Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 100)

Hi Nicole, I just had a few thoughts on your proposed schedule.  For cycling being your weakness, the schedule is still pretty light on cycling.  A good cycling leg is key to a comfortable HIM as all that run fitness isn't going to help you much if you are spent after the bike.  Any way to substitute another bike session on Tuesday.  It would make a big difference.

Also, the strength/core work is great but not the best bang for the buck if the HIM is your primary goal.  You may have reasons for it but nothing trumps specificity of training swim/bike/run.  The plan tries to keep that all in balance and if you deviate too far from it you may not reap the full benefits for your HIM.  Just some food for thought.  Good luck.

Swapping out the strength session for a spin class should be do-able.... (I think!)

I just want to make sure I'm prepped for my May marathon

(was hoping to step up the cycling after that point... target date: May 14th and on...)

But what can I say... the schedule is definitely flexible!
& I'm looking forward to it. Should make for an interesting new challenge!

Lol, that would be quite the feat.  I'll probably stick with my nutrition from last year which was Ironman Perfom (Powerbar) and water for hydration while snacking on Clif Bars and Mocha Clif Shots for energy.  The key is to start practicing the nutrition now so the body knows what it'll be using on race day.

Hi - I am new to this group.  I started the whole Tri thing 2 years ago since I had to retire my horse and got out of equestrian sports.  I've did the beginner Tri program and competed in 4 Sprints in 2010, 4 Sprints and 1 Oly in 2011.  I also ran a 1/2 marathon in November (1hr 53).  I have signed up for my first HIM on May 5th.  I will be doing an Oly on April 14th as a warm-up race.

My initial goal was to finish the HIM in about 6 hrs but now I've come to realize that I may have to be satisfied with just finishing and not puke at the end :-). Work has been hectic and I am putting in around 55hours per week in the office.

My training looks like this:

MO Am short run   PM about 30 minutes weight and medium swim

TUE PM Short bike

WED AM Med run   PM 30 minutes weight and medium swim

THUR PM Medium bike

FRI OFF

SAT long run and long swim

SUN long bike

Currently my runs are about 4 miles for the short, 5 for the medium and 7-8 for the long.  Swims are all over the place since I am batteling shoulder issues.  Short usually about 30minutes, medium 45, long 1 hour.  Bike, short 45 minutes on trainer, medium 1 hour on trainer and the long 2 hour plus outside during daylight. 

I am trying to increase the times/distances spent in each discipline over the next few months, but I don't know how much I can realistically increase the weekday workouts with my hectic work schedule. 

Any thoughts on my "plan"?  Am I missing something? 

so that was the 1,000 TT ?   

Congrats you are only 4 weeks away from the end of the plan, do you feel you could do a 70.3 tomorow of you needed to ?

The plan states "week 16" at the bottom of the print out but it's actually only week 5 I believe.  The swim set was 250 w/u; 400 4x100 300 3x100 200 2x100 (100s at RPE-8); then 3x75 c/d.  Wicked, brutal fun.

It drives me nuts the way the weeks are labeled.  I think it is very confusing.

Anyway, nice swim.  

yeah it is confusing, almost as confusing as the swim pace 'expectation.'

I just got home from the pool, I think "day 17" of the plan which i could use some help understanding. Goes like this:

w/u 250 easy---then 5x50---- then 'main' 3x400------ 200 'easy' cd.  This totals 1900.

It also shows "30 minutes" on the little picture icon.

Summary: here i am in the third week of a 'beginner' 1/2 iron plan and the expectation is to do 1900 worth of drills (varying effort, gotta stop and read a couple times during swim) in only 30 minutes ?

Conclusion:  I better get my game figured out because I am off the pace !

I can readily do the drills, but if I have 30 mins per the plan I can only fit in 1500 or so outta the 1900.  How many of us can do 1900 in 30 minutes ?

Is the author just trying to discourage us a bit ?  jeez !  Maybe I'm just way off the pace still, I am after all quite new to all this.  In my tri training classes at the local club I'm far from the slowest usually.. humm..

Don't let discourage you...speed will come.  Trust me I am slower than you!  But...I am faster than I use to be so it will happen.  

I'm curious, and I think I have asked it here or on BT general Forums, so forgive me if it's repetitive. This is my third year in Tris, so I'm "somewhat" experienced. 

I am using the BT plans up to doing my first HIM.  Currently on Base/Prep phase, then I use Oly plan(will have a Sprint a few weeks before the oly), then HIM Plan (probably a combo between the intermediate and the 20 week plan). 

