How do I train if I have to travel for weeks at a time?
Inform the coaching staff of your travel plans. The coaches will adjust your training as per the available fitness facilities available wherever you are traveling too. Please provide us with what will be available and what days work best for you to swim, bike, run and strength train.

Also, let us know your flight schedule as flights longer than 3 hours require a different workout so your legs do not cramp up. Bottom line, being able to run, do strength training, foam roll, stretch, and do swim drills in the typically smallish hotel pool will keep you steady while you are away.

How do I train if I have an injury?
Inform the coaching staff of you injury. See a doctor or physical therapist to determine the nature of the injury. As per Coach Alex and Tom’s seminar on injury prevention, practice RICE, and let us know your status as soon as possible. Injuries that cause you to alter your run gait, swim stroke, or pedal stroke mean you need to stop and get your injury evaluated prior to moving on with your training. Soreness, tightness, lethargy, or any other sort of discomfort that goes away after warming up should be monitored but can be trained through.

If I get injured and cannot do the event, what happens?
An injury that a doctor would prescribe as debilitating should be documented and presented to the TNT staff. Rolling over to the next season is always an option if a serious injury will prevent you from training any longer or so long that you can not be properly prepared for you Ironman race.

What do I do if I have other races?
Please send any and all races to the coaching staff via workoutlog.com. We will then log your races against the training calendar and then determine the appropriate training leading up to and beyond the races you have planned.

What do the abbreviations mean?
Please review the first two pages of the training calendar so you have a complete picture of what certain abbreviations and annotations mean on the day to day specifics.

What should I do for a trainer, wetsuit, substitute most gear here?
I recommend you talk to local merchants that are on the Friends of Team In Training list. Ask them your questions, look for guidance, get a list of what they recommend and if you do not feel comfortable taking action then drop the information to one of the coaches and we can give you final guidance.

Bottom line, get a bike, a trainer, and a wetsuit as soon as possible so you can take part in the training that is forthcoming.

(raf’s tip: get the trainer throught TNT from Kristy, and go to Sports Basement and get a wet suit from Jen)

How do I move workouts around to facilitate my work and or travel schedule?
As per the similar question above, contact the coaching staff regarding your travel. During the base phase you can move days around liberally as long as you still have at least one day off during the week but no more than three days off during the week. This does mean you can double up workouts, but again, ensure you do them sparingly, and if in doubt contact your coaches for clarification and guidance.

How do I train at the right levels?
If you do not know what your level 1 is from your level 10 then contact your coaches and we will send you protocols for a test that will help you determine the levels. We do have an IU planned for this discussion on the 12th of November, so if you have a general idea of warmup level, aerobic level, and anaerobic level then your inquiry can wait until then. If you are still unsure then we will send you the info upon request.

How do I communicate with the coaches, through normal email, or WOL.com messages?
The first year of workoutlog.com needs to be as tested as possible, so we ask that you surf around the wol.com website, find the tool that allows messaging the coaching staff and use that tool. From within wol.com you can also send an alert to my registered google email address (irontricoach A T gmail.com) that will let us know you have utilized the messenger service within the website. Your coaches review the wol.com site at least every other day, along with our email messages and voice mails you may leave on our cell phones or voice messaging systems.

Please give us at least 48 hours to respond as we may be tied up with other business.

What if I want to lose weight this season, how do I do it?
Contact your coaches if this is a goal. We have tools that will help you track your intake, your energy expenditure, and the management of both items to ensure a caloric deficit of 3500 calories which will account for a pound of weight loss. We recommend a program that will allow one pound of weight loss per week. If your goal is more than that then we recommend a registered dietician be contacted for professional guidance. Either way, contact us so we can know of your goal, and provide you with proper protocols to aid in your goal.

How do I make up the training for key events like the practice triathlons and training weekends?
Much like the travel questions above, let the coaching staff know if you are going to miss some of the key weekend training events and we will prescribe what to do in place of them.

What if I miss an Iron University?
All of the information we review is available on the team website. We discuss it at the IU in detail, but post the information on the web for everyone to refer to. We will also review the IU topics in different ways as the season progresses. IU is meant to highlight important aspects of your Ironman preparation so you focus on it throughout the program. Even if you do not attend the IU sessions, at least you know what is important in your own quest for knowledge growth.

Do I really need a water belt?
Yes, no exceptions.

Should I buy a triple or a double chain ring when getting a bike?
If you are new to cycling, we would recommend a triple chain ring. If you have been riding on average 1000 miles per year or more in and around the bay area then you can stay with the chain ring setup you have. Bottom line, the triple allows your legs to spin up hills, as does a compact crank set, which saves your legs for the run. If in doubt, go for the triple and if still in doubt contact a coach for guidance.

What the heck do I do with all the websites?
Check inside the Clubhouse for more details.

– Your Staff.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 17th, 2005 at 10:48 pm and is filed under 2005 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.