Half Ironman Training
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512 days
Iron Dan posted 1 year ago.
Last year was my first triathlon season and I only did 2 sprints. This year, I did a lot more races, including a half, so it will not be a problem with your limited experience.
In regards to the amount of training time required, I have mixed feelings on this. Depending on what your goals are, you could probably get by with doing fewer workouts. There were times that I had to miss workouts because of time constraints and I still did fine. However, in order to get ready, you really need to be doing bricks and getting swim workouts in the same days as running or biking, or you will not get enough work in to be ready. A Half is a completely different king of animal than an Olympic race is and you need to be fully prepared or it will beat you.
3349
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1360 days
RV posted 1 year ago.
You can certainly move up to the HIM distance from your experience.
However, HIM training does require a significantly more time for training than short course - hence the multiple sessions per day and several times per week.
Basically you need to determine if you have the time to dedicate for the required training for the longer distance.
That being said, there are plans that are designed for those with limited time for training - and these plans basically just get you enough endurance to finish.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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428 days
kxux posted 1 year ago.
Evan, I started tri training this year in mid March and did three races in this order:
Olympic distance in August
HIM in mid September
Sprint in late September
Before then I trained for running races anything from 5k to half marathon. My first couch to 5k training was taking place from June 2005. So I did not have much experience to start with.
The training plan I used for HIM was from "Training Plans for Multisport Athletes" by Gale Bernhardt and focused mostly on endurance building. I did not do much speed work during the 13 weeks plan. I also follow the HR zone training by J. Friel and by combining the Gale's plan with HR zone approach by Friel I was training anywhere between 6 and 11 hours a week. Most of my training in zone 2 or 3. With some running in zone 4 for tempo runs. Some days had double workouts, but not many. Mostly combination of swim and other sport. I did not do any strenght work as part of the plan which was still ok as I'm 35 and did a lot of body building when I was younger.
The plan seems to work quite well as I scored 2nd in my AG during the HIM and 3rd in my AG in the sprint. You can train for HIM with fairly reasonable time commitment - the longest workout was the 4 hours bike ride. Yeah few Saturday's when I got to 3+ hours bike rides were not much fun for the family, but I tried to minimize the impact by starting the ride at 6am and getting home before noon so we can have at least half of the day together.
Now I'm in transition and I'm enjoying it - easy workouts 4-5 hours a week of very unstructured training. I need to take a break - plan for it after the HIM training. In week 11 or 12 of the training I was so ready to go racing and be done with it :-).
Good luck training for the HIM and remember that it is entirely different that Oly - it is very important to train as you race. Especially fluids, nutritients and pacing. I had the pleasure of racing during 90+ humid weather and it was no picnic. The sprint I did few weeks after the HIM seemed like a warm-up race to some degree - everything was happening so fast I did not even need to get gel ;-).
Jan
18
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1172 days
eblum06 posted 1 year ago.
Thanks for all the help...I bought a book "Essetial week by week training guide" from Triathlete magazine and used one of the plans this summer...I also found some other plans randomly online for HIM training, and they all consisted of three double sessions per week
55
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532 days
spazz posted 1 year ago.
i used the half iron training plan on this site, it got me a sub 5 in my first season so i was happy with it, i dont even know how you can do a olympic without 3 doubles a week, to make time for it, the "easy" solution is to do some workouts in the morning, the 2 months of 90-100 degree weather pretty much made that essential for running anyway
30
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2040 days
kb1dqh posted 1 year ago.
This was my first season of triathlon and I did a HIM in my second race. Finished just over 5hrs w/ the following plan. 2 double sessions. (Bottom line, there are so many way to accomplish the same thing, this is just one way.)
Mon- OFF
Tues- Track Work Out, evening
Wed- Lunch bike (1-1:15, threshold), Evening Swim (1500-2000m)
Thur- Evening bike (1:15-1:30 hard) plus 10-15 min brick run right after.
Fri- Run (50-1:15)
Sat- Long Bike Ride (3-4:30 hrs)
Sun- Long run (LSD), then a swim at some point.
So, two double days. Can add a swim to Tuesday morning/lunch as well (if you want). I don't swim much and it is my weakest event.
133
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937 days
oztrigal posted 1 year ago.
Golly.. I'm training for Olympic's this season and most days i'm doing 2 x a day.. whether it be strength or swim & ride or run..
Example this week i'm in Build 2 -
Monday - AM Swim, PM Run - Tempo
Tuesday - AM Strength, PM Ride
Wednesday - AM Swim, PM Brick
Thursday - AM Ride, PM Strength
Friday - AM Easy swim (optional), PM Run - Surges
Saturday - LSD Ride - very easy
Sunday - 10k Road Race AM, Recover swim PM(optional)
Total time will only come to 9-10 hours though
This week because I have a race on Sunday is a little more top heavy in the midweek than it normally would be..
I'm coming off my first season of triathlon racing...2 olympic, 1 sprint distance race...I'm interested in doing a half iron race next summer, but was unsure if it is wise to try with my limited experience...I have also found many training plans, all with at least 3 double sessions per week...from past experience is there anyway to elimante this many double sessions each week, or just make the time for it? Thanks for any help, Evan