NYC Tri in the house

Hi all, First time Tri for me in 2014. 46 year old Tri newbi. Coming back from a broken leg (split femur) that required reconstructive surgery 18 months ago. Avid cyclist before, but no run, and no swim. NY Tri on August 3rd, 2014 is the target race. It is an Olympic distance event.

I'd LOVE to hear from some reactions from some of those with experience on my plan.

Here is the plan: A new year, a new life, time to get it together after a lot of downtime. Started my training 10 days ago. Might be ambitious (surely is) but I'm targeting a top 10 in the 45-49 age group.

Soooo, here are the goals

Swim: 20:00, T1, 4:00, Bike: 1:05 (my strong suit), T2: 1:30, Run 50:00 Total 2:20:30

10th place in my age category last year was:

Swim: 18:00, T1, 3:33, Bike 108:03, T2 1:14, Run 46:34 Total 2:21:23

Considerations:
Swim. The swim is in the Hudson river, with the current going out. Did a few swims at the rec center, averaging around 2:20 x 100 Meters. From everything I can tell I will need to get that down to around 1:45. Going to enroll is a masters swimming program to get some instruction on technique, which other than fitness, seems to be the big limiter. Will also look into some open ocean practice swims once the water warms up a bit. After a couple of weeks I can go 1500 meters at 2:20 x 100, so need to work on fitness, and technique.

Bike: This is my strong suit, used to amateur race before the injury. Targeting 1:05, which is a 22.8 mph pace. I've done time trials in the 16 mile range at a faster pace than that (around 25 mph) when in form, so I'm hoping I can get there. Gonna be a stretch, but I'm game. This is the event that will decide it for me.

Run: Need to hit right around an 8:00 mile pace. Did a few runs in the 2 to 4 mile range over the last couple of weeks, and feel comfortable in the 10:00 range. Clearly going to need to work up the mileage and pace. Got my gate videoed at a good running shoe store, and fitted for what they said were shoes that will help correct a bit of pronation on my left side. (the side of the injury) These shoes are making my hip flexors sore, and giving me some soreness in my shin on the right side. Going to push through for a while and see if this is just my muscles settling into the new stress of running. Probably is.

Going to have to really put in the time on the swim and run to get to these goal paces.

So that is the plan. Training about 4 hours a week now, and inching that up slowly to 10 to 12 hours a week.

Working on base for the next 12 weeks, with times increasing about 10 to 15% per week. This weeks training looks like this:

Monday: 30 min run
Tuesday 22 min swim
Wed: Rest
Thursday: 45 min run
Friday: 40 min swim
Sat: 40 min bike on trainer, followed by 25 min run
Sun: 60 min bike on trainer, alternating weeks with 60 min swim

So there you have it. Training plan is based on some bike training experience and a couple of beginning tri books. I'd love to hear any comments or thoughts from all you amazing folks who have "been there and done that".

Thanks!!