Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 74)

Wildflower is in the books!!  I’m still on a post-race high!  The course was incredibly challenging, with abnormal wind conditions on the bike and long, steep hills on the run (Wildflower Course Description).  The saving grace was a kind woman yelling “This is your last hill!!” through a megaphone somewhere near the mile 12 marker on the run.  Adrenaline took over and I broke into a full-tilt sprint down Lynch Hill, through the final chute to the finish line.  Never has an iced soaked towel felt so good. 

I learned so much from this event (my first HIM).  This training plan worked like a charm (except I would add a few more long rides next time).  My nutrition also worked out very well (Pre-Swim:  Granola with Greek yogurt.  Bike:  2 24 oz. bottles on the bike (Cytomax in one, Nuun in the other), 1 Cliff bar spread out across the ride, 4 Hammer Endurolytes and 2 Hammer Gels.  Run:  One more Hammer Gel on the run and sips of Gatorade along the way).

I’m looking for advice on a transition/continuing plan for my next HIM July 17 (Vineman).  Do I pick up mid-way through this plan to have it end on race day again?  Is there a BT plan designed for this?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Congrats on a successful first HIM! Wildflower is a tough one from what I hear.....and see :-) But YOU DID IT!!!

Your nutrition sounds exactly what I'm working toward, minus the Cytomax and Nuun. I'm using Ironman Perform to mimic my race day liquid at Ironman Steelhead.

Way to go man!!!

Jessica,

Thanks so much for the advice.....it sounds like really good advice.

On the other hand....lately (pretty much every workout), I've felt really great....currently on week 14 (meaning 14 more weeks to the race). I don't push myself to pain, but my workouts also aren't anywhere near zone 1 or 2.....I'd be basically speed walking on the runs and going like 15 mph on the bike. I try to push myself a bit on each workout depending on how I feel. Today's tempo run called for 7x 3t, 2r. I planed the 3t under 8:00 mile and the 2r under 9:00. When I got out there, I felt great and ran more like 7:30 tempo and 8:30 recovery. Should I not have? My RPE was fine, and I finished the 20 minute cool down around 8:30's.

Was it tough....sure. Did I enjoy it....absolutely. Are my legs tired....you betcha. But I don't think I'd change a thing.

So how do I, or any of us newbies, decide how hard is too hard. Would I gain as much running an hour and a half at 9:30 minute miles as I would at 8:30's. The answer seems like an obvious no, but I honestly don't know. It's not speed work by any means, but it would seem like the higher cadence and longer strides of an 8:30 mile would begin to train the nerves, muscles, etc... to run faster.

I'm rambling....sorry. Any additional info you give would be appreciated. Thanks again for all the help!

Congratulations on your race! Glad to hear the training plan worked well for you. Good luck with your next race.

So that's why I bonked on my first HIM.  I took in 1 24oz Perpeteum, 20oz water, 1 Shot Blocks, and 1 Gu on the bike....  Hahaha!!

Great nutrition plan by the way!!!

Rain in the forecast for tomorrow so I bumped my two hour ride to today.....DOH! I really felt yesterday's tempo run the last 30 minutes of the ride, but what was I supposed to do. I'm not going to ride in the rain on a Friday afternoon from 4-6 when everybody's going nuts to get home for the weekend. I guess I now know what tired legs feel like! Plus....I now have another notch on the wall of mental toughness that continues to build my confidence. So far no bonking or quitting on any workouts! I really hope to keep that up throughout the plan. It will make race day pain that much easier to defeat!

p.s. Why does the wind always pick up from 5-10 to 25 when I go riding. I leave and the flags are hanging flopping around this way and that. I return and they're at full tilt blowing like crazy.

With a 2.5 hr ride and short run afterwards, I will have completed the week 6 "peak hours" and be heading into a recovery week.  Holy cr$p, that means I'm 5 weeks away from race day.  Here are some thoughts and observations from following the plan:

1. To date, I've missed 2 bike workouts, one swim workout and two short runs. Otherwise, I have religiously followed the plan and, at times, upped the hours on the bike as needed.

2. After getting the hang of the ebbs and flows, I think you can sequence the workouts in any number of ways to suit your schedule so long as you don't rearrange them in a way where you are stacking hard workouts on top of each other. For me, I also needed to temper the number of back to back runs.

3. As I got further into the plan, I realized that there was not enough time in the saddle to my liking so I added more miles on the longer rides and sometimes added more slow and long rides during recovery week.  With a new tri bike, I think it was valuable to get those extra road miles in.

4. My HR zones have dropped as my endurance has improved.  Workouts that would have been in a Z3  at the start of the plan now are coming in at Z2.

5. Swimming "hard" has little value for me as my form tends to fall apart when I push it.  Instead of swimming sets based on RPE, for me, it makes more sense to swim sets in a descending fashion so that I finish faster than I started.  This was not easy for me to learn as I tended to push too hard in the early sets and then just hold on at the end.  The feeling of getting stronger the more I swim has been a real big confidence builder.

6. Don't skimp on rest. It is just as important as the workouts themselves.

7. I have tried to avoid running at a "medium" pace as it seems to have marginal value. Medium paced workouts are not really laid out in the plan, but I seemed to create these on my own in an effort to push the slower paced workouts. The short high intensity workouts aid spead and long slower workouts build endurance, but medium paced workouts ... not so much.

