Started my core stability class last night. It was good and I realise now how weak my core muscles are. Its on for 6 weeks so I hope to notice a difference at the end. I can't seem to engage my core muscles without holding my breath - its very odd. I've got all the dates for my endless pool swimming sessions too now so very excited. I've booked a block of 10 spreading over to next March so I will be a swim godess indeed by then. (thinks positive). I've looked back at the swim results for the Vit last year and indeed I wasn't the slowest so thanks to Cat and Hen for the vote of confidence.
getting through Fink quite quickly...inspired last night by his 1% improvement theory.
Also, I'm considering creating my own middle distance event with a "car park" style transition. I think there's a thread where groups do these "free" events. But they appear to have "seasoned"/faster? entrants. The idea seems to serve the purpose for assessing distance, nutrition and kit. But probably without the pre-event excitement?
Might need to make myself a T shirt, and through a bottle of water, banana and a cereal bar into a bag....
anyone else done similar? (......not so much the goody bag!)
Having just looked at the running, Fink seems to be very very light on the long runs. A single 3:00 before the big day??
As Meldy and Trogs said, you just don't need to do as much huge running with an IM prog. Running really wrecks your legs - something that really sunk home when IM training and the long rides started to kick in. Don't be tempted to do much more than the prog says, even if you're a great runner. If you're not strong enough on the bike you'll be too knackered to do a good run anyway.
It's hard to fit in mara training without compromising your long bikes etc, which is why so many IM progs say don't do it. But plenty of people do around here. So much depends on the individual.
Long runs 4 me have always been around 2 hours and i haveyet to walk (apart from the feed stations) and usually go sub 4 on the run a really useful sesh is a longish run (hour+)off the long ride
Evening! Thought I'd just repost these plans. Guess we are getting closer to the start date. I think the general consensus is to begin two weeks early to allow for *life* getting in the way. So that means we begin Monday 21st November.
(I say we, but I have to confess that I'm just going to be doing the marathon leg as part of a team.... can't wait . But I will be there to cheer everyone on.)
Well done to all the Dublin marathoners. Glad some of you managed to finish before the rain as it lashed from early morning in the west of the country.
On the swimming in Fink, I'm a fairly decent swimmer, 1H05 in Regensburg and I found it very difficult to fit in what Fink suggested in the time alloted and apart from that I found it boring as hell and I actually enjoy swimming. I would strongly encourage doing as much of your swimming as possible with a group. You'll push to stay on the feet of the person in front and the liklihood is there will be a coach to help you work on your weak areas. I swim with my local masters club and find it brilliant. The only hard bit is dragging myself out of bed in the mornings!
i've just worked through the Fink core and strength exercises. Not used a swiss ball before...I can only hope using it gets easier with practise!! But I did have fun trying to stay on it!
And its very early days for my "squatting" ability.
The good part was that I can do these at home so fitting in with the FINK time saving ethos. Curtains definately drawn! Although I think people would have paid to watch tonight.
Did a long run today. 9 1/2 miles as I try and build for a half marathin booked for Jan.
This is longer than Fink would suggest at this stage and I have been buillding on a weekly long run for a few weeks. The question is whether or not this is advisable. Although Outlaw is the aim I have never run beyond 10k and am worried about the distance in Jan.
I did Fink for the Outlaw in 2010 (get round swim and run with intermediate bike).
My observation was that 30 weeks is too long - I got ill and lost focus about week 14 for a few weeks and it wasn't till I went on the Outlaw training day that I got my Mojo back.
Last year, I was aiming for IM Wales and cut it down to a 20 week plan, which would have been fine, but after long course weekend decided to do the Outlaw instead and ended up doing that on 8 weeks structured training
For 2012 I've built my own 26 week plan starting Jan 2nd. If you've already been doing endurance events for the last couple of years, then doing Fink without the first 4 weeks would probably work.
The key (IMO) is knowing when your key sessions are each week and targetting them - then all other things are a bonus.
My longest run is always 2.5 hours - but I'm not a runner
This is from Jodie Swallow's Facebook status this evening. I think it's great:
"race calendar 2012 is under construction....legs under construction, sponsors under construction, partners under construction, visas under construction, travel under construction, heart....already there "
If anyone's thinking of doing run/walk for their Outlaw run, you might find this article interesting. Author Jeff Galloway is a big run/walk advocate, has his own website etc but saw this and thought it was a good intro - even though the article's aimed mainly at beginner runners.
