To Infinity and Beyond - Becoming a Better DopeyBadger (Comments Welcome)

Just read this and now I'm off to stick my head in the toilet :)
It's behind a paywall if you don't subscribe to the NY Times but Billy I thought you'd be interested. Physiology is so complicated it makes me throw up my hands. I don't feel like we can ever be sure of anything, even the basics like exercising more should make you burn calories and lose weight.
https://nyti.ms/2X9wKMM

I don't necessarily see this article throwing caution into the wind burning calories and losing weight. They are certainly looking at the extreme level (Tour de France and race across the country). The people were still operating at 2.5x metabolic resting rate at the end of the race across the country. So they got more efficient and burned less calories, but they were still burning through them like crazy. I think where people get hung up on marathon training (unlike these people who ran marathon length runs nearly everyday per the recap article) and not losing weight is that they tend to overeat or eat foods they shouldn't necessarily as much as they do in training. You feel really hungry during training, but you didn't really burn that many calories. Even on the days I did 4 hours of exercise in this last cycle, I still only burned about 3500-4000 estimated calories (including my estimated basal metabolic rate of around 1800-1900). You do one meal at your local food chain and you can easily hit 1500-2000 calories in a meal. Then add in you were consuming 250 calories an hour during the training (+1000) and you're already looking at 2500-3000 calories not even counting the other two standard meals (so 1000-1500 calories remaining). Plus, I know personally that I retain a lot of weight after the weekends. So I'm not back down to "normal" weight until at least Wednesday after a hard weekend.

But, there's still the consideration that you want to balance the muscular/endurance gains with your weight loss. Because if you lose too much weight, you're probably simultaneously sacrificing those endurance gains you're trying to make. Sticking to 0.5-1 pound per week (or about 50-100 calorie deficit per day) will keep a relatively close balance between the two. The opposite end is you not try to make endurance gains but rather stick to weight loss. If weight loss is the goal, then you can train lighter and aim for a bigger calorie deficit. You won't be race ready at the end, but you'll lose extra bad weight.

I guess the fun of science is few things are absolute. Conventional wisdom can be shuffled up with new scientific discovery.

Sorry to hear about the injury but hope you heal up soon.

Thanks!
 
Just read this and now I'm off to stick my head in the toilet :)
It's behind a paywall if you don't subscribe to the NY Times but Billy I thought you'd be interested. Physiology is so complicated it makes me throw up my hands. I don't feel like we can ever be sure of anything, even the basics like exercising more should make you burn calories and lose weight.
https://nyti.ms/2X9wKMM

Knowing how much I pay for D2O and labeled gasses, I tried to up the price for the fully isotope exchanged water, and I am hoping the Sigma Aldrich bulk discount is an order of magnitude or two less than I can purchase it for. I am now fascinated with this and will spend more time than I want to admit looking into where people actually purchase this (do people not put that information in the materials and methods section of the paper in other fields or did I just skim it too quickly?)

I appreciated that the NYT author clumps pregnancy in as one of several 'long grueling physical endeavors' which is not quite how the researchers put it! I think the findings are interesting, but similarly I disagree that this limits my weight loss opportunities while running significantly and point the finger to my being so hungry I cannot pay attention to it being the third spoonful of peanut butter I want to shove in my mouth.
 
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Yeah I exaggerate about not knowing the basics but I still definitely believe the system is too complicated, and downright idiosyncratic to different people, to be able to learn much that gives us simple directions to follow that are generalizable to everyone. Of course it's better to eat less and exercise more, but there are so many redundant systems to make sure you don't waste away to nothing (or seemingly, put on too much bulk), that it makes it hard to do more than nudge around a settling point a little when it comes to weight. Your body can make you more hungry so that you consume more, shut down its metabolic rate in dozens of ways, ramp up its fat storage capacity, slow down the rate at which food moves through your intestines on a gross anatomical level to squeeze as much energy out as possible, etc. etc. And we all have dozens of genetic variants that can set these levels at different points individually. I don't know if you've seen the Biggest Loser studies but those (admittedly very limited) studies of adjustments in calorie burning post weight loss made me weep.

Every year I have to give one lecture on homeostatic mechanisms in a grad class I teach and every year I tell myself this is the year I decide what the best diet plan is while I'm researching. By the time I'm giving my lecture, the picture is so complicated, and every part is adjustable. I just tell myself, "Your body is trying to trick you to gain weight in a dozen different ways, don't believe anything it is telling you about how much or when to eat." Even then you can only outsmart your body so much. I guess you just need to take the healthy attitude that this is the body you are given, and you have this spectrum you can expect to perform in, and you should just try to get to the optimal side of that spectrum for your body. Even if you're not made to be a Kipchoge or something you can be the best you that you can be. Billy you could probably publish all the data you have gathered on yourself someday, it would probably be very useful to lots of folks.
 


Knowing how much I pay for D2O and labeled gasses, I tried to up the price for the fully isotope exchanged water, and I am hoping the Sigma Aldrich bulk discount is an order of magnitude or two less than I can purchase it for. I am now fascinated with this and will spend more time than I want to admit looking into where people actually purchase this (do people not put that information in the materials and methods section of the paper in other fields or did I just skim it too quickly?)

"Subjects ingested 1.2 g of DLW per kilogram of body mass, the dose material containing ~6% 2 H2O and ~10% H2 18O (Sigma-Aldrich)"

I know in our lab we don't pay what's on the website usually (not with DLW specifically but with other products).

third spoonful of peanut butter I want to shove in my mouth.

Mmmmm... peanut butter....

Yeah I exaggerate about not knowing the basics but I still definitely believe the system is too complicated, and downright idiosyncratic to different people, to be able to learn much that gives us simple directions to follow that are generalizable to everyone. Of course it's better to eat less and exercise more, but there are so many redundant systems to make sure you don't waste away to nothing (or seemingly, put on too much bulk), that it makes it hard to do more than nudge around a settling point a little when it comes to weight. Your body can make you more hungry so that you consume more, shut down its metabolic rate in dozens of ways, ramp up its fat storage capacity, slow down the rate at which food moves through your intestines on a gross anatomical level to squeeze as much energy out as possible, etc. etc. And we all have dozens of genetic variants that can set these levels at different points individually. I don't know if you've seen the Biggest Loser studies but those (admittedly very limited) studies of adjustments in calorie burning post weight loss made me weep.

I guess for me personally, I've been as high as 195 while still actively run training and as low as 155. I hovered around 170-175 the most when I was running 3x per week, but I believe for my first Dopey I ate way more food during training because I was doing 5-6 days per week on the Galloway runDisney plan. I believe I was near 195 for that race. But I've been doing 5-6 days per week with more run training in 2015-2018 and was usually down in the 160 range. I attribute that mostly to the changes in diet as much as the increase in run training duration on a per week basis. But in this last cycle+run+80DO training cycle I was in the 170s for almost the entire period of time and training way way more than ever before. I think I was near 182-3 when I came back from Disney (mid-Feb) and was down to 171 or so the last few weeks (late May). But I didn't get anywhere close to where I've been when I was doing 6.5-8.5 hours of run training per week. Although Steph says I was too skinny back then and I've got more muscle tone these days.

