Well, there are several of us youngsters (in terms of triathlon career) over on the Shorter Tri thread who have decided we are joining the pirates next year for The Outlaw.
With this in mind we're starting a new thread based on Fink's 30 week training plan. The idea being that we will all train, laugh, cry, crash, swim, bike and run together and somehow make it to the BIG DAY on 1st July.
Everyone and anyone is welcome to join in. Whether you are doing the full distance or part of a relay team. We're also kind of hoping some experienced pirates will join us too cos we're still generally clueless.
So how will it work.... errrr.... not entirely sure yet . I guess one of us (possibly me, cos I'm a bit anal when it comes to plans) will list what we should be doing each Sunday evening for the following week. Then everyone will report back in with how they are doing. How does that sounds?
The 30 week plan starts the 5th December with a rest day . So what do we do until then?
Comments
ooo - just had a thought. Meldy suggested (I think, if I understood it right) that one tactic is to factor in for missed weeks (holidays etc) and repeat weeks to catch up so the plan might start earlier than 5 December.
<Shouts for Meldy loudly>
SD - Welcome And that is a very wise idea... see! We need some experienced folk.
Yeah, I guess most of us will shuffle the days around a bit to fit it in with our diaries.
Hellooooo! It's like running around an empty room!
I thought the long bike was Sat and long run Sunday anyhow? I may have to move a swim to Monday just to fit it all in.
I'm in.
30 weeks from Dec 5th is it eekkk.
Might have to modify it a bit to put loads of swimming in as its my weakest part.
Up till then I am marathon training as I have two "A" races next year. The VLM and outlaws. Building a big base at the moment 40 - 50 miles a week Should hold me in good stead for the Outlaws
Tommyygun2 - Blimey, thats a lot!
I've got a VLM place but deferring to 2013. Also got a Brighton place and not sure what to do about that!
Have started 10 week base this week ( actually more like 8 week) with the idea that I may have some basic fitness before starting the full Fink plan. Also getting myself used to following a training structure.
I will be following Fink too. Same as Soupy in that some sessions will be moved about but certainly the aim is to do them all. Think I might be doing my own thing on the swim FF - no way can I swim that far in that time!!!
At the moment I am doing week 1 on a repeat loop, just to try and get into the habit of fitting everything in and geting used to what works when - hopefully by Dec 5th it will all come naturally and I will be on auto pilot with regards to what sessions to do.
Good idea for a thread chilibean!
Never tried to fit a swim into alloted time, just to do it is enough for now.
Soup Dragon I think you may be right there in starting a few weeks earlier, then we can enjoy Xmas and New Year festivities without any worries.
Chilli are you going to post the just finish schedule or the intermediate one, or both?
See that is what i mean Steady....is it better to stick to the programme for the time or keep going till you hit the distances he talks about.
i have sunday as my day off...and if i do any long runs i try to do them on a wednesday or thursday (no more than 2 hours) as there is a train of through that says its just junk miles if you do them after your long ride.
Good luck to everyone following the Fink plan, I used it in 2009 in Germany and got a pb.
I won't be using it next year for the Outlaw but still think it's a great plan.
Good luck all of you. As a DNSer who had to pull out four weeks before IMR, make sure you enjoy the journey. This is supposed to be fun after all. And hills are your friends FWIW, I followed the Intermediate plan having started training the previous year (for Vit). Timing wise I spent more on the bike and less on the run (not high speed work) and should have spent more time trying to get faster on the swim. Remember the book is only a guide so you need to consider your own strengths and weaknesses.
Hello all,
I'm in for the outlaw too and having only done 1 sprint tri so far im feeling more than a little out of my depth!
Anyone have a link to the Fink plan?
I have the first 10 weeks 'base' on my blog, this was slightly adapted to my training needs but you get ageneral idea.
10 weeks base plan
The plan itself is in a published book which is a great read, makes a lot of sense and isn't too sciency.You can find it here at Amazon, or in most good book shops.
I hope to drop into this thread now and again. I have only just got the book (Amazon about £6) but haven't opened it yet.
I want to keep running with my running club 3 times per week, entering races and swimming a couple of times, but the bikework will be my weakest starting point. I will be attempting to work on this over the winter, getting myself up to the longer distances and time in the saddle.
I had the ideal incentive last night when someone at my running club told me that I wouldn't be ready because.......... I haven't been in a tri race before and I haven't spent a couple of years working my way through all the tri distances.
That is just the type of incentive I love.
Delighted to have so many on board already.
Steady - which version do you want to follow? I don't mind posting all three as long as it doesn't get too complicated.
How does anyone remember the swim sessions let alone fit it into the time!
So it seems we need to start a couple of weeks early. And the idea of repeating week one before we start seems very wise too.
Just bare with me... I'm going to try something...
Week
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Total hrs
1
Rest Day
Swim #1
Run 0:30 Z2
Bike 0:30 Z2 QC
Run 0:15 Z2
Swim #2
Bike 0:30 Z1 (100+ RPM)
Run 0:30 Z2
Bike 1:00 Z2
Run 0:45 Z1to Z2
6:00
Competitive Programme (Long one)
Week 1
Monday - rest
Tuesday - swim #1, run 0:30 hrs in zone 2
Wednesday - Bike 0:30 zone 2 quick change to run 0:15 zone 2
Thursday - swim #2, bike 0:30 zone 1
Friday - run 0:30 zone 2
Saturday - bike 1:00 zone 2
Sunday - run 0:45 zone 1-2
Total: 6 hours
Swim sessions:
Cracking idea for a thread and count me in. Although I'm still trying to work out if I can balance other things in my life and train for the full distance - so I'm holding off actually entering whilst I see how things pan out.
But I will be there doing the training from 5th December. Bought the book, read most of it, still a couple of chapters at the end to go.
Andy - I have the plan in a table format in word (cos I'm not so techinical), but it doesn't paste straighting into these text boxes. Is there a way of posting the xl format? Otherwise I'll just stick to typing it out.
To those doing the 'Just finish' and 'Intermediate' Just shout about which programme you want - or type it in yourself
I'm following the intermediate plan Chilibean.
I think Schmunks found a way of doing an XL screen shot on the kit thread which worked well. Might be worth getting in touch to ask.
Good luck to all Finkers! Great idea to try to train together.
I used Fink in principle for my first IM (Outlaw 2010), but the part I stuck to most closely was the long ride, as VLM training had running sorted. Marathon training isn't the perfect partner to IM training, esp if running is already your strongest discipline, but it can become a bit of a habit.
The general consensus was that the swims are way too long - if you're a slow swimmer like me, you could be spending 90 mins on a session, which is ridiculous (and boring).
When do you start?
Haven't entered the Outlaw yet but planning on following Finks Just Finish plan to try and get my training a bit more consistent than it has been this year. Do need to work on my cycling more so even if I don't end up racing next year any improvement on the bike will be a big help.
Did follow the intermediate plan last year until injury scuppered me but it got me through Bala.
Did someone call for me?
I cut and paste from .xls into Paint, save as a .png then upload a a photo
May work with MSWord too but have not tried it.