My Journey to Ironman - Build Phase

The next 10 weeks are now complete. They were pretty rough, mainly because I was very sick twice. I missed out on a lot of long rides and due to missing so many workouts from being ill, I sadly was forced to re-evaluate my training plan for the final 10-week phase.

Overview
Just like the other phases, the Build Phase is 10 weeks in length and includes workouts for swimming, biking and running. As usual, strength and any other cross-training are not in the plan.

This phase focuses on starting to add intervals into the workouts. This really helps build up your speed, as well as still helping to boost your endurance. I have mostly done the intervals with running, but no as much with cycling. Swimming is still it's own animal, with almost every workout being some sort of interval session; however the addition of using my pull buoy is in more workouts now.

My Opinion of Phase II of the Plan

Overall I think it's a really solid plan, and if I had been able to do all of the workouts, it would have built me up really well; both endurance and cardiovascular strength. My typical gripe is that there are no strength sessions placed in here.

How I Did
As I already noted, I did not do well at all. I was sick twice, with my latest bout being the flu and killing over a week of training. One of the big issues of this training, as well as from my Disney training, was how often I have been getting sick. My nutrition is pretty good, but my sleep has always been all over the place, with my range being anywhere from 5 hours to 8 hours. However, most of my sleeping has a lot of restless sleep, so my quality of sleep is horrible.

Sadly, I have noticed that I have been having constant allergy attacks at work, and ONLY at work. I am not sure if it's all just a coincidence or if my sleep is contributing to my immune system being so out-of-whack that it would have happened anyway, but I definitely don't have as severe issues at home or even when I am outside. I think this has been possibly the largest contributor to me getting sick. I'll be getting blood work done this week, so hopefully I can find out what's really happening.

With that said, I still have a plan C, which I have already mapped out. Basically, I'll be following a much lighter load which is part of the "Just Complete" plan, but still trying to keep my swims the same, but at only twice per week instead of three times. Swimming has really just kept beating me up like crazy. On one side, this makes me think I need to keep the 3-per-week since I'll have an even longer swim for the actual event. However, this drain in energy is causing me to skip or dramatically shorter my other training sessions. This means I am missing out on important doubles to build my overall endurance.

Even though I feel confident right now I'll be able to complete the entire race, I am not sure I'll be doing any sort of decent time. However, given all of the issues I have encountered, I am alright with that. My focus is to be able to finish the race and not hurt myself.

Notes for Improvement
As I noted, I'll be doing following the "Just Complete" plan, with still using my current swim routines. In addition, some of the longer rides and runs I plan on keeping or only slightly decreasing. I will also be focusing on getting even more sleep to hopefully offset the health issues I am having.

I don't expect to have my blood results back and a plan from my doctor in time to really help my training, but once I complete this race, I'll be able to implement whatever plan from my doctor and I'll also be taking off time to completely rebuild my strength as well as get back to a proper weight.

Feeling Sick: When to Workout and When to Rest

I was recently sick for a good week and a half. One of my friends was also under the weather, and they did their workouts and asked why I wasn't doing mine even though I was really sick. So, first, I explained why to them, and then realized I should share this info.

The General Rule to Follow

It's always a case-by-case basis and how you ultimately feel, but the general rule of thumb is that if it's above the neck, you can workout, but if it's below the neck, then rest. Obviously if you have both, which I had severely, you should definitely be getting to a doctor because chances are you have something more than a common cold.

Above the Neck

When I say above the neck, this typically means if you have a mild soar throat, stuffy nose, headache or just that overall weighted-down feeling in your head. To clarify further, by mild sore throat I mean that you can still swallow without pain. If you have some discomfort, that's not really a big deal, but if it's painful, you might want to get yourself checked out.

Below the Neck

Below the neck is a pretty broad area, but typically refers to chest pain, respiratory fatigue, body aches, general body fatigue, or fever. Respiratory fatigue typically refers to having trouble breathing or some sort of pain in your chest from normal breathing activity. Doing a workout with this would be an extremely bad idea and could cause you to get worse a lot quicker.

General body fatigue isn't the typical "I had a hard day yesterday, and my body is super tired", but rather the most common task seems taxing. For example, you get out of bed, walk to the bathroom and brush your teeth, or maybe go downstairs and get a cup of coffee. If you are feeling winded or exhausted from just that, this is what I am referring to. Also, body aches are not typical day-after-workout either, but rather your whole body feels like it's being put between a press and you are still trying to move around.

