Three Months to Ironman Florida 2007 Plan

Inspired by Paul Kindzia's IM Lake Placid race report and follow-on training plans for the remaining time before IM Fla I thought I'd put together some plans for myself. In my attempts at a base week I've learned that I'm not good at a Paul Carriere-esque set-in-stone plan. I'm jealous of his base week and terrified of his progress year-to-date. But my motivation seems to need a little more flexibility.

What I'm doing is outlining some things to focus on each week. milestones, cornerstones, focus points, guidelines. And inspired by Paul K's plan I'm putting some rest/lower volume weeks in there... I think they'll help me as much mentally as they will physically. Knowing that there's a lower volume week coming up helps me push through each day's workout.

August is a base and volume month. September is a strength month where I start to add some more tempo workouts into the mix. October is speed (or my equivalent of speed).

Last year at this time in the season I was in peak form. I felt great at the Covington Century and did a 4 hour century. This year I don't think I could hang with the lead pack for 50. But that's ok because last year I blew up from overtraining a month and a half before the big race and had to scramble to recover, add speed and taper. I'm going for smart timing this year.

Since The Hundy (as PK calls it... nice) I've been in no man's land. Which unfortunately isn't the same as an all-girl porno (any bets on how much couch time I'll get for this sentence?). With the feet and the recovery I've felt very out of it. Seeing Paul's plan and putting my own together has given me some comfort that I have time to ramp back up (I'm not yet into emergency defcon 6 timing) and to get some good training under my belt (the porno reference for this one was too easy so I'll leave it to your imagination).

Here's the amazing thing. I haven't been working out much at all the last three weeks. Taper and recovery and foot issue. But my work/business performance hasn't improved with the extra free time. It's faltered. I've struggled to find focus in work because I'm out of balance. Training takes time away from work but it helps me pack more work in my work hours. I'm a big believer in balance.

So here's what I'm thinking:

Aug 1-5: Tri wha?
how do you spell triathlon?
let feet continue to recover.
shoot for simple and lame one hour per day.
gain weight, add calories, build stores for hard months ahead.
resist urge to freak out and big day like an rtard.
continue to envy marc and dana’s cycling prowess.
status: done, weak performance

Aug 6-12: Oh, now I remember.
get back into it the daily swing of things.
I want 2 hrs/day.
base pace, low hr.
private to ease anxiety of getting back into it.
change sleep to wake up for early swim.
no big days this first weekend.
plyometrics on sunday.
status: done, strong performance, worked too hard though, still not swimming in am, no plyometrics

Aug 13-19: Rhythm and base.
continued morning swims.
i want 2.5 hrs/day.
base pace.
biggish run mid-week (2 hrs after swim)
saturday 8/18 BigDay at Silver Comet
plyometrics on sunday evening.

Aug 20-26: Volume.
i want 3 hrs/day.
big mid-week run.
saturday 8/25 BigDay at Silver Comet
plyometrics on sunday.

Aug 27-Sep2: Volume.
i want 3 hrs/day.
base pace, low hr.
big mid-week run.
saturday 9/1 BigDay at Silver Comet
plyometrics on sunday.

Sep 3-9: Recovery Early, Climb End
lower volume week after big august push.
i want 1 hrs/day.
base pace, low hr... recovery
friday 9/7 backside three gaps plus brasstown bald
saturday 9/8 recovery and family time in north georgia

Sep 10-16: Strength.
monday 9/10 backside three gaps plus long run
start strength workouts, tempo workouts.
jump back up to 3hrs/day.
big mid-week run.
sunday wilson 100 century plus run (http://www.bikesbl.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Wilson100&file=index)
plyometrics on sunday.

Sep 17-23: Strength.
continue strength workouts, tempo workouts.
i want 3hrs/day.
big mid-week run.
big day on weekend.
plyometrics on sunday.

Sep 24-30: Strength and core focus.
begin serious focus on core... 8 min abs x 2 each day.
one pilates video session.
continue strength workouts, tempo workouts.
i want 3hrs/day.
big mid-week run.
sunday six gap cecntury
plyometrics on sunday.

Oct 1-7: Recovery.
8 min abs x 2 each day.
one pilates video session.
lower volume week after big september push.
i want 2 hrs/day.
base pace, low hr.
no big day on weekend.
medium mid-week run (2hrs).
saturday run in connecticut
no plyos on sunday.

Oct 8-14: Speed.
begin speed focus.
i want 3hrs/day.
one run speedwork session.
one bike speedwork session.
add one or two hard 5 min periods to each workout.
big mid-week run.
big day on weekend.
plyos on sunday.
8 min abs x 2 each day.
one pilates video session.

Oct 15-21: Speed.
continue speed focus.
i want 3hrs/day.
one run speedwork session.
one bike speedwork session.
add one or two hard 5 min periods to each workout.
big mid-week run.
big day on weekend.
plyos on sunday.
8 min abs x 2 each day.
one pilates video session.

Oct 22-28: Start taper, retain frequency.
i want 2 hrs/day.
keep speed in workouts.
allow for recovery.
8 min abs x 2 each day.
one pilates video session.

Oct 29-Nov3: Taper down.
taper, sleep, chill.
nutrition, vitamins.
continue swim and core workouts.
short, hard workouts every other day.