What I learned from my Half-Ironman Experience

My only HIM experience was the bike leg of SC HIM in September as part of a relay team. 

I had a really positive experience with that race and recommend it to others.  The one negative is that the roads suck. 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the roads around Greenwood State Park suck.

I'll jump in on this one for a moment...

To me the biggest difference between a HIM and Oly or Sprint is nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.  In my first HIM, I had no real concept of this outside of just eating something on the bike.  I didn't think about run nutrition.  And I broke down at mile 10, trying to prevent a complete bonk.  The second time around I had tinkered with the nutrition plan a bit and nearly nailed it (still needed more calories).  I felt strong the entire time. 

During my first 2 seasons, I did very little speed/endurance/tempo training sessions (#1 goal for this season).  I was too concerned with finishing the distance.  For my first HIM, my longest ride was 70-75 miles.  Leading up to the event, I made sure I was comfortable with 60+.  However, it was at the end of the season so there was a huge base.  For a May race (and in general) I think I was up to about 80 miles prior to the race. 

In no particular order:

1. This was my first year of triathlons. 
2. The only portion of the HIM I did was the bike.  I was able to haul for the entire time without regarding to having to run off the bike.  Big difference.
3. I had done 2 centuries and many, many rides in the 50 mile range in the summer leading up to the SC HIM.  So I never really prepared specifically for the bike leg.  I did do two 60 mile rides in the two weeks leading up to the race (again, I was just doing the bike).  The first was a moderatly hard ride and the second was as hard as I could go for 3 hours.  Prior to that, all long rides where done in zone 2.
4. I was training for the Chicago marathon during the same time and that was my primar focus.

I think the last question requires a brief year in review:

1. 1st tri was a sprint in May.  I followed the BT Oly plan (16 weeks I think) targeting an International distance tri the next month. 
2. After the Int tri in June, I restarted the BT Oly plan.  This got me through another Oly(Chattanooga) in July. 
3. Around the same time, I started my marathon ramp up for Chicago (Oct). I also scaled back my swimming since the only tri I had left was a sprint in Sept (and swimming, although I have no background in swimming) was my strongest event. 
4. I was dissapointed with my results from the July race and I didn't feel like the BT Oly plan plus a Hal Higdon marathon plan would get me where I wanted.  So in late August I got a coach (Brett Daniels).  Brett didn't fundementally change much but gave me some focus on training toward A races (marathon) vs B races (PTC Sprint in Sept) vs. C race (SC HIM bike leg)

The best 2 peices of advice I ever got was to 1) get a coach and 2) know your HR zones.

On point one, if you only have a few races per year, an online plan or plan from a book would work fine.  However, I am doing different types of races about once a month of different distances and Brett is an objective 3rd party that can hep guide me.  For example, the Chicago marathon was a disaster.  Had it been left up me, I would have been running the next day.  As it stands, he had me take 2 weeks off and that was the right thing to do.

I did a bike LT test in the early spring and used those zones for most of the summer.  They were 10 beats too low (no wonder my bike split sucked at Chattanooga - I had been way undertrained on the bike going into that race).  My run LT was done off of a late spring 10K and I felt those where about right. Brett had me do a bike LT test and they are now set. 

2007 was my first real tri season.  I got a coach in Nov '06 to train specifically for 1/2 Vineman in August '07, which helped tremendously since I also did sprints and OLYs leading up to Vineman. 

The 2 big HIM training lessons for me: (1) consistancy; and (2) don't go in with low run mileage.  Consistancy was key for me building those base miles, but I slacked off with the running towards the middle/end of summer, which made Vineman a sufferfest after mile 5.  Lesson learned.

 I did my first Half this year as well at SC. It is my second season of tris, and my first season of oly and HIM distance. Here is a little of what worked for me and helped me have a good race.

1. Find people to train with that are doing the same race. I cannot tell you how great it was to train with the namsc group for SC and Chattanooga this past year. It keeps you motivated and also gives you great insight to what other people are doing with thier training, and how you can improve.

2. I increased my run base over the winter by doing a couple of half marathons, then sharply switched focus to the bike in the spring. A couple of centuries later and lots of long weekend rides, I had a lot of confidence with 56 miles on the bike and 13.1 on the run

3. Bricks and practicing nutrition. this will make or break your race. I suggest experimenting with it on long workouts. I found out that I cannot do gatorade on long hot conditions, and it never bothered me on sprint and OLY distances.

4. Get in your long workouts. These are a priority. you should have a long run, ride and swim pretty much every week, and these are the most important workouts.

5. Don't neglect your family or job, and have fun.

Though it is stressed in a number of people's comments, I strongly advise anyone at the HIM or IM distance have a solid training plan.  Many of us are in shape enough to compete in a sprint or even an Oly.  However, the HIM is a different beast all together.  For me, I have used the BT plans that are available for both my HIMs and my IM.  I was pleased with the structure and the results. 

Dollar is spot on when talking about nutrition, nutrition, nutrition!  It makes all the difference when you get to the run!

Ditto on the training plan.  As an alternative to BT's HIM plan, Gail Bernhart's book "Training Plans for Multisport Athletes" has 2-3 different HIM plans use can use based on how much time you have to train. 

After Gulf Coast, I decided to run a minimum 15 minutes after EVERY bike.  Doing that helped me shave 22 minutes off my Duke HIM run time which was a very hilly course.

One other thing I plan on doing for GCT 08 is do more hill work.  This year I decided to train flat since GCT is flat.  But I have found that I see more improvement on flat courses by doing hill work.

I can't help but comment...is this a rich man/woman's sport?  Is the best way to complete a HIM or IM truly with a coach, or can one train resonably on their own?  I battle with this question.  It seems like such a strain on my resources:  financial and time wise.  I'd like to do one IM in my life, by way of oly and half.  But I can not imagine maintaining the conditioning to do IMs repeatedly.  Has anyone done so?  Is there a reasonable way to make this part of one's lifestyle?