Made it to week four of Ironman CDA training WHOO-HOOO! I have to say I am loving it so far. I am sure I will feel differently in May. 
The focus for week 4 is recovery, I personally think it’s a bit too much recovery so I am going to give myself a couple extra workouts just for my own pleasure. Sorry coach I am not good at following the rules.
Monday: 90 min yoga and hip strengthening exercises
Wednesday: 90 min spin class and 60 min pilates
I am excited for week 5 since we start our “Base Building” phase. The BASE BUILDING PHASE is used to build the aerobic capacity. Although longer duration workouts at slower pace and intensity are predominant, there will be some training that will test your anaerobic base. Specific emphasis will be placed upon each discipline (swim, bike, or run). Depending upon when you begin your training schedule and your level of fitness, the Base Building Phase generally makes up the bulk of your training schedule.
I was also excited to get this note in my I was also excited to get this note with my training schedule this week along with my heart rate zones from coach:
Your HR zones as of 11/25/11 – This was figured as follows: Looking at your heart rate after the first minute of the two tests, your average HR was 173 beats per minute. 1-5 beats are added or subtracted from 173 based upon perceived effort during the test, time spent at the highest heart rate, and your recovery heart rate in the first minute following the two tests. On the first test you appeared to move into an anaerobic state after 5 minutes at a HR of 175. On the second test you appeared to move into an anaerobic state after 2 minutes at a HR of 176. Once you became anaerobic you stayed consistently at 175-180 and your perceived effort was consistently 8; 9 or above. Your recovery heart rate recovery on the two tests averaged 55.5 beats per minute (bpm), which indicates an excellent cardio fitness level and again supports a max effort on the test.
My goals for this week are to hit every workout, give it my all and get more points for hbbc than I did last week (59).
It’s people like you what cause social unrest and heartburn in coaches. This person you are paying knows (or should know) you better than you know yourself, where workouts are concerned.
Trust your coach. If the plan says rest, then for crying out loud, REST! The journey to the IM starting line is far harder than race day itself. Do not add workouts for your own pleasure. You might not think you need to recover from the workouts so far, but you probably do and don’t realize it. You almost certainly need to be rested up for the coming weeks.
I love following all your workouts!! Make sure you’re getting in the rest though – trust in the coach, trust in the plan. I’m SURE you’ll need it down the line!
I am only in the stage where I am considering an Iron Man. I can barely get my act in gear to train for the Olympic distance – how do you find the time to train for the much longer distances??? And where did you find your wonderful coach? Speaking of coaches, it might be better to rest – I “modified” my PT’s advice and I ended up with a stress fracture… Good Luck!!!
i have always thought HR training made sense, but just haven’t ever tried to apply it to myself. I feel like it takes too much work mentally, which is probably not true at all
You guys are all right, rest is SO important. I appreciate all the concern about messing with my coaches plan. I just added a few easy yoga sessions and recovery swims, all cleared by coach =) when training gets serious I am not allowed to mess with the plan anymore.