According to the Training Bible the last 24 weeks using an annual training plan of 600 hours would look like this:

Week Hours
Prep 10.0
(Base1)
1 12.0
2 14.5
3 16.0
4 8.5
(Base 2)
5 12.5
6 15.0
7 17.0
8 8.5
(Base 3)
9 13.5
10 16.0
11 18.0
12 8.5
(Build 1)
13 15.5
14 15.5
15 15.5
16 8.5
(Build 2)
17 14.5
18 14.5
19 14.5
20 8.5
(Peak)
21 13.0
22 10.0
(Race)
23 8.5

Some would argue that only 1 build period is needed and that you don't need rest (off) weeks of training.

So somewhere around 13 weeks before the IM.

jaretj

I'm doing mine 7 weeks out, because that's when it fits into my schedule.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Tapper them by sport. 6 weeks out i start reducing the volume a bit but add intensity based on ability and athletic age.

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Richard Nixon, Fit2Tri Multisport Inc.
Fit2Tri,
rich@fit2tri.com
Discount code, slowtwithch

....well with these perspectives, how about doing a big week 13 weeks out and another 7 weeks out!? j

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"I'm going to stick to my sardines" - Cassidy
"Others took their lemons and stood up and walked." - Kestrelkerri
"I will never know quite why I set out on the run. I guess because it was next." - Nachocheese
"No, just to people on the Forum. My athletes are the control group." - Paulo Sousa
" Actually, I am naturally an Asshole....not unlike the way you are naturally an idiot." IRONLOBO

$0.02 worth from a fellow 50-54 age grouper who also did IMC last year and is returning this year. (Remember you get what you pay for.)

I would not go from training 13 hours a week to a 20 hour week, even if I had the time off to do that volume, out of the fear of injury and the fear that the time it would take me to recover from that week would wreck my training in the week or 2 following. I would make sure that I built up to that volume in the weeks before. Rather than two seperate 20 hour weeks at different times of the year, I would do an 18 hour week and then a 20 hour week before starting my taper, but only if my volume in the weeks leading up to those two weeks was sufficient (a couple of 15-16 hour weeks)

What is the purpose of 50 minute runs after 4-6 hour training rides 3-4 days in a row? I would drop one or two of those extended transition runs and replace them with a solid stand a lone long run and a stand alone tempo sort of run. If your last name is Blyth your result last year (a good result, congratulations)indicates that your run and your bike are about equal and you will not want to forget to do some work on your running.

To me the timing of your 1/2 IM (middle of July) is a bit unfortunate if you are hoping to perform well at it without interupting your training for IMC. IF you use the week of the 1/2 as one of your bigger volume weeks, clearly your performance at the 1/2 will suffer. but if you taper at all for the 1/2, you are doing so at a time when you should be training lots for IMC. If, the 1/2 really is a B race, then I would sacrifice my performance at that race and use it as the culmination of one of my bigger volume weeks. You won't be as fast at the 1/2 as you would be if you rested up for that race but it would be a great training week for IMC. (in my case, the 1/2 I do is Great White North on the July long weekend so I typically rest for a couple of days leading up to it, recover for one easy week and then go hard for the last three weeks in July before starting my taper.)

What is your plan for your taper? If you mark the race date and then record how many days or weeks you plan to taper and what training you are going to do during your taper, you are then ready to start marking where your biggest volume weeks should fall. There are lots of different opinions on what the best taper plan is. I like the plan that Mark Allen published sometime ago in which your longest run in training is 6 weeks out from the race date, your longest ride is 5 weeks out and your longest swim is 4 weeks out and you taper each of the three disciplines from those dates, the theory being that run requires the most recovery and swimming the least and that for an ironman, a long taper is better than a short one. (especially for old guys like me...and you). I much prefer to risk going into the race a little undertrained than risk being injured or overtrained on race day.

If you google ironman taper mark allen ... you will find the article he wrote about the taper.

Grant

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Grant

Forsler, that is excellent advice. Being 56 years old with 18 IMs under my belt I agree with you completely. I never did see a reason for big tng weeks. Sounds like a good way to get injured.