Regardless of Your Choice, Listen to Your Body

At the end of the day, these are just rules of thumb to follow, not law. If you feel horrible, don't workout. If you think you can workout, just make sure you stop if you start feeling worse. Always listen to your body. You may be able to push yourself more than you know. Or you may also hurt yourself more than you expect. So be careful, listen to your body, and stay as healthy as possible.

Speed Development for Running, Biking and Swimming

A fellow MFP member recommended I write about speed development. I was pretty excited at this suggestion, as it's something I am currently working on right now for myself. As a note, even though speed work is used in speed development, speed development is not speed work. With that, enjoy!

What is Speed Development

Generically speaking, speed development is improving your max speed that you can go in a given sport; I'll focus mostly on running and cycling, but it can probably apply to many other sports, but I don't do them, so I am only able to speak to what I know.

I was originally a sprinter, so speed development was what I ate, slept and lived. When you are sprinting 100 meters or heading down the runway for the long jump, you need to some serious speed. You need your fast-twitch muscles going at full blast. And there are tons of workouts, both cardiovascular and strength, to build this. However, my focus here, as with most of articles, is on endurance sports. The concept is still the same, but the execution is a bit different.

Slow-Twitch and Fast-Twitch Muscle Fibers

Everyone has at least some slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Some people are genetically lucky and have large amounts of one or the others; hence Usain Bolt and his outrageous fast-twitch fibers. For the rest of us, there is typically more of a balance, with each person leaning more on one side or another.

Slow-twitch muscle fibers contract slowly but allow you to sustain an activity for a longer period of time. Conversely, fast-twitch muscle fibers contract quickly allowing for powerful bursts of speed, but fatigue quickly. This is why you won't be running that marathon at the same speed you just ran down the basketball court on a break-away. If you are, then you probably aren't reading this and are winning lots of marathons.

As an endurance athlete, you rely heavily on your slow-twitch muscle fibers. There are many instances where you need to use your fast-twitch though, and most endurance athletes focus too much on their slow-twitch. As a quick note, there are technically two types of fast-twitch, but I am just going to focus generically on fast-twitch.

The Key in "Fast"

So, with all of that said, the goal is to force an endurance athlete to engage the fast-twitch fibers more often and for longer duration. The generic running plan will have mostly easy and long runs, with hopefully some tempo and interval work included. However, these plans still don't really force you to use those fast-twitch fibers. Most training is designed to make sure you can handle the load for the duration of your event, so the plans focus on slow-twitch fibers.

But if you want be faster, you need those fast-twitch built up. There are many ways to do this, but cardiovascular training is where we focus. There are strength routines to help build your muscles so you can sustain the load and have that extra "umph" of power.

But why is speed work not speed development? Well, quite simply, speed work is running a certain pace for a set period of time. Yes, it can force you to improve your overall time, which does mean you are going to get faster. But that isn't speed development, that is just improving your overall time.

Speed development is all about being able to engage your fast-twitch fibers when you need them. It's also about having your body functions coordinating at all levels; metabolic, cardiovascular, mechanics, etc. This coordination conditions your body to be more efficient at higher levels of energy expenditure, which translates into great speed gains because you can now engage and sustain longer.

How to Build - Start with Your Core

If you are coming off injury or typically just run. bike or swim just for the sake of doing so, then you may be lacking the muscles you need to do the workouts for this. For example, tossing in hill work on your run or ride is huge, but you need strong glutes, lower back, hamstrings and quadriceps. Basically your high impact support muscles, or core, needs to be well built. If it's not, you are easily prone to injury and you MUST build them up FIRST!

As I have mentioned before, a simple way to build core that I use is NTC (Nike Training Club app) workouts. However, you can do whatever you prefer to build up your core. But once you have a good base, you are ready to start developing your speed.

Intermittent Intervals in Longer Workouts

One of the easiest methods to implement is adding burst intervals into your activities. For example, for a 2-hour bike ride, you might have a segment in the first 30-minutes where you do some very fast intervals of going at a certain power level, cadence or heart rate for short bursts, say 5 x 1-minute with some short rest between each interval. Then at 1 hour 45 minutes so that again. For an hour run or ride, you might do this once at the early part or latter part of your activity. I personally steer clear of pace-based anything, as I believe it restricts your potential, both physically and mentally. This is my opinion however, and many coaches, plans and books out there will focus on a pace.

However, you MUST switch this up. Don't always do your intervals at the beginning or just at the end. Yes, it's nice to build that kick in your run to cross that finish line looking like an Olympic sprinter, but we are working on building your speed, not just finishing strong.