I'm a big fan of run walk for IM. There are a couple of good podcasts on IMTalk and Marathon TAlk you might like to listen to if you're interested. LEt me know and I can post links.
Did a long run today. 9 1/2 miles as I try and build for a half marathin booked for Jan.
This is longer than Fink would suggest at this stage and I have been buillding on a weekly long run for a few weeks. The question is whether or not this is advisable. Although Outlaw is the aim I have never run beyond 10k and am worried about the distance in Jan.
Any advice welcome.
Remeber fink is a plan for the ironman and not for the half marathon for a start. What sort of running training are you doing already? If the 9 miles was comfortable for you the other day I would stick with similar disances once a week for the next month or so as both general training and as running training for the half. If it helps if you can do that many miles a half marathon won't be much of a problem. Take a lighter run in the week for speed work. and if and only if you can fit it in a 4 to 5 mile run as well you need to make sure you can do the swimming and biking stuff as well for the fink training.
So for example
Monday chill relax eat cheese and watch telly
Tuesday speedwork
Wednesday chill invade france on medel of honour
Thuesday light 5 mile run
Friday PUB!
Saturday take a bike ride in?
Sunday long run.
Just put in swimming and biking into the plan ever as swim mornings and run evenings or vise versa or better put them in the days that have mentioned cheese and chilling and fit the fink plan around it. Make sure that you fit it around your life and not fit your life around the training plan. I would from my own habbits have the long run on a sunday preffably in the morning. It will work that little bit better for your race in jan because your body will be used to it and also as most races are on sundays a good habit to get into. Don't be a afraid to be flexible with the fink plan, what matters is you get your results and do the training.
What half are you doing? Also what sort of build up have you done so far? Asking because if you are suffering after the 9 miles I would bring the distance back a little to a lower level and build it up again gradually. A half is a good training run in the build up to an ironman but treat it as a bit of a laugh and not your A race if you can.
Muffin just checked out your stats from the comp thread hope you don't mind. You've been doing 5 mile run's and then the 9 mile the other day. Are you using a half marathon training guide and then putting the fink stuff on top or doing what you feel like? Nothing wrong with that by the way. If you are trying to do two training guides as once.
The above would work well depending on if it suits you as a rough structure but bare in mine I'm not a trained coach just babbeling from own experiance and not that fast. If the 9 miles half killed you or if you are a little too stiff just do less miles and gently up the miles on the long run each week if it suits you? If you think "OH god I have a half marathon I must run myself in the the ground!" your going to end up injured or your immune system will start to falter with the strain and you will pick up every bug under the sun. Most inporantly listen to your body and make sure you have rest days and stuff.
Edited because didn't make sence. Might not now is so please say.
The half marathon booked is Helsby 4 Villages and the aim is a sort of confidence building milestone. I am not a runner and I was pleased to do 9 miles, keeping HR in Z2 or below and a 9:1 min run walk. The time was slow, 11 min mile pace as an average.
In terms of the chesse eating - I think I could be at the pointy end. Although the lard I am carrying around needs shifting and cheese consumption needs moderating!
Swim- not too worried, used to be my thing as a kid and happy doing 90 mins a week at the moment.
Bike - needs attention and I need to focus on a 'main session' not just a turbo here and there.
I'm running 13 min/miles at the mo. So long as I finish the bike in time to allow for a 6:30 marathon time I don't really care what speed I'm at. Its all about finishing.
If you can get out on the run by 4pm, you only have to do 16min miles - sound easy doesn't it!!
One thing I was suprised at is how many people are walking on the run. There's probably more people walking than running as you get later on.
If there's one useful training tip for people finishing over 13 hours, practice power walking. A good power walk can be a lot faster than the usual Ironman shuffling jog.
+1 for run/walk, esp if you are not a marathon runner already I do 9 mins run, 1 min walk for any run over 1 hr.(on an IM I wall the aid stations for 45 secs -> 1 min. They turn up every 8 mins approx for me
Just keeping on going beats speed, and if you are gonna have to walk, then Strt from the beginning and you will be able to run more..... And you should do it in training too
Timmy - I was wondering about power walking so thanks for suggesting it. I used to do that and walked my first marathon in just under 6 hours. I was going to pay for my entry today but the Vit opened up so I've booked that instead. Can't afford 2 race entries this month and the Vit will fill up by tomorrow. So hope there are places left next month.