But like you said, this is a very individualistic response. Because another person could mimic exactly what I did and may not see the same results.

you can be the best you that you can be.

That's all we can strive to be.

Billy you could probably publish all the data you have gathered on yourself someday, it would probably be very useful to lots of folks.

An interesting idea. Not sure if the individualistic nature of the data I've gathered would be translateable. Let's see:

-HRvPace - I feel like this is a known entity. The relationship is quite tight to a logarithmic line of best fit. It's used to create the VO2max curves using Garmin and Firstbeat Tech.

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-The effect of run training on left ventricular thickness, blood stroke volume, and resting HR - A known entity. I believe I read a paper recently about how the heart adapts to run training but not nearly as much to cycle training. This graphs shows that as my resting HR was mostly unchanged during the cycle portion of this last training cycle, but as soon as run training was added the resting HR dropped dramatically. A likely response in the heart getting more efficient.

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-The recovery timeframe for post-marathon.

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-My summarization of carb intake (during and pre-loading). But that's all published information that I converted into a calculator form.
-Daniels "time off" VO2max adjustment chart. Which I've found to be quite accurate as it correctly pegged my fitness level based on HRvPace data.
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-The Temp+Dew adjustment chart which I also confirmed with my own HRvPace data under different T+D conditions.

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-That Ian Williams and Vickers data set review which confirmed their findings and good training plan design.
-Determining the relationship between Pace vs (Cadence x Stride Length). This was an interesting one I revisted during this last training cycle personally. Because I had seen with a concerted effort in 2015 I was able to increase my cadence, then I found myself getting faster. But an interesting thing I found in this last training cycle was that I was struggling with getting my cadence faster. My data in this cycle was coming in similar to the December 2014 training cycle when I was far far slower than I am now. I hypothesized it was due to the increase cycling and strength training which may have shortened/tightened my hamstrings. Never really settled on a thought here as to why it was such a struggle to get my cadence back up to where it was 2015 to 2018.

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-Then all the training load calculations using different training plans.

I think that's all the different data sets I've got going on, but I'm sure I might have missed something.
 
It's a VERY intensive collection of data on one person for a long period of time. I'm thinking you probably keep very good records of what you eat etc. too. The one limitation is how the data are collected. I don't know that any of the equipment us "normal" people use day in and day out is scientific-grade accuracy & precision. Anyway anything listed as a "known entity" is probably not so known given small sample sizes, bias in who gets measured in these studies and all kinds of other things so an intensive study of one person over a long time, over varying BMI and levels of fitness could potentially be novel. I don't read this literature like you do but anything I read is a report on measurement of one small group of people over a pretty short period of time. The sticking point, again, is, how does anybody verify that records are totally accurate. It's cool, more people should do what you're doing. I'll bet there are plenty of people who get very into recording data about themselves in a short intensive burst but then lose interest. You have info for years.
 
I'll bet there are plenty of people who get very into recording data about themselves in a short intensive burst but then lose interest. You have info for years.
Interesting you should say that. For years, I never kept a training log. I either did the run or I didn't do the run. I found that as I started to become more serious about running that a training log was useful. I could still keep better track of everything than I currently do, but I also learned that tracking runs helps in a variety of ways. In addition to the accountability factor, I find that it helps me remember bad runs and attempt to identify what contributed to that run.
 


It's a VERY intensive collection of data on one person for a long period of time.

:-) I do have every resting HR data point for the last 918 days. And HRvPace data that's been scrubbed from January 2015 through June 2019. I guess it's kind of fun to collect all the data and see what you can make of it. I'm all about looking for trends.

I'm thinking you probably keep very good records of what you eat etc. too.

Yes and no. My breakfast/lunch is unchanged every weekday that I work. Always eggs/orange/oatmeal with cherries and chicken sandwich/carrots/spinach salad. I've only made changes to the routine on a yearly basis usually. The dinner is a bit more variable, but more often than not is a Hello Fresh meal. But the records aren't meticulous. I just count the calories on a rounded basis mentally (750 for breakfast for 3 eggs + 50 calories for each additional egg and then 650 calories for lunch). I've got sleep data too, but I don't record it.

The one limitation is how the data are collected. I don't know that any of the equipment us "normal" people use day in and day out is scientific-grade accuracy & precision.

Other than the equipment, I try to keep a consistent methodology on collection. I'm fairly confident from my years of using the Garmin 235 and Garmin 620 that they may not be accurate but they are precise. And when it isn't precise (an outlier like cadence lock), I can tell.

Anyway anything listed as a "known entity" is probably not so known given small sample sizes, bias in who gets measured in these studies and all kinds of other things so an intensive study of one person over a long time, over varying BMI and levels of fitness could potentially be novel. I don't read this literature like you do but anything I read is a report on measurement of one small group of people over a pretty short period of time.

That's completely fair. It's maddening how something can become "doctrine" in the running world based on "12 highly training individuals". The whole dive I did into carb loading procedure and the similarities/dissimilarities between males and females was interesting to me. I've always said, if I could ever open up my super running/fitness gym, I would try and collect as much data as I could (or they'd let me have) from normal people. Because I bet I could find some really interesting data points from the normal population on a large scale.

It's cool, more people should do what you're doing. I'll bet there are plenty of people who get very into recording data about themselves in a short intensive burst but then lose interest. You have info for years.

I'd call it "Spreadsheet addiction". :rotfl2:
 
2020 Walt Disney World Marathon - TrainerRoad Ironman High Volume (Run+Cycle+80DO) - Training Plan

"If you want it, PROVE IT, by doing what is necessary to get it."

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As detailed earlier, the last 28 weeks have been spent trying to see whether I could run less, but add in more cross training (cycling and strength work) and still be at the same running fitness level. I'd say it was fairly successful. So because of that, I've given myself the green light to attempt the TrainerRoad Ironman training plan in order to train for the 2020 Disney Marathon. The hope is that while the running volume will be less than I normally train for a marathon, the sheer volume of total work is much higher putting me in a place to succeed on race day. Let's test out that theory. At the end of the day, I like to train. It's 95% of the fun of the hobby to me. So even if this is a complete failure, I'll still find it fun and time well spent.