The Hills Pay the Bills

Do you love running on that flat path with the pretty nature? Me too, but that isn't going to develop my speed. Just doing hill workouts isn't going to either, although it's going to make me one strong runner. Adding hills (up and down) into a longer duration workout is key. For example, you might do an hour run, where the "flats" you keep a consistent and relaxed speed, keep a consistent but fast pace downhill (I emphasize CONSISTENT because it really forces good muscle control and form), and then do gradual increase in speed for the uphill. As a note, I am not recommending doing super long hills in this scenario. Also, if you are in a hilly area with very steep grades, then you will need to adjust accordingly.

Other Information

I could write about this forever, and in a lot more detail. However, I like getting people interested in concepts. If you are looking for more specific workouts, Runner's World is always a good place to get some workout ideas, as is just going to a search engine and searching for Speed Development.

There aren't many new books I like, but some decent one I have used in the past are as follows:

• Developing Speed (Sport Performance Series)
• Developing the Core (Sport Performance Series)
• Runner's World The Cutting-Edge Runner: How to Use the Latest Science and Technology to Run Longer, Stronger, and Faster
• Explosive Running: Using the Science of Kinesiology to Improve Your Performance - Mostly have this book here because it has great dynamic warm-ups
• Runner's World The Runner's Body: How the Latest Exercise Science Can Help You Run Stronger, Longer, and Faster

My Journey to Ironman - Base Phase

The first 10-week phase of my Ironman training is complete! It had a lot of ups-and-downs, as well as some hurdles for me to get over, but overall I would say it was successful. I feel it has me mostly prepared for the build phase; "mostly" because I couldn't do the first three weeks and started off too aggressively.

Overview
As I previously noted, the phase is 10 weeks long and has workouts for swim, bike, and run. There is a weekly brick workout to prepare you for the ever-rough transition from biking to running.

In addition to a good volume of workouts, you get a fixed rest day, which is very nice. All workouts are also duration-based, aside from swimming.

Swimming has a variety of 2500 yard / meter routines that alternate throughout the weeks. It definitely feels like the author put some thought into the order of the swims, because they seemed to really progress in a way that I was able to handle.

My Opinion of Phase I of the Plan
Overall this is a solid base plan for Ironman training. Even though I missed the first three weeks, since I had a good base for running at least, I was able to jump in with only skipping some of the doubles, and was able to eventually build to get most of the doubles.

One of my pet peeves with this plan, as with most plans out there, is the lack of strength training. I have yet to find a book, coach, or triathlete who says doing zero strength during training and competitive season is a good idea. Sure, the type of strength training will be different, with more full-body focus and fewer sessions, but you still need it. And yes, many strength suggestions are for functional and core strength, but again, you see the theme here; you need strength training.

With my ranting over, I want to note that it's ideal to have an off-season of strength training, which I have mentioned before. Unfortunately for me, I was in the middle of Disney Dopey training during what should have been my off-season. So, I am at a disadvantage in that area. And there is no such thing as playing catch-up. Therefore, I have opted for the next best thing, or so I think, and doing NTC (Nike Training Club) workouts. I have always been a big fan of Nike's approach to this training. And therefore, I am using it with this plan to keep myself loose and gain a little strength along the way.

How I Did
I already noted how I skipped the first three weeks due to other activities. If you want, you can send me a friend request on Strava and follow along with all of my workouts. Or you can read the rest of this section for an overview.

Swim
Much to my excitement, although not my skin's, I made all of my swim workouts! Now, just to be clear, my first few swims were not 2500 yards. Before this training plan, I have swam 2500 yards twice before; once in training and then again at a race. Therefore, 2500 yards is the farthest I have ever swam. I wanted to make sure I eased into it.

Surprisingly, I ramped up the 2500 much quicker than expected. However, this was at a cost. Many of my swim days were so taxing on me that I was not able to do the additional run or bike, usually bike, workout. This was a choice I made because I needed to make sure I could handle 2500, as the next phase of training jumps to 3k yards / meters three times per week, which is a dramatic bump.

Bike
I have no good excuses here; I did very little riding. I have an awesome "pain cave" set up, and it's perfect for riding indoors. I just don't like riding that much, especially inside. And I much rather be running. Therefore, I had unlimited excuses on training days to skip my rides.

Phase 2 will cover the rest of March, all of April, and the beginning of May. Therefore I plan on getting much more riding in, especially later in April since I'll be biking to work.

