Recommendation for 1/2 IM training.



M

Mark

Guest
This will be my first triathlon. I have chosen a lofty goal of a 1/2 ironman (Pacific Crest in C.
oregon to be exact). I have always been more of an extreme sport athlete rather then a traditional
endurance athlete. Alpine climbing, surfing, mtn biking, snowboarding, and rockclimbing. I have been
running for years for cardio workouts (5-10 miles, twice a week). In the past I have also seriously
trained for road bike large elevation gain century rides. 100+ miles with 6000+ elevation gains.

The 1/2 ironman race is June 30th. I will be attempting an Olympic distance before that on May 30th.
Also another century bike ride (6000 ft elevation gain again) on June 8th.

I have been not been training to long, maybe since Jan. I am 5'11 165, slim, 32. I am currently
running twice a week:

1 short run - 5-7 miles 1 long run - 10-15 miles.

I have been in a few half marathon distance races in the last month. Running 8 minute miles or so.

I absolutely suck at swimming. Have never swam in my life. Am swimming twice a week now but intend
on increasing that to 3 times a week. Initially I couldnt get past the breaststroke. But in the last
two weeks I am swimming front crawl for 90 % of the swim. I perform sets
10x25. 7 times, equating to a mile. My goal has been to string 10 into 20, and eventually 20 to 40,
then 40 to 80x25. Not sure if this is a good way to train or not, but I am seeing
improvements everytime I swim as far as endurance.

I am biking about twice a week. 10-20 miles of hills. Then 40-60 endurance, with an avg speed
of 20+ mph.

I intend on ramping the running up to 20 miles then decreasing back down to 13.1 before the race.

Biking distances will increase as well, with more intense hill workouts. And hopefully within 2
weeks will begin bricklet training
10y/2r or so.

I am doing this triathlon do or die, regardless of the late start in training. I just want to finish
and am competent I can do so. The time might be laughable though. I would be very happy to finish
within 6 hours.

I would say I am a very strong biker, avg runner, and crappy swimmer.

I guess I'm looking for feedback based on what you have read. Training schedules, for swimming,
biking, runnning, times per week, distances/times, how you ramp it up and taper it off before the
race, etc. Any and all comments appreciated. Thanks

Mark
 
Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

> I absolutely suck at swimming. Have never swam in my life. Am swimming twice a week now but intend
> on increasing that to 3 times a week. Initially I couldnt get past the breaststroke. But in the
> last two weeks I am swimming front crawl for 90 % of the swim. I perform sets
> 10x25. 7 times, equating to a mile. My goal has been to string 10 into 20, and eventually 20 to
> 40, then 40 to 80x25. Not sure if this is a good way to train or not, but I am seeing
> improvements everytime I swim as far as endurance.

You sound like you're fine in every respect but this. Get a
coach/class/friend with a clue/masters program to help you with
some swim drills, and with your current aerobic capacity, you'll
be just fine. You just need the technique, and the practice.

You probably want to take the swimming up to 3x/week, though. You should be able to make very
rapid gains.

You might find that you'll benefit by slowly building up to 3 running and biking workouts per
week. Of course, that means you'll also be in the two-a-day workouts range, but it's really not
that bad. :) All depends on how much time and energy you want to throw at it, of course. How much
time per week do you want to throw into your training?

See "the triathlete's training bible" by Joel Friel as a good, comprehensive reference. It doesn't
necessarily spell out "do this workout on this day," but it'll give you the clue you need to plan
and _understand_ your own workouts.

-Dave

--
work: dga - at - lcs.mit.edu me: angio - at - pobox.com MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
http://www.angio.net/ (note that my reply-to address is vaguely despammed...) bulk emailers: I do
not accept unsolicited email. Do not mail me.
 
You might check out Total Immersion. It's a very effective swim system developed by Terry Laughlin.
Form is everything in swimming. I've been competing in Tri since '97 and had done very little
swimming prior. To this day I still do periodic private lessons with a local swim coach at the Y. At
the 1/2 IM distance, getting through the swim comfortably and as efficiently as possible should be
the goal. Get some formal coaching and definitely check out Total Immersion.