Comments
Started my core stability class last night. It was good and I realise now how weak my core muscles are. Its on for 6 weeks so I hope to notice a difference at the end. I can't seem to engage my core muscles without holding my breath - its very odd. I've got all the dates for my endless pool swimming sessions too now so very excited. I've booked a block of 10 spreading over to next March so I will be a swim godess indeed by then. (thinks positive). I've looked back at the swim results for the Vit last year and indeed I wasn't the slowest so thanks to Cat and Hen for the vote of confidence.
getting through Fink quite quickly...inspired last night by his 1% improvement theory.
Also, I'm considering creating my own middle distance event with a "car park" style transition. I think there's a thread where groups do these "free" events. But they appear to have "seasoned"/faster? entrants. The idea seems to serve the purpose for assessing distance, nutrition and kit. But probably without the pre-event excitement?
Might need to make myself a T shirt, and through a bottle of water, banana and a cereal bar into a bag....
anyone else done similar? (......not so much the goody bag!)
As Meldy and Trogs said, you just don't need to do as much huge running with an IM prog. Running really wrecks your legs - something that really sunk home when IM training and the long rides started to kick in. Don't be tempted to do much more than the prog says, even if you're a great runner. If you're not strong enough on the bike you'll be too knackered to do a good run anyway.
It's hard to fit in mara training without compromising your long bikes etc, which is why so many IM progs say don't do it. But plenty of people do around here. So much depends on the individual.
Evening! Thought I'd just repost these plans. Guess we are getting closer to the start date. I think the general consensus is to begin two weeks early to allow for *life* getting in the way. So that means we begin Monday 21st November.
(I say we, but I have to confess that I'm just going to be doing the marathon leg as part of a team.... can't wait . But I will be there to cheer everyone on.)
Just Finish Programme (Short Hours)
Week 1
Monday - rest
Tuesday - Swim #18, run 0:15 zone 2
Wednesday - Bike 0:15 zone 2,
Thursday - Bike 0:15 zone 2
Friday - Swim #19, Run 0:15 zone 2
Saturday - Bike 0:30 zone 2
Sunday - Run 0:30 zone 1-2
Intermediate (medium) and Competitive Programme (Long hours)
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:
Well done to all the Dublin marathoners. Glad some of you managed to finish before the rain as it lashed from early morning in the west of the country.
On the swimming in Fink, I'm a fairly decent swimmer, 1H05 in Regensburg and I found it very difficult to fit in what Fink suggested in the time alloted and apart from that I found it boring as hell and I actually enjoy swimming. I would strongly encourage doing as much of your swimming as possible with a group. You'll push to stay on the feet of the person in front and the liklihood is there will be a coach to help you work on your weak areas. I swim with my local masters club and find it brilliant. The only hard bit is dragging myself out of bed in the mornings!
i've just worked through the Fink core and strength exercises. Not used a swiss ball before...I can only hope using it gets easier with practise!! But I did have fun trying to stay on it!
And its very early days for my "squatting" ability.
The good part was that I can do these at home so fitting in with the FINK time saving ethos. Curtains definately drawn! Although I think people would have paid to watch tonight.
Did a long run today. 9 1/2 miles as I try and build for a half marathin booked for Jan.
This is longer than Fink would suggest at this stage and I have been buillding on a weekly long run for a few weeks. The question is whether or not this is advisable. Although Outlaw is the aim I have never run beyond 10k and am worried about the distance in Jan.
Any advice welcome.
I did Fink for the Outlaw in 2010 (get round swim and run with intermediate bike).
My observation was that 30 weeks is too long - I got ill and lost focus about week 14 for a few weeks and it wasn't till I went on the Outlaw training day that I got my Mojo back.
Last year, I was aiming for IM Wales and cut it down to a 20 week plan, which would have been fine, but after long course weekend decided to do the Outlaw instead and ended up doing that on 8 weeks structured training
For 2012 I've built my own 26 week plan starting Jan 2nd. If you've already been doing endurance events for the last couple of years, then doing Fink without the first 4 weeks would probably work.
The key (IMO) is knowing when your key sessions are each week and targetting them - then all other things are a bonus.
My longest run is always 2.5 hours - but I'm not a runner
This is from Jodie Swallow's Facebook status this evening. I think it's great:
"race calendar 2012 is under construction....legs under construction, sponsors under construction, partners under construction, visas under construction, travel under construction, heart....already there "
If anyone's thinking of doing run/walk for their Outlaw run, you might find this article interesting. Author Jeff Galloway is a big run/walk advocate, has his own website etc but saw this and thought it was a good intro - even though the article's aimed mainly at beginner runners.
