Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [bhc] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 4:50

Post #26 of 41 (2940 views)

Am I missing something

Yes - that Dev has been at this for 30 years and has a massive base. He can get by on much less overall volume of training.

Where my thoughts align with Dev, is that many make this WAY more complicated than it needs to be. Many seem to worry about the last 5% of fitness when the first 95% of it is what they need to work on, and you get to that 95%, by steady, consistent training, 1 - 3 hrs/day, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [micaza75] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 6:49

Post #27 of 41 (2906 views)

My cousin(personal trainer) watched the race and was so inspired by my race and finish that he signed up for IMMT 2015. He has never done a tri before and is looking forward to the challenge.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 8:35

Post #28 of 41 (2865 views)

Exactly. IM is not some 12 week project. To do it well, in a way that works, takes years and years.

Yes, you can train to finish one in a shorter timeframe, but to train the way Dev is describing takes consistent effort over a long period of time. It doesn't have to be the white-hot IM peak effort, but it has to a pretty nice volume.

Chris Harris

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [fe_dad] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 8:43

Post #29 of 41 (2857 views)

Exactly. IM is not some 12 week project. To do it well, in a way that works, takes years and years.

Yes, you can train to finish one in a shorter timeframe, but to train the way Dev is describing takes consistent effort over a long period of time. It doesn't have to be the white-hot IM peak effort, but it has to a pretty nice volume.

Bingo.

I come from a different era of the sport of triathlon - the earlier generation of the 1980's through until the late 1990's. I'll be honest with you that because it was all so new to us, we really had no clue what we were doing. Seriously. We just cobbled it all together - no coaches, no HRM's, no power-meters etc . . . . Yet, despite the hap-hazard approach, for me, any many others from that time and era, it lead to some pretty decent race performances, that have stood the test of time.

Why? We LOVED the training. We put the time and the hours in. We were consistent with it EVERY day. We were patient.

It's not that complicated.

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [avikoren1] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 8:56

Post #30 of 41 (2850 views)

Lot of it depends upon your last seasons sustainable volume ( no of hours per week) you were able to train. Increase by approximately 25 percent for this upcoming season. Gradually build up to these levels over the course of your plan. Peak weeks should be approximately 25 percent of sustainable volume and should start about 5 weeks out from A race ( 2 week peak and three week taper).
Throwing down training volume with no regards to previous training is dangerous and can result in injury

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 9:05

Post #31 of 41 (2833 views)

This kind of sounds like what I have been doing the past year. I will let you know how it goes in about 17 days.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [walie] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 16:15

Post #32 of 41 (2750 views)

Okay, just before those last few miles of downhill were the tougher hills, for me anyway.

All,
Thanks for all the great input. I appreciate it.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [avikoren1] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 17:53

Post #33 of 41 (2719 views)

Everyone is different, but to answer your question I trained an average of 9.5 hrs/week for 29 weeks- peak week of 19 and second highest week at 14 hrs. I did my first IM (Placid) in 12:33 self-coached.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [dtaylor] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 18:11

Post #34 of 41 (2709 views)

Self-coached here as well. Did my first one last year (Tahoe sub 12:20 with an abysmal 15+ minute T1). A lot of great advice throughout this chain. For me, two books were pivotal and being 10 months out, I'd recommend reducing your physical training and using that extra time to read Going Long and Start to Finish: 24 Weeks to an Endurance Triathlon. I use Going Long as a reference book now and the other as guidelines for how I should be training. I know you don't want to read the books but...

I agree with something I read earlier about cycling rather than running and totally agree especially this early. I'm not sure if the following link was posted earlier or not but it worked for me.

http://triathlon.competitor.com/...ronman-marathon_6407

Good luck.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [camtdc] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 18:31

Post #35 of 41 (2702 views)

I will look into it. Paperback or kindle... I wonder what I should get.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [avikoren1] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 18:42

Post #36 of 41 (2686 views)

I checked out The Bible from the library and bought Going Long, Triathlon Science, Be Iron Fit, and Training and Racing with a Power Meter. Not to mention all the good info online and on Podcasts. I know several people with similar training load, or more, that have gone 14+ hours and I think the "details and complex (not really) workouts" made the difference for me.

Last edited by: dtaylor: Aug 21, 14 19:02

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Aug 21, 14 19:31

Post #37 of 41 (2658 views)

devashish_paul wrote:

avikoren1 wrote:

I fear that books will give me too much detail with complex workouts, etc. I prefer to keep it simple. If you think 11 months is too long maybe I will tone it down up to 6 months pre race.

I would train like an Olympic triathlete for around 9 months. Try to get 25 miles of running in per week (average not max), 4-5 hours of riding, 3-4 hours of swimming. Long workouts are irrelevant. Just weekly consistent volume is all that matters and slice it and dice it however you want....just friggin train. This is where most people fall off. They just don't train enough. Improve your body composition and get as lean as possible. Get 56 hours of sleep per week. Once you do that for 9 months you'll be ready. Last 2 months, some fine tuning with longer swims and bikes. I would do zero long runs for you over 2 hours, because the reality is that with your target finish time, you LIKELY will not run the entire run course. Your challenge is to get to T2 with a full tank of gas. That means a ton of swim and bike fitness. Then on race day, you've done 25 miles of running EVERY WEEK ALL YEAR. Your taper week, you did ZERO running, so all you need to do is do a week of run training crammed into a single day. Now you are 1 mile from the finish line and the pull of the finish line will give you everything you need for that final 1 mile.

