Ironman training program

Cork24

I am looking at doing a full ironman next August never done one before, doing a sprint tri 2 weeks time.

My plan is Apr olympic triathlon in Kerry

Then in June sprint tri and then August Iron man. And wondering has anyone try the trifuel 36 week ironman training plan and if so how did you get on

peter kern

I assume you have a serious background in one sport going from not having done a tri to an ironman in 1 year , so that plan would not really work as one would assume you are very strong in one and weak in ohters parts.

catweazle

What Olympic triathlon is on in April in Kerry?

With an August Ironman I would recommending you be dipping the toe into the cold waters of Tri an Mhi 1/2 Ironman in May

tunney

catweazle wrote: »

What Olympic triathlon is on in April in Kerry?

With an August Ironman I would recommending you be dipping the toe into the cold waters of Tri an Mhi 1/2 Ironman in May

What benefit is a long duathlon to Ironman prep?

Cork24

peter kern wrote: »

I assume you have a serious background in one sport going from not having done a tri to an ironman in 1 year , so that plan would not really work as one would assume you are very strong in one and weak in ohters parts.

Cycling
i do around 40 k mid Week and 100 k over the weekend

Swimming i Swim 2.5k 3 times a week in the pool, I have now moved out to open water which im still getting used to, so need to learn to relax and breath every 2 strokes, as to Every 3-4 in the Pool

My Weakest part would be the Running, But with some Based Running i should be fine before i start the Training Plan in November.

In Which i could take 2 weeks as a Recovery Workout just in time for the Tri in Apr

Plus im not here to Break any Records, Not going to Set a Time Limit for myself, But i would like to get it down in 14 Hr or Less.

My Plain is
3.8km swim im going to go Max 2.5 hours , 180km cycle Max 7 Hours , 42km run Max 6 Hours. 1.5 hours under the Time Limit,

Even if i do get told to Stop half way during the Run. it be a nice prep for the Wales IronMan the following Year.

Cork24

catweazle wrote: »

What Olympic triathlon is on in April in Kerry?

Sorry its in Limerick -> joey hannan triathlon

Oryx

Cork24 wrote: »

Sorry its in Limerick -> joey hannan triathlon

Pool swim so, no risk of cancelled swim.

Have you ever done a tri or anything multisport before?

StaggerLee

Oryx wrote: »

Pool swim so, no risk of cancelled swim.

Have you ever done a tri or anything multisport before?

OP, sounds like you're well able to get out and do some races this season.

This is my first Tri season and I plan to do an IM next July. I'm out racing as much as I can this year. Doing a half in September. Final decision on the IM will be made after that :eek:

peter kern

I would not recommend an ironman to you in 2014 given your experience.

My 2 cents only. and i am heavily biased by the believe that it takes many many years to prepare for an Ironman .
If you just want to tick off the bucket list... why not.
go for that plan.

Cork24 wrote: »

Cycling
i do around 40 k mid Week and 100 k over the weekend

Swimming i Swim 2.5k 3 times a week in the pool, I have now moved out to open water which im still getting used to, so need to learn to relax and breath every 2 strokes, as to Every 3-4 in the Pool

My Weakest part would be the Running, But with some Based Running i should be fine before i start the Training Plan in November.

In Which i could take 2 weeks as a Recovery Workout just in time for the Tri in Apr

Cork24

StaggerLee wrote: »

OP, sounds like you're well able to get out and do some races this season.

This is my first Tri season and I plan to do an IM next July. I'm out racing as much as I can this year. Doing a half in September. Final decision on the IM will be made after that :eek:

I have my First Sprint Tri in Kinsale in 2 weeks time.

and take 2 weeks off and then onto the 9 Months of Hell. with some Extra training put in aswell, Some Spinning Classes, Trx Classes should help as well.

gilleek2

Cork24 wrote: »

Cycling
i do around 40 k mid Week and 100 k over the weekend

Swimming i Swim 2.5k 3 times a week in the pool, I have now moved out to open water which im still getting used to, so need to learn to relax and breath every 2 strokes, as to Every 3-4 in the Pool

My Weakest part would be the Running, But with some Based Running i should be fine before i start the Training Plan in November.

In Which i could take 2 weeks as a Recovery Workout just in time for the Tri in Apr

Plus im not here to Break any Records, Not going to Set a Time Limit for myself, But i would like to get it down in 14 Hr or Less.

My Plain is
3.8km swim im going to go Max 2.5 hours , 180km cycle Max 7 Hours , 42km run Max 6 Hours. 1.5 hours under the Time Limit,

Even if i do get told to Stop half way during the Run. it be a nice prep for the Wales IronMan the following Year.

