach ! lol, nice one that made me smile, I make it up as I go along. If I got a coach, I’d want a better bike, better wheels etc…………….so I keep it strictly numpT, I have one bike, one pair of trainers……….I’m good at consistency though !
Although it seems that long socks is the real answer !
save your money until you get some good bike experience and have a baseline you can work from - diving straight in with a power meter is likely to leave you more confused. they're best in the hands of more experienced guys and/or those with a coach who can interpret what the information says, what it means, and where you can go with it.
they're also fecking expensive so spend the money on the things you do need first
Using a coach who can interpret the data will help.
I use Allen/Coggans training with powermeter book and I also listen to people on here who use them, I amso read a lot of pro reports, one of the guys who I took advise from is Matt Molloy who had a great race at Austria this year and will rock Kona I hope. Just google him. I used his race report from IMA as a helpful guide.
if you read Coggans you will be able to decide what type will suit you as well as pocket etc. Then start to work on it with regular testing and improvement gains will come. And don't look at anyone elses output, its all about where you start and where you end up, not thinking about who you can emulate, I saw Phil Graves' output from a 10mTT, now thats impressive. Mine ? a lot less but gets me round
My goal is to go under 5hrs at middle distance next year. did 5:24 at cowman this year so i reckon its doable.
Great postings FB and Mr Rose. Appreciate that. I like getting very technical regardless of actual skill or immediate intention to use PowerMeters or any other gadget/device for that matter. I guess it's inevitable for a double MSc in both Physics and Maths
. Besides, I have this flaw of mine, I just need to know.
I would like to get a coach but in the lines around FB's comments, not before I get anywhere plus minimum endurance and basic skills. I have played semiprofessional basketball and almost any sport in college years but never rode a road bike before 2008. I am genuinely interested in the sport and the bike in particular and I have both a training bike and a TT bike (which is as of today is just for show, I am nonetheless in the bottom 20% in my age group as far as triathlon races go for the time being).
My biggest challenge so far will be 30th October at Rohto Miami 70.3. The bike is as flat as it gets and I am taking family over there for a brake. I am so looking forward to it. I started tris in 2009 but got an injury and work kept me from really doing much until early 2010.
I am spanish but I live in London since 2007 ... Thanks for reading the bio if you got this far
I hope you have a great race. One small point though, FB's comments were about power meters, not coaching.
For anyone that thinks you are not good enough, fast enough or too beginner to get a coach, think again.
Firstly, there are different levels of coach, if you join a tri club there will be coaches that will be screaming out for people to help, any L2 coach for the BTF hoping to get to L3 will need subjects to work with, they may just want a token to cover their time/effort in writing plans but they will be able to impart some level of advice.
There are also the online coaching websites, Mark Allen/Gordo, these are suited to people who like the flexibility but not bothered about such one to one stuff but know this works for them
There are also coaches that coach either face to face or like mine remote based(lives in NZ) that grow with you, yes it costs money but you can find someone from £30pm to £200pm - don't think its not for you, if £30 a month for 5 months before a race gets you a 20 week plan with some race info and a slightly calming influence over shitting yourself stupid all year in case you screw up on race day then its money well spent.
Please don't all go out and rush forward with getting the first coach you see at the cheapest price you see, thats not my point, my point is its not just for experienced people, some of us got experienced thru being coached.
Great report Rosey, and interesting reading about your overall training strategy. If you're at the very pointy end, then i'm at the very blunt end, but still can get a lot from reading what you do!
Was sorry to see you missed the Kona slot too 
it's when you get into the more technical levels of any sport that you need that extra experience to understand the detail of whatever you are doing. this can be HRM, powermeters, bike setup, efficient running etc - it can confuse newbies