Novice to Half Ironman

NeedsTraining

Hi All,

I am a novice triathlete, by novice I mean I have completed 3 short distance (not even sprint distance) in the last year.

However, I have decided to take the step up and aim for a HIM next year.

I was hoping some of you could offer advise regarding training plans, motivation etc etc. Or maybe even tell me to forget about it altogether.

My weakest discipline is swimming. I can currently swim a few hundred meters, but then have to take a break. Is it possible to go from a few hundred metres in a pool to 2k in a river/lake/sea within one year? Or am I fooling myself?

Running is my background, so I don't fear that part of the HIM. Cycling should be ok too as I have started to put in a lot of miles over recent months.

Is there anywhere in particular I should start with formulating a training plan to move to HIM?
Ideally I would like to do a olympic distance early next season and then the HIM in the late summer.

Any advice on how best to proceed (or stop talking crazy now) would be appreciated.

Also, I have surfed around for good training plans for triathletes and I can't seem to find one anywhere. Anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Novice guy that needs training.

highchap

Hi,

I think the first thing you should do is join a club. Time is on your side, but you will need to be putting in the biking miles through the winter. More importantly though is to get your swim sorted. Try to get one to one lessons or as I said earlier, join a club. A good coach will bring you on in leaps and bounds in no time.

tunney

NeedsTraining wrote: »

Hi All,

I am a novice triathlete, by novice I mean I have completed 3 short distance (not even sprint distance) in the last year.

However, I have decided to take the step up and aim for a HIM next year.

I was hoping some of you could offer advise regarding training plans, motivation etc etc. Or maybe even tell me to forget about it altogether.

My weakest discipline is swimming. I can currently swim a few hundred meters, but then have to take a break. Is it possible to go from a few hundred metres in a pool to 2k in a river/lake/sea within one year? Or am I fooling myself?

Running is my background, so I don't fear that part of the HIM. Cycling should be ok too as I have started to put in a lot of miles over recent months.

Is there anywhere in particular I should start with formulating a training plan to move to HIM?
Ideally I would like to do a olympic distance early next season and then the HIM in the late summer.

Any advice on how best to proceed (or stop talking crazy now) would be appreciated.

Also, I have surfed around for good training plans for triathletes and I can't seem to find one anywhere. Anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Novice guy that needs training.

First things first, it is not a step up to HIM. An IM is not and should not be the ultimate goal for everyone. Joel Friel talks about this on his blog.
http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/08/everyones-winner.html

There is as much merit in doing an olympic distance as fast as you can as in doing a HIM or IM.

That out of the way I think HIM is the best distance of all and its my favourite and I wish you all the best in training for one.

hunnymonster

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/
is as good a place as any to start. They also have some free generi plans that will give you some idea what you should be doing. Don't just copy them verbatim though, you mention your swimming is weak so obviously you're going to have to put in some serious work there.

griffin100

Unlike other posters on this thread I'm a middle of the pack triathlete, so my advice wont win you any races. If you want to win ignore my advice:D My only HIM was a 5.45 - very middle of the pack

My weakest discipline is swimming. I can currently swim a few hundred meters, but then have to take a break. Is it possible to go from a few hundred metres in a pool to 2k in a river/lake/sea within one year? Or am I fooling myself?

It's possible. I went from not being able to swim more than 25m without a break to comfortably doing 2,000m pool swims in about 7 months, and I'm a relatively poor/ slow swimmer. You should however get some more open water experience, swimming in the sea or a lake is a hell of a lot different to a pool swim. I'd also advise to get someone to look at your technique. I'm still trying to fix mine which is very poor. Good technique makes for an easier / more efficient / faster swim.

In May of last year I started to train for a sprint tri with no sports background at all. I did 4 races last summer (one duathlon; two sprint tris and a dnf due to puncture). This summer I did 3 olympic races, a few sprints and the Eireman Half (too many races I know, wont make that mistake next year:o).

Make sure you continue to train over the winter. Last year I registered for the Connemara Half Marathon so that gave me something to train for over the winter.

Good luck.

MCOS

+1 I agree. Set yourself a spring goal and that will get you out of bed in the winter mornings. It doesn't have to be your A goal, just something significant enough to give the training a purpose without your target race being so far away

BTW I've done Novice to HIM this year... well almost, the HIM is on Saturday! First Tri was in April but I did run a couple of 10ks and do a couple of Duathlons in the spring which kept the winter training honest (albeit scattered).

I also had to start from scratch with the swimming last summer, if you stick with it and work consistantly on it you will be fine

tunney

MCOS wrote: »

+1 I agree. Set yourself a spring goal and that will get you out of bed in the winter mornings. It doesn't have to be your A goal, just something significant enough to give the training a purpose without your target race being so far away

BTW I've done Novice to HIM this year... well almost, the HIM is on Saturday! First Tri was in April but I did run a couple of 10ks and do a couple of Duathlons in the spring which kept the winter training honest (albeit scattered).

I also had to start from scratch with the swimming last summer, if you stick with it and work consistantly on it you will be fine

MCOS, you're not a typical example.

griffin100

MCOS, you're not a typical example.

+1

RedB

I'm a novice with very little recent background in sports and I've gone from my first duathlon in Feb, to my first Olympic Tri in June and am going for my first HIM this Sat. However I am definitely in the back of pack category and I'm ok with that for the time being as I'm just aiming to complete them and see if I enjoy it. I was ecstatic to finish the Olympic Tri in under 3.5hours as it was my first swim in the sea and I was targetting 3.75.
I got into the pool in March and could just manage 750m including several breaks but I built it up over the months to a peak of 2.5km non-stop. I got on a bike mid-April and built it up from 20km to be able to complete the Sean Kelly 160km cycle at the end of Aug. I have been jogging since Nov and did 10k runs by March. I kept that level of running while I improved my swim/cycle and have pushed it up in increments since July to manage the half marathon distance. I haven't trained properly all the time but I've tried consistantly to push myself a bit more over time. It hasn't been easy but it is do-able if you commit to it. It does help to be guided so I intend to join a club next season (they seem like a friendly bunch even if some are very gung-ho ). I tried working from some of the plans found on the web and while I couldn't keep to them in terms of frequency or workload they did steer me the right way in terms of building up to a level. I've enjoyed the process and while I'm still back of the pack, at least I intend doing it again next season and catching up with the middle of the pack gang:)! My main point is you have plenty of time to achieve your aim and if you are front of pack material then check out MCOS's training log to see how to get to that level . Set some appropraite short term and intermediate goals and just keep knockin 'em down till you get to the long term one!

NeedsTraining

Thanks for the replies. Ok, so it looks like it is achievable. All I need now is to put my training plan together, get in shape and hit the pool.

MCOS (or anyone else) if you want to share your training plan I would happily look at it.

Thanks.

mloc123

On training plans in general... I bought Joe Friels 'Triathletes Training Bible' recently and it is very useful for planning your years training.. good detail on periodization.