This is something I have been questioning since I started
my journey to do a half ironman and a full ironman.
I looked into coaches back in January, but decided that for this first go
around I would try it on my own for various reasons. I am a motivated person and
knew that doing a program on my own would not be an issue, but I wasn't sure
if the training I would be doing was right for me? My main goal for both of these distances was just to cross the finish line with a smile on my face and injury free. But, would I be over training,
would I not be training enough, speed work, heart rate training, etc, etc, etc.I looked at several different training plans online and found this 20 week half ironman training program that I liked. It was a time based training program as many of them were that I found. I wasn't really a fan of the time based plans as I didn't know if I would be getting in the mileage that I needed to.
I pretty much followed this training plan to the tee with a couple little
blips here and there due to life getting in the way. And once I started, the
whole time based thing didn't bother me. I'm about a right in the middle of the
pack athlete and figured most of these generic plans were made for average
speed people.
I never used a heart rate monitor throughout my half training due to the
fact it bothers me when I wear it. Zone 2 what? Yes, I have no idea what any of
my zones are and have basically made up paces in my head as to what my zones
are. #goodidea.
After I decided to race Kinetic instead of Mooseman, my 20 week timeline
was thrown off a bit. I had started the program with the target date of June
3rd. This meant I cheated the training plan by three weeks and made some minor
adjustments to make sure I tapered in the week leading up to my new 70.3. This
made me worried, but I knew I would still be able to finish my first 70.3
despite those 3 weeks I missed.
As you guys know, I'm pretty excited about how Kinetic went and I'm not
sure if I would have changed much on race day. With that said, I would totally
recommend this training plan to someone looking to do their first 70.3. Of
course, I'm no expert and you would have to look it over and make sure training
without a coach is for you. And if this training plan is for you. My goal was
just to finish, so picking a plan with more speed work, etc might be better for
others.
And now that I am done with my 70.3 I will switch my focus to Louisville,
which is my big goal for the year. Like my half I will be self coaching myself
to the full ironman. I will be using a 24 week training program from this book
and pick up the training from week #10.
At times I still question myself if self coaching is the smart thing to do.
I can only hope that the new training program I am transferring over to works
just as well for me. I guess for me to key to this whole thing is to listen to
my body and understand that's it ok to modify a workout sometimes or to take a
rest day as long as I get in my key workouts. I think I will always wonder if I
had a coach though if I could have finished faster or stronger. I guess that is
a question I will never know...
Having a coach/self coaching - what do you do?
Happy Tues All :)