The Race

So before we get to the training plan, let's first talk about the race choice for my next marathon and Boston Qualifying attempt. Thus far, I've tried at the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon. I had chosen that course because I had run it two times prior (2015, 2016) and though in 2017 I could capture the same sub-4 magic with sub-3 magic. I was likely in the correct shape, but something just didn't work on race day and I ran a still PR of 3:14. Chicago 2018 was to be my next attempt. This time around I went with a race that had decent weather, wasn't too far away, and was almost exclusively flat. While my ankle didn't agree with the training and eventually forced me to bag the sub-3 attempt, I did still run the course. And after doing so, I decided Chicago isn't a great option for me for a sub-3 attempt. I didn't like the road conditions which seemingly had so many potholes. The downside of both Lakefront and Chicago is that the bulk of the training occurred during the summer during the hottest time of year in Wisconsin. So the bulk of training was unpleasant.

That brings me to attempt #3. This time around I decided to try and BQ at the Disney marathon. I've run the Disney marathon five times prior. Each attempt at Disney has come as a part of Dopey. The positives for the Disney marathon is it's mostly flat (a few overpasses), the peak of training is in the colder WI months (but not too cold), it has a ton of aid stations (19 of them I think), it has interesting things to look at (all the Disney-ness), and I've had great experiences there for the marathons even with the Dopey races prior. So while the course may not be completely idea, it's a pretty darn good option and one I'm comfortable with. That's why I chose it as my next BQ attempt.

Why TrainerRoad?

I really like the overall design of their training plans. I can understand their design choices. They're design choices match my personal philosophical design choices. The plan's running is written based on effort (RPE) and duration, rather than mileage. For the RPE, I used the descriptions of the types of runs to decide what paces to assign to them. So when it said I would run for 1 min at a very fast pace and rest for 2 min, then I assigned it the Daniels R pace. When it said I would run for 20-30 min continuously as a Brick run (after the biking), then I assigned it either HM Tempo or Lactate Threshold. The running durations capped at 180 min. Originally I thought about pulling it back and peaking at 150 min like I like to do/assign. But my mindset was to make as little edits to this plan as originally written. The only thing I changed was the substitution of 80DO for the swimming that was assigned.

I'll be doing all of this cycling training on an indoor trainer.

I went back and forth between the mid-volume and high-volume plans. There really aren't a ton of differences. The high-volume plan was written for those with qualifying for Kona in mind (the same concept as a BQ but for Ironman athletes, and I'm pretty sure a KQ is much harder). I compared the mid-volume and high-volume plans and came up with the following differences:

Mid-Volume vs High-Volume

# of Tuesdays night cycle over 60 min - 10 vs 18
# of early Thursdays - 5 vs 9
# of Fridays night cycle over 60 min - 12 vs 11
# of HM/M Tempo Bricks - 9 vs 7
# of Tuesday/Wednesday hard run doubles - 1 vs 11
Peak cycling - 5 hours vs 6 hours
Running Miles - 859 vs 890
Cycling Miles (estimated) - 2959 vs 3158

The key difference is that the Mid-Volume plan doesn't stack the hard runs Tues/Wed and the High-Volume plan does. The duration of those Tuesday runs never exceeds 60 min and the total workload compared to my normal run training is rather light. So the back to back hard runs didn't really scare me.


The Pacing

In other training plans, I've placed a high degree of importance on the pacing. And that's still true to a degree here, but my plan is a bit different. The plan is to be mostly at effort levels. Similar to what I did in the last training cycle. See the paces when they occur live, but nothing really changes when I see them. All in an "effort" to keep the effort the same. But based on runs under ideal conditions in the last training cycle, I'd say I'm somewhere around here:

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The Routine

The training plan uses the following routine:

Monday - OFF
Tuesday - 80DO AAA (morning) + Cycle
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Either Brick (Bike then Run) or Bike morning + Run evening
Friday - 80DO Total Body Core (morning) + Cycle
Saturday - Either Brick (Bike then Run) or Bike morning + Run evening
Sunday - Long Run + 80DO Cardio Flow (evening)

AAA
Phase 1

1 - Upright Row, Bent over Fly, Frog Sliders, Glute Bridge w/Loop
2 - Push-up, Skull Crusher, Weighted ab sit-up, Quad Ped Heel Press
3 - Bent Over Row, Hammer Curl, Knee Tuck, Fire Hydrant

Phase 2

Series 1 - Bilateral Press, Alt Unilateral Press, Lateral Raise, Y, Lat Side Bend, Standing Weight Knee Drive, Loop Standing Donkey, Forearm Plank Jumping Jacks
Series 2 - Chest Press, Fly, Kickback in Plank, Tricep Pushup, Corkscrew, Teaser, 1st Pos. Bridge, Single Leg Bridge w/ Loop
Series 3 - Pullovers, Renegade Row, Curls, Turned Out Curls, Loop Scissor Twist, V Leg Raise, Narrow Bridge Clam, Straight Leg Curls

Phase 3

Series 1: Czech Press, Front Raise, Slider Windshield Wipers, Side Lunge Hold
Series 2: Bridge Pull Over, Camel Bicep Curl, Weighted Twisted Roll Down, Marching Bridge
Series 3: Bridge Bilateral Press, Tricep Kickback in Lunge, Weighted Knee Drops, Curtsy Lunge Pulse

Phase 4

Series 1: Lunge Press, L Raise, Candlestick, Athletic Hinge Pulse
Series 2: Single-Leg Bridge With 1-Arm Pullover, Hammer Curl, Boat Pose Russian Twist, Quad Ped Donkey Pulse
Series 3: Bridge Chest Press, Lunge Triceps Kickback, Plank Hip Dip, Superman Glute Pulse

TBC
Phase 1


Shoulders: Squat Rotating Press, Lateral Bear Crawl with RL, Spider Loops with RL
Back: Bent over Row, One Hand Renegade Row with RL, Boat Pose Lat Pull with RL
Chest: Push-up Leg lift with RL, Chest Fly with Leg Lift with RL, Side V Loop Kicks with RL
Biceps: Staggered Stance Bicep Curl, C-Curve Crunch w/ weights at 90d, Side Knee Plank Pull with RL
Triceps: Tricep Kickbacks, Single-Arm Extension Loop, Tricep push up

Phase 2

Series 1 (Shoulder) - Squat/Row/Twist/Row, Kneeling Lunge Clean & Press, Quad Ped Opposite Arm Knee Crunch
Series 2 (Chest) - Chest Press to Half Turkish Get-up, Spider Man Push-ups, Frog Sliders
Series 3 (Back) - "T" to Single-Leg Hip Hinge, Lat Pull Over w/ Leg Raise, Weighted Plank Hip Drop
Series 4 (Biceps) - Low Twisting Lunge Hammer Curl, Press Out to Curl, Weighted Standing Torso Rotation
Series 5 (Triceps) - Crab Position Tricep Dip to Sit Through, Alternating Skull Crusher with Bicycle Legs, French Twist

