Beginner 1/2 Ironman Plan Group (Page 89)

lavelasco1015 - 2011-06-21 12:30 PM Hello everyone! My name is Leslie and this is the first time I am in this forum. I have only been a triathlete for 1 year,and I have completed only 2 triathlons, a half marathon, 2 duathlons, and 2 10ks. I am about to do another sprint triathlon next month. I just signed up for Ironman Texas 70.3 for April 2012. yes I know its a little early, but they had it at a discount rate . I will go head on training for this after the San Antonio RNR half marathon on November 13 which gives me 20 weeks of training for the HIM.  We do have a triathlon team here locally, but i can't afford it so someone gave me a suggestion to look around for a HIM training program. I did find a HIM training program, and I saw the first couple weeks of it, and it seemed reasonable with my busy schedule this fall since I am a teacher. I would like some input on people who have used this training plan, and what their experiences are training and competing by using the program.

Welcome Leslie! I just finished my first HIM on Sunday and used this plan. Worked great. You can go to my training log and read all you want about the plan or find the link to my race report. I had never even ran a half marathon before so it sounds like you have plenty of experience to me .

Good luck and keep posting!

Thanks for the words of encouragement - the race date seems to be approaching real fast!!!!! I've managed to follow the plan pretty well and added extra time when my body felt able to cope. I find that I do not have any real problems with the bricks, just the usual stiffness to start with, but that works its way out in a few km. Did a 22.35km run today and it was really hot and sunny here today - hence I found it a real "bag drive" but managed to keep going to the end!! I now sport the ever popular tri vest sun fried look!!! This weekend I am participating in the 200km Ride to Conquer Cancer so lots of time in the saddle on both days. I'm hoping to get an OWS in on Friday just as a recovery session - which will top my hours out this week at about 13!! Next week is recovery and my local sprint Tri, just as a treat!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First 2 plus hour ride this morning! Went 2:30 - just under 49 miles! Great way to finish my bike focus week. Wind was pretty tough today blowing 15 with gusts to 30. Did an out and back. Out was with the wind and took 1:07, coming home was 1:23. Just dropped into a higher gear (or is it lower .... I can never keep it straight) and kept my cadence around 90. Speed went from about 22-23 to 17-18. I was actually surprised I could maintain above 17. I guess that's what the gears are for.

Good luck to racers this weekend!

Nice job DV I am planning a long ride tomorrow with some good hill climbing. I want to get a OWS today with a run, just got off work so we will see.

So the last two weeks my weight had dropped from 165 to 160, as mentioned. Yesterday after my my long bike ride, I had lost no weight, which is unusual for me. I was 161 at start and at finish. It was cool out so it wasn't a big surprise cause I drank a lot and had additional calories in gels.

But by the end of the day yesterday I was up to 168. Granted, I ate good after my ride and finished the day with a barbecue at some friends house, but I was surprised to see my weight back up to 168. I thought maybe my body just sucked up all the calories to recover from the ride.

This morning I was at 165 which is typical - I usually lose about 2-3 lbs a night.

Went out on a boat fishing for about 5 hours (which is often energy sapping) and then headed to the pool for a scheduled 3000 yard swim. My last swim a few days ago was BAD. I quit after 1000 - supposed to do 1500. I just had no energy and was pooped.

Today, I had a PowerBar Gel right before diving in for some caffeine and energy and boy did I nail the swim. Plenty of energy and maintained good form and speed throughout. I could have gone a lot farther.

I'm no expert, but I think I need to keep my weight closer to 165. I just seem to have more energy yesterday and today, and can't think of anything else that's changed other than my weight.

Any thoughts from anyone about weight and energy would be appreciated.

No magic bullet here - just listen to your body.  If you feel weak, then you are weak.  Ever feel weak throughout a workout and nail it?  Don't think so, because your body is always right - it is just the brain that screw things up.

