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Critique my off-season plan
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Hi,

I will likely do another B or maybe even call it a C race before the season is done, but am starting to think about my off season.

For the past 3 years I have raced sprint and oly's, but have my sights set on Wilderman 1/2 next year. Historically, I have done in-season training off a Carmichael plan (throwing in a couple extra swim session per week). This plan has made me AG competitive, but leaves me on the verge of injured. I consistently log ~10 hrs per week of training; and have thoughts of increasing the volume and doing everything at aerobic threshold efforts. Call it a bit of a blend of Mafetone and Barry P.

Currently averaging ~7,000 yds / week in the pool, 80 - 100 mpw on the bike and 20 - 25 mpw on the run. This got me to a 2:26 oly at nationals (horrible 0:35 min swim, 1:03 on the bike and 0:44 on the run). Swim is obviously my weakness. I can do more, but I think I am doing the right amount of work; I could be wrong. My feeling is I need some stroke analysis / improvement, which I will pursue. I am reasonably happy with my bike. I have some bike heavy training planning early on in my season next year. So, I will get a boost in bike fitness then. I have never pushed volume much past 30 mpw and always with intensity mixed in. I am very curious what my run could look like on higher volume, but trading off intensity. With that in mind I created the following plan (time in minutes):




https://i.imgur.com/MhcnUwe.png

I will build run up at a rate of 10% to this planned week, which I envision being 8,000 yds / week in the pool, 100+ mpw on the bike and ~40 mpw on the run.

In season, I would add back some intensity and specificity as race day approaches.

How does this plan look? What would you do differently? What else should I share to get some constructive feedback?

TIA







Last edited by: SBRinSD: Aug 23, 17 13:33
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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if swimming is your weakness and your doing 7000y/week... it will remain your weakness.

i know for many age group athletes, it s difficult to dedicate the time to swimming but if you really want to improve your swimming, you need to create a situation where success is the only outcome possible. exemple, find a good group, 4 sessions a week...10 000-12000m, and perhaps let go of the bike for a few months as you can easily do a swim + run focus and catching up on the bike later in the year.

to improve swimming, you have to be all in... but the gain you will make wont only be a faster swim time but allow you to ride and run much harder in races.

Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [jonnyo] [ In reply to ]
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Okay, so lets say I up my swim to 12,000 yds / week. On how many sessions should I do this? Should I just double my session length or squeeze in an extra day?

It is probably doable schedule-wise to make each swim just under an hour. It may be possible to add a fifth day, but this would be harder. Could I do some band work instead? or should bands be in addition to?
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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4 times a week for a age group athlete is excellent. that give you a very good chance of making big progress.

Band work (elastic cord) can also be used but i would wait until your body is used to 12 000m/week before adding more load. you also need to do the right kind of work. Band should not be used to increase fitness but as tools to work on swim stroke mechanic and awareness.

Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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I agree that just slightly increasing your volume on all 3 is not going to lead to any drastic increases in any of the 3 disciplines.

Pick one you really want to improve and really ramp up the training on that one. That is an offseason plan.
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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One of the Wilderman RDs here.

The swim is a lake swim--there's not much we can do to make it more intense in July. You could swim more yards and get faster, but that's a small part of the race. How are your bike handling skills? How are your trail running skills? The bike course has some tough spots but I've seen a lot of people do it who aren't great mountain bikers, but if you haven't done a lot of gnarly trail running (rocks, roots, tall grass, water, whatever you can find), I'd throw that into the mix.

Extreme North Dakota Racing (https://endracing.com) | Northern Plains Athletics (http://northernplainsathletics.com)
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [beek] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the reply.

I ride my cross bike on the single track trails in San Diego. My descents on loose rock are not very good on 32's. Will probably PM you closer to the race to make the best tire selection. That said, feel free to post some preliminary thoughts here so they will be left up for broader consumption.

Planing on the Dirty Devil and BWR gravel races leading up to Wilderman.

Trail running on the same or rougher trails are pretty common for me. Hoping this minimizes some of the damage on what sounds like a tough run.
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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The good thing is that the only real loose rock may be on the gravel descents. The rock on the trails themselves is mostly shale so the main issue is mud if it's been wet. Tires/bikes are probably what we get the most questions about. If we get a chance one of us will summarize what we've heard back from racers.

Extreme North Dakota Racing (https://endracing.com) | Northern Plains Athletics (http://northernplainsathletics.com)
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Re: Critique my off-season plan [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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Why do you have an "off-season" plan? If one is serious about racing, one trains the best they can all year long. I know my competition does not go into
"off-season" training mode. They just do the best they can do, all year long. This does mean some months might be heavier than others, but it still is doing the best one can do.

I know for me when the pool closes mid Nov where I live, I just stop swimming for 3 to 4 months. Part of my "plan". Meaning for me, it is not that hard to pick back up where I was swimming.

Running, I never slow down.

Biking, I continue to use the trainer 7 days a week.

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Re: Critique my off-season plan [h2ofun] [ In reply to ]
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h2ofun wrote:
Why do you have an "off-season" plan? If one is serious about racing, one trains the best they can all year long. I know my competition does not go into
"off-season" training mode. They just do the best they can do, all year long. This does mean some months might be heavier than others, but it still is doing the best one can do.

I know for me when the pool closes mid Nov where I live, I just stop swimming for 3 to 4 months. Part of my "plan". Meaning for me, it is not that hard to pick back up where I was swimming.

Running, I never slow down.

Biking, I continue to use the trainer 7 days a week.

To the OP. The above is terrible advice from someone who doesn't understand training. I would highly recommmend the thoughts posted by jonnyo, he knows what he's talking about. If swimming is the weakness, make that the focus and maintain the run. Sounds like the bike is pretty good for you relative to the swim/run.
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