This was a post I put up on Slowtwitch and decided to take down because it didn't answer his question correctly.

Pacing for a Half:
Determine FTP however you would like to do it. Repeat the test a few times to make sure you have a good range.

Practice intervals during your workout, Threshold, SST and Easy. Know what they all feel like and if you are a HR fan, find what HR's are associated with those efforts.

Do a HIM practice simulation...I like the 45' run, 2:30 bike, 45' run sim. First run at long run pace, bike just under HIM effort (80% of FTP), Second run ~15sec/mile faster than first run. You need to feel strong on the second run.
If you can do that then your bike pacing and nutrition are probably OK. If you cannot then you will have to adjust your bike effort and/or nutrition. Do this about 7 weeks out and one more time at least 4 weeks out from your race.

The course you are doing will dictate how you control your effort. If it's flat, then just sit on 80% (of FTP) the whole way. If it's rolling then go slightly over 80% uphill and then back off on the back side. If you are in bigger hills or mountains, then you may have to go higher depending on the grades, you will have to adjust you run time according to how much you went over your target.


jaretj 

Got a lot done last week

I got a lot of work done last week...training and at "real work"

On the bike 4 days last week and felt pretty good.  I've been riding a 25 mile course on my computrainer that I converted from a local ride.  It's pretty mild so I can choose my intensity but it has enough small ups and downs to keep it interesting.

I ran 40+ miles again last week and felt pretty good.  I'm through week 10 of my long distance plan and still feel good.  I've been reading 5K and 10K Training by Brian Clarke  and am getting the sense he has about having the right energy for doing certain workouts, it's an interesting view on running.  His book is for shorter distances which is what I'm going to work on right after Triple T so I'm going to take some of his ideas and apply them to my plans.

I finally got back into the water after 10 days off to let my elbow heal up.  I only swam 1500 yds, I could have swam more but I want to take it slightly easy until I know it's good.  Probably swim 1500 on friday then ~2500 of saturday if everything still feels right.  I'm not sure how I hurt my elbow but it was probably a combination of a few things...First I have been working on EVF (early vertical forearm).  We had a hard/fast set with paddles and I ripped them off pretty fast (for me).  While doing that I was concentrating on EVF and I think I just over-did it that day.  I swam for another 3 weeks to let it shake itself out but it never did.  During that time we had a lot of snowfall and I did a lot of shoveling too, that probably didn't help.

Anywho, it's a lot better now and I'm able to grip things without much pain so hopefully it will get much better in the next few weeks.

This week is going well so far.  On the bike twice and did my hard Wednesday workout so now it's just coasting to the weekend where I'll have a pretty hard run on Sunday.  I think it's something like a few miles of warm up then 2X10 min hard then an hour of easy.  I don't really want to go over two hours on that run.

Week ending 1/12/14

I hurt my elbow a few weeks ago while swimming.  We had a hard, fast pull set and I was working on EVF and somehow hurt my right elbow.  Pain is just above the joint on the outside.  It had gotten a little better but then after shoveling all that snow it seems to have gotten worse.  I'm choosing to take a week off of swimming to see how it feels.  If it gets better I'll probably give it a little while longer, if not, then I'll seek medical opinions.

Running is going well, I'm starting week 10 of my running plan and it's going well.  I'm not up to the volume I expected to be at but I reached 40 miles last week.  With some time off swimming that will probably increase a little bit.

I suppose it's time to get some consistent riding on the bike now.  Since I'll have 3 to 4 hours a week open from not swimming, I'm going to ride in its place.  Starting off easy for this week, then into some sweet spot intervals the following week.  I'll see how I feel and then decide on what I'll do.

Week ending Jan 5 2014

For the last two weeks I've been doing a pretty good job of training and I'm happy where I'm at right now.

Swim:

I've been in the pool 3 to 4 times a week consistently with only one hiccup in the last month.  I hurt my elbow somehow two Mondays ago, I think it's from working on EVF (early vertical forearm).  That day had some really hard pull sets and I ripped them off pretty hard for me and that's when it revealed itself.  I did do some dryland work with my friend Brian G but I was very light on that workout and don't think that it contributed at all to the problem.  This is very unusual for me since I rarely get hurt and with swimming it's normally my shoulders that will have an issue.

Despite that, I have gotten stronger in the pool, I really wanted to work on some dryland stuff but this is going to put it off for at least another week, maybe two.  I can see myself being back to normal in a few weeks.

I'm starting to change some thoughts on swimming...instead of just searching for lower drag I've got to work on pulling harder too, I don't think there is any other way around it.  I've stopped using my paddles as much as I had been doing but am going to put them back into my training starting next week.

Biking is still in maintenance mode, if I get two moderate rides in a week I'll be happy with that for the month of January.  I started using my Computrainer, I'm not impressed.  I actually like riding with the Kurt Kinetic better.  Having to change efforts without warning is unappealing, I like to be in control of my efforts and the CT rides I've been doing seem unpredictable.  On the contrary, Karen seems to like doing her rides on hers, that good :)

Running has been going well, I just finished week 8 of my run plan and will continue with the 24 week schedule as planned.  I'm actually 3 weeks ahead of the plan ending on Triple T weekend, this is because I'm going to take a week down from running to make a bike focus week in late February, another week in late March and a third week in early May.

Goals for January is to keep building run volume while following my run plan, keep swimming 3 to 4 days a week and ride the bike two times a week for another three weeks and then start building that volume with easy riding to prep myself for harder training in February.