Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 12)

JG_GreenCoast - 2010-11-01 6:05 PM I have a few questions:

First, Is the swimming distance in feet?  yards
Second, Is kick/pull just focusing on a different part of the stroke?
Third,  what are some benefits to incorporating backstroke? I wondered the same thing.  I never swim anything but freestyle when working out.  Today was a first...
Last,  are these exercises meant to be performed consecutively, or close to consecutively, or does it not matter when in the day you are doing these? Do you mean the run and swim?  It is not a brick, so you do not do them consecutively.  Have a good enough break in-between the two disciplines so that you can do a nice solid workout for each.  OR do you mean the swim sets?  If so, yes...take a small breather between sets (30 sec-1min depending on your fitness level.)

Thanks! 

JG_GreenCoast - 2010-10-26 11:52 AM What are people's opinions on starting the 20 Week program more than 20 weeks before race day.   My race is 4/17/11 and my training has been cycling/spinning, swimming, and running just building up distances doing each twice a week.  Ready to get more organized and strict, but what are the factors to consider here?

akrenik - 2010-11-01 10:11 PM

Me too!  Although I still haven't picked the plan I am going to use yet.  Are you doing the beginner 1/2 plan on here?  What did you do today? 

akrenik - 2010-11-01 10:16 PM

JG_GreenCoast - 2010-11-02 9:14 AM

I feel like I will be in the pool (and probably most of you too) a lot longer than 40 minutes if you do an 800yd warm up, then a 1500 yd swim exercise, then a 200yd cooldown.  So...thats like 1.4+ miles which is about what I swim when I want to swim a length day, I just generally am a good bit slower than that for 1.4.  I assume that's okay for week 20.  Anyone else in the same boat more or less for week 20? 

ryanjleone - 2010-11-02 8:22 AM

I've noticed that too with this plan; my swim times are much greater than what it says (for example, it takes me about 40 min for the 1500yd main set). From my very limited experience, I do not see it as a problem. You just have to factor that it when your planning your day (look at the actual workout for the time and not just rely on what time is "determined" for you). I also assume some speed will come along resulting from the designated "speed" and "race specific" days...

ewillmore - 2010-11-02 12:02 PM

Since the swim is the only discipline that is measured in distance (not time like most of the run and bike) for most of the plan, the times are going to be estimates.

I am looking forward to being done with this plan (maybe on to another?) so I would warn of burn-out.

I have my HIM (first) in FIVE days!  I stuck with the plan pretty well for the first three months and took a little more liberties with it in the last two.  Didn't get it all in but most of it.  I know I can do it.  Now, I find out how much of the race will be fun vs. why-won't-this-end.

arkmann - 2010-11-02 1:04 PM I'm on the 3rd week of the plan and I'm seriously starting to feel like I need to do some changes with my "spare" time.  I'm only on the 3rd week and I feel like I should sleep longer.  I feel like I needto sleep 8 hours a night if I'm doing this plan.  I used to be able to sleep 6-7 when I was training in an unstructured way for my sprint races.  With this plan, more rest is definitely needed. 

I need to get more calories in.  The past 3 weeks, I have already lost 5 pounds and that's eating breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. I'm 2.5lbs away from my target weight so that I can stay still a little bit muscular but leaner as well.  Add to that the fact that part of my work is out in the field thus more need for energy.

I also need to drink more water.  I thought I was drinking a lot by drinking almost a gallon a day (maybe more).  I'm drinking the same amount nowadays and trips to the loo for number one are still a little bit tinted instead of the clear ones that I am used to.

But most of all, I can eat pretty much anything and still lose weight.

Meulen - 2010-11-03 12:52 PM OK..... I'm taking the plunge. I plan on doing HIM Racine this year and maybe Steelhead too. I will be starting the HIM plan here this month with some modifications for an early season marathon and to accomodate my computrainer and swim classes. My name is Brian. I'm 35, married (no kids), and work lots of hours. I live in the Chicago suburbs and work downtown. I started this obsession a few years ago. I rode my hybrid bike around the neighborhood to lose some weight. That progressed into MTB riding, later some MTB racing, and eventually tri's. I did my first tri in 2009, but I had some injuries that year MTB'ing and didn't continue. This year I did 4 tris 3 MTB races and 2 metric century rides. The tris were 2 sprints, an Xterra, and one Olympic. Along the way, since 2008, I've lost a total of 50lbs!! I'm excited about the progress I've made, and can't wait to make more. Next season I plan on doing 3 Xterra races, an Olympic and a couple of sprints along the way to my HIM. I'm on a journey to do an IM and am taking it slow. I want to do an HIM this year and IM next. In the meantime, I'm having a blast doing shorter tri's, especially Xterra. Those are just AWESOME!!! My weakest link is swimming. I'm struggling to get to a 2min/100 pace. I don't know what it is, but I find it hard to get motivated to go jump in the pool and swim. I've really been trying to focus on that while I've been creating a base for the HIM plan. Cycling and running have been good for me. I've made great progress in those. But if I can't get out of the water with the rest of the pack I ended up playing a losing game of catch-up. I start masters class in december. I'm hoping that'll help get me under 2min/100's and finally get me some strong finishes. Right now I swim between 2000-2500m's in an hour, but I am a little worried about doing the program with my lack of swim ability.