Run
Aside from missing my runs for my brick workouts, I hit almost all of my runs. Like I always mention, I love running. I would probably run 7 days a week if I didn't do triathlon. All of the runs this phase were straight-duration. This means no intervals or speed-work were mixed in. I pretty much kept at a certain HR zone (level 1-2) for most of my runs. I did change things up a bit when I did hill runs, since my HR would usually get to Zones 3 and 4.

Bricks
I got in a few bricks, and skipped the rest. With how tired I was getting, I chose to use my brick days as additional rest days. From a recovery standpoint, this worked out really well. However, from a conditioning and "base" standpoint, this definitely hurt me and it will provide additional challenges in the Build Phase.

Strength
I wanted to start out with incorporating strength, but I did not. This hurt me big time, as my first week my muscles couldn't handle the load, and I ended up bonking the following week on almost everything. So, I took a large segment of the training to get back into my stretching routines to get myself to a point where I wasn't hurting before and after my workouts.

Once I achieved that, I switched to NTC workouts. My focus is on body weight routines, with an emphasis on flexibility and balance. For the most part I did pretty well sticking with the routines; but when push came to shove, my IM items took precedence over the strength, which is something I will make sure is not an issue in the next phase.

Notes for Improvement
In regards to consistency, I did pretty well on swimming and running. However, my biggest areas for improvement are in strength and biking. As I mentioned, with the weather getting warmer in another month or so, I'll be biking into work whenever I can, so that will help a lot with saddle time.

I have my strength routine mostly figured out now, so strength training in the Build Phase should be a bit easier to handle.

The major issue I had in the Base Phase, which I am hopefully going to start improving on in Build, is sleep. My horrible sleep routine causes me to crash by the weekends. Therefore, I missed many Saturday and Sunday long workouts, which I cannot afford to miss in Build. With things finally starting to normalize at the house, I think getting a better sleep routine shouldn't be too bad.

See you in 10 weeks!

My Journey To Ironman - The Plan

I am getting to this a bit late, as I am already starting my second phase of training this week, but I like to document my races so I can have a historical look at what I was thinking, doing and how I handled a specific race or training plan. Plus, if I help someone out along the way, it's an added bonus. With that long-winded intro out of the way, here we go!

I signed up last year for Ironman Lake Placid, which will be my Ironman race. My ultimate goal is to qualify for Kona, but this race will be a good gauge to see how realistic that is.

The Training Plan

The training plan I will be using is the Intermediate Plan from Be IronFit: Time-Efficient Training Secrets for Ultimate Fitness by Don Fink and Melanie Fink. Due to my Disney Dopey Challenge and timing of the Ironman and this plan, I had to skip the first three weeks of the plan. However, I figured with all of the running, I would at least have that base covered.

The plan has three parts; Base, Build and Peak. The program is 30 weeks long, with each phase being 10 weeks long. All of the programs in the book are 30 weeks.

The Base Phase focuses on building up your cardiovascular endurance. I do want to note, however, Intermediate assumes you have a certain amount of base in each of the three disciplines; swim, bike, run. There is a "Just Finish" program which is actually pretty good if you just want to complete an Ironman.

The Build Phase works on building you up to the duration and intensity for your training. Since the workouts, aside from the swims, are time-based, you might not hit the distances you would typically get in distance-based training programs. However, it's more important to condition yourself for duration then a distance, as only doing distance can be limiting for long endurance races.

Finally the Peak Phase is where you get into the fine-tuning of your training so that you have not only the endurance to complete the entire race, but can complete it with a decent time (for you).

Estimated Times

With this being my first Ironman, and only one official 70.3 race under my belt, I don't really have a lot to base my goal times on. To make it even more difficult, my Disney training was only about completion since I spent a lot of time getting pictures with characters and taking in the sites. Plus I wasn't doing any riding and virtually no swimming, so I didn't have a good base to work from either.

Regardless, I have used my times from Disney, my first few weeks of training in the Base Phase, and what I feel would be good times for me, and tried to come up with a base time. For the swim, which is 2.4 miles, I am looking at 1 hour 45 minutes, which is about 2:30 per 100 yards. Sadly, compared to most swimmers, I am extremely slow. And with the Ironman, I don't see myself having enough time to really make huge speed improvements. For the bike, which is 112 miles, I am looking at 7 hours, which is about 16 MPH. This is rather slow given historical performances, but with the lack of bike training I have for my base, plus the amount of rides I have missed in Base, I do not expect to be around my usual 18 MPH. For the run, which is 26.2 miles, I am looking at 4 hours 30 minutes, which is a 10:19 per mile pace. With a generous 10 minutes per transition, I am looking at a base time of 13 hours 35 minutes 36 seconds.

