T-minus seven weeks until I officially start training for Ironman Lake Placid! I’ve done my research and I’m fairly certain that I’m going to be following the “Be Iron Fit” 30-week training plan.
Last week I finished up week 6 of 6 of BodyBuilding.com’s Charlie Mike program (by one of my fitness idols, Ashley Horner).
I’ve mentioned before that in past years I’m notorious for completely taking off October, November and December and then coming back in January and wondering why I’m 20lbs heavier and slower than dirt!! (LOL!) But not this year. I start training December 26 and I knew I had to keep my base coming off Ironman 70.3 Ohio in August and the Akron Marathon in September. Doing the 6-week Charlie Mike program has basically saved my life and all my hard-earned fitness during this year’s “off-season“.
Today I started the Charlie Mike program over again with day 1 week 1 because I’m afraid I’ll lose my momentum if I don’t have a plan to follow. I’m good at training and I think that’s why I like it so much. I like proving to myself that I can follow a program to a T and hit every single workout. I don’t do well with “just working out” which I wish I could be better about, but to me it’s all about training and training for a purpose — AKA a giant race/event. I don’t do well with just free styling it. I like an action plan to follow and a strong reason why.
SO it looks like I have a plan for the next six weeks! I will do another Charlie Mike program, which will take me to the week of Dec 19. I will then take that week “easy” and then start up Ironman Training the following week (Dec 26).
So I am technically giving myself a taper and a small mental break 🙂
In December or January I’ll join a morning swim group a few days a week that is held through Cleveland Triathlon Club. This will help keep my swimming honest. I can’t decide if I miss swimming or if I’m gonna hate myself as soon as I’m back in the pool. Swimming is by far my least favorite discipline of triathlon, but I know it will be a major focus over my 30-weeks of training.
The plan was to get a new bike in November, but I couldn’t hold off and ended up getting a new bike in October. I’m completely obsessed! After surviving three years on a $100 hand-me-down, which I was never properly fitted for — owning a brand new, fitted bike is incredible! (But to be honest I loved my old, loyal bike too!)
Getting “fitted” in the bike lab at Bike Authority!
First spin outside on the new bike!
I’ve been looking into bike trainers too because I know I’m gonna need to ride long hours over the winter. I’ve been looking online and asking around and I’m leaning towards this model.
I’m happy with my progress over the “off-season” and am enjoying doing a lot of conditioning and weightlifting with Charlie Mike. This is the perfect program for me right now and fits into my base.
Here’s to another six weeks of Charlie Mike and officially seven until Ironman training!
Happy not-so-off season 🙂
She Writes & Runs 
Yep. I liked Be Iron Fit. It was the only time I have ever used a training plan (just feels like work when this should be fun), but IM scared me enough to follow a plan. Of course, I modified it beyond recognition before I even started (Tuesday is my busiest work day, so that was my rest day, Wednesday was my late day at work so I could get to the pool early and get my long swim done, Thursdays was a day off so I could get to the bike trails for my long bike on a non-weekend…way less people on the trails, etc). I also morphed the intermediate plan with the competative (was not going to get to the pool more then twice a week) and I still preferred training based on mileage instead of time. And I never did get into pool or running drills. Bottom line, the volume of the training got me across the finish line with ease despite major GI issues and dehydration on race day. I also got a PR in practically everything that year (and those PRs are not in jeopardy anymore…damn I am slow now). So, don’t be a slave to the plan. Use it for as much structure as you need. I blogged weekly training updates back in my IM training cycle (numbers nerd here…what the plan called for, what I did, how much improvement from the previous week etc). You might be interested in skimming that if you are looking at that plan.
I never heard of the bike trained that you have listed, but it seems similar to the Kurt Kenetic trainer I have. Fluid resistance is the way to go (quiet-can watch movies). The KK uses a silicon that the viscosity is not affected by heat (resistance is stable throughout the workout). Some brands have a tendency to leak, so do your homework.
Have a great training cycle!