What’s In My Head and On My Plate

Here are a few links that I am finding very useful or interesting as I train for the Tri and look to a fall marathon.

Phil Maffetone came to my attention from Dirtdawg’s Blog and Podcast as he used the training methods Maffetone prescribes to prepare himself for his last attempt at a BQ.  He raved about what Maffetone’s method did for his base aerobic endurance.  So I’m intrigued and bought the book!

Since I am 70.3 training at the moment and so much of Tri training seems to be building a solid aerobic base, I’ve been dabbling in this a little bit already, but wanna see what Phil can do for me in a fall marathon perhaps.

And while on the subject of training, here is a link to the training plan I am using for the 70.3 in May. This was put together by an endurance expert I’ve grown fond of, and who has done more to assist me in my training–mental and physical–than any of the writers out there.

Matt Fitzgerald’s book “Brain Training For Runners” was my introduction to him and the idea that much of what limits us as endurance athletes is mental more so than physical.

This plan is his “intermediate” plan, but I am modifying workout duration/mileage to reflect my current base of fitness.  For example, if he calls for a 45 minute run, I’ve ben doing an hour.  I have also kept my weekly long run of no less than 2 hours in all weeks except for recovery weeks. And I started doing bricks earlier and for longer duration than he suggested.  Again, my conclusion was I already train at an average of 13-14 hours a week.  My issue for this 70.3 was shifting time amounts more to swim and bike than to run, as it was during marathon training.  So I still get 30-38 miles a week running, but swim and bike are getting the time that had been spent on training for a 26.2. I really like this plan’s format and schedule for its simplicity from week to week. No weekly upheaval of routine, and I can understand it, to be honest. So many tri training books make my head hurt. No wonder people pay out the wazoo for coaches.

Super Simple Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Training Plan  by Matt Fitzgerald

Another link which came to my attention a day or so ago was this about training the body to fuel on fat stores instead of glycogen stores.  Now, Maffetone and this article aren’t totally unrelated as some of the ideas of aerobic training/base building seem to cross over.  I am planning on trying this for my run this weekend, “zero cal training”

How To Tap Into Fat For Fuel