I posted was about my commitment to IRONMAN Canada in Penticton on August 30, 2020. After making the commitment I had to make a plan to ensure I get the training in.

In the past for short distance races I had used Garmin free plans, I did not want to go this route this time. For one 70.3 race, I used Joe Friel’s book Your Best Triathlon so I opened the book and started to map out a plan. The problem I had is I wanted to make the training line up with the end of my Marathon training making the plan 48 weeks. I really struggled in trying to get it all on paper and have enough variety to not get bored and I would have spent hours entering the plan into excel or Garmin.

Criteria for plan

  • 48 week plan
  • Distances in KM
  • Align with my streak
  • 1 to 2 swims per week max (I do not live near a pool)
  • Heart rate based as I do not have a power meter

After doing some research I found Steven Moody (Coach Steve) plans within TrainingPeaks. Note: his plans do not have to be in TrainingPeaks. I emailed Coach Steve to ask him a few clarifying questions to determine if I should do beginner, intermediate or advanced and he replied immediately with options. Steve was also kind enough to offer to incorporate some B races into the plan if I wanted. You can tell he truly wants you to succeed.

I ended up selecting this plan: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/training-plans/triathlon/ironman/tp-175253/adv-ironman-48-wk-plan-includes-email-access-to-coach-10-18-hrs-per-week-reusabl Confession time, this plan was not on Coach Steve’s email list he sent me but I chose it because it had more workouts which would help with my streak.

When I asked Steve if I could use his logo for this post he replied yes asked that I share my blog site with him. He had a look at some of my posts and replied his coach senses were tingling. After some coach and athlete banter we both agreed that based on my goals and this is my first IRONMAN I should move to the intermediate plan.

I have to say it is the best $139.00 I have spent! You can contact Steve here: https://www.smartendurancesolutions.com/contact-us/

Feedback after 18 Weeks

I am now in week 18 of this plan and other than the week I was sick I am about 90% compliant and feel amazing. I love the workload, workouts and links to stretching videos. Steve really makes it easy with video links in the workouts (really helps for swim drills, strength workouts and stretching), instructions on how to set-up TrainingPeaks for heart rate, workouts that sync to my Garmin watch. For swim workouts, Steve has even put a link to a word document so it is easy to print the swim workout if needed.

The biggest surprise is how accurate the paces and speeds in the workouts are after I did the guided heart rate base tests in the plan in Week 1 for running and week 2 for cycling. If the workout is a 14 KM run and it says 1:17:46 I will hit that time almost exact without pace watching just running to the zone Steve wants me in. This makes it easy to block in on my calendar a workout as I know how long it will take.

I have emailed Steve a few times and he responds very quickly and communicates very concisely. As mentioned before he truly wants success and so far it shows with the detail in the plan(s) I have used and the communication exchanges we have had.

I am really enjoying this journey to my first Ironman and I sure hope this plan keeps me healthy and gets me strong enough to cross the finish line on August 30th.

Progress

Below is my progress from a body shape perspective. I bought this in training shirt while registering for IRONMAN in August and I am using it as a measure of my progress. I love how long the shirt is getting…

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One thought on “I selected Steven Moody from SMart Endurance Solutions for my online coaching”

  1. Pingback: Exercise Streak Week 40 – tangentX

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