[email protected] (Mark) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> This will be my first triathlon. I have chosen a lofty goal of a 1/2 ironman (Pacific Crest in C.
> oregon to be exact). I have always been more of an extreme sport athlete rather then a traditional
> endurance athlete. Alpine climbing, surfing, mtn biking, snowboarding, and rockclimbing. I have
> been running for years for cardio workouts (5-10 miles, twice a week). In the past I have also
> seriously trained for road bike large elevation gain century rides. 100+ miles with 6000+
> elevation gains.
>
> The 1/2 ironman race is June 30th. I will be attempting an Olympic distance before that on May
> 30th. Also another century bike ride (6000 ft elevation gain again) on June 8th.
>
> I have been not been training to long, maybe since Jan. I am 5'11 165, slim, 32. I am currently
> running twice a week:
>
> 1 short run - 5-7 miles 1 long run - 10-15 miles.
>
> I have been in a few half marathon distance races in the last month. Running 8 minute miles or so.
>
> I absolutely suck at swimming. Have never swam in my life. Am swimming twice a week now but intend
> on increasing that to 3 times a week. Initially I couldnt get past the breaststroke. But in the
> last two weeks I am swimming front crawl for 90 % of the swim. I perform sets
> 10x25. 7 times, equating to a mile. My goal has been to string 10 into 20, and eventually 20 to
> 40, then 40 to 80x25. Not sure if this is a good way to train or not, but I am seeing
> improvements everytime I swim as far as endurance.
>
> I am biking about twice a week. 10-20 miles of hills. Then 40-60 endurance, with an avg speed of
> 20+ mph.
>
> I intend on ramping the running up to 20 miles then decreasing back down to 13.1 before the race.
>
> Biking distances will increase as well, with more intense hill workouts. And hopefully within 2
> weeks will begin bricklet training
> 15b/2r or so.
>
> I am doing this triathlon do or die, regardless of the late start in training. I just want to
> finish and am competent I can do so. The time might be laughable though. I would be very happy to
> finish within 6 hours.
>
> I would say I am a very strong biker, avg runner, and crappy swimmer.
>
> I guess I'm looking for feedback based on what you have read. Training schedules, for swimming,
> biking, runnning, times per week, distances/times, how you ramp it up and taper it off before the
> race, etc. Any and all comments appreciated. Thanks
>
> Mark
 
TI is rubbish, Chris and you know it. What does swimming over barrels have to do with swimming fast
in a 1/2 IM? There's a backlash against TI right now and for good reason. It's a waste of money.
Rubbish, I tell you.

[email protected] (Chris Maginn) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> You might check out Total Immersion. It's a very effective swim system developed by Terry
> Laughlin. Form is everything in swimming. I've been competing in Tri since '97 and had done very
> little swimming prior. To this day I still do periodic private lessons with a local swim coach at
> the Y. At the 1/2 IM distance, getting through the swim comfortably and as efficiently as possible
> should be the goal. Get some formal coaching and definitely check out Total Immersion.
 
Well now this is the 2nd time you've decided to reply to one of my posts. How flattering. Guess it's
time to move on again. Hasta la vista.

[email protected] (Dr. Steven Walker) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> TI is rubbish, Chris and you know it. What does swimming over barrels have to do with swimming
> fast in a 1/2 IM? There's a backlash against TI right now and for good reason. It's a waste of
> money. Rubbish, I tell you.
>
> [email protected] (Chris Maginn) wrote in message
> news:<[email protected]>...
> > You might check out Total Immersion. It's a very effective swim system developed by Terry
> > Laughlin. Form is everything in swimming. I've been competing in Tri since '97 and had done very
> > little swimming prior. To this day I still do periodic private lessons with a local swim coach
> > at the Y. At the 1/2 IM distance, getting through the swim comfortably and as efficiently as
> > possible should be the goal. Get some formal coaching and definitely check out Total Immersion.