So I did my first metric century ride today (well the group I was with got a little lost and it ended up being 67.8 miles, but...)  The first 45 went great but I really started to feel it around mile 52..this is also where we hit a ton of hills and false flats and it just totally drained me and took a lot to get my momentum back up to finish. (I ended up only averaging about 11.5 for this part of the course) This is also where the dark side of the brain takes over and self doubt starts creeping in..like what did I get myself into and in 7 weeks I have to run 13 miles after this...ugh.. I was also having some trouble with my right hamstring tightening which really hurt going up hills but seemed to work itself out.  

But I finished, I feel pretty good (one of my water bottles with Nuun got ejected during a very bumpy part) so I was a little dehydrated at the end but all in all a good training day.  Just have to keep those dark clouds of doubt away when the going gets tough.

I am going to call last week (wk 15) a wash and just move forward.  I did not even kinda get all the w/o's in - I worried I might be overdoing it before my first Oly this past weekend and I had lingering Achilles pain/strain, that started after hill repeats on the bike a week prior.

In happier news...I was pleased with how things went relatively smooth during my first Oly yesterday. Especially with my 29 min swim, this exceeded my goal and I was grateful all the time I spent seeking out OWS, practicing sighting, form and finding a way to avoid the log jams paid off.  I did however see how my lack of cycling experience can really hurt me.  2 of my friends who have cycling backgrounds and are not strong swimmers (each took 40-45 min in the water)but kicked my butt on the bike and overall times.  I am going to talk to a cycling coach at my local bike shop b/c with a 56 mi bike, I should probably not just wing it and expect to run a half mary without major issues. I think that racing while training is really importaint, it shows you your improvments and where you need work.  Next time I have to stick with my training plan and perhaps just omit long bike Sunday. I was able to get some nutrition in on the bike (most of a powerbar, drank Gatorade and water) but I have to experiment with different gels/blocks.  I just don't care for the consistency and most flavors, I joke with my main squeeze that I am getting old b/c I don't like crazy sweet stuff anymore.  Oh, one alarmingly odd happening yesterday morning, we took a bus from transition to the swim start so basically all participants were standing around in a parking lot waiting for their waves to go off.  So I was waiting in the epic potty line and I see this group of loud guys pounding cans of Old Milwaukee, smoking cig's and taking each other pic's.  I have never seen such a thing and I thought this is not safe for the others.  Ever seen this before? Should I have been the snitch, I did not know what to do.  

Congrats on a successful ride! The 13 mile run is really the brunt of the race. It's gonna hurt. It's gonna be a tough mental and physical challenge. And when you cross the finish line, it's all gonna be worth it. We've gotta be smart on the bike in order to have a successful run.

In Alexander's post race Coeur d'Alene interview yesterday after he won he talked about course records ... how he knows he could have beaten the bike record if he wanted to, but what would have been the net impact of his bike/run split.

My first tri earlier this year taught me a ton about just this. I "raced" the bike with guys above my ability level, and although I finished the bike feeling good and in the pack, I quickly fell apart on the run. My next tri a fe weeks ago I raced MY race, and had a great run off the bike. I dropped over twelve minutes net on my bike run split from the first tri to the second (oly distance).

Congrats on a great swim Heather, and on identifying you want to improve your bike. My "wish list" is to be a better runner!

As Macca says in his book, "Hope is not a strategy for success." Let's get out there and get it done!

Nice job on finishing, remember training is to get the mind ready to race also. Not just the body, keep up the good work and keep smiling

Going to sign up for my first HIM distance race this week.  Race date is Oct 2.  I did an oly tri on memorial day last month and finished in 2:51:47 with the swim being my weakest (as always) sport cause I just don't do it often.  I think I've got enough time to train to finish well (under 6 hrs), but want some reasurance.

My current training goes like this.

