20 Week Half Iornman Plan

Don't over train...Good Luck!

There's two 20 week programs, one for Bronze, then another for Silver/Gold members.

I used the Silver/Gold BT 20 week HIM program and thought it worked great, as I had a great HIM race and blew away the times I was aiming for. I had a good swim base going in as I worked out on that over the past winter quite abit, along with the run as I did an early season half mary and added some more rides at points in the summer, and had to switch some training days around due to my schedule with work and training issues, but it all worked out. I even added some rest days to it when I felt some extra rest was necessary due to other things going on between the family and work. Having a working wife and kids dictates that you'll have to be flexible with everything.

The HIM was the first full training program I ever followed, I just found BT in Aug of 2007, and used part of there training program for an Oly last year which was my first year back to Tri's in 18 or so years, and was happy with having a more thought out training plan, instead of my former do whatever whenever training plan, that never really worked for me or provided much improvement. Just make sure you have a decent base going in.

You'll have enough time between races to get some rest/recovery time in, then ramp up training again possibly using the same 20 week program or 16 week intermediate program if you want to try a little more intense training.

I am in week 12 of the 20 week Bronze plan and after lookign back, I am thnkful I did more volume than what was planned. I did have good base going in, but was not sure the volumes listed would get me there. Plus, I have to drive a bit to pool and was not going to drive combined 30 minutes to swim for 30 minutes...

At the end though, it comes down to expectations. If my goal was to finish the HIM, then plan would get me there. But if I want to do well (that is 5:30:00) for me, then I am glad I did not follow plan exactly. IMHO, unless your plan is laid out based on your personal strengths/weaknesses and then updated at least every 3-4 weeks, it is a general plan and tinkering here and there is par for the course.

Good luck...