Greetings fellow Sufferlandrians! First time posting in here so please be gentle…well as gentle as a fellow Sufferlandrian can be! Anyhow, I have a question for those who have competed in 1/2 or full Ironman races. How far out from your event did you start your “serious” training? I know there is no “off” season, and Sufferfest has totally revamped how I approach indoor riding, but I am curious as to when do you adhere to a more formal training plan in preparation of a race?
Where you are coming from across the 3 disciplines?
What are your goals (complete or compete)?
Do you have any areas that you consider a weakness?
From experience, if you are in the complete goal area, then at 1/2 and full distance all comes down to the bike leg, being strong enough on the bike that you feel as fresh as you can on the run.
For my Ironman I started structured training 9 months out, focusing a lot on my bike to give me the best legs for the run, but like I said, it all depends where you are coming from
For the most part I agree with Sir Ben. It is very hard to give advice without more information. I tend to do shorter build cycles for my IMs because in my stupidity I do a couple a year - however, 6-9 months sounds about right for a full. For a half, the timeline might be similar or it might be a bit shorter depending on your starting point. One thing I’ll also throw out - if you want to be competitive you need to run. A lot. You can’t win an IM/70.3 on the bike, but you can definitely lose it. The real race starts halfway through the run
For an Ironman (Full Distance Triathlon), we recommend 16weeks in order to be properly prepared. Any extra is a bonus to consolidate your base training.
Coaches @Coach.Spencer.R and @Coach.Simon.B are both highly capable and would be happy to assist if you were to consider a customised plan.
Thank you all for the information, most helpful. To answer the first set of questions let me give a baseline:
50 year old male, 5’ 10" and 200lbs
I ride either outdoors of Sufferfest videos 3-4 times/week, full-body strength training with weights 3 times a week, yoga (Sufferfest of course) 5-6 time/week
I have completed in a dozen sprint and olympic distance tris in the past, but none in the last 7 years. I have completed several 100 mile rides (Gran Fondos/charity events) and complete them in about 6 hours.
Now to answer the questions:
Where you are coming from across the 3 disciplines? Average to strong swimmer, above average bike, run; I currently average about a 9 min/mile pace
What are your goals (complete or compete)? complete, kind of a mid-life crisis thing as I turned 50 this year and have always wanted to complete a full Ironman and thought this would be a good stepping stone.
Do you have any areas that you consider a weakness? run, never have been super strong as a runner.
