Training Plan For Cleveland Steelman

Remember the kid at school who spent ages putting together the perfect exam revision timetable? The one that was colour coded, with each subject highlighted, and every hour of spare time between now and the exams planned out in meticulous detail?

That was me.

Of course, the knack is to schedule the time to plan out the timetable far enough before the exams so that you actually have enough time for some revision before the exams start. Hopefully that’s what I’ve managed to do this time with my plan for the Cleveland Steelman. The realisation that it was only eleven weeks away quite freaked me out for the back half of last week, and so the only possible course of action was to put a plan together (click to enlarge):

Cleveland Steelman training plan (click to enlarge) Basically I’m sticking with the training volume dictated by my 400 hour schedule for this year, but now really focusing on WHAT I’m going to be doing on every day of the next 11 weeks. So . . .

. . . the cycling mileage for training rides climbs throughout the 11 weeks (and I won’t be counting commuting rides toward any of these) . . .

. . . there are bricks every two weeks . . .

. . . there are straight swim endurance sessions outside of the club training with the NE31 Tri Club . . .

. . . There’s even a half-way serious swim-bike workout planned for while I’m on holiday in France . . .

. . . and there’s really no let-up during this holiday. As such . . .

I’ve never put together a plan as detailed as this before. If you have, please let me know what you think - if I’m about to make a huge mistake please make sure you tell me! I mean a mistake with the training of course - not the signing up for the race in the first place. I’d already figured that one out for myself. ;-)

Workout:

  • Type: Swim
  • Date: 04/21/2008
  • Time: 23:12:31
  • Total Time: 00:45:00.00
  • Distance: 1,705.9 m
  • Average Pace: 2:38.65/100m

Filed under: Cleveland Steelman, France, IronMan?, NE31 Tri Club, No More Excuses, Swim, Training Plan, Triathlon

9 Responses to “ Training Plan For Cleveland Steelman ”

  1. mike on April 22, 2008 at 1:32 am

    Couldn’t enlarge the plan however many times I clicked :)

    Would like to see what you produced … I was also that one who put together exam revision plans :)

  2. Karl McCracken on April 22, 2008 at 5:59 am

    Mike - that’d be because I forgot to link through to the bigger version. Doh! Fixed now . . .

  3. Von SmallHaussen on April 22, 2008 at 10:09 am

    Wow - looks amazing - I’m sure you will stick to it and do really well.

    I thought that seeing as I cycle at around about the same speed as you run - I could cycle alongside you on the 3rd if it would work - if not then thats cool too.

    p.s. Just to be clear - I’m talking about the 4 mile run not the 18 mile cycle!!!!

  4. Karl McCracken on April 22, 2008 at 10:53 am

    That would be absolutely completely bloody brilliant - pack your bike!

  5. Von SmallHaussen on April 22, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    Oooh - i was hoping I could borrow wifes if she will let me.

  6. Adrian Fitch on April 23, 2008 at 3:45 am

    I’m no expert but that seems like a lot of rest the week before the event. Everything I’ve read suggests a week to 10 day taper period where you maintain the frequency and intensity of training sessions but cut back on their duration. Saying that, I’m only putting it into practice for the first time right now. I’m nearing the end of mine ahead of this Sunday’s White Horse Challenge so I’ll let you know how effective it was on Monday.

  7. Karl McCracken on April 23, 2008 at 6:53 am

    I’d probably agree with that - I’ll still do a couple of easy runs & a couple of commuting rides though - it’s not as if I’ll be sat on my ar$e drinking beer & eating lard for the whole week. ;-)
    Good luck on Sunday!

  8. Brad Hefta-Gaub on April 24, 2008 at 7:56 pm

    Karl,

    I saw that Jeff made a comment about long distance bricks on another post… but since it is relative to this entry, I’ll comment here.

    I think that long distance bricks are probably an important element of long distance triathlon training. At least for me, I think that’s what I missed in last years training. So for example I never did a run post a 100mile ride… and I didn’t do enough runs post 60 mile rides… I think this really hurt my run performance last year (which was a disaster)….

    I see in your schedule you have a 45mile + 10 mile brick… and I think that’s a really good thing to have. But I don’t see the point in your 60mile bike… I would rater have another 45 mile + 10 mile brick than a 60 mile bike. If you can make it 45miles, then you’ll make it 56 miles on your bike… But running afterwards is really something you have to condition yourself for.

    I heard that Peter Reid does a short run after EVERY ride… This could be urban legend… but honestly, I think it makes sense… If I didn’t do so much bike commuting where I need to be somewhere, I’d try this…

    Good luck!

  9. Karl McCracken on April 24, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    Good advice - thanks Brad.