ryanjleone - 2010-11-03 1:23 PM



Great job on the weight loss!!! That's awesome!! I'm very new to this sport, so my advice may be taken with a grain of salt. From my personal experience, swimming was/is very tough for me as well, but it will come! As long as you get in the water, you'll improve! When I first started this program, my 1000yd time was about 45 min. Today, only 4 weeks into the program, I swam 2000yd in 48! The speed days must help immensely, because before this plan I was basically just doing long swims. Keep your head up and get that motivation to get in the water. Trust that it will come and it will...

Meulen - 2010-11-03 9:52 AM OK..... I'm taking the plunge. I plan on doing HIM Racine this year and maybe Steelhead too. I will be starting the HIM plan here this month with some modifications for an early season marathon and to accomodate my computrainer and swim classes. My name is Brian. I'm 35, married (no kids), and work lots of hours. I live in the Chicago suburbs and work downtown. I started this obsession a few years ago. I rode my hybrid bike around the neighborhood to lose some weight. That progressed into MTB riding, later some MTB racing, and eventually tri's. I did my first tri in 2009, but I had some injuries that year MTB'ing and didn't continue. This year I did 4 tris 3 MTB races and 2 metric century rides. The tris were 2 sprints, an Xterra, and one Olympic. Along the way, since 2008, I've lost a total of 50lbs!! I'm excited about the progress I've made, and can't wait to make more. Next season I plan on doing 3 Xterra races, an Olympic and a couple of sprints along the way to my HIM. I'm on a journey to do an IM and am taking it slow. I want to do an HIM this year and IM next. In the meantime, I'm having a blast doing shorter tri's, especially Xterra. Those are just AWESOME!!! My weakest link is swimming. I'm struggling to get to a 2min/100 pace. I don't know what it is, but I find it hard to get motivated to go jump in the pool and swim. I've really been trying to focus on that while I've been creating a base for the HIM plan. Cycling and running have been good for me. I've made great progress in those. But if I can't get out of the water with the rest of the pack I ended up playing a losing game of catch-up. I start masters class in december. I'm hoping that'll help get me under 2min/100's and finally get me some strong finishes. Right now I swim between 2000-2500m's in an hour, but I am a little worried about doing the program with my lack of swim ability.

KeriKadi - 2010-11-03 7:55 AM Haven't been around for a while. 

I also have my first Half Ironman distance this Sunday!
You can check my logs and see I haven't been running for the last 3 weeks or so because of the stress fracture in my heel.  I am hoping this time off to heal will be enough to get me through the 13.1 miles Sunday.
I have never run that far.  The furthest I have run in preparing for this race was 8 miles.  My injury happened before I got any of my long runs in.  The good news is the run course is 3 loops which will be much better for me mentally.  I will get to see my family and friends and I keep telling myself I only have to run 4.36 three times, I've run that distance dozens of times.  One lap at a time.  I expect if all goes well the race will take me 7.5 hours and really hoping I have that 30 minutes of cushion before the 8 hour cut off.

Working on my mental game right now.  I know my body can do this.  I've had 5 babies without the benefit of pain meds and the last 3 were born at home.  I am a Mama warrior and will have to pull from that Sunday.

The weather will be perfect!  Chilly at the beginning of the bike but the run will be perfect!  Excited to meet some BTers and really looking forward to the day.

arkmann - 2010-11-02 11:04 AM I'm on the 3rd week of the plan and I'm seriously starting to feel like I need to do some changes with my "spare" time.  I'm only on the 3rd week and I feel like I should sleep longer.  I feel like I needto sleep 8 hours a night if I'm doing this plan.  I used to be able to sleep 6-7 when I was training in an unstructured way for my sprint races.  With this plan, more rest is definitely needed. 

I need to get more calories in.  The past 3 weeks, I have already lost 5 pounds and that's eating breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, snack, and dinner. I'm 2.5lbs away from my target weight so that I can stay still a little bit muscular but leaner as well.  Add to that the fact that part of my work is out in the field thus more need for energy.