Phase 3

Series 1: Surrender to Shoulder Press, Quad Ped Crawl, Burpee Sliders
Series 2: Bent Over Row Tap Back, Squat Tabletop Row, Saw on Sliders
Series 3: Modified 1/2 Turkish Push-up, Side Reach Push-up, V Crunch to Scissor Crunch
Series 4: Runner's Lunge Curl, Static Sumo Hammer Curl, Slider Crawl Out
Series 5: Tricep Push up w/ knee tuck, Squat Hold Kickbacks, Weighted Windmills

Phase 4

Series 1: Static Twisting Lunge Pulse, Lateral Squat Hop Raise, Side V Pulses
Series 2: Front Lunge + Goalpost, 2 Jump Row, V-Up Flutter Kick
Series 3: Chest Press Bicycle, Alt. Lateral Push-up, Roll Up Knee Twist
Series 4: Rotating Angle Lunge Curl, Sumo Squat Curl, Loop X Twist
BONUS: Side Plank Triceps Kickback, Frog Crunches

The Plan

The plan starts on July 1st and runs through the Disney Marathon on January 20th. Here are the first 4 weeks of the "Base" phase:

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Lot of things going on here. This is week 28 through week 25. First the color in the days column denotes an unusual day. For instance, 7/4 is red because it is a holiday. The green section is the run section, the purple section is the cycling section, the blue section is the 80DO section, and the orange/yellow section are the total training duration for the day and mileage run. Then that second portion is tallying the Total Stress Score (TSS) from each day and each week. The value in red is tallying the overall week average TSS.

The first 12 weeks of the training are the Base phase. The Tuesday morning session is AAA (arms, abs, and a$$) from 80DO which focuses mostly on the upper body. The Tuesday evening cycling workouts are mostly sub-threshold usually around 90% FTP. The Wednesday runs are kept easy with strides until late August. Thursdays are either a paced cycling activity (maintain Half Ironman cycling pace for 60-105 minutes) followed by an easy brick run (from 20-45 min) OR Thursday morning is a sub-threshold cycling workout like Tuesdays (60-90 min) with an evening easy run (40-75 min). Then Friday morning has Total Body Core from 80DO with an anaerobic or VO2max cycling activity in the evening (60-90 min). Saturday we're back to another either or with either a brick or a cycle+run with the same scheme as Thursday. If Thursday is brick then Saturday is split. If Thursday is split, then Saturday is brick. Lastly, on Sunday is the long run. The long run starts at 90 min (around 12 miles) and peaks at 150 min (around 19 miles) at the end of the 12 week Base phase.

The first four weeks range in duration from 10-13 hours. The cycling is 4.5-7.25 hours and running is 2:50 to 3:25 (estimated 21-25 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 480-663 range (or about the same as February of this last training cycle when I had just added running into the mix).

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Here are Weeks 24 through 21. The only thing that stands out different is that I've got my first day off from work on 8/15. Because the Thursday bricks will range in duration from 95 to 150 min in the Base phase (and throughout) it necessitates taking the day off from work to be able to fit it in. So anytime the training volume exceeds 120 min on a weekday, then I plan to take the day off from work. These second four weeks range in duration from 11-15 hours. The cycling is 5.25-8.75 hours and running is 3:10 to 4:00 (estimated 23-30 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 536-774 range (or about the same as March of this last training cycle). The cycling will enter a new peak duration for me at 3.75 hours on 8/3.

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Here are Weeks 20 through 17. Things really start to ramp up here in the 3rd set of 4 weeks of the Base phase. The blue mark days (Mondays and Wednesdays) denote Gigi's Flag Football practice. So having off on Mondays comes in handy here, and additionally having the Wednesday runs only being an hour long means I should be able to go to all the practices. She's super excited about flag football. Then, there's also a holiday (red) and some Thursdays off (green). The other new color is dark purple on two Saturdays which denote home football games. So it's a near guarantee that Steph will be working those days. The first one is a 2:50 brick and the second is a taper day (30 min bike and 20 min run) prior to my first race of the cycle (DoLittle HM). Originally the DoLittle HM was going to be maybe the 5k, but after losing out on Hot2Trot I wanted another race on the calendar. The DoLittle is on my favorite HM course in Oconomowoc (same as Last Call in December). I'm expecting it to be super hot, but the key is just logistics and not necessarily peak performance.

This section also brings the first paced runs with Daniels R workouts. It ranges from 6 x 1 min to 12 x 1 min. That's the only paced work leading into the DoLittle HM.

This end of the Base phase ranges in duration from 9.5-17.5 hours. The cycling is 4.5-10 hours and running is 3:05 to 4:55 (estimated 25-36 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 515-906 range (or about the same as April of this last training cycle). That 906 TSS will just barely surpass the peak from the last training cycle (904). The cycling will enter a new peak duration for me at 4.75 hours on 9/14.

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We've now entered the Building Phase of the plan! Weeks 13 to 16. The flag football continues, as does the home WI football games on 3 of the 4 Saturdays. The middle one is a brick workout at 3 hours, but luckily the other two are split between morning/evening which should make the logistics easier. The R paced workouts continue with 7 x 1 min to 11 x 1 min. The two Thursday bricks are with HM Tempo instead of easy paces (like they were in Base phase). The week of 9/30 brings the first triple paced run week with an R workout, a LT workout, and a 60 min M Tempo brick (8.5 miles at pace after 2 hours cycling at mostly easy cycle pace). That week is circled as a litmus test. Now that I'm writing this out, I also see that this is Phase 4 of 80DO. So we'll see if that's a smart choice when the time comes.

This beginning of the Build phase ranges in duration from 10.75-16 hours. The cycling is 4.75-8.75 hours and running is 3:25 to 4:55 (estimated 26-37 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 563-826 range (or about the same as May of this last training cycle). The run duration (2.5 hrs) or about 19.5 miles.

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This is the second half of the Build phase. Weeks 9 to 12. The flag football is over, a few days off, and only one home WI football game (which coincides with another taper 20 min run and 30 min bike). With this second half comes a new Wednesday pace of Daniels I which ranges from a 4 x 3 min to 4 x 6 min. Also a 45 min HM Tempo and 45 min M Tempo brick run. The 10/27 run will be my longest training run in years (160 min and 21 miles). Lastly, the Madison Half Marathon on 11/3. Originally I was going to do the Haunted Hustle HM, but I've since changed to the Madison HM to avoid the trails of the Haunted Hustle. I'm toying with running in the Nike Vaporfly 4% shoes and would prefer to try them out in a race that's 100% road like Disney is. The weather should be cold for this race. There are plenty of hills though, but given the timing from Disney (10 weeks out) it's really the best option.

This end of the Build phase ranges in duration from 10.5-16 hours. The cycling is 5-8.75 hours and running is 3:25 to 4:55 (estimated 28-37 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 565-814 range (or about the same as May of this last training cycle).

