For those who have trained for and completed an Ironman

Time constraints apply to ALL athletes, not just "normal mortals" or "super star" athletes.

I work 6:30-3 and have a 1 hour to 1:15 commute on BOTH ends of my day (yes, I do think of all the training I could be doing if I wasn't commuting in a car 10+ hours/week   ).  Even with those constraints I put in up to 16 hours/week (peak) training for an IM.  I don't have a total rest day every week.  An active "rest" day can still be an easy swim, short run or bike.  I'm sure you can finish an IM on training 6 days/week.  Five days/week will be hard to get enough workouts in for each discipline, but I'm sure someone out there has attempted it and finished, but it likely wasn't pretty.  Good luck.

3 years.

OK, that was a joke but it's partly the truth too.  Once I decided to do IMLP last year, I choose goals to focus on and trained for those (half-marry PR, raise FT on the bike, a HIM about 9 weeks out from LP).  My "IM-specific" training was about 8 weeks long (including taper).

A few, but not many.  Usually there were enough easy days to recover, but I was definitely fatigued at times through the training.  Mine was not a high volume plan.  But there was a lot of "quality" work.

Yes.  Catch the train sometime between 7-7:30am and home by @5:30. 

I think you should plan on training 6 days/week.  You can do 7 sometimes if you feel good or in a few high volume weeks.  And you can miss a day sometimes for whatever reason, falling back to 5/wk.  IMO, 8 months out is too early to train specifically for an IM.  Try not to think about it until you get closer.  Pick other goals in the meantime that will get you ready to train for the IM.  For me, this helped with the mental side of things.

I averaged about 12-13 hours most weeks until the last 8 weeks (down around 10 hours on a few rest or race weeks).  I then averaged about 16 hours for 6 weeks before tapering.  Longest week was 18.5 hours.  Many do more.  Many do less.

1) You need a rest day once a week or once every two weeks at least to a)keep your sanity and b) get all those things you are neglecting done for the week.

2) You can call it whatever you want, but IMO you need to start training for an intermediate goal (a HIM works well) and then continue your build for your IM for 12 weeks or so after that event. You are still training for your IM but it will help you keep your sanity. I find athletes have a hard time staying focused on an objective 8-12 months in the future. It is way to easy to bag a workout (and you will do it I don't care how dedicated you are or think you are) when you feel like you have months to prepare for an event.

3) There is no reason that you can't cross the finish line upright and under 17 hours on 15 hrs peak training. Why would you just want to do the minimum? You have to sit down with your coach and figure out how many hours per week you have to train and then use those hours to the fullest.  You have to work, sleep, and take care of your family first. Training comes second and you can only do what you can do.

Good Luck!

Good stuff here. So there are some good coaches out there Between this and JK's post I think there is plenty for us first timers to decipher.

KSH - good questions. Similar to The Kona Qualifying Thread. I was thinking of putting up a similar thread.

FWWI, I am taking the above advice. using a 36 week plan, w/ one rest day per. Incorporated tho, will be a HIM at week 20 or so. (Harriman just like JK ) I do agree that having a shorter term goal is essential. That, and I owe Harriman.

oh btw, my training (for IMLP) has already started. I'm currently training for my first marathon but my eye is on the bigger prize. More advice from JK (who doesn't know it, but he's my defacto coach )

1) I started training in October for a January marathon, which I considered part of my training for the IM.  I also did a HIM in early May (the IM was late June) as part of my training.

2) I had a rest day every week.  It was crucial for my sanity (and grocery shopping).  It is also important to let your body recover.  Take a look at my logs to see my volume.  I finished in 14:47.

3) I have a "regular" job--generally 8:00-5:30 (ish) Monday-Thursday, 8:00-3:00(ish) Fridays.  My commute is about 40 minutes each way.

A few things that helped from a time-management perspective:

*I found if I did my swims in the morning before work, it streamlined things greatly.  For me, the pools I use are between home and work, so I would get ready for work at the gym.  Having laid everything out the night before, there was no time wasted asking "what should I wear?"  Also, I covered about half my commute before rush hour traffic set in. 