You certainly wont do 3.8k in 2.5 hours. You'll have been pulled out at that stage as you'll be over the time limit. In any case if you're swimming 2.5k*3 every week you shouldnt take even close to 2 hours. Agree with Peter. Ironman inside 18 months isn't a great idea. Do some olympics, sprints and 1/2's first. Enjoy the racing, the craic and scenery in this great country of ours and then MAYBE in 2015 give an Ironman a crack. I started tri's in 2007 and wanted to do an Ironman in 2009 but was given the above advice. I left it till 2011 for my 1st one and i was happy I did.

ciah

Agree with the advice above.
It may be safer to make a HalfIM your A race for 2014 instead of an IM. Depending on how it goes you may be able to target IMWales for 2015.
Humbert Challenge may be a good choice for 2014 as its a nice sheltered swim in a lake and its not too early in the season.
IMWales by the way is great event but you need to be comfortable cycling lots of hills. The Pembrokeshire area can be windy as occurred in 2011 so it could be a very challenging cycle.
The important first step is to build a good base with lots of easy cycling and running.
Also work on your swim technique till you can cruise at 1m10s/100m or better. This will set you up for a 1:20 IM swim. By the way the swim cutoff in IMWales is 2h20m.
Getting onto the bike at the back of the field after a 2h20m swim could be lonely and you may not make the bike cutoff.
Get help from a swim coach by joining a tri club or masters swim session.

tunney

peter kern wrote: »

I would not recommend an ironman to you in 2014 given your experience.

My 2 cents only. and i am heavily biased by the believe that it takes many many years to prepare for an Ironman .
If you just want to tick off the bucket list... why not.
go for that plan.

I agree.
4-5 years to prepare properly.

tunney

Everyone (okay most) has inherit weaknesses. The load of IM training will expose these. A gradual build will allow you to address them before you find yourself with an injury 10 weeks out from an IM because you aren't able to cope with the training volume.

StaggerLee

gilleek2 wrote: »

You certainly wont do 3.8k in 2.5 hours. You'll have been pulled out at that stage as you'll be over the time limit. In any case if you're swimming 2.5k*3 every week you shouldnt take even close to 2 hours. Agree with Peter. Ironman inside 18 months isn't a great idea. Do some olympics, sprints and 1/2's first. Enjoy the racing, the craic and scenery in this great country of ours and then MAYBE in 2015 give an Ironman a crack. I started tri's in 2007 and wanted to do an Ironman in 2009 but was given the above advice. I left it till 2011 for my 1st one and i was happy I did.

I know its not ideal to be aiming for IM after just 1 season doing tri. Ideally I wouldnt be doing it this way but I know next year will be my only chance for a few years to do one.
I can see why having a few years in the sport and building a fitness base and gaining as much experience in terms of training, racing and nutrition would be beneficial.
There is a big group of us doing the race, many of them very experienced so I'll be keeping my ears open on the long spins and runs. So that should help. As I said, final decision will be made after Kenmare in September.

Cork24

gilleek2 wrote: »

You certainly wont do 3.8k in 2.5 hours. You'll have been pulled out at that stage as you'll be over the time limit. In any case if you're swimming 2.5k*3 every week you shouldnt take even close to 2 hours. Agree with Peter. Ironman inside 18 months isn't a great idea. Do some olympics, sprints and 1/2's first. Enjoy the racing, the craic and scenery in this great country of ours and then MAYBE in 2015 give an Ironman a crack. I started tri's in 2007 and wanted to do an Ironman in 2009 but was given the above advice. I left it till 2011 for my 1st one and i was happy I did.

Reading the Rules i notice the Swim Is 2hours and 20 mins.

I was thinking just do a few Sprint and one or two Olympic then half Iron man

gilleek2

ciah wrote: »

Agree with the advice above.
It may be safer to make a HalfIM your A race for 2014 instead of an IM. Depending on how it goes you may be able to target IMWales for 2015.
Humbert Challenge may be a good choice for 2014 as its a nice sheltered swim in a lake and its not too early in the season.
IMWales by the way is great event but you need to be comfortable cycling lots of hills. The Pembrokeshire area can be windy as occurred in 2011 so it could be a very challenging cycle.
The important first step is to build a good base with lots of easy cycling and running.
Also work on your swim technique till you can cruise at 1m10s/100m or better. This will set you up for a 1:20 IM swim. By the way the swim cutoff in IMWales is 2h20m.
Getting onto the bike at the back of the field after a 2h20m swim could be lonely and you may not make the bike cutoff.
Get help from a swim coach by joining a tri club or masters swim session.

Cruising at 1m10s per 100 is gonna get you a whole lot better than 1hr 20! I'm no mathemagician but 1:30 *38 = 57 mins. Maybe i read that wrong. I tend to see things funny when i'm hungry!

Oryx

gilleek2 wrote: »

Cruising at 1m10s per 100 is gonna get you a whole lot better than 1hr 20! I'm no mathemagician but 1:30 *38 = 57 mins. Maybe i read that wrong. I tend to see things funny when i'm hungry!