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18x Ironman, 3x Hawaii
US Army (Ret.), Vietnam Vet ('71-'72)

I tend to train by feel, so the big weeks I did last year were actually filled with less training than I had originally intended. Part of my reason to do big weeks is to make the race itself seem less daunting, the other part being relative inexperience in doing long bike rides, given a straightened schedule, most weeks.
The purpose of the transition runs was to try and prepare myself for transition, as much mental as physical. My first, and fastest 1/2IM, in 2004, was done a week after my fastest oly, which was in turn done 3 weeks after running a hard marathon, which has somewhat emboldened me to think that all sorts of things are possible. I've also noticed that biking is something that just gets better the more you do it, but that each of biking and/or swimming tend to slow my running the next day. So I don't have a problem with having only a minimum taper for the 1/2IM, a distance I really get a lot out of racing even when I'm slower than optimum! Last year's taper began about 5 weeks out for running, 4 for biking but only 2 for swimming. otoh I came in almost 2 hours later than you at IMC, if your last name is Bryden! At the moment my taper plan is not set - much depends on the kind of cycling fitness I can achieve over the spring. Don't worry about me neglecting running - it's been my main focus and will remain so until the really nice cycling weather comes - and even then I expect to run 3 or 4 times a week. I'll check out Mark Allen among others. It certainly won't be the end of the world if I don't meet my goal time at IMC - I know that there are many variables to juggle on the day, and simply finishing is by no means assured. But I will race according to how I will have trained. Your long and thoughtful answer is greatly appreciated.
j



.

[reply]
$0.02 worth from a fellow 50-54 age grouper who also did IMC last year and is returning this year. (Remember you get what you pay for.)

I would not go from training 13 hours a week to a 20 hour week, even if I had the time off to do that volume, out of the fear of injury and the fear that the time it would take me to recover from that week would wreck my training in the week or 2 following. I would make sure that I built up to that volume in the weeks before. Rather than two seperate 20 hour weeks at different times of the year, I would do an 18 hour week and then a 20 hour week before starting my taper, but only if my volume in the weeks leading up to those two weeks was sufficient (a couple of 15-16 hour weeks)

What is the purpose of 50 minute runs after 4-6 hour training rides 3-4 days in a row? I would drop one or two of those extended transition runs and replace them with a solid stand a lone long run and a stand alone tempo sort of run. If your last name is Blyth your result last year (a good result, congratulations)indicates that your run and your bike are about equal and you will not want to forget to do some work on your running.

To me the timing of your 1/2 IM (middle of July) is a bit unfortunate if you are hoping to perform well at it without interupting your training for IMC. IF you use the week of the 1/2 as one of your bigger volume weeks, clearly your performance at the 1/2 will suffer. but if you taper at all for the 1/2, you are doing so at a time when you should be training lots for IMC. If, the 1/2 really is a B race, then I would sacrifice my performance at that race and use it as the culmination of one of my bigger volume weeks. You won't be as fast at the 1/2 as you would be if you rested up for that race but it would be a great training week for IMC. (in my case, the 1/2 I do is Great White North on the July long weekend so I typically rest for a couple of days leading up to it, recover for one easy week and then go hard for the last three weeks in July before starting my taper.)

What is your plan for your taper? If you mark the race date and then record how many days or weeks you plan to taper and what training you are going to do during your taper, you are then ready to start marking where your biggest volume weeks should fall. There are lots of different opinions on what the best taper plan is. I like the plan that Mark Allen published sometime ago in which your longest run in training is 6 weeks out from the race date, your longest ride is 5 weeks out and your longest swim is 4 weeks out and you taper each of the three disciplines from those dates, the theory being that run requires the most recovery and swimming the least and that for an ironman, a long taper is better than a short one. (especially for old guys like me...and you). I much prefer to risk going into the race a little undertrained than risk being injured or overtrained on race day.

If you google ironman taper mark allen ... you will find the article he wrote about the taper.

Grant[/reply]

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"I'm going to stick to my sardines" - Cassidy
"Others took their lemons and stood up and walked." - Kestrelkerri
"I will never know quite why I set out on the run. I guess because it was next." - Nachocheese
"No, just to people on the Forum. My athletes are the control group." - Paulo Sousa
" Actually, I am naturally an Asshole....not unlike the way you are naturally an idiot." IRONLOBO

I start tapering my run mileage 4 weeks out, bike mileage 3 weeks out and swimming 2 weeks out. When I decrease mileage I increase intensity (in order to keep up with Dev).

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Barry Dmitruk
2017: Florida 70.3 (done); Mont Tremblant 70.3 & Ironman