I'm a big fan of run walk for IM. There are a couple of good podcasts on IMTalk and Marathon TAlk you might like to listen to if you're interested. LEt me know and I can post links.
Remeber fink is a plan for the ironman and not for the half marathon for a start. What sort of running training are you doing already? If the 9 miles was comfortable for you the other day I would stick with similar disances once a week for the next month or so as both general training and as running training for the half. If it helps if you can do that many miles a half marathon won't be much of a problem. Take a lighter run in the week for speed work. and if and only if you can fit it in a 4 to 5 mile run as well you need to make sure you can do the swimming and biking stuff as well for the fink training.
So for example
Monday chill relax eat cheese and watch telly
Tuesday speedwork
Wednesday chill invade france on medel of honour
Thuesday light 5 mile run
Friday PUB!
Saturday take a bike ride in?
Sunday long run.
Just put in swimming and biking into the plan ever as swim mornings and run evenings or vise versa or better put them in the days that have mentioned cheese and chilling and fit the fink plan around it. Make sure that you fit it around your life and not fit your life around the training plan. I would from my own habbits have the long run on a sunday preffably in the morning. It will work that little bit better for your race in jan because your body will be used to it and also as most races are on sundays a good habit to get into. Don't be a afraid to be flexible with the fink plan, what matters is you get your results and do the training.
What half are you doing? Also what sort of build up have you done so far? Asking because if you are suffering after the 9 miles I would bring the distance back a little to a lower level and build it up again gradually. A half is a good training run in the build up to an ironman but treat it as a bit of a laugh and not your A race if you can.
Muffin just checked out your stats from the comp thread hope you don't mind. You've been doing 5 mile run's and then the 9 mile the other day. Are you using a half marathon training guide and then putting the fink stuff on top or doing what you feel like? Nothing wrong with that by the way. If you are trying to do two training guides as once.
The above would work well depending on if it suits you as a rough structure but bare in mine I'm not a trained coach just babbeling from own experiance and not that fast. If the 9 miles half killed you or if you are a little too stiff just do less miles and gently up the miles on the long run each week if it suits you? If you think "OH god I have a half marathon I must run myself in the the ground!" your going to end up injured or your immune system will start to falter with the strain and you will pick up every bug under the sun. Most inporantly listen to your body and make sure you have rest days and stuff.
Edited because didn't make sence. Might not now is so please say.
Cake, fantastic encouraging advice. Thank you.
The half marathon booked is Helsby 4 Villages and the aim is a sort of confidence building milestone. I am not a runner and I was pleased to do 9 miles, keeping HR in Z2 or below and a 9:1 min run walk. The time was slow, 11 min mile pace as an average.
In terms of the chesse eating - I think I could be at the pointy end. Although the lard I am carrying around needs shifting and cheese consumption needs moderating!
Swim- not too worried, used to be my thing as a kid and happy doing 90 mins a week at the moment.
Bike - needs attention and I need to focus on a 'main session' not just a turbo here and there.
Good luck for the half.
And I'm much slower than all of you....and I've finished it twice if that helps
Thanks Timmy.
I'm running 13 min/miles at the mo. So long as I finish the bike in time to allow for a 6:30 marathon time I don't really care what speed I'm at. Its all about finishing.
If you can get out on the run by 4pm, you only have to do 16min miles - sound easy doesn't it!!
One thing I was suprised at is how many people are walking on the run. There's probably more people walking than running as you get later on.
If there's one useful training tip for people finishing over 13 hours, practice power walking. A good power walk can be a lot faster than the usual Ironman shuffling jog.
Soupie from what I hear you are flying on the bike.
I am same as you though, just finish with a smile.
I do 9 mins run, 1 min walk for any run over 1 hr.(on an IM I wall the aid stations for 45 secs -> 1 min. They turn up every 8 mins approx for me
Just keeping on going beats speed, and if you are gonna have to walk, then Strt from the beginning and you will be able to run more.....
And you should do it in training too
Timmy - I was wondering about power walking so thanks for suggesting it. I used to do that and walked my first marathon in just under 6 hours. I was going to pay for my entry today but the Vit opened up so I've booked that instead. Can't afford 2 race entries this month and the Vit will fill up by tomorrow. So hope there are places left next month.