Sunday.....Long ride of between 40-53 miles with 4 nice hills of about 5% grade for 2KM

Monday.....recovery run of 33min at about 9:45 pace

Tuesday....normally its been a rest day but I probably should do a morning swim of 45min

Wed...... in the evening I normally get in speed run workout of 3-4X1mile repeats or 6-8 1/2mile repeats with a 1mile warmup/cool down. I recently did a test mile of 6:30 so I think I might need to run these repeats faster.  I should add a swim in the morning to this day I think

Thur.... everyother week I'll do a bike/run brick of 2mile run 21mile ride 2mile run and everyother week a morning tempo run of 3.5miles tempo with a 1mile warmup/cool down then an evening bike workout of speed work at our local veloway doing a total of 24 miles

Friday in the evening I'll do hill repeats on the bike of 10 repeats of a 2KM climb at 3-5% grade. Some fridays will be a shop ride of around 25 miles with one hill of 8%grade for about 1.5KM and a 2KM climb of 4% I should probably add a morning swim to this day as well

Saturday I normally wrap up the week with a long run of 8-10miles varying the pace every other week between long slow for the entire time and running the last 1/3 of the distance at my end of season goal race pace 8:00/mile

Thoughts on where to improve?...I know I need to add more swimming and I probably should increase the long run/bike mileage slowly over the next three months. 

Mike,

I think your last paragraph pretty much sums it up. If I read your week correctly, you don't have a single day dedicated to swimming. Swimming is important, both as the first discipline, but also because the swim training strengthens your core, hips, glutes, etc... in addition to your cardio and upper body. This all is of benefit in the bike and especially the run.

Be sure to "recover." The BT plan has recovery every 4th week. Overtraining can be worst than undertraining if you push too hard and either get injured or burnt out. Have you looked at the plan yet? Part of the philosophy has to do with variation, not only during the week, but also from week to week. I don't want to call it muscle confusion theory, but some of the philosophy is the same.

Welcome to the site, congrats on signing up for your race, and keep the questions and training narratives coming!

Success -

Just did a 1:30 run with MS being 2 x 26/4 tempo/recovery.

The two 26 tempo sets were real confidence boosters for me. I've been worried about speed given that I've been taking my long runs slower, but today's tempo effort was great. Both tempo efforts were below 7:30 pace and my HR was well within aerobic range. This was also the first tempo run where my legs have actually felt strong, like they could drive my stride. It was great. I felt like a runner.

Temps were 65* and it was overcast, so perfect for running. I really paid attention to my arms and shoulders for the first time and am convinced it helped my HR stay lower. I really kept my shoulders relaxed and low, and did the same with my arms; relaxed and much lower than normal.

I'm really enjoying training right now!!!

I just started the 1/2 training program (W19). 

I am so-so on the run, slow on the bike and horrible on the swim. I have no business even thinking about this. I was looking the the Longhorn 70.3, but after talking to my friends who did it last year they encouraged me to find a different one. So I am training for the Oilman Half Nov 6 at Lake Conroe, although I have not signed up yet. 

I have done one off-road sprint, two oly's and one marathon.

Even though the swim is my worst event, I am most concerned about the bike as I train on a mountain bike and usually borrow a road bike for races. I also plan on borrowing/renting a wetsuit for this as I was one of very few who did not have one at my last Olympic and it showed. My hope is that the run part will not be harder than the marathon, the last 10k of that was rather unpleasant.

Welcome Mike & Mx

After not being able to do a long ride last week, I'm planning on doing two long rides this weekend (possibly three if I can talk my husband into it).

Coming to the end of week 5 (Recovery) and have my first ever Sprint Tri tomorrow. After 15 weeks of training on this program the distance is no problem, but my speed is not great!!! So I'm just "gonna give er" and enjoy the occasion!! See what happens eh!!!

Only just over 4 weeks to Calgary HIM - Woot Woot!!!!!!

Steve,

Enjoy your race! Test everything you plan to use for your HIM.

HAH - all my good luck with training weather lately is coming to a close tomorrow. Have a :25 / 2:00 / :25 RBR brick scheduled for the morning and the forecast is:

I too am doing the Ironstar 1/2 IM at Lake Conroe...  I am looking at this plan, and it seems week in the run and the bike,....  

I am a Clyde and also signed up to do the Memphis Marathon on Dec 3, so I am doing an extremely run focused Tri Training...

I agree the bike is  the easy part of a tri..... relaxing mentally preparing for the run...

Good Luck... there are also 3 of us from Tomball and Lake Conroe doing our first 1/2 IM..

Kevin Overton