Day 1

Today is the first official day of my training cycle for Ironman Texas. YAY!!!!

My plan called for a rest day today (don't you just love a training plan that starts with a rest day?!), but due to a trip planned for later this week, I've moved some workouts around. I swam 1,800 this morning. If I hadn't been wearing a watch, I would've said it was a GREAT swim. I felt good, and I think I made some progress on my form. But my watch says I'm still slow. Stupid watch.

Dr Awesome

I had an appointment with Dr Awesome this week (not his real name) to begin working on my knees. (To review, the right one never quite recovered from a fall I took while running in Augusta last August, and the left one has been a pissy little bitch off and on since the Augusta Half Ironman.) Dr Awesome does great A.R.T.

Dr Awesome watched me run so he could check my gait and immediately saw that my left knee was being pulled inward. This would account for the pain on the outside of my knee. (In retrospect, it makes perfect sense - I now remember my knees rubbing together when I ran last week.) He worked on that leg, un-gummed the right knee, and gave me a refresher on the stretches I need to do daily and during my runs. I left his office feeling very optimistic.

So optimistic, in fact, that I plunked down $200 for the 24-week David Glover training plan. The deed is done: I will officially begin training for Ironman Texas on December 2nd.

Let us pause to rejoice that The Plan Decision has been made.

Fast forward to that evening, when I hopped on the trainer for an easy 30 minute spin. I had more pain in my left knee than I've ever had during a ride. I was scared. Did I just waste my money on a training plan that I won't be able to do because my knee is screwed up for life?

Luckily, I have a level-headed husband and good friends who have experience with injury and recovery. They talked me down. They reminded me that my over-use injury didn't occur in one day, and it wouldn't be fixed in one day. That's why we go for a series of treatments, not just one-and-done.

The next day, I noticed a very strange feeling in my knees: upon rising from or sitting down in a chair, my knees didn't hurt. I hadn't even realized they were hurting so much until they weren't hurting any more. It's funny the things you get used to and accept as normal.

Today I ran about four and half miles and had no knee pain at all. My legs felt nice and loose. I stopped every 10 minutes during my run to stretch, as prescribed by Dr Awesome. Tomorrow I'll hop on the bike and see what happens.

And no matter what, I won't freak out.*

*I reserve the right to freak out.

Hey Lois: I did it.

I did it. I survived my annual two-week break. And I didn't slap anybody, have a nervous breakdown, or complain about it (much).

Every November, I take 10 to 14 days off from training. No running at all. This time, no biking either. I do it to let my body and mind rest and recover from the previous 11 months of training, and to prepare for the next training session.

After the Augusta Half Ironman, I had planned to take it easy for 10 days (done), kill it at the Ray Tanner Home Run 12k (done), then do a couple of long runs in preparation for the Governor's Cup Half Marathon on November 3rd. But after an 11 mile progression run, my knees, which had been talking to me for a month or two, started talking loudly and more often. I made the difficult decision to skip the half marathon and begin my November break early.

So, today was my first day back. I rode the trainer before work for 30 easy minutes. I knew my body would feel a bit rusty, but I wasn't expecting the left knee pain to come back so quickly and decisively. I am glad that I had already made an appointment with the best ART practitioner in the world for later this week. I plan to knock this crap out. I will also get re-fit on my bike to make sure my position isn't causing stress to the knee.

I've planned a very light week of easy workouts  - short run here, easy spin there - to start getting my body back into a routine and used to sweating again.

For those of you following along at home, NO I have NOT yet selected my training plan for Ironman Texas. I have, however, narrowed it down from 2 plans to 6 plans.

Yup.

What's the plan, Phil?

I need a plan.

My two-week break is almost over, and I have yet to choose a training plan for IMTX. I have narrowed it down to two plans: a free one from beginnertriathlete.com (we’ll call this one “Freebie from BT”), and a not-even-in-the same-zip-code-as-free one by David Glover on trainingpeaks.com (we’ll call this one “Expensivie from TP”).

I’ve made a list of pros and cons of each plan. It goes like this:

Freebie from BT:

·         Pro: It’s FREE.

·         Con: I can’t import it into my TP account; I can only print it out on paper. I’ll have to manually enter each workout into TP.

·         Pro: I used a BT plan to train for my first 70.3, and it got the job done. I stayed injury-free and finished my race in 6:10 – not bad for my first, I guess.

·         Con: While my free 70.3 plan from BT was sufficient, there were some vague workout descriptions, and I didn’t think its long bike segments were long enough (so I added to them, which ended up being a good call).

·         Pro: There is a huge support community on BT, so I can probably find others online doing the same plan at the same time for the same race.

·         Con: There is no coach to email if I have questions about the plan.

·         Pro/Con (I’m not sure): It’s a 20-week plan, so it starts Dec. 30^th.

Expensivie from TP:

·         Pro: It will automatically populate in my online TP account.

·         Con: It costs a good chunk of money.

·         Pro: I can email the coach with questions about the plan (this is not the same thing as having a coach).

·         Con: The support community on TP is nil.

·         Pro: It includes information on tri-specific strength training and has strength workouts included in the plan.

·         Pro: It has supplemental video clips. (I found this to be enjoyable and informative with the Dave Scott plan I did for Augusta 70.3.)

·         Pro/Con: There are two plans I could choose from: A 24-week plan (begins Dec. 2^nd) and an 18-week plan (begins mid-January; it costs a little less, but I’d have to make my own ramp-up plan for December.)

·         Pro: This plan is supposedly tailored for my particular race, with bike workouts that pertain to IMTX terrain (flat to gently rolling hills).

Of course, no matter which one I choose, I still have to make my own plan for November. I know what some of you are thinking: This is the off season. You don’t need a plan. Do other stuff. Do what you feel like. But I know myself, and if I don’t have a plan and a goal, I won’t do ANYTHING. And while two weeks off is good, six weeks off is not. So even if I’m hula-hooping five hours a week, I need to plan where and when to do it.

If you have trained for an Ironman without a coach, I would love your input: What plan did you use? How many hours were your average and peak weeks? Did your plan include recovery weeks, and how often? What was your longest ride? What was your longest run? Did you feel adequately prepared? Would you recommend your plan?