I have always found it frustrating reading advice on this board about Ironman training. What do I need to do to finish an Ironman in a reasonable amount of time? Vast majority of answers: Train 16+ hours a week...run 35+ mpw...swim 4 times a week...run 5 times a week...bike as often as possible and as many long rides over 100 miles as possible...do bricks every weekend of 80/10 or more...
There have been a couple threads as of late talking about training on 10 hours or less and that resonates with me. So I figured now that I have done an IM I would share my numbers so people that don't have time to train 16+ hours a week have the confidence that they can finish and meet realistic goals with consistent but limited training.
History:
2013: Swim: 16,050 yards // Run: 346 miles // Bike: 2,618 miles
2014: Swim: 165,050 yards // Run: 450 miles // Bike: 2,705 miles
2015: Swim: 164,400 yards // Run: 732 miles // Bike: 3,128 miles
2016: Swim: 45,250 yards // Run: 681 miles // Bike: 1,900 miles
2017 per week leading up to IM WI:
Swim: 1:40:00 // 4,900 yards
Run: 2:35:00 // 17 miles
Bike: 3:40:00 // 65 miles
My 2017 totals include training for a marathon (April) where I peaked at 30 miles and averaged 20mpw leading up to the marathon. As you can imagine it was a shit show. I paced terribly and ended up falling apart by mile 19. Yeah, under trained and under "experienced". Alas, marathon training isn't the point of this post.
Olympic Tri in June
Half Ironman in July
Longest Rides: 81, 90, and 100
Longest Runs (after marathon training): 10, 13.1, 13.1, 16
Longest Brick (not counting HIM obviously): 60/8.8...1 or 2 other much shorter bricks
Longest Swim: 2.4 miles twice otherwise masters twice a week
Peak Week: 14:33:00
Peak 6 Week Average: 12 hours
Bike TSS Per Week Average (2017): 187 TSS
Peak 6 Week Bike TSS Average: 398 TSS
IM WI Times:
Swim - 1:10:34 - super relaxed never pushed pace
Bike - 6:11:15 - 0.67 VI so basically soft pedaled and stopped 5 times (4 for bathroom...wow over-hydrated...and 1 special needs for chamois cream/sun screen...yes, I lost 14 minutes due to stops...oh well)
Run - 4:24:25 - used a run/walk strategy that led to my 2nd half only being 4 minutes slower than the first
Total - 12:03:37 - yeah, took my sweet sweet time in transition
Fast? Not by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not fast for this crowd. But it put me in the 83rd percentile of finishers and I went for a bike ride 2 days later to enjoy being outdoors.
In conclusion, train as much as you are able to but do not feel pressured by your perceptions of what Ironman training is. Consistency will always beat big blocks especially if consistency keeps you healthy.
Flame away!
There have been a couple threads as of late talking about training on 10 hours or less and that resonates with me. So I figured now that I have done an IM I would share my numbers so people that don't have time to train 16+ hours a week have the confidence that they can finish and meet realistic goals with consistent but limited training.
History:
2013: Swim: 16,050 yards // Run: 346 miles // Bike: 2,618 miles
2014: Swim: 165,050 yards // Run: 450 miles // Bike: 2,705 miles
2015: Swim: 164,400 yards // Run: 732 miles // Bike: 3,128 miles
2016: Swim: 45,250 yards // Run: 681 miles // Bike: 1,900 miles
2017 per week leading up to IM WI:
Swim: 1:40:00 // 4,900 yards
Run: 2:35:00 // 17 miles
Bike: 3:40:00 // 65 miles
My 2017 totals include training for a marathon (April) where I peaked at 30 miles and averaged 20mpw leading up to the marathon. As you can imagine it was a shit show. I paced terribly and ended up falling apart by mile 19. Yeah, under trained and under "experienced". Alas, marathon training isn't the point of this post.
Olympic Tri in June
Half Ironman in July
Longest Rides: 81, 90, and 100
Longest Runs (after marathon training): 10, 13.1, 13.1, 16
Longest Brick (not counting HIM obviously): 60/8.8...1 or 2 other much shorter bricks
Longest Swim: 2.4 miles twice otherwise masters twice a week
Peak Week: 14:33:00
Peak 6 Week Average: 12 hours
Bike TSS Per Week Average (2017): 187 TSS
Peak 6 Week Bike TSS Average: 398 TSS
IM WI Times:
Swim - 1:10:34 - super relaxed never pushed pace
Bike - 6:11:15 - 0.67 VI so basically soft pedaled and stopped 5 times (4 for bathroom...wow over-hydrated...and 1 special needs for chamois cream/sun screen...yes, I lost 14 minutes due to stops...oh well)
Run - 4:24:25 - used a run/walk strategy that led to my 2nd half only being 4 minutes slower than the first
Total - 12:03:37 - yeah, took my sweet sweet time in transition
Fast? Not by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not fast for this crowd. But it put me in the 83rd percentile of finishers and I went for a bike ride 2 days later to enjoy being outdoors.
In conclusion, train as much as you are able to but do not feel pressured by your perceptions of what Ironman training is. Consistency will always beat big blocks especially if consistency keeps you healthy.
Flame away!