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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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I´m averaging between 14 to 16 hours per week... and this is my third season on Tri´s.... This year I decided to do my first IM in may, so my volume is increasing up to 20 hours per week.....

My PR´s are : sprint ( 1:06 ) , Oly ( 2:21 ) and 1/2 IM ( 5:07 ) ... I hope to broke the OLY PR this weekend .... but is gonna be a surprise since is a B type race ... and so far none speed work.....

Luiz Eng
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [desert dude] [ In reply to ]
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I mostly do Du's also, I've only done 2 sprint tri's. My swim and run are both terrible so this year I'm working on improving my run. Only Du's this year mixed with some basic flailing at the pool.

jimmyk
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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Scott Tinley used to say that one of the head games of the pros was exaggerating (by a huge amount) hours of training. When you take out the time getting dressed, driving to the pool, yakking before and after training, etc. I bet many folk's real number would significantly drop. I have been doing tris, road races, mtn bike races, track (running) races, etc. for 20 years and I have rarely trained more than 5-6 hours per week. I train year round (except for windsurfing in the summer) and because I live in Arizona also race year round.

Andrew Inkpen
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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10-15 hours until mid-March or so, 15-20 from then 'till October, with the occasional off week and the occasional ~25 hr week. Have it logged back to '99 if you ever get bored.

Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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background and planning count for a lot more than weekly hours. I train about 3 hours/week, for Oly and sprint. My best Oly is 2:21, in the smaller races I can podium or get close in my AG. But, I've been running seriously (6day/week) since 1974, hiatus in the early 90's for a few years of relative sloth (work, illness, etc), then started up this merciless regime of intense training (Hah hah ha).

7-10 hours should be plenty for everything short of an IM. Just make sure you know exactly what you're trying to achieve in each workout - every workout should have a purpose within the annual plan.

"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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I'm 31 with a wife and 14-month old son, so my training time is pretty limited. But a couple of things have taken place recently that have freed up a little time in the morning for me. First of all, we changed sitters for our son, and now my wife takes him on her way to work. Secondly, our local junior college finally got an indoor pool; it opened to the public on Jan. 20. It's open for lap swim 12 hours a week Tuesday through Friday. So what I usually do is go to the pool for 1500 three or four days a week (I shoot for all four, but I've yet to get there four days in a row). Then I either bike or run for about an hour in the afternoons. Saturday is long run day, Sunday afternoon is reserved for a long ride. In a perfect week, I should be able to log about seven hours Monday through Friday, with another seven on Saturday and Sunday. But that seldom works out. I'm doing good to have five hours Monday-Friday, with another five on the weekends.

My race times are pretty poor. I'm either in the back of the mid pack or front of the back of the pack, if that makes any sense. In smaller local races, I can slide up into the middle of my age group. My strength is actually swimming, and in one local race last year, I posted the 11th fastest swim overall (but that says more about the lack of depth in the field than my swimming ability). I'm not a particularly fast biker, posting between 21 and 22 mph in sprints (closer to 21). I run 8:30-9:00 in sprint tri's, 9:00+ in longer races.

I don't think my problem is not enough training time; I think it's that I just don't know how to train. I'm still working on that. If I can ever figure out how to put the pieces together, I'll see some improvements. I can be faster, and I want to be faster, but I haven't put it all together. What I'm working on this year is rotating sports to concentrate more on each sport in different weeks, and to make better use of my training time. I can train a pretty good amount, but it's not very efficient. I want to maximize my training time in order to get the most out of it. I'll never be able to train 20 hours a week, and I'm not sure I would if I could. But I do have 10-12 hours, and I need to figure out how to make the most of the time available.

RP
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Robert Preston] [ In reply to ]
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I'm probaly Always on the edge of overtraining but thats where I like to be. Last year was a great year had 550 hours total training time. My ranking for last year was top 7% of my age group (m-30-34). This is my second year of Tri's and racing and I'm shooing for 24+ hours a week. I did do 28 hours last week and burned out. But thats okay its all a great learning experience and Its what I love to do. Oh ya I do 1/2 ironman and a 24 hour MTB 2-man team and alot others.
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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Good point Fleck, you gotta include the rest weeks.

I've been pretty consistent the last 2 years with 3 week cycles of approximately 10, 10 and 6 hrs. That just works well with my life, so I plan to continue it.

I'm a 38 y/o male and did a 2:12 oly off that last year.
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [a.i.] [ In reply to ]
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I am just pointing out that my 10-12 hours is time alloted for training. That includes everything that goes into training ... driving, changing, etc.