8. The plan is not geared to East Coast winters and/or a start date of late January.  Weather here remains very uncooperative, but I ran outside as much as could throughout the winter and logged way too much indoor time on the trainer.

9. I tried to weave into the plan some races here and there and was contemplating a race this weekend right after finishing peak hours.  At Jessica's recommendation, I backed away from that plan.  In retrospect, Jessica was 100% right - logging peak hours is key because it teaches the body and mind to work while carrying a big training load.

10. This plan flat out works and will turn you into an endurance machine. 

Hi all...great forum.  I joined about a month ago, but I'm just getting around to setting up a training log and checking out the forums (husband broke his leg and with 2 kids..things got a little busy).   I'm gearing up for my first HIM (Timberman).  I'm going REV3 Quassey (Oly) in June.  I've been following the training plan (3 weeks into it).  

Looking forward to hearing about training, races and especially nutrition..totally lost on this.  Big fan of Hammer products, but unsure about how much needed for a HIM.

Joe, thanks for that perspective. It is helpful to hear from people farther along in the plan. I was just thinking of adding more time in the saddle. I will start this weekend. You have rocked your training. Keep it up! Peak hours are done!!!!!!!!

Joe,

When you add time in the saddle and reduce intensity, how much and when do you reduce the intensity? My long ride yesteday was 2 hours and I averaged 19.5 mph. When you add time, do you dial back the whole ride, or just the added time?

Thanks,

Congratulations!!!

I tweaked the plan scheduling wise so that my week starts on a Sunday and ends of Saturday.  This works for me because I noticed the plan has a lot of off days on Saturday and long bikes on Sundays.  By moving the schedule back a day, I get Friday as a rest day with the long bike or brick on Saturday.  You may also notice that many of the regular Monday workouts are swim focused.  By moving those Monday swims to Sunday, I can tack on another ride in the morning and then hit the pool later in the day.  As I said before, my best swims are when I focus the most on technique and don't push for speed.  My legs are kinda non-factor when I swim as I have a worthless kick and have adopted a 2BK.

As for the extra bike workouts, my Sunday "bonus" rides are usually rolling hills since I live at the top of hill and it is very hard to find flats.  I tend to ride with a friend (who is slower than me) and like to get out between 30 - 50 miles.  Most of the time it is a Z2 workout, but every so I often I will dial it up for some intervals.  I also sometimes add an extra 30 minute spin on the trainer to flush the legs after long runs.  Otherwise, I generally look for opportunities to get in the saddle when I have the time and it makes sense.

Anybody else get the crabbies on a high volume week?  I am five weeks out from my first HIM and this week has been pretty tough.  I'm finding I'm a little crabby last night and today.  I know that's a sign of over-training, but I don't feel like that's it, I just feel a little irritable.  Heading into a recovery week after the weekend...I'll see if my mood improves!

Oh, is it normal to start feeling nervous already?!

Great info from both Jessica & Joe, thanks so much.  I've been noticing my pace is slow compared to a lot of people in the Tri Talk forum and trying to go faster but sustaining that is hard especially running on tired legs.  I'm not going to worry about it anymore and will just trust that it'll come along as I progress in the plan.

I've had a great week of training culminating with yesterday when the rain finally stopped and I got outside for a ride.  Fantastic!  This morning's "long" run was pitiful though.  I almost didn't go but I sucked it up and got out there.  It was a test of mental strength the whole way and I just wanted to go home but I got it done as best I could.  My daughter had me up for a couple of hours in the night and up early this morning so I'm going to blame being tired.  Tomorrow the sun's supposed to be out again and I'm going to take the kids to the playground and ride like a crazy woman around & around & around the track.  LOL, should be fun!  

Way to tough it out Laurie! Those mental days are just as rewarding for me as the physical ones. Have fun at the park with the kids. Glad the sun is shining! It's a balmy 60* with partly cloudy skies in MI right now and I just came in from working in the driveway in nothing but cycling shorts. Neighbors were walking by in sweat suits looking at me crazy - LOL

Very peaceful 30 minute easy run followed by a peanut butter and banana sandwich today. It was delicious! Hard to beat a PB&B :-)

I was thinking of doing that same thing next week (riding long and skipping the 20 min run). Good job with your workouts and hitting the distances. I am not looking forward to that 2 hour run.

I completed my 25 min run/2 hour ride/25 min run yesterday. I bombed my nutrition but everything else went good. I rode with a training friend who hammered away on her new Cervelo for the entire ride. I was barely hanging on. I didn't even know if my legs would move for that last run!

Hi everyone! My name is Brian and my first HIM will be on sept 11 at the REV3 cedar point! Right now I am in taper for the Cleveland Marathon that I am running on May 15th. I have started the bike/swimming training portion of the program,but kept my running towards my marathon plan. After my recovery from the marathon I plan on using the run portion of the plan.

Congrats on a successful first HIM! Please take at least 5 days off with little to no training, then start building up again. It's totally fine to use this plan again and just start from the proper point in the plan. Most people have more than 2 months between races of this distance because it's extremely challenging to recover and get through another round of intense trianing without injury, illness, or burnout. Be careful, err on the side of caution, and listen closely to your body.

Welcome!