Question:
I saw some postings up there, concerning training hours/distances. I was shocked how much the average websiteer trains / how little I do. I
woundered how many of these athletes were mainly professionals and/or focusing thier lives mainly around triathlon. I would like to hear your
opinons on the amount of training necessary to finish an ironman no matter what time, say 15 or 16 hours. As I asume it depends highly on
the basic fitnesslevel one has, here are some information about me: Age 28, did last year one Marathon (5 hours/mountain) and one Short Distance
Tri (3:04 / bike was done on MTB), main sport basketball one or two times a week training, will not be stopped for triathlon training (maybe
the week prior to race). Right now I am working 1 hour on swimming technique, and do a short run (5km) and long bike (3 hours) or long run
(20 km) and short bike (1hour) per week. I also wondered about the speed-gain from switching from MTB (already equipped with slicks) to a
road/tri bike.
Answer:I have a job, a life and you have about my time on an Olympic. My life is not mainly focussedc around triathlon, but sustainably intertwined
to it. I'm almost 40, started tris in 1997, trained about 8-12 hrs/week last year (starting early Dec 1999), of which 40% bike, 20%
run, 20% swim, 10% strength/stretch. Lots of bike commuting, 35-40 min session for a 9 miles commute, once/twice a day, 4-5 days/week,
sometimes followed or preceeded by a 20-30 min run. Finished my first IM Lake Placid 2000 in 15:02 (1:40 swim, 7:30 bike, 5:30 run),
sprinting at the finish and in control. Nutrition and hydration were tuned in training (3-5 hrs duathlons on weekends) and carefully
executed at IM. I did well mostly on a lot of gatorade, a few gels, a couple of bars. Got a huge kick out of it and a nice finish shot to look at and verify that the guy in the picture it's really me.
I had 4 Half-Irons in my bag before IM, and a few Olympics.
Some tips:
- get a road bike with an aerobar and an aerobottle and get used to it - you'll be out there 14-16 hrs (btw, close to the cutoff of 17 hrs) so
spread your workouts to 2-3 times throughout the day to raise your methabolic rate and get your body used to work all day long at
low/medium intensity
- learn your nutrition/hydration needs and practice them religiously: in an IM they are as critical as technique in the three sports
- ask yourself now if you _really_ want to do an IM, because at the start of the run and way into it, the sirens of fatigue will start singing, and if
you stop, the mere thought of it, after all the investement, will haunt you forever --- only your steadfast motivation can get you through at those times
- your long run is fine, use a camelback to hydrate with iced carbodrink about every 10 min, the time it takes to go from one waterstation to
another (1 mile apart), throw in a gel every 10-15 min.
- combine long bike/runs (3-5 hrs): it beats the boredom and gets you used to transitions, hydrate every 5min on the bike
- what I told you would be most effective if you had already a plan and knew more about triathlon. Your "minimal" training is way below what I
consider minimal for IM. Could you survive and finish an IM? As of now, I'd say: "Maybe". IM is a huge time, money and emotional
investment anyway, however "minimal" you want to make it, and I suggest you get to know triathlon better by reading some of the good
books around (Joe Friel's or Sleamaker and Browning's, for istance) while committing your resources to a larger training volume --- you
don't want to stay "minimal" and fail, do you :)