*In the evenings, I would change at the office and ride at a park near work.  Again, rush hour would be pretty much over before I really had to hit the highway!

Hope this helps!  Having already started your planning, I know you will do fine!  This will be a challenging, but very fun year for you!

I'm one of those "Real" people here, with a real job, family, responsibilities etc.  I was also relatively knew to triathlon when I set a goal for an IM.  I completed my iron-distance race last September in just over 15 hours (and I'm no super athlete).  I trained pretty much 6 days a week on and off for 25 weeks, with a 6 week gap of no running due to a stress fracture.  I went into the ironman with the attitude of "just to finish".  I also struggled to stay focused and disciplined.  I think what Brett and others have said hit's the nail on the head.....train and focus on short term goals, like races in between now and the IM. 

Best of luck!

I have found that I NEED that rest day for both my body and my sanity.  A little extra sleep that day can go a long way.  Yesterday was my rest day, and it included stops at the grocery store and bank, spending a little more time cooking dinner (with leftovers for lunch today!) and then cleaning the house and doing laundry.  I cannot believe the amount of workout clothes and water bottles two people in training use!

I started 8 months prior, but should have done more hours early on.  It will all work out, but it would have been nice to have a few more miles on the legs early in the process.

Gotta keep up with the day job to fund this tri habit!

PeterAK, Mortal

I haven't done an IM, but I'd be toast if I didn't have a rest day every week. I'm older than you but only do 2 build weeks and then a rest week...no longer can I on an ongoing basis do 3/1 as I would get sick all the time when I did that. My rest weeks are still 10 workouts but no intense work all aerobic.

Due to my bike crash and building up for my HIM, I'm do an exception to my 2/1 build and doing 4/1 and at the end of week three I was quite fatigued after doing 3 hard bikes that week and needed an extra rest day but would have preferred a rest week but just doesn't flow well now. 

 1) How far out did you start training for your IM? I followed a 12 week build plan, but I like to think that my training started 35 years ago, when I first started competitive swimming. Going into my IM, I had decades of endurance training under my belt, so the 12 week plan was just icing on the cake.

2) Did you get rest days in your training plan? Was it possible to get in the volume that you needed and get rest days? Sure. And most of them were the result of not having enough time to train (life intruding).

3) Did you have a regular day job (aka: Basically 7-5 with getting ready, etc.)? Yep. 40+ hour weeks, plus a wife, daughter and house.

I finished in 12:24 on really very little training, and would have easily been under 12 hours if not for a bike mechanical, and it never seemed hard. Sure, I was working, but it was really very easy, relatively. I did all of the long stuff, but very little other than that. I didn't even start swimming until 4 weeks out. What got me through was the base I had built up from years and years and years of running, swimming and cycling.

I'm a normal girl and probably ride and run slower than you....

Is the coach that you are using right now for your HIM training the same coach you plan on using to coach you through your IM? Just wondering because I would think that s/he would have been the VERY FIRST person you would have asked this question to since s/he would probably have the best feel of what is the best for you, or the one who designs your program to effectively suit YOU (as opposed to his coaching theories).

I winged my training through 2 Ironmans, literally and figuratively. My training plan was basically loosely following a build/recovery pattern with the training hours. Because I fly for a living and am away 3-4 days a week, for those days, I was relegated to using hotel workout rooms (recumbent or upright bikes, treadmills...) or just running outside if I'm around somewhere to run.

I only had the other 3-4 days of the week when I was at home to ride a real bike and swim. A lot of the times I would just use a day home to catch up on my sleep. I definitely ALWAYS took at least one rest day a week. Usually it was TWO. If you take a look at my BT training log for this year from January leading up til IMLP in July (28 week training plan), you will see LOTS of white and yellow squares, and it also included at least two times in those 28 weeks that I had battled a bad cold virus or an injury! Now that I think about it, my biggest training layoff from illness was during my peak phase.

