Beginner Full Ironman Plan Group (Page 8)

If you only have about a month, I would take one week very easy after the race, then do the first 3 weeks of the IM plan, then start over again.

You could also just wing it and use the month to take a rbeak from structured training and do what you want, as long as the volume is decent (6-8 hours).

Hello everyone,

My name is Matt and just finished using the 1/2 IM plan and was very happy with the outcome, so am looking at using the 20 week plan for my first IM, which is IMAZ in November. I have been doing endurance events for about 4 years now and feel comfortable with taking on my first IM. I saw someone mention the intermediate IM plan and was wondering where I look to take a look at it. I have about a month of non-structured training and want to have my plan dialed in well before the time comes. Thanks for any help or direction with this adventure.

Hi Matt! Congrats on taking on your first IM and for finishing your HIM!

The intermediate plan is available to Silver Members on BT. It's definitely worth the cost of membership to have access to all the different training plans.

Hey team, and Lewis-I am also doing IMNZ 2012-did IMNZ 2010-had a blast and finished in 14:53. I am a plodder who somwhow gets away with minimal training-well in the past anyway-have two marathons under my belt, a couple of half marathons, and one and a half HIMs (the second leg of the bike in my last HIm was a DNF due to knee soreness). I was entered into IMNZ 2011, but am a firefighter and was on the Urban Search and Rescue team that helped at the big quake in Christchurch-IMNZ kindly let me transfer my entry to next year-so I thought I better get some sort of program to follow and this one looks great-looking forward to following everyones progress-Lewis, your plan sounds awesome-do you mind if I follow your lead to?, I have the Auckland marathon in October, and Taupo Half ironman in December-then maybe help out a team and do the bike or run in Tauranga HIM-then Taupo for IMNZ 2012-WooHoo getting excited just writing about it

Dont Knock on Deaths Door......Ring the bell and run away....He hates that!!!

Welcome!! Thanks for joining us here.

Hi, we sound pretty much the same there - i'm a plodder too! Great to hear from you, and well done in chch - would have loved to be able to help but it just didn't pan out. But good job we've got people like you - awesome job!

Absolutely use my hash-up plan of the two BT plans and let us know how it's going! Not sure how good it'll be but i sure hope it works out well! I decided against a marathon in my lead up, but like you i'll be doing the HIM as a training event!

Lewis.

Well, of course you are crazy! As a coach, I would never recommend someone go from couch to IM in 19 weeks! You might be successful or you might get injured. There is no way to know. If you do decide to give it a try, just remember that it's better to go into the race undertrained than overtrained, so when your body needs the rest, REST. If you miss a workout, let it go. Don't try to make it up. Swim and bike as much as you can and be careful with the running.

Pull a swim from the schedule or a run if you are still having knee issues.

Double up on the first build phase (Base 1).

Hi, my name is Eric.  I am new to all of this.  I have a done a number of Sprint and Olympic triathlons over the past 5 years.  I tried my first HIM last year and am 3 weeks into the 20 week plan for a full Ironman in Montreal in Sept.

Right now I train mostly alone (I kinda live in the middle of nowhere), so this website is awesome so far.

I feel like I don't know what I don't know so I am experimenting a lot right now and having fun.

So I read some of the other messages and realized I do have a question, probably the first of many.  I actually have about 23 weeks so i decided to repeat the last 3 weeks of Phase 2, good idea or not?  Also, what would you do the last week with a Saturday race, instead of Sunday?  Finally, during the summer there will be some times where I miss/modify workouts, any specific hints to ensure everything is still progressing (i.e. skip which type workout first if I miss one or two in a week)?

Thank you.

These concerns are very common. I usually tell people to repeat the first Base phase of the plan. For a 20 week plan, that means you would repeat the first three weeks.
For the last week before the race, adjust your schedule by moving the Saturday workout to Friday and taking out the 30 min. swim.

EVERYONE misses workouts. If you know you will be missing something ahead of time, try not to miss your long run or your long bike. When you do miss a workout, don't try to make it up. Just move on with the plan.

Hey Jeff,

I had a similar problem last year when training for my first HIM and the general consensus seemed to be that it's fine as long as you listen to your body when you need a rest. It think there is some merit to trying to keep the workouts in order though i.e. if a swim follows a run etc.

I always try and remember that life is more important (to me anyway) than training and i know it would be a rare week where i could fit in all the workouts. Also remember that the long sessions are higher priority and that you shouldn't try and make up missed workouts with additional training.

With these points in mind i regularily mixed the workouts up although i did try and maintain my long days when doing a plan - generally Saturday or Sunday for the bike and Monday for the run. This seemed to work well for me and although i felt undertrained for the HIM i was happy with the day.

Also, for you particularly (or anyone with an energetic job) remember that your job will actually have some benefit towards your training, although you cannot guarantee what level that will be on a day to day basis. Do you use a training log of any type? If so, log your week days pseudo workouts best you can and track them together with your training.

Lewis.

I can relate.  I am a FF in Las Vegas.  I move the workouts around as needed to make sure the plan works for my schedule.  I have a family which comes first and was able to make the 1/2 IM plan work for me and keep everyone happy.  I was VERY happy with how the 1/2 plan worked and am hoping for the same with the full IM plan.

I know with me it's hard to get a w/o in uninterrupted at work, but I do what I can and move on to the next day.  Luckily my Captain is supportive  of my goals.