I'm curious for those of you who have used this plan or used it several times - do you ever feel like you need a coach, or is the plans perfect (of course, with some tweaking here and there to fit in your schedule)?  While I don't doubt that I will FINISH a HIM, but I would like to be able to do it with a Goal Time in mind.

Running is my weakest sport, and I most likely will add one easy or one moderate run per week in the plan (probably replace a swim). As much as I would like to get fast in all three, I do have to make some sacrifices in order for it to work.  

Do you add in Group Runs/Bike/swims to help you gain speed/faster?   I've never done a group run, so I'm wondering if that would be extremely helpful in pacing/getting faster as I sometimes don't push myself hard enough, when I know I can do it.   There's a tri club that has group SBR once a week, for $60 a year, and thought that could benefit me more to do their group workouts, instead of using them for coaching services just for one Triathlon (IronGirl Sprint), and use the BT plans.

My other thought is to use BT's Coaching (the $35 a month thing), when I START my HIM plan...will that benefit me more?

I'm not trying to be SUPER fast, but I don't want to sell myself short and do my HIM feeling "just to finish"...I want to FINISH with a bang. :-)

Thanks for any tips...I guess I'm nervous, and I didn't even start the plan yet! lol

nicruns - 2012-01-26 8:14 AM

i'm not the norm, definitely not someone to give advice... this is just what i'm doing.

 

i train with a triathlon club (full of veterans with LOTS of opinions who love dishing out advice to * relative * newbies).

 

for me... (& i know you can't relate to this), this first HIM is purely experimental. I love distance-driven events (which still shocks me!) and get a kick out of the fact that i can handle it (well, so far anyway!)

 

so i'm doing my first HIM out of pure curiosity... enjoyment of the training... and to ultimately find out what happens.

(but i'll admit... i picked the "easiest" course in my area to complete this 1st time around!)

 

i'm putting my money towards training opportunities instead of coaching

 

but when the time comes (in 3-5 yrs) to train for ironman.. that's when i'll invest the money and get coached!

 

but i figure... you'll real advice from people here who know what they're talking about

and i'm excited to hear about how everything goes for you!

ENJOY!!

Bold really hit the nail...at least in my perspective.  I know all about training smart, nutrition, etc. I figure that I can join the club to get out of my comfort zone, especially for the run, on a group setting.  I will have someone to chase after instead of just training always on my own.   Hence why I'm wondering if the BT plan is perfect. I just don't want to sell myself short, you know what I mean?

Three years ago when I was going through this plan for the first time I considered a coach but since I already had a good plan that I had modified for my strengths, weaknesses, schedule, goals, etc. I decided to hire a coach as more of a consultant.  We met every couple of weeks for an hour and just went over the plan.  I only made minor adjustments to the plan but it was helpful to bounce my thoughts of why I was doing things.  He also talked my threw some things to think about as far as executing the race.

Running has been my weakness so I can sure appreciate the thoughts on adding another run.  I am adding a run to my plan.  Going to two swims a week would be kind of tough though.  I would be more inclined to keep the swim and add an easy run somewhere else during the week if possible.

People that I've talked to who run with a group a day or two a week definitely say it has helped them improve quicker.  I run alone except for an occasional run with my daughter which always turns into a race.  Usually thats OK but I have to be wary of pushing too hard.  I've learned when she calls me to go for a run I always wear my racing flats.

I signed up for my first 1/2, taking place in Sept.

Looking forward to the journey!  

I have signed up for my first on in Oct.  Can't wait.

Working off a plan a friend shared with me built for her and her husband by their coach.  I also just joined a master swim group.  WOW, I thought I was an OK swimmer until that workout but the coach is awesome.

Now if I can overcome some small nagging injuries that seem to keep popping up.

Best of luck everyone.

Tawas in September huh ?   I'm in Grand Rapids too-- usually work out at MVP and in /on / around Reeds Lake.   Where do you train ? are you a member of Blink or other local Tri clubs ?   I'm not committed yet but hope to do a 1/2 sometime this summer or perhaps the Miami 70.3 in october, we'll see if I can survive my first 'tour' of the beginner 1/2 iron plan !

<<<>>>>

I would take that "30 minutes" for the overall workout with a huge grain of salt.  On some of the longer swims it seems like they round to about 2:00 per 100 on the longer sets.  It really doesn't matter.  Since it is a universal off the shelf plan you cannot imply an absolute speed or pace in any of the workouts.  That is why a lot of it is in time and RPE.  As a matter of fact, if you swim 2:00 per hundred that would be about a 42 minute swim.  That is right in the middle of the pack and if you come out of the water fairly fresh from that you are well on your way to a pretty good first HIM.