Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 17)

Welcome! What are your plans for training between now and race day?

I am also in for October 23, 2011. My first HIM!!!

I've tried this a bit...has been helpful.  Sometimes I try to ask some of the lifeguards.  Helps--but still need some individual attention for sure.  Had a better swim today, and a nice bike ride  

Ah wow, thanks.  I just free-styled the whole thing I thought that would be ascending, but i definitely get it now.  Flexibility makes sense...i feel very stiff backstroking.  I don't absolutely hate it i just find myself in the middle of my 25yd lane and can't really go anywhere.  The 15 minutes warm up warm down was for the bike ride in the first week.  I just rode a straight 45 with no freewheeling anyhow. 

I do have another question: I play college squash at a pretty competitive level.  If I play 60 minutes of squash and burn about 600cal, can i replace a run with that or is that generally considered poor training form? I'm curious because I can just add the squash on but don't want to physically start breaking down by adding squash practices on.  Also--i'm taking the saturday and turning it in to yoga day.  I need my mental quiet and flexibility...i assume this is a positive. 

@ JG, congrats on a better swim day, maybe I'll be able to say the same later!

Next question for the more experienced, does it matter what days/order the weekly workouts are done on? My schedule is a little hectic now, so if I make sure I get all the mileage/time in, and stick to the progression (3 weeks of building followed by one on reduced volume) is that ok?

Ah, I love feeling this good.  Here's my week: For some reason the BT log goes sun-sat but i live on mon-sun.  Just week one of twenty....hopefully swimming gets way better.  Also, I feel like I'm biking in a friggin monsoon, it's so windy all the time.



Edited by JG_GreenCoast 2010-11-21 5:24 PM

Tri Take Me Away- I looked over the training plan a little closer.  I have a suggestion and a question:

Suggestion:  Make Sunday the first day of the week so that it will match the BT training calendar.  Or is there a way to change the BT calendar to where Sunday is the last day of the week?

Question:  It looks like there are many times that we will swim over 1.2 miles, but not many that we will run or bike the full race distance at once.  Both of these are where I want/need to improve.  Should I extend the long runs/bikes?  A friend told me that if I'm gonna do 56 miles in a race, then I need to be able to go 70 ish miles on long rides... what do you think?

Thanks!
-w 

I can't remember how I did it, but I do remember it was quick and easy to change the BT calendar to start with Monday as the first of the week.

My question is about the swim.  This week it says to insert a 25 of backstroke here and there.  Why?  Although I am capable of a decent backstroke, I don't plan on ever using it in a race.

HIM New Orleans 4/17/11.  You're such a better swimmer than me, I'm excited to not be so atrocious! Which one are you doing? 

Also, I'm curious, when it says 6x100 or 4x400 in swim, how much of a break is allowed during sets? It defines when it wants continuous but should this be 10sec max? 30sec? Should I keep my timer running during these breaks or pause?

Edited by JG_GreenCoast 2010-11-22 9:05 AM

Ah good for you--maybe we can run in to each other.  I really wanted to go on vacation for this HIM, was thinking the one in USVI or Oceanside, but really just did not have time.  It's always a hectic time for my work then--if I finish and enjoy it, I am going to go do one in France or something and turn it into a good vacation.

I'm in for Austin in October.  Might just keep running this program back to back.

I lived in San Diego for a while, that's why I decided on that one. We'll plan on something at NOLA. My buddy is an age grouper, usually top 3 so I'm turning to him for a lot of advice! Let's see if I can make this swim happen now LOL

It depends on what your weakness is. If running is your weakness, don't miss any runs. If you are ok with your running, then go ahead and sub the cross training one day a week. Playing squash is great for preventing runing injuries, as there are lots of side to side movements that can help you be a more stable runner.
Yoga on your off day is fine as long as it's restorative yoga and not something like hot yoga. I love yoga.

The number one priority is obviously making this training fir into your life. But do your best to separate your key workouts by at least a day so you are rested and ready for the most important workouts of the week. Your key workouts will be the speed days - tempo, interval, track work, etc. Some weeks your key workout will be your long run, ride, or swim. Look at your schedule from week to week and try to identify the key workouts and make sure you don't do them back to back if possible.

Go to "Settings" at the top of this page. Then click on "Training Log Settings", then Log Defaults". There is an option there to change what day of the week your training week starts on!

Your friend has an opinion. His opinion is that you SHOULD be up to 70 miles before a 56 mile race. It is not, however, necessary for a beginner to be able to ride 70 miles before doing 56! And it's not even necessary to do 56 miles. This plan, as written, will get you to the finish line of you follow it. However, just as with many other things in life, you may need to adjust it a bit in order to meet YOUR needs better. If you will feel more confident on race day going into this having run 13.1 miles and cycles 56 (not back to back!!), then I think you should consider adjusting the times up. It's not necessary, but it might make a big difference as far as how you handle the mental preparation for the race.
The reason you can get away with swimming 1.2 miles is that it doesn't take any time to recover from that, wheras a beginner running 13.1 miles will take 2 hours easily to complete that workout, which prevents quality training for the remainder of the week as you recover. Because of that, I would recomend that you push the bike time farther and keep the runs where they are, since it is easier to recover from cycling workouts and the cycling is the longest part of the race.

Keep your timer running. Anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds may be appropriate depending on your fitness level, how fast you are being required to swim, and the nature of the workout. If it's a distance swim at an easy pace, keep the breaks shorter since you won't need to catch your breath. If you are doing speed work, rest for longer to make sure you are maintaining good form during your fast sets.

We talked about the backstroke issue on the last page (page 20) - others were wondering the same thing.

JG- I'm shooting for Galveston on April 10.  I haven't registered yet though.  I'm supposed to be at a conference that night in Destin, Fl... So, I'm trying to decide if I can do both.  Can anyone tell me about the recovery for a first HIM???  Will I be too wasted to go to a conference the next day (meaning I'll have to go catch a flight a few hours after I finish the race)...

Thanks! Hopefully I can manage to rearrange everything...maybe I'll post it and get some feedback.

Survived my 2000 in the pool today-off to a good start!

Thanks! That's great...now, however, when I view my week, it is looking at the week of 11/15 instead of the week of 11/22.  In my month it is aligned correctly...maybe it will fix itself tomorrow? 

I was thinking about doing Galveston.  The course is a lot nicer than New Orleans (Ours is a POS) along with the city--enjoy that!  Wish I had the time to go back/forth then and I'd definitely do that one.