So, if I say "I have an hour to swim" that means 0:15 to change and 0:45 to actually swim.

sorta like saying I work 8 hours a day. I don't actually *work* literally 480 minutes.

=======================
-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Leng] [ In reply to ]
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No more than 8-10 hours/week including my long weekends. I don't have time like I used to. But having a coach has totally helped me optomize my training. I probably train much less than most people in my age group and I do much better. Having a coach is key. I would highly recommend.

On occassion, I will try to get in a 15-18 hour training week. Keep in mind that I train to be competative and but not to go out and set the world on fire. At 28, I've come to the reality that I will NEVER be a pro and I am no longer obsessed with triathlon and training like I once was. I am happy with just placing in my age group and having fun at races. Also, spending more time at work to better my career is my main interest at this time. Otherwise, I would probably be training much more. I work 10 hour days so I get in my training in the morning and then I sneak off during lunch.
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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I'm putting in around 10 hours a week right now with very little focus or structure which may have to change quickly if I decide to slip in an early race on the March break. Usually at the beginning of March I'll increase to the 14 hour/week range and by June be around 18. Last year I averaged 21 hours/week from mid-June until early October since I was prepping for IMFL. This year I'll be prepping for Kona so I'll probably do the same (maybe more if my family will put up with it:)
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [martyg] [ In reply to ]
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martygaal---

I'd be interested in seeing your plans/logs...I find that at 12-14 hours/week, I am exhausted, starving, can't fit anything else in my life...and only hang out with friends and family if they are willing to swim, bike or run with me. :) Of course, I work quite a bit too, so that's a major timesucker.

How do you break out a 25 hour week? Are you getting a lot of those hours in on the weekends? I have a hard time getting in any more than 2 hours on weekdays (consistently anyway). This year, I'm starting to do my long runs on Wednesdays instead of weekends, so those days will be longer and will open up more bike/swim time on weekends hopefully.

I love reading other people's plans....helps motivate me and I always learn something new.

sheri
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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14-16 hours right now, 2 of which are yoga to help my back on the bike. Will ramp to 16-18 for Ironman Brazil. Also work 50+ hours/week, which doesn't leave much time for my wife, but (un)fortunately she's a consultant and often out of town. Key to squeezing in the training is the 2-hour routine every morning, before work, with no other mid-day or evening workouts:

M,F: 1 hour swim, 1 easy stretch yoga ("rest" days)
Tu,Th: 1 hour bike, 1 run
W: 1 hour swim, 1 bike
Sat: 3-6 hour bike, 2-3 mile run
Sun: Long run

This is my third year of tris. Still don't really know what I'm doing, but hoping to break 10 hours in Brazil.
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Time management is the key [ In reply to ]
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A friend of mine one said that “There are 24 hours in a day” and training was figuring out how to use all of them. That attitude taught me how to work and now I do more training in the off season that I used to do during the summer. Some days I swear I can’t get out of bed, but after a while you get used to it. My week goes something like this:

Monday-Wednesday a.m. 5:30-7:30-Indoor bike p.m. lunchtime runs every day. 8-12 miles

Tuesday-Thursday a.m. at the pool by 6:30 swim until 8:00

Friday-a.m. 1-2 hours indoor ride p.m. short run 4-6 miles

Saturday-swim from 7am to 8:30 make breakfast for the wife and kids. Run long at 10:00 usually 16-24 miles.

This means that evenings when I get home at 6 p.m., I spend with the family and Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday are family time as well. My wife supports me and figures that as long as I am willing to get up so early, she can live with it. I expect as spring and summer roll around that Saturday training will start about 6 a.m. and last until noon or 1 p.m and then I’ll be done for the weekend. I’m doing about 16-18 hours a week in the dead of winter, so I hope to carve out a few more hours by replacing my commute by car with a commute by bike. That should push me up to 25 hours, which is about the minimum I think would be necessary for me to be competitive at half-iron man.

In the end I think it comes back to time management and your goals and willingness to sacrifice other things you enjoy. I group God, family and church into my biggest time slot, then sleep, then training. That doesn’t leave any extra time for anything else, but that’s fine with me. I love to compete.

Chad

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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom H] [ In reply to ]
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I train this much...

http://www.trainingbible.com/johna
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [irongeek] [ In reply to ]
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log is at www.martygaal.com/training1.html. An over 20 hour week is usually 2+ hours during the work week with one longish ride, then ~4 hrs Saturday and 6 or so Sunday. I think I did that twice this past season.

Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Leng] [ In reply to ]
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Not nearly enough and sometimes way too much. Last week 17 hours.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]
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wow...everyone trains so much...:P



im currently around 6.5hours/week (although, i just started training again 2 weeks ago)...im assuming once i finish school in late april, it will be ramped up to between 12-20 hours/week, as it was last summer.




"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [a.i.] [ In reply to ]
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I'm training 16 hours every week.! 13 hours in the pool. Only 16 years old, wow 75 hours at the age of 75!! kidding..!! But if we add all the dressing, warmup, stretching, camps, competetions and so on.. Well then around 30-35 hours are spend on my sport. But it's a great sport, with not enough youths..!!



Schmidt, Denmark...

---
Long Distance PB: 8:25
Instagram: larsschmidttri
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Re: Time management is the key [cdw] [ In reply to ]
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This says it all.
If you take in account that I work to pay for my riding, that I have moved to a different country to pursue better training/racing opportunities, and my site used to be www.LIVE2RIDE.tk - no longer however - then yes, 24 hours a day are "training".
Unfortunately coming from tropical Brazil to temperate Germany just before winter wasn't exactly great in terms of training outside, which means my average hours on the bike decreased from just over 20 to just over 10 (can't do more than 2hr on the rollers in a single run). Plan to get those numbers at least back to the original point, however, by the time Spring is full on.
Cheers

Ricardo Wickert | Team Magnesium Pur - Germany | My sporadically updated blog: The Thin Grad Line | My team-issued TT bike: Trek Speed Concept 9

2015 Sponsors & Partners: Magnesium Pur | Ullmax | B&W Bike Cases | Ristorante La Dolce Vita | Trek Bikes via Bici-Sport Binder
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [irongeek] [ In reply to ]
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Hey irongeek

If you are working then the only way to get in the really big weeks is to have huge weekends. When I am doing ironman training a typical weekend for me is a Saturday with a 45 minute minute swim followed by a 5-6 hour bike ride followed by a 45 minute run then a Sunday with a 1.5 - 2 hour ride followed by a 2.5 hour run which gives me 10-12 hours in just 2 days. If the rest of the week averages 2 hours each day (I usually do less on Monday and Friday and more on Tuesday-Thursday) then you're into the 22-25 range. Of course, when you do this you are hungry constantly and tired constantly but if you avoid injury, you'll get really fit.
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Allan] [ In reply to ]
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Allan - Thanks - that is helpful. I don't have an excuse because I am rarely injured - just hungry and tired. So this year, I'll have to ramp up my hours and see how it goes. My problem is typically overscheduling everything - like thinking I can do yardwork and laundry and have friends over for dinner after my long ride, when in reality, I'll probably be so pooped after my long ride, I'll eat like a demon, throw a load in the wash, and take a nap. ;)

I took a chunk of time off this winter and am just getting rolling this year...just looked and this week I did 7 hours of training....now I just have to work up to over triple that. Piece of cake, right?
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [irongeek] [ In reply to ]
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Hey irongeek

Depending on when your big race is 7 hours a week is not a bad thing at this time of year. I just finished a week where I managed 11 hours and know that I need to start cranking it up. The key to working up to double or triple the time quantity is to make sure that you are very gradual with the increases and take a few easy weeks after building up. For example, if you did 7 this week try for 9 next week, then 10 or 11, then in the third week drop back down to 7 to give your body some rest. Then move back up to 10, then 12, then an easy 8 or 9, etc. until you can consistently keep the volume up high. As for being totalled for the rest of the day ... it is a foregone conclusion around my household (I have a saint for a wife who understands this) and in the summer I usually start around 5:30am and get home around 1:30 -2:00 so my afternoon task is usually to watch my kids as they swim in our pool which doesn't take too much energy :)
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Allan] [ In reply to ]
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in the last 12 weeks, smallest week was the current one at 22hrs. Biggest was 36hrs.
so I probably train more but definitely have the lowest return on investment...
oh well, as long as I enjoy training...
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Re: How many hours a week do you train? [Allan] [ In reply to ]
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Allan - thanks again. My big races this year are Alcatraz and IMCDA - first and last weekends of June. I'm just getting started...trying to get a good base back and lose the extra weight I gained taking it easy and drinking too much wine and beer this winter. :) Come March...I'll be banking a lot more hours...but still not sure I'll hit 22-24 - will probably max out around 20 I think.
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