So I'll start this blog with an explanation of the title. I've recently gotten a lot of useful information about Ironman training from a super Ironman himself. My partner in crime Tony S. I won't give away all his training secrets but there is one thing he discussed that I think is useful for me to touch on. It will likely be the basis of much of my training contemplation this season. In any given 10-day period, there should be 9 fundamental trainings. 3 each of swim, bike, and run. 1-Speedwork, 1-Tempo/Pacing and 1-Distance/Endurance. Each of those are very important to Ironman training for different reasons. But after paying closer attention to my current training, specifically my swim is almost 100% speedwork. (I make about ~2400yds) Masters has been fantastic but it's also mostly all speedwork for me. I've had the pleasure of a carpool to get me to some of the recent TNT swim trainings which have been more distance, less speedwork. I've also been attending the Masters at Foss EP with Tony from time to time on Thursdays over the lunch hour. The EP Masters coach is very different in his approach in that the sets are labeled "ez, fast, TT, etc" I've found that this has been a more positive experience for me. In Masters Hopkins, I'm often getting run over, having to pull over and lose yards and doing speed intervals everyday. Everything is based on finishing sets within specific intervals and I lately have been leaving swims feeling completely defeated.
So where do I find the balance? (I'm focusing in on swim for this blog I guess but it's something I really need to work on for all 3 disciplines). Honestly right now I don't know what the answer is. It's going to be a delicate, ever-changing combination of Masters groups along with team trainings and, if I'm lucky from time to time, get into a gym on my own time and swim my own sets.
So things have been busy, stressful, emotional, wonderful, horrible, exciting, tiring.....the rollercoaster continues. But believe it or not I do have my total mileage tracking system back on line so as soon as I get it caught up, I'll update my total mileage on the right. Briefly.....biking has been ok, not too many rides outside yet but as usual, I'm not very fast. I've been putting speed runs once per week and they have actually been feeling really good. Two weeks ago, the run was a 15 min warm up and 15 min cool down with a 30 min fast run as the main set. The fast was I think around 8:30 min/mi. That was a bit of a confidence builder and I feel better spending some time on speed during the run. I am signed up for Minneman again and aside from Madison, this one is a major focus, I want to beat my speed from last year. At least in the run.
I have quite a few more topics but I think I'll stop here for now. This blog definitely took me in one direction and I'll spare my readers a huge novel by leaving it at that :)
2 comments:
Keep moving forward, the road will smooth out, be it in life or in training. I'm pulling for you!
I'm sad to see you struggling but am glad I'm not the only one. Your frustration with Masters is EXACTLY the reason I don't go there any more. It's always speed, speed, speed. They even do the drills fast. That's why I'm glad to be training on my own time and in my own way with swim. Of course my technique could probably use work but at least I'm enjoying it now.
I'll consider your friend's advice too. I'd like to get in contact with him if that's not too much trouble. Like I wrote earlier today, I'm struggling with fitness as a whole and it has nothing to do with the amount of training I'm doing. In fact it's impossible, time-wise, to do more than I already am. Any words of wisdom would be helpful.
Enough about that though. I said it before and I'll say it again: you're an amazing athlete Kris. You've got a lot going for you and I know you'll do great in everything you set your heart on doing!
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