So where do you sign up for the program? Well, I just gave it to your here on this post. Now just go do around an Ironman of training ( (a bit more swim, a bit less bike) every week for the next 9 months and you will be set.

Oh, one more thing...walk 30 min per day...that gives you 3 extra hours on your feet per week that will harden your legs for the IM marathon because the reality is that your pace (and my pace for that matter) is not much faster than walking.....and it will also help you improve your body composition

SPOT ON! just exactly what I need now. Thanks!

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [bhc] [ In reply to ]

Aug 22, 14 17:54

Post #38 of 41 (2549 views)

bhc wrote:

devashish_paul wrote:

avikoren1 wrote:

I fear that books will give me too much detail with complex workouts, etc. I prefer to keep it simple. If you think 11 months is too long maybe I will tone it down up to 6 months pre race.

I would train like an Olympic triathlete for around 9 months. Try to get 25 miles of running in per week (average not max), 4-5 hours of riding, 3-4 hours of swimming. Long workouts are irrelevant. Just weekly consistent volume is all that matters and slice it and dice it however you want....just friggin train. This is where most people fall off. They just don't train enough. Improve your body composition and get as lean as possible. Get 56 hours of sleep per week. Once you do that for 9 months you'll be ready. Last 2 months, some fine tuning with longer swims and bikes. I would do zero long runs for you over 2 hours, because the reality is that with your target finish time, you LIKELY will not run the entire run course. Your challenge is to get to T2 with a full tank of gas. That means a ton of swim and bike fitness. Then on race day, you've done 25 miles of running EVERY WEEK ALL YEAR. Your taper week, you did ZERO running, so all you need to do is do a week of run training crammed into a single day. Now you are 1 mile from the finish line and the pull of the finish line will give you everything you need for that final 1 mile.

So where do you sign up for the program? Well, I just gave it to your here on this post. Now just go do around an Ironman of training ( (a bit more swim, a bit less bike) every week for the next 9 months and you will be set.

Oh, one more thing...walk 30 min per day...that gives you 3 extra hours on your feet per week that will harden your legs for the IM marathon because the reality is that your pace (and my pace for that matter) is not much faster than walking.....and it will also help you improve your body composition

Dev...not arguing with your points, just making an observation. The portion in bold is just slightly over what I average weekly to train for HIMs. I certainly do not have your expertise, but there is no way that I would attempt a full on that volume. Am I missing something or is it the fact that he just wants to finish in <15 hrs?

The thing here is the consistency. This is pretty much what I do (maybe a few more hours biking at peak, and probably not that much swimming) and I set my PR of 10:23 last year, hoping for sub-10 soon.

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]

Sep 6, 14 12:20

Post #39 of 41 (2307 views)

devashish_paul wrote:

I would train like an Olympic triathlete for around 9 months. Try to get 25 miles of running in per week (average not max), 4-5 hours of riding, 3-4 hours of swimming. Long workouts are irrelevant. Just weekly consistent volume is all that matters and slice it and dice it however you want....just friggin train. This is where most people fall off. They just don't train enough. Improve your body composition and get as lean as possible. Get 56 hours of sleep per week. Once you do that for 9 months you'll be ready. Last 2 months, some fine tuning with longer swims and bikes. I would do zero long runs for you over 2 hours, because the reality is that with your target finish time, you LIKELY will not run the entire run course. Your challenge is to get to T2 with a full tank of gas. That means a ton of swim and bike fitness. Then on race day, you've done 25 miles of running EVERY WEEK ALL YEAR. Your taper week, you did ZERO running, so all you need to do is do a week of run training crammed into a single day. Now you are 1 mile from the finish line and the pull of the finish line will give you everything you need for that final 1 mile.

So where do you sign up for the program? Well, I just gave it to your here on this post. Now just go do around an Ironman of training ( (a bit more swim, a bit less bike) every week for the next 9 months and you will be set.

I like the simplicity to your approach. Have anything similar for KQ ?

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [avikoren1] [ In reply to ]

Sep 6, 14 21:56

Post #40 of 41 (2160 views)

I agree with a lot of the other posts that it is rally rather simple and consistency is key. If you have 10 hours per week (your training roughly adds up to 7 1/2-8 hours), you may be better off focusing on getting stronger on either the bike or the run for 6 months then moving to a balanced bike/run for 5 months while only adding the swim the last 2 months.

Your swim isn't going to improve without a big focus and you're likely going to swim a 1:30 plus whether you swim 1 hour per week or not.....swim easy in the race and eat the extra 10 minutes. Meaningless in a 13-15 hour race.

You could improve a lot of if you ran or biked 8-10 hours per week for 6 months. You then cut back and add the other sport....

You are likely already fit enough to go close to 14 without training anymore if you execute well.

Times aside - what would you ENJOY doing for the next 11 months?

Dave

Re: How many hours a week to train for first IM [daveinmammoth] [ In reply to ]

Sep 7, 14 8:19

Post #41 of 41 (2081 views)

Considering I just got my new p2, biking it'd what I enjoy more these days. However, with work and daylight I am only able to do one weekend ride outdoors and starting soon I will start doing some indoor trainer rides (prob on my road bike). This way the tri bike is in the garage Ray for a ride and the road bike is on the trainer in the pain cave ready to be ridden.

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