Screen Shot 2019-06-14 at 8.18.13 PM.png

Now we move into the final phase - Specialty! Weeks 5 to 8. This is where the rubber meets the road. The training really kicks it up one last notch to throw me into a level of training I've never been to. Only one last home football game (thankfully a split day), two off days, and one holiday. The holiday (Thanksgiving) is well timed because I have a split day with a 135 min bike ride. So it really happened at the perfect time. Because going to work after a 135 min bike ride at 3 am would have been tiring. The Daniels I continues with 3 x 3 min I to 6 x 4 min I. The bricks start to reach into the 3.5 hour zone on the weekdays. The long runs are really pushing it at 170 min (22 miles) and 180 min (23.3 miles). But there's a mega test on 12/15 during the "off" week with a 4 hour bike ride and then a 75 min M Tempo brick (11 miles). That seems like a crazy test, but I'm ready for that challenge.

This beginning of the Specialty phase ranges in duration from 15-20 hours. The cycling is 9-10.75 hours and running is 3:25 to 6:30 (estimated 27-47 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 806-986 range (this would be completely new training load to me). That peak of 986 represents the peak of training (week of 12/2 or 6 weeks prior to the marathon). The peak of the last training cycle was a TSS of 904 with 14 hours of cycling. So we're reaching a bit further with the 986. The cycling peak will get to 5.5 hours or an estimated 85 cycling miles.

Screen Shot 2019-06-14 at 8.36.26 PM.png

The TAPER! I've got a feeling I'll be ready for the taper when it comes. Weeks 4 to race day. Lots of holidays to help out with the training (Christmas and New Years). The brick peaks at a 6 hr event (4.5 bike and 1.5 run). The 180 min run occurs one more time (2x total). The max cycling event occurs at 6 hours (estimated 93 miles). The Daniels I ranges from 4 x 3 min to 6 x 4 min I. An interesting race week setup. Because of the travel on Thursday, I shifted the week up a day and made Thursday the off day. Wednesday is not an insignificant workout with 15 min at LT and a 2 hour bike ride. There is even a paced cycling workout on Saturday (the day prior to the marathon).

This end of the training plan ranges in duration from 8.5-19.5 hours. The cycling is 3.75-10.5 hours and running is 3:45 to 6:15 (estimated 28-45 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 598-959 range. That means over the course of the 28 week training plan there are only 3 weeks (2 really) that are higher in TSS than what I did in the last plan.

And then, victory lap day!

Here is the overall view from the TSS fitness perspective:

Screen Shot 2019-06-14 at 8.51.32 PM.png

I'm excited about this plan. It looks like a ton of fun! I can't wait to see how it plays out.

My Goals

-To make it to the 2020 Disney Marathon starting line injury free
-To enjoy the training
-To enjoy the victory lap
-To run a sub-3 marathon
-To run a Boston Qualifying time
-Two victory doughnuts!
 
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I'm assuming no Dopey 4-fer this time. Just gotta get in the front of Corral A and you've got this! I'd say try Modesto, but it has lots of potholes and nothing to look at but farmland (but I think that's pretty).

(fyi I'm still mulling over whether or not to do my half)
 
I'm assuming no Dopey 4-fer this time.

That's correct. The 2020 Disney marathon as a stand-alone event. Each of the five marathons at Disney have been fantastic races for me even with the proceeding other races. So I'm hoping I can have that same feeling without the other races and do a bit better.

(fyi I'm still mulling over whether or not to do my half)

You'll come to the best decision based on how it fits in your life.

That’s a heckuva plan, Billy. I’m really hoping you stay injury-free and crush that BQ.

Thanks! I'm excited about it. It looks like a lot of fun and a good challenge.
 
"Subjects ingested 1.2 g of DLW per kilogram of body mass, the dose material containing ~6% 2 H2O and ~10% H2 18O (Sigma-Aldrich)"

I know in our lab we don't pay what's on the website usually (not with DLW specifically but with other products).



Mmmmm... peanut butter....



I guess for me personally, I've been as high as 195 while still actively run training and as low as 155. I hovered around 170-175 the most when I was running 3x per week, but I believe for my first Dopey I ate way more food during training because I was doing 5-6 days per week on the Galloway runDisney plan. I believe I was near 195 for that race. But I've been doing 5-6 days per week with more run training in 2015-2018 and was usually down in the 160 range. I attribute that mostly to the changes in diet as much as the increase in run training duration on a per week basis. But in this last cycle+run+80DO training cycle I was in the 170s for almost the entire period of time and training way way more than ever before. I think I was near 182-3 when I came back from Disney (mid-Feb) and was down to 171 or so the last few weeks (late May). But I didn't get anywhere close to where I've been when I was doing 6.5-8.5 hours of run training per week. Although Steph says I was too skinny back then and I've got more muscle tone these days.

But like you said, this is a very individualistic response. Because another person could mimic exactly what I did and may not see the same results.



That's all we can strive to be.



An interesting idea. Not sure if the individualistic nature of the data I've gathered would be translateable. Let's see:

-HRvPace - I feel like this is a known entity. The relationship is quite tight to a logarithmic line of best fit. It's used to create the VO2max curves using Garmin and Firstbeat Tech.

View attachment 408627

-The effect of run training on left ventricular thickness, blood stroke volume, and resting HR - A known entity. I believe I read a paper recently about how the heart adapts to run training but not nearly as much to cycle training. This graphs shows that as my resting HR was mostly unchanged during the cycle portion of this last training cycle, but as soon as run training was added the resting HR dropped dramatically. A likely response in the heart getting more efficient.

View attachment 408628

-The recovery timeframe for post-marathon.

View attachment 408629

-My summarization of carb intake (during and pre-loading). But that's all published information that I converted into a calculator form.
-Daniels "time off" VO2max adjustment chart. Which I've found to be quite accurate as it correctly pegged my fitness level based on HRvPace data.
View attachment 408631

View attachment 408632

-The Temp+Dew adjustment chart which I also confirmed with my own HRvPace data under different T+D conditions.

View attachment 408633

-That Ian Williams and Vickers data set review which confirmed their findings and good training plan design.
-Determining the relationship between Pace vs (Cadence x Stride Length). This was an interesting one I revisted during this last training cycle personally. Because I had seen with a concerted effort in 2015 I was able to increase my cadence, then I found myself getting faster. But an interesting thing I found in this last training cycle was that I was struggling with getting my cadence faster. My data in this cycle was coming in similar to the December 2014 training cycle when I was far far slower than I am now. I hypothesized it was due to the increase cycling and strength training which may have shortened/tightened my hamstrings. Never really settled on a thought here as to why it was such a struggle to get my cadence back up to where it was 2015 to 2018.

View attachment 408634

-Then all the training load calculations using different training plans.