In those 28 weeks, there were also non-negotiable trips I took, roughly a week each, where my training was either non-existent or very light. I simply refused to allow Ironman training to detract from experiencing the rest of life. My Ironman Lake Placid time was 14:15.

So maybe for someone trying to qualify for Kona, a hardcore training program is definitely an order. For people like you and I who just want to finish an Ironman, I don't see why you couldn't train 6 days OR LESS (on occasion) per week.

It is my belief that YOU can do a 16 hour IM easily on training 5 days a week.

I would tell your coach that you are interested in finishing your Ironman in 16 hours with at least one day of rest (or two if that's what you want). Then it is up to him or her to decide if they thought it would be possible for you to do, and build a plan.

I don't believe I could possibly even go ONE month without a rest day even if I didn't have to work away from home. That would be one miserable journey for me.

Actually, MOST of the posts seemed to advise it.  Take it if you need it.

WHOA!!! 

If you don't think your going to find the experience enjoyable or fun, I suggest you rethink IM entirely!  It may not be fun 100% of the time, but if you really expect the experience to be a grind then there's no reason to do it.  IM is 1 day.  Training is months.  It SHOULD be fun or enjoyable!

May, I won't touch the normal part But, I'd venture to say that your results are atypical. I don't think you give yourself enough credit. 14 hours on your training schedule is impressive. I'm still working on my goal for IMLP 08 but I plan on sticking to a plan and from this far out 14 hours sounds good to me. Personally, I just think of you as IRONMAY not sure other "normal" mortals would fare so well.

I think I'm one example to prove that you can do IM with a lot less total training volume than you might imagine.  At least I've been able to.  I can't say how much of what has worked for me will translate to anyone else, but here's my story.

I've done 5 IMs...IMWI each year for the past 5 years.  I have one blemish on that record where I DNF'd with just 4 miles to go due to a nutritional blunder.  Aside from that, I've finished all of them under 13 hours.

My first IM was my best and fastest.  For that one I basically followed Gale Bernhardt's "13 Weeks to a sub-13 Hour Ironman" plan.  I didn't follow it exactly to the letter, but fairly close.  I dialed back on the swimming, and increased some of the long bike rides.  I missed some workouts here and there, cut back on a few, but I made sure to never miss a long ride or long run.

I underlined that, because through the years I've concluded that this is the very simple key to training for IM.  First priority = your long rides.  Second priority = your long runs.  Everything else is tertiary, and you just need to make it work with the rest of your life.  Simple.

I sadly no longer have my logs from that year, but I'm willing to bet I averaged no more than 12 hours training per week during the 12 weeks leading up to race week.  And, yes, I always took at least one day off per week.

Since then, I've actually dialed considerably back on my total training volume.  I now have a child and have just decided that there are other things in my life considerably more important than IM.  I've gotten a little bit slower, but I still enjoy the experience.  For example, last year in the 12 weeks leading up to race week my average weekly training was just 7.5 hours.  There were just 3 weeks in there that stood out as the biggest , and those were only 11 to 11.5 hours.

So to hit your questions directly:


1) How far out did you start training for your IM?  I only focus on IM for about 12 weeks, but only about the last 6 weeks of that are at volumes greater than what I'd do for just a HIM.  Other than that, I'm just doing regular training to maintain fitness, but no big volume.

2) Did you get rest days in your training plan? Was it possible to get in the volume that you needed and get rest days?  As you can see, I don't do big volume.  I always take at least one recovery day per week, sometimes two or even more depending on what else is going on in my life.

3) Did you have a regular day job (aka: Basically 7-5 with getting ready, etc.)?  Yes, full time job...usually in the office from ~8 to ~6 or 7, plus a ~50 min commute each way, plus some occasional international travel.  However, I do take advantage of flexible hours in the summer, and so I try to do my key long bike rides on Friday afternoons to give me more free time on the weekends for my family.

Well, that's my story for what it's worth.

-Steve