Fink for Outlaw 2012

Delighted to have so many on board already.

Steady - which version do you want to follow? I don't mind posting all three as long as it doesn't get too complicated.

How does anyone remember the swim sessions let alone fit it into the time! 

So it seems we need to start a couple of weeks early. And the idea of repeating week one before we start seems very wise too. 

Just bare with me... I'm going to try something...

Week

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Total hrs

1

Rest Day

Swim #1

Run 0:30 Z2

Bike 0:30 Z2 QC

Run 0:15 Z2

Swim #2

Bike 0:30 Z1 (100+ RPM)

Run 0:30 Z2

Bike 1:00 Z2

Run 0:45 Z1to Z2

6:00

Competitive Programme (Long one)

Week 1

Monday - rest

Tuesday - swim #1, run 0:30 hrs in zone 2

Wednesday - Bike 0:30 zone 2 quick change to run 0:15 zone 2

Thursday - swim #2, bike 0:30 zone 1

Friday - run 0:30 zone 2

Saturday  - bike 1:00 zone 2

Sunday - run 0:45 zone 1-2

Total: 6 hours

Swim sessions:

1. 300 wu, 8x50dr, 12 x 100 @ 20sec, 8x50dr, 200 cd
2. 300 wu, 8x50dr, 3 x 125 @ 20sec, 2x175 @ 30sec, 3x 125 @ 20 sec, 8x50dr, 200 cd

Andy - I have the plan in a table format in word (cos I'm not so techinical), but it doesn't paste straighting into these text boxes. Is there a way of posting the xl format? Otherwise I'll just stick to typing it out.

To those doing the 'Just finish' and 'Intermediate' Just shout about which programme you want - or type it in yourself 

I'm following the intermediate plan Chilibean. 

I think Schmunks found a way of doing an XL screen shot on the kit thread which worked well.  Might be worth getting in touch to ask.

Good luck to all Finkers! Great idea to try to train together.

I used Fink in principle for my first IM (Outlaw 2010), but the part I stuck to most closely was the long ride, as VLM training had running sorted. Marathon training isn't the perfect partner to IM training, esp if running is already your strongest discipline, but it can become a bit of a habit.

The general consensus was that the swims are way too long - if you're a slow swimmer like me, you could be spending   90 mins on a session, which is ridiculous (and boring).

When do you start?

Haven't entered the Outlaw yet but planning on following Finks Just Finish plan to try and get my training a bit more consistent than it has been this year. Do need to work on my cycling more so even if I don't end up racing next year any improvement on the bike will be a big help.

Did follow the intermediate plan last year until injury scuppered me but it got me through Bala.

Did someone call for me?

I cut and paste from .xls into Paint, save as a .png then upload a a photo

May work with MSWord too but have not tried it.

Would agree with joddly - the swims are long (and get longer too).  I finished them all for about the first 20 weeks but was spending a good 90 mins on them and I'm a fairly decent swimmer (sub1.10 at IMR this year).  I ended up dropping some of the drills towards the end and focussing on the distance.  While it's good to get a few 90 min swims udner your belt (and doing them 3 times a week definitely gave me confidence), I wouldn't do them again but would base more on time, only keeping a few longer swims in the plan.

Also re the sessions order, don't feel you have to stick to the order throughout the week guys.  Fink puts long bike and run at weekend which a lot of other people don't recommend as you're too beat after the long bike to do the long run properly.  I found doing long run on a Wed after work worked really well (the longest it got was 3 hours but by that time it was in the summer and lovely long cool nights had arrived).  This meant I could do long bike on Sat and treat Sunday as a proper rest day (good for making sure you don't neglect loved ones!)

Basically as long as you get the sessions in, it doesn't matter which days you do them.

Also another bit of advice - if you think you have enough time, do the Intermediate rather than the Beginner one.  There's not that much between them at the beginning and it always gives you a bit of leeway if you miss the odd session (as you;d still be doing more than beginner one).  

Chilli I am going to start off on Intermediate and then at 10 weeks make a decision to carry on or drop down to just finish.

Thanks for the tips Iron Mandel, these nuggets of wisdom are sure to help.

Hi, I'm new here.

 Mind if I join in?

 Only done sprints before but fancy Outlaw next year.  Have the fink book and am currently up to week 8 as I wanted to see if I could cope with the training load.

 I have a week in January and March where I will not be able to train so I am planning on re starting week 1 on 21st November and having those two weeks off.

So

1. Write in Word
2. Copy and paste into Paint
3. Save as .png
4. Upload as a photo

I've entered the Outlaw and I've got my Fink plan set up and ready to go.

My problem is I've worked out my training zones, but I can't get anywhere near them on the bike.

I was doing mile hill repeats yesterday and blowing hard but barely got out of zone 1.

When I'm just cycling, taking it easy, my HR is about 100-110bpm. Pushing it 120-130. I find it hard to get much above that and then for balls out 10 mile TT I still only averaged 142 bpm.

There is no way I can see myself  holding Zone 2 (136-142bpm) for 1 hour (week 1, day 6) , nevermind 2:30  (week 7, day 6)

Any suggestions..................please.

I've got 7 weeks to to sort it out.

Cheers,

Chris.

marshallini - how are you working out your training zone?  I think that running heart rates tend to be higher than bike so you might have a different zone for biking to running. But someone more expert will hopefully come along soon.

Mandel - thats for that cos I was wondering about doing the long run mid week too, especially as I bike to work every day otherwise I'd never get a complete day off.  Hoping to incorporate commuting time into some training time.

 Nice one Chilli.

Just a tip for anyone whose going to use the plan just because it hasn't started yet doesn't mean you can get away with doing nothing. try and potter about doing some training and if you have any weak area's which assuming for many of us will be swimming get in some training on it.

You need to get into the habit of training each week if you don't do it already and you need some base fitness ready to rock when you start training.

Doesn't mean you should start doing 100 miles each week or anything stupid like that as you will burn up but just take some time and get ready for the adventure your about to have.