I think that's all the different data sets I've got going on, but I'm sure I might have missed something.
I wonder if working some ladder drills and plyometrics in would help with cadence. I remember running tires as a kid, but same idea of teaching you how to chop your feet. Plus ladders can be used with a band for some good glute medius work too... double up on your investment lol.

Also, I’ve read articles about the crazy amounts of foods nortic x-crountry skiers eat during training(10k+ calorie day’s)... and Michael Phelps.... and so many others. Plus, I have my own experiences... I don’t buy that article stating the 2.5 rule. I think looking at the individual event and your bodies desire for hemostasis you won’t “need” to eat much extra after a big race... but that next week you’re eating way more than you normally burn! Also, if you’re training hard and you’re not over feeding yourself, you’ll burn so many extra calories on harder days. You have to eat a ton to recover for the next run, however you can’t usually get enough calories... so you eat extra on your easy days. Personally I don’t venture much past 2.5, unless I’m marathon training... but I have and I’ve read about countless professional athletes doing it all the time. All that said, you do get more efficient with training so you have to be smart about your out of training diet... nutrient dense foods are key! Salmon > chicken lol.
 
I am tired just reading your training plan!

:faint:

Do you do any yoga or stretching? I know for me that has been key to staying injury-free, so the yogi in me feels obligated to encourage that. :-)

Cardio Flow is the closest I come to yoga. Based on a quick google search it looks like Cardio Flow has some elements of "flow yoga".

"A dynamic endurance workout using primary movement patterns that build on one another for the ultimate calorie burn."

Other than that, every session of 80DO and running has 5 min of dynamic WU and static CD. Per the Cardio flow description on 80DO:

I wonder if working some ladder drills and plyometrics in would help with cadence. I remember running tires as a kid, but same idea of teaching you how to chop your feet. Plus ladders can be used with a band for some good glute medius work too... double up on your investment lol.

The 80DO Cardio Core has elements of that. But I'm not doing that specific workout this time around.
 
2020 Walt Disney World Marathon - TrainerRoad Ironman High Volume (Run+Cycle+80DO) - Training Plan

"If you want it, PROVE IT, by doing what is necessary to get it."

View attachment 409156

As detailed earlier, the last 28 weeks have been spent trying to see whether I could run less, but add in more cross training (cycling and strength work) and still be at the same running fitness level. I'd say it was fairly successful. So because of that, I've given myself the green light to attempt the TrainerRoad Ironman training plan in order to train for the 2020 Disney Marathon. The hope is that while the running volume will be less than I normally train for a marathon, the sheer volume of total work is much higher putting me in a place to succeed on race day. Let's test out that theory. At the end of the day, I like to train. It's 95% of the fun of the hobby to me. So even if this is a complete failure, I'll still find it fun and time well spent.

The Race

So before we get to the training plan, let's first talk about the race choice for my next marathon and Boston Qualifying attempt. Thus far, I've tried at the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon. I had chosen that course because I had run it two times prior (2015, 2016) and though in 2017 I could capture the same sub-4 magic with sub-3 magic. I was likely in the correct shape, but something just didn't work on race day and I ran a still PR of 3:14. Chicago 2018 was to be my next attempt. This time around I went with a race that had decent weather, wasn't too far away, and was almost exclusively flat. While my ankle didn't agree with the training and eventually forced me to bag the sub-3 attempt, I did still run the course. And after doing so, I decided Chicago isn't a great option for me for a sub-3 attempt. I didn't like the road conditions which seemingly had so many potholes. The downside of both Lakefront and Chicago is that the bulk of the training occurred during the summer during the hottest time of year in Wisconsin. So the bulk of training was unpleasant.

That brings me to attempt #3. This time around I decided to try and BQ at the Disney marathon. I've run the Disney marathon five times prior. Each attempt at Disney has come as a part of Dopey. The positives for the Disney marathon is it's mostly flat (a few overpasses), the peak of training is in the colder WI months (but not too cold), it has a ton of aid stations (19 of them I think), it has interesting things to look at (all the Disney-ness), and I've had great experiences there for the marathons even with the Dopey races prior. So while the course may not be completely idea, it's a pretty darn good option and one I'm comfortable with. That's why I chose it as my next BQ attempt.

Why TrainerRoad?

I really like the overall design of their training plans. I can understand their design choices. They're design choices match my personal philosophical design choices. The plan's running is written based on effort (RPE) and duration, rather than mileage. For the RPE, I used the descriptions of the types of runs to decide what paces to assign to them. So when it said I would run for 1 min at a very fast pace and rest for 2 min, then I assigned it the Daniels R pace. When it said I would run for 20-30 min continuously as a Brick run (after the biking), then I assigned it either HM Tempo or Lactate Threshold. The running durations capped at 180 min. Originally I thought about pulling it back and peaking at 150 min like I like to do/assign. But my mindset was to make as little edits to this plan as originally written. The only thing I changed was the substitution of 80DO for the swimming that was assigned.

I'll be doing all of this cycling training on an indoor trainer.

I went back and forth between the mid-volume and high-volume plans. There really aren't a ton of differences. The high-volume plan was written for those with qualifying for Kona in mind (the same concept as a BQ but for Ironman athletes, and I'm pretty sure a KQ is much harder). I compared the mid-volume and high-volume plans and came up with the following differences:

Mid-Volume vs High-Volume

# of Tuesdays night cycle over 60 min - 10 vs 18
# of early Thursdays - 5 vs 9
# of Fridays night cycle over 60 min - 12 vs 11
# of HM/M Tempo Bricks - 9 vs 7
# of Tuesday/Wednesday hard run doubles - 1 vs 11
Peak cycling - 5 hours vs 6 hours
Running Miles - 859 vs 890
Cycling Miles (estimated) - 2959 vs 3158

The key difference is that the Mid-Volume plan doesn't stack the hard runs Tues/Wed and the High-Volume plan does. The duration of those Tuesday runs never exceeds 60 min and the total workload compared to my normal run training is rather light. So the back to back hard runs didn't really scare me.