I thought so too. 2mins per 100 would be enough to get you around in a handy time. 1min 10 secs per 100 would finish you with the pros.

gilleek2

StaggerLee wrote: »

I know its not ideal to be aiming for IM after just 1 season doing tri. Ideally I wouldnt be doing it this way but I know next year will be my only chance for a few years to do one.
I can see why having a few years in the sport and building a fitness base and gaining as much experience in terms of training, racing and nutrition would be beneficial.
There is a big group of us doing the race, many of them very experienced so I'll be keeping my ears open on the long spins and runs. So that should help. As I said, final decision will be made after Kenmare in September.

Maybe it cud work. Perhaps with a long history of participation in teams sports or something like that you may have built a solid level of fitness and core strength. This may help prevent the injuries you'd expect to get from a sudden ramping up of training. See how Kenmare goes. It will give you an indication of how hard it's gonna be. The jump, however, from Olympic to Half pales in insignificance with the jump from half to full!

ciah

Oryx wrote: »

I thought so too. 2mins per 100 would be enough to get you around in a handy time. 1min 10 secs per 100 would finish you with the pros.

Meant 2m10s per 100m, for 3.8km works out at 1h22m.
Have heard swim coaches say that technique / distance per stroke is usually the main limiter if you cannot cruise at this pace (if not significantly faster, possibly down to 1m50s/100m pace).

griffin100

Completing an IM within the 17hrs is not that hard for someone with reasonable fitness, as long as you can swim. I'd go as far as to say that there are many people who could finish one tomorrow if they had to - it's like doing a double shift in a labor intensive job . However the level of enjoyment that you get from the race will be directly related to the prep you put in IMO. Prepare badly or poorly and you will suffer.

If you are going to give it bash in 2014 forget about times and just concentrate on getting yourself into the best condition you can. Pick your race carefully (IM Wales is a very tough bike course) and get advice from more experienced people. Get your base fitness up over the winter, get some hours in and sort out your swimming technique. Then look to start an IM plan in January 2014. Think about the time commitment you are going to need to make in order to train. 15hrs a week for example mightn't look much when written in a training plan but it can be tough to find the time depending on your circumstances.

Best of luck.

Cork24

Yeah i was rethinking the whole IM in 2014,

So..

Apr. Joey Hannan Triathlon Standard
Jul. Kinsale Tri Sprint
Sept. Half Iron Man Kenmare

One or two Adventure Runs the Mix as well.

Cork24

griffin100 wrote: »

Completing an IM within the 17hrs is not that hard for someone with reasonable fitness, as long as you can swim. I'd go as far as to say that there are many people who could finish one tomorrow if they had to - it's like doing a double shift in a labor intensive job . However the level of enjoyment that you get from the race will be directly related to the prep you put in IMO. Prepare badly or poorly and you will suffer.

If you are going to give it bash in 2014 forget about times and just concentrate on getting yourself into the best condition you can. Pick your race carefully (IM Wales is a very tough bike course) and get advice from more experienced people. Get your base fitness up over the winter, get some hours in and sort out your swimming technique. Then look to start an IM plan in January 2014. Think about the time commitment you are going to need to make in order to train. 15hrs a week for example mightn't look much when written in a training plan but it can be tough to find the time depending on your circumstances.

Best of luck.

Thanks for the Tip I was looking at this

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/

And Starting it in 4 Weeks Times

Mr.Fred

Well after reading through that. I can relate to your idea of completing an Ironman I'd love to do so myself perhaps one day. I'd say 2015 would be a realistic target for myself. I've a couple of seasons under my belt now and about to cross over to OLY with the aim for a half IM next year late on in the season I think.

I think you have the determination but as pevious posters have said it would probably be better holding off at least until you see how your first tri goes. OW swimming is different to pool swimming and OW swimming in a crowd is survival of the fittest particularly at the pointy end of things.

You should set up a training log so we can track your progress I'd be interested to see if you stick with it.

Best of Luck which ever route you take

Cork24

I have a training log with ontri.com

It's a good training tool if you have iPhone you have to pay for their app but if your on an android it's free,

But you can see use their web based site it gives you time miles pace and call in a table format

trainerman

Oryx wrote: »

I thought so too. 2mins per 100 would be enough to get you around in a handy time. 1min 10 secs per 100 would finish you with the pros.

Glad someone else spotted that - I was sitting here trying to recalculate my times thinking I'd made a huge mistake!!

HenoC

Just used the Competitive 30 week program(not that I was competitive!) from Don Fink's book 'Be Ironfit' for Frankfurt IM. Found it to be a really good program and very easy to follow. It peaks at around 20hrs a week and averages at 15 I think. There's also a 'Just Finish' and an 'Intermediate' program in there.

There's lots of other useful info in regards to preparing and racing this distance, for example, how to setup your transition bags. What I liked as well is that the book talks a lot about how to manage your time and takes into account that people have jobs\families etc to think about as well.