Last April I committed to competing in Ironman Arizona which is now only 18 or so weeks away. So it's high time I start on a actual training plan. Since last April, I've ran a marathon and several 5Ks, run training, and done a fair amount of cycling, but too little swimming. I had planned on a half-Ironman but after the marathon it took me about 6 weeks to recover (lots of leg pain, joint aches, etc), and I just didn’t want to re-injure.
In October I concentrated on just “base miles” in running & cycling with a somewhat planned, somewhat ad-hoc approach (in other words, half-baked) and still didn’t do much swimming. In November I kept up much of the same with increased volume. I have a bike trainer and I’ve been using it two or three times a week, plus a couple of 60-90 minute outdoor rides. Running has been twice a week or so, usually 4-6 miles, sometimes a 5K on the weekends.
I'm furthest behind in swimming. I’m fairly comfortable with swimming up to 1500-2000 yard total distance, but my heart rate goes way too high and I end up feeling exhausted.
To improve my swim endurance, I have been attempting to teach myself the Total Immersion swimming style. Today I was in the pool for an hour practicing (Ti likes that word instead of "working out"). By using the TI form, I managed to reduce my stroke count from the usual 28-29 per length down to 21-22. While my overall form is still poor, kinesthetically I'm starting to understand what TI is supposed to feel like, what my own body is doing, and how to correct. I'm getting better and it feels good. I hope to really jumpstart my TI stroke by I'm attending an official two day TI swim workshop next weekend at the ProClub.
As for the my overall training, it's obvious I need a real training plan. After looking at various free online training plans, various training plan books (I have one full of training plans for sprint to Ironman tris), and the like, nothing seemed right. I'm uncomfortable training with a one-size-fits-all plan, and clearly I lack the expertise to develop a real training plan myself. And I don't have a lot of time to try to find a local coach, meet with him/her, get a customized plan put together, etc.
So yesterday I decided to sign up with MarkAllenOnline and use their online system to create a customized training plan. I input various parameters, including things like my next 5K, and voila, it cranks out a training plan from now until April 9th. I can adjust the plan as I go if I miss workouts or the like. There's also coaching provided via email Q&A with their coaching staff. It's a tad expensive up-front (and no refunds) so I hope it works out well.
The plan produced has significantly increased volume over what I'm doing now, but I fully expected that. The program let me pick which days are run days, which are swim days, etc. so it's customized to how I like to train (long on Saturday and Sunday, shorter in the week, long on Wednesdays). But it's still going to be challenging to achieve the number of swims, runs, and rides involved.
I also am going to change some of the basics of how I train, mostly around heart rate. I've been reading a lot about training regimens, especially on MarkAllenOnline, and what I’ve read over the weekend about keeping my heart rate down in the aerobic range makes a ton of sense. Basically, by running at a high heart rate, I've been training my body to burn glycogen more efficiently. That's great for short distance like a 5K or 10K, but not good for a 12-14 hour Ironman. For that, I need to turn to the much greater supply of fat for energy. And to train my body to burn that efficiently, I need to train aerobically - which means I need to train with a lower heart rate.
I'm really psyched about getting this plan together. It feels like I've really started on the way to a successful finish in April.