The Pacing

In other training plans, I've placed a high degree of importance on the pacing. And that's still true to a degree here, but my plan is a bit different. The plan is to be mostly at effort levels. Similar to what I did in the last training cycle. See the paces when they occur live, but nothing really changes when I see them. All in an "effort" to keep the effort the same. But based on runs under ideal conditions in the last training cycle, I'd say I'm somewhere around here:

View attachment 409157

The Routine

The training plan uses the following routine:

Monday - OFF
Tuesday - 80DO AAA (morning) + Cycle
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Either Brick (Bike then Run) or Bike morning + Run evening
Friday - 80DO Total Body Core (morning) + Cycle
Saturday - Either Brick (Bike then Run) or Bike morning + Run evening
Sunday - Long Run + 80DO Cardio Flow (evening)

AAA
Phase 1

1 - Upright Row, Bent over Fly, Frog Sliders, Glute Bridge w/Loop
2 - Push-up, Skull Crusher, Weighted ab sit-up, Quad Ped Heel Press
3 - Bent Over Row, Hammer Curl, Knee Tuck, Fire Hydrant

Phase 2

Series 1 - Bilateral Press, Alt Unilateral Press, Lateral Raise, Y, Lat Side Bend, Standing Weight Knee Drive, Loop Standing Donkey, Forearm Plank Jumping Jacks
Series 2 - Chest Press, Fly, Kickback in Plank, Tricep Pushup, Corkscrew, Teaser, 1st Pos. Bridge, Single Leg Bridge w/ Loop
Series 3 - Pullovers, Renegade Row, Curls, Turned Out Curls, Loop Scissor Twist, V Leg Raise, Narrow Bridge Clam, Straight Leg Curls

Phase 3

Series 1: Czech Press, Front Raise, Slider Windshield Wipers, Side Lunge Hold
Series 2: Bridge Pull Over, Camel Bicep Curl, Weighted Twisted Roll Down, Marching Bridge
Series 3: Bridge Bilateral Press, Tricep Kickback in Lunge, Weighted Knee Drops, Curtsy Lunge Pulse

Phase 4

Series 1: Lunge Press, L Raise, Candlestick, Athletic Hinge Pulse
Series 2: Single-Leg Bridge With 1-Arm Pullover, Hammer Curl, Boat Pose Russian Twist, Quad Ped Donkey Pulse
Series 3: Bridge Chest Press, Lunge Triceps Kickback, Plank Hip Dip, Superman Glute Pulse

TBC
Phase 1


Shoulders: Squat Rotating Press, Lateral Bear Crawl with RL, Spider Loops with RL
Back: Bent over Row, One Hand Renegade Row with RL, Boat Pose Lat Pull with RL
Chest: Push-up Leg lift with RL, Chest Fly with Leg Lift with RL, Side V Loop Kicks with RL
Biceps: Staggered Stance Bicep Curl, C-Curve Crunch w/ weights at 90d, Side Knee Plank Pull with RL
Triceps: Tricep Kickbacks, Single-Arm Extension Loop, Tricep push up

Phase 2

Series 1 (Shoulder) - Squat/Row/Twist/Row, Kneeling Lunge Clean & Press, Quad Ped Opposite Arm Knee Crunch
Series 2 (Chest) - Chest Press to Half Turkish Get-up, Spider Man Push-ups, Frog Sliders
Series 3 (Back) - "T" to Single-Leg Hip Hinge, Lat Pull Over w/ Leg Raise, Weighted Plank Hip Drop
Series 4 (Biceps) - Low Twisting Lunge Hammer Curl, Press Out to Curl, Weighted Standing Torso Rotation
Series 5 (Triceps) - Crab Position Tricep Dip to Sit Through, Alternating Skull Crusher with Bicycle Legs, French Twist

Phase 3

Series 1: Surrender to Shoulder Press, Quad Ped Crawl, Burpee Sliders
Series 2: Bent Over Row Tap Back, Squat Tabletop Row, Saw on Sliders
Series 3: Modified 1/2 Turkish Push-up, Side Reach Push-up, V Crunch to Scissor Crunch
Series 4: Runner's Lunge Curl, Static Sumo Hammer Curl, Slider Crawl Out
Series 5: Tricep Push up w/ knee tuck, Squat Hold Kickbacks, Weighted Windmills

Phase 4

Series 1: Static Twisting Lunge Pulse, Lateral Squat Hop Raise, Side V Pulses
Series 2: Front Lunge + Goalpost, 2 Jump Row, V-Up Flutter Kick
Series 3: Chest Press Bicycle, Alt. Lateral Push-up, Roll Up Knee Twist
Series 4: Rotating Angle Lunge Curl, Sumo Squat Curl, Loop X Twist
BONUS: Side Plank Triceps Kickback, Frog Crunches

The Plan

The plan starts on July 1st and runs through the Disney Marathon on January 20th. Here are the first 4 weeks of the "Base" phase:

View attachment 409159

Lot of things going on here. This is week 28 through week 25. First the color in the days column denotes an unusual day. For instance, 7/4 is red because it is a holiday. The green section is the run section, the purple section is the cycling section, the blue section is the 80DO section, and the orange/yellow section are the total training duration for the day and mileage run. Then that second portion is tallying the Total Stress Score (TSS) from each day and each week. The value in red is tallying the overall week average TSS.

The first 12 weeks of the training are the Base phase. The Tuesday morning session is AAA (arms, abs, and a$$) from 80DO which focuses mostly on the upper body. The Tuesday evening cycling workouts are mostly sub-threshold usually around 90% FTP. The Wednesday runs are kept easy with strides until late August. Thursdays are either a paced cycling activity (maintain Half Ironman cycling pace for 60-105 minutes) followed by an easy brick run (from 20-45 min) OR Thursday morning is a sub-threshold cycling workout like Tuesdays (60-90 min) with an evening easy run (40-75 min). Then Friday morning has Total Body Core from 80DO with an anaerobic or VO2max cycling activity in the evening (60-90 min). Saturday we're back to another either or with either a brick or a cycle+run with the same scheme as Thursday. If Thursday is brick then Saturday is split. If Thursday is split, then Saturday is brick. Lastly, on Sunday is the long run. The long run starts at 90 min (around 12 miles) and peaks at 150 min (around 19 miles) at the end of the 12 week Base phase.

The first four weeks range in duration from 10-13 hours. The cycling is 4.5-7.25 hours and running is 2:50 to 3:25 (estimated 21-25 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 480-663 range (or about the same as February of this last training cycle when I had just added running into the mix).

View attachment 409160

Here are Weeks 24 through 21. The only thing that stands out different is that I've got my first day off from work on 8/15. Because the Thursday bricks will range in duration from 95 to 150 min in the Base phase (and throughout) it necessitates taking the day off from work to be able to fit it in. So anytime the training volume exceeds 120 min on a weekday, then I plan to take the day off from work. These second four weeks range in duration from 11-15 hours. The cycling is 5.25-8.75 hours and running is 3:10 to 4:00 (estimated 23-30 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 536-774 range (or about the same as March of this last training cycle). The cycling will enter a new peak duration for me at 3.75 hours on 8/3.