Preparation

In a perfect world, I would have been doing a strength training program with swim/bike/run cross training during "off-season" and then hop into Ironman training raring to go. However, I had some races last year and due to Disney, never had an off-season. Plus I just haven't really done enough strength training at all for this. With that being said, I decided to start doing some NTC workouts to increase my mobility and flexibility during my Disney training, as well as just keeping up with my stretching. During Ironman training I will be incorporating NTC strength routines to help me out.

Time Commitment

I won't lie, the amount of time required to Ironman training is not light. Even the "Just Finish" program requires 8-10 hours per week. If you include strength training with this, add another hour or two per week. In short, it's almost like having a part-time job while having a full-time job and a family / life. However, I have a very supportive wife and have figured out how to incorporate training into my daily life, so I should be set.

I'll be posting overviews and recaps of each training phase after I complete them, as well as doing a full review of the Ironman Lake Placid when the time comes. Good luck to everyone out there with their training and races!

Disney Training - Week 14

This was an excellent recovery and building week for me. Despite my late injuries, I focused on getting some strength sessions in, as well as being consistent with stretching. In addition I got in a swim for some cross training as well. I felt 100% for my Sunday run!

Swimming
I was able to get in a nice thirty minute swim. It actually felt amazing to get back in the water. Although my pace was slow, it did wonders to help loosen me up from my prior day's strength session.

Cycling
I had tried adding a cycling session in after my one strength session, but my back was not having it. So, I hopped off my bike after five minutes and called it a day. Smartest move I could have made. I felt much better the following day.

Running
I was able to get in my "long" run on Sunday. This basically is taper time anyway. After consulting multiple sports medicine and PT's, I decided to not run with my orthotics. It turned out this was the right move. I had no issue during my run, and I felt fine after, as well as the following day.

Strength
I got in two strength sessions. They focused on all of my weak areas. It was amazing how weak my muscles have gotten, but it was good to catch this now and I will keep on working at improving this. This will be imperative for my Ironman training.

Nutrition
I didn't do too well with nutrition, but I also didn't really gain much weight either. For now I am pretty much maintaining, which is something I will focus on changing after Disney.

Final Thoughts
As I completed this week I felt really optimistic about Disney. I am definitely ready and can't wait!

Disney Training - Week 13

This was an awful week. I wasn't feeling well, had lots going on at work, was exhausted almost all of the time, and when I finally ran, I somehow hurt my back. Not to worry though, I have a plan to ensure I will still be 100% for Disney.

Swimming
No sessions this week.

Cycling
No sessions this week, although I really wanted to. No idea what is my mental hurdle on this one. My trainer is all set up, my iPad and TrainerRoad are set up and work. I have done successful rides before. And to top it off, I have the TV mounted now with Apple TV hooked up, so now I can watch stuff while I ride. I need to get over myself and just ride!

Running
As I noted, I got in only a single run this week. It was supposed to be my last long week, but sadly next week will need to be my final long week. I did an easy 10-mile treadmill run, but had to cut it short at 7 miles because I was feeling horrible. My back really flared up after I got home and I was having trouble walking the following day. Even as I write this I am still in immense amount of pain. My theory right now is that since I corrected my running form, having a super high-arch orthotic that is extra stiff is causing more impact than is necessary since I don't have the roll-and-collapse that I used to have; I am not mid-foot yet, but have minimal heel striking now. To further this theory, the last time I ran my longest distance I had actually forgotten to put my orthotics into my shoes, and I felt fine and recovered quickly.

So, once my back is better, I am going to try running without my orthotics and see how I feel. I am pretty confident this will do the trick. Plus not having the orthotic in really makes me pay more attention to good form.

Strength Training
I got in some of my stretching, which helped, but not as much as I should have, plus I skipped all of my strength sessions. After reading up a lot, I think my initial strength plan was too generic and not good enough for what I need for Ironman training. Therefore, I just came up with a new strength plan I am going to try and execute starting tonight. I'll post the details later, as I am still finalizing it.

Nutrition
I snacked this past week like there was no tomorrow. Somehow I only gained half a pound. I think this is due to me having inconsistent meals (or missing meals completely). Definitely not a healthy trend, which I started correcting over the weekend.

Final Thoughts
This upcoming week is going to be really telling as to how well my body is going to hold up at Disney. I really hope I can get over whatever mental blocks have been keeping me from my usual motivation and I can get my workouts done. I know my mind and body will feel much better if I succeed. Wish me luck!