Following is a series of articles on ironman training for beginners by Dan Becker and Ian Driver that appeared on the rec.sports.triathlon.
From: dan_becker@vnet.ibm.com (Dan Becker) Date: 1996/11/01 Message-Id: <55e174$29ik@ausnews.austin.ibm.com> Distribution: usa References: <01bbc814$be032980$4946f3cd@dave-S-Pc> Organization: IBM, Personal System Products, Austin Reply-To: dan_becker@vnet.ibm.com (Dan Becker) Newsgroups: rec.sport.triathlon In <01bbc814$be032980$4946f3cd@dave-s-pc>, "Dave Cashen" <dlcashen@wwa.com> writes: >I've done a couple olympic distance races in the past. I am looking to >train for an IM distance for summer '97. I do not know where to start. I am >looking for some words of wisdom and some good reference material.
Dave and other ironman hopefuls,
I assume your goal is to finish an ironman comfortably but not necessarily run at the pace you of your Olympic distance races. This has been my goal for my last six ironman races. What works for me is to:
The goal for part a consists of building a good aerobic base and a supportive bone and muscle structure to handle the ramp up which will come in part b. I begin after the Christmas/New Year's holiday and gear up towards Olympic distance races that come in April and May. To give you an idea of my cross- training mix, I generally do:
The seems like a lot of sessions, but early in the year, I keep the length of each session down to 1/2 hour or less, and I emphasize having fun and experimenting. So, a typical run might be a 5k, a bike session might be 30 minutes of mounatin biking, and a typical swim session might be a 400 meter warmup and 8x100 meter IM. Cross-training and building a base is the key.
Also, I emphasize varying the training intensity. So during a given week, each sport will have an intervals session, a fun/recovery session, and a longer session. So, each sport is further broken down like so:
As Spring approaches, start throwing in your Sprint and Olympic distance races to add intensity and gauge your perormance. Don't forget to rest after races. For me, ninety percent of my injuries come in the first week of enthusiasm following a race.
Also, as the early season progresses, you might want to stretch the length of some of your sessions to 45 minutes or an hour to build up more for the races. Perhaps in May you might want to try a half ironman to see if this is something you really want to do.
The goal for part b is to build your long distance training so your body is ready for the ironman to come. Three or four months before the iron- man, pull out a calendar and figure out how to stretch your long training sessions to ramp up for the race. As you build your long distance training, don't omit the intervals and the fun sessions, and don't skip sessions! You can take the toil in little doses in the training leading up to the race, or you can take one lump sum, perhaps more than you can handle, on race day.
The long distance session will stretch in a building progression with some rest in between. This chart shows one way to stretch your running and biking in the 12 weeks before a race (R denotes rest, distances in miles):
Week -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 Race
Run 8 8 10 R 13 13 15 R 18 18 20 R
Bike 40 50 R 50 60 70 R 80 90 100 R 50
The swimming is a little tougher to lengthen, but mental stamina or an open water races can help here. The long distance biking is more fun with a group or by doing century rides and other supported tours.
On race day, you will reap the effort you put into training. If you do more long distance training (4 month build up versus 3), your ironman race will be more enjoyable. If you skimp on the long distance, your race day will be tougher - a gruelathon or the dreaded "did not finish!" Remember that the ironman is not run solely on race day, but in the early morning when others are sleeping. Cheerish the friends you will meet along the way!
Thanks, Dan