View attachment 409177

Here are Weeks 20 through 17. Things really start to ramp up here in the 3rd set of 4 weeks of the Base phase. The blue mark days (Mondays and Wednesdays) denote Gigi's Flag Football practice. So having off on Mondays comes in handy here, and additionally having the Wednesday runs only being an hour long means I should be able to go to all the practices. She's super excited about flag football. Then, there's also a holiday (red) and some Thursdays off (green). The other new color is dark purple on two Saturdays which denote home football games. So it's a near guarantee that Steph will be working those days. The first one is a 2:50 brick and the second is a taper day (30 min bike and 20 min run) prior to my first race of the cycle (DoLittle HM). Originally the DoLittle HM was going to be maybe the 5k, but after losing out on Hot2Trot I wanted another race on the calendar. The DoLittle is on my favorite HM course in Oconomowoc (same as Last Call in December). I'm expecting it to be super hot, but the key is just logistics and not necessarily peak performance.

This section also brings the first paced runs with Daniels R workouts. It ranges from 6 x 1 min to 12 x 1 min. That's the only paced work leading into the DoLittle HM.

This end of the Base phase ranges in duration from 9.5-17.5 hours. The cycling is 4.5-10 hours and running is 3:05 to 4:55 (estimated 25-36 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 515-906 range (or about the same as April of this last training cycle). That 906 TSS will just barely surpass the peak from the last training cycle (904). The cycling will enter a new peak duration for me at 4.75 hours on 9/14.

View attachment 409178

We've now entered the Building Phase of the plan! Weeks 13 to 16. The flag football continues, as does the home WI football games on 3 of the 4 Saturdays. The middle one is a brick workout at 3 hours, but luckily the other two are split between morning/evening which should make the logistics easier. The R paced workouts continue with 7 x 1 min to 11 x 1 min. The two Thursday bricks are with HM Tempo instead of easy paces (like they were in Base phase). The week of 9/30 brings the first triple paced run week with an R workout, a LT workout, and a 60 min M Tempo brick (8.5 miles at pace after 2 hours cycling at mostly easy cycle pace). That week is circled as a litmus test. Now that I'm writing this out, I also see that this is Phase 4 of 80DO. So we'll see if that's a smart choice when the time comes.

This beginning of the Build phase ranges in duration from 10.75-16 hours. The cycling is 4.75-8.75 hours and running is 3:25 to 4:55 (estimated 26-37 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 563-826 range (or about the same as May of this last training cycle). The run duration (2.5 hrs) or about 19.5 miles.

View attachment 409180

This is the second half of the Build phase. Weeks 9 to 12. The flag football is over, a few days off, and only one home WI football game (which coincides with another taper 20 min run and 30 min bike). With this second half comes a new Wednesday pace of Daniels I which ranges from a 4 x 3 min to 4 x 6 min. Also a 45 min HM Tempo and 45 min M Tempo brick run. The 10/27 run will be my longest training run in years (160 min and 21 miles). Lastly, the Madison Half Marathon on 11/3. Originally I was going to do the Haunted Hustle HM, but I've since changed to the Madison HM to avoid the trails of the Haunted Hustle. I'm toying with running in the Nike Vaporfly 4% shoes and would prefer to try them out in a race that's 100% road like Disney is. The weather should be cold for this race. There are plenty of hills though, but given the timing from Disney (10 weeks out) it's really the best option.

This end of the Build phase ranges in duration from 10.5-16 hours. The cycling is 5-8.75 hours and running is 3:25 to 4:55 (estimated 28-37 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 565-814 range (or about the same as May of this last training cycle).

View attachment 409183

Now we move into the final phase - Specialty! Weeks 5 to 8. This is where the rubber meets the road. The training really kicks it up one last notch to throw me into a level of training I've never been to. Only one last home football game (thankfully a split day), two off days, and one holiday. The holiday (Thanksgiving) is well timed because I have a split day with a 135 min bike ride. So it really happened at the perfect time. Because going to work after a 135 min bike ride at 3 am would have been tiring. The Daniels I continues with 3 x 3 min I to 6 x 4 min I. The bricks start to reach into the 3.5 hour zone on the weekdays. The long runs are really pushing it at 170 min (22 miles) and 180 min (23.3 miles). But there's a mega test on 12/15 during the "off" week with a 4 hour bike ride and then a 75 min M Tempo brick (11 miles). That seems like a crazy test, but I'm ready for that challenge.

This beginning of the Specialty phase ranges in duration from 15-20 hours. The cycling is 9-10.75 hours and running is 3:25 to 6:30 (estimated 27-47 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 806-986 range (this would be completely new training load to me). That peak of 986 represents the peak of training (week of 12/2 or 6 weeks prior to the marathon). The peak of the last training cycle was a TSS of 904 with 14 hours of cycling. So we're reaching a bit further with the 986. The cycling peak will get to 5.5 hours or an estimated 85 cycling miles.

View attachment 409184

The TAPER! I've got a feeling I'll be ready for the taper when it comes. Weeks 4 to race day. Lots of holidays to help out with the training (Christmas and New Years). The brick peaks at a 6 hr event (4.5 bike and 1.5 run). The 180 min run occurs one more time (2x total). The max cycling event occurs at 6 hours (estimated 93 miles). The Daniels I ranges from 4 x 3 min to 6 x 4 min I. An interesting race week setup. Because of the travel on Thursday, I shifted the week up a day and made Thursday the off day. Wednesday is not an insignificant workout with 15 min at LT and a 2 hour bike ride. There is even a paced cycling workout on Saturday (the day prior to the marathon).

This end of the training plan ranges in duration from 8.5-19.5 hours. The cycling is 3.75-10.5 hours and running is 3:45 to 6:15 (estimated 28-45 miles per week). The TSS load is in the 598-959 range. That means over the course of the 28 week training plan there are only 3 weeks (2 really) that are higher in TSS than what I did in the last plan.

And then, victory lap day!

Here is the overall view from the TSS fitness perspective:

View attachment 409185

I'm excited about this plan. It looks like a ton of fun! I can't wait to see how it plays out.

My Goals

-To make it to the 2020 Disney Marathon starting line injury free
-To enjoy the training
-To enjoy the victory lap
-To run a sub-3 marathon
-To run a Boston Qualifying time
-Two victory doughnuts!

**Emerges from the black hole**

Hey there stranger! Decided to stop in on the boards for the first time in forever (hmm isn't that a song?!) and think it's awesome that you've chosen the Disney Marathon for your goal, sounds like a good decision to me! Really intrigued by your training plan!
 
That's exciting that you've chosen Disney as your goal marathon and that you've got the details of your training plan worked out :) I look forward to following along.
 
**Emerges from the black hole**

Welcome back!

TidalDisruptions_A_1440x810.gif

Hey there stranger! Decided to stop in on the boards for the first time in forever (hmm isn't that a song?!) and think it's awesome that you've chosen the Disney Marathon for your goal, sounds like a good decision to me! Really intrigued by your training plan!

tumblr_mvf6wvEQ3w1skiltjo1_500.gif

Thanks!

That's exciting that you've chosen Disney as your goal marathon and that you've got the details of your training plan worked out :) I look forward to following along.

Agreed!
 

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