I also need to drink more water.  I thought I was drinking a lot by drinking almost a gallon a day (maybe more).  I'm drinking the same amount nowadays and trips to the loo for number one are still a little bit tinted instead of the clear ones that I am used to.

But most of all, I can eat pretty much anything and still lose weight.

akrenik - 2010-11-04 12:42 AM



No wonder  your swimming is the weakest...you live in Chicago!     I was there for the first time for the past 4 days and it was sooo cold!  I am so happy to get in the pool today back here in sunny So. Cal with an outside air temp of 85 degrees. 

KeriKadi - 2010-11-04 2:55 AM Haven't been around for a while. 

I also have my first Half Ironman distance this Sunday!
You can check my logs and see I haven't been running for the last 3 weeks or so because of the stress fracture in my heel.  I am hoping this time off to heal will be enough to get me through the 13.1 miles Sunday.
I have never run that far.  The furthest I have run in preparing for this race was 8 miles.  My injury happened before I got any of my long runs in.  The good news is the run course is 3 loops which will be much better for me mentally.  I will get to see my family and friends and I keep telling myself I only have to run 4.36 three times, I've run that distance dozens of times.  One lap at a time.  I expect if all goes well the race will take me 7.5 hours and really hoping I have that 30 minutes of cushion before the 8 hour cut off.

Working on my mental game right now.  I know my body can do this.  I've had 5 babies without the benefit of pain meds and the last 3 were born at home.  I am a Mama warrior and will have to pull from that Sunday.

The weather will be perfect!  Chilly at the beginning of the bike but the run will be perfect!  Excited to meet some BTers and really looking forward to the day.

KeriKadi - 2010-11-03 9:55 AM Haven't been around for a while. 

I also have my first Half Ironman distance this Sunday!
You can check my logs and see I haven't been running for the last 3 weeks or so because of the stress fracture in my heel.  I am hoping this time off to heal will be enough to get me through the 13.1 miles Sunday.
I have never run that far.  The furthest I have run in preparing for this race was 8 miles.  My injury happened before I got any of my long runs in.  The good news is the run course is 3 loops which will be much better for me mentally.  I will get to see my family and friends and I keep telling myself I only have to run 4.36 three times, I've run that distance dozens of times.  One lap at a time.  I expect if all goes well the race will take me 7.5 hours and really hoping I have that 30 minutes of cushion before the 8 hour cut off.

Working on my mental game right now.  I know my body can do this.  I've had 5 babies without the benefit of pain meds and the last 3 were born at home.  I am a Mama warrior and will have to pull from that Sunday.

The weather will be perfect!  Chilly at the beginning of the bike but the run will be perfect!  Excited to meet some BTers and really looking forward to the day.

Meulen - 2010-11-03 11:52 AM OK..... I'm taking the plunge. I plan on doing HIM Racine this year and maybe Steelhead too. I will be starting the HIM plan here this month with some modifications for an early season marathon and to accomodate my computrainer and swim classes. My name is Brian. I'm 35, married (no kids), and work lots of hours. I live in the Chicago suburbs and work downtown. I started this obsession a few years ago. I rode my hybrid bike around the neighborhood to lose some weight. That progressed into MTB riding, later some MTB racing, and eventually tri's. I did my first tri in 2009, but I had some injuries that year MTB'ing and didn't continue. This year I did 4 tris 3 MTB races and 2 metric century rides. The tris were 2 sprints, an Xterra, and one Olympic. Along the way, since 2008, I've lost a total of 50lbs!! I'm excited about the progress I've made, and can't wait to make more. Next season I plan on doing 3 Xterra races, an Olympic and a couple of sprints along the way to my HIM. I'm on a journey to do an IM and am taking it slow. I want to do an HIM this year and IM next. In the meantime, I'm having a blast doing shorter tri's, especially Xterra. Those are just AWESOME!!! My weakest link is swimming. I'm struggling to get to a 2min/100 pace. I don't know what it is, but I find it hard to get motivated to go jump in the pool and swim. I've really been trying to focus on that while I've been creating a base for the HIM plan. Cycling and running have been good for me. I've made great progress in those. But if I can't get out of the water with the rest of the pack I ended up playing a losing game of catch-up. I start masters class in december. I'm hoping that'll help get me under 2min/100's and finally get me some strong finishes. Right now I swim between 2000-2500m's in an hour, but I am a little worried about doing the program with my lack of swim ability.

Tri Take Me Away - 2010-11-05 9:40 AM

From one home-birth mama to another, BEST of luck this weekend! You will ROCK IT , I am sure! We better hear from you on Monday letting us know how it went!