Keep this in mind: you will have competing interests over the next 5-10 years. I would recommend shortening your distance to goals, have short-term-say a month or two, and some longer maybe a couple of years. With respect to AG podiums as a LC athlete, you just need to be really good at all three sports as well as some luck with respect to injuries, bike crashes and the like. Be willing to take it as it comes-you will likely be happier that way. Best of luck!

---

"If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health"
- Hippocrates, 460-370 BC

You need to do HIM distance, being successful at that before considering doubling the distance. A lot of stuff in life is headed your way and it is easier to "dodge, duck and juggle" things in the long tern while only restricting yourself initially to HIM distances.

I am not a coach, I am 50 yo male who has been in the sport off and on for years and is still improving on the swim and the bike. So take my advice for what its worth...

As you look at the three sports, break it down. Do you have a weakness? If so, then address it. To me IM racing is no different than a sprint in that the guys that have the best engines and technically are strong in all three disciplines (assuming they understand nutrition for IM) do well at all events, regardless of the distance. With this understand what the top guys your age are doing and look at how you measure up. Then go about putting in the work, realizing that unless you are really gifted it will be hard to progress in all three aspects at the same time - its about compromise.

Example for me, I was always a good runner but a crappy swimmer and average biker. I focused on my bike a few years ago - I invested in a power meter and have learned how to ride such that my HIM bike splits have dropped 20-25 minutes and I think I can go faster. Whats funny is, I was putting in the work before, but not the right way - so it wasn't additional work, it was the right work. These gains have stayed with me, now about 10 weeks ago, I decided to swim differently - did the Tarpon challenge over the summer and the result was a 4 min PR in the swim portion of the HIM - I didn't change my stroke I just did more tempo work and thus was able to swim harder - longer; again not more work, different focused work. This winter my focus is two fold - I am actually going to do a swimming block focused on technique, I think there is some low hanging fruit for me and I just want to see what I can do in the pool - after this technique focus, I will join the masters group. I am going to look at changing my gait on my run because I have had some constant nagging injuries that flare up during the run and after looking at some photos and video during my last race its pretty obvious I have some issue with my gait due to muscle weakness on my right side - to actually see it was very helpful.

Many will say pile on the volume, while that is helpful, understand your weakness and strengths and then learn how to apply the right type of work. While race results are fun and the reward, learn to enjoy the journey, if its not fun, you will not last. Good luck!

I think what you will find for most FOP LC AGers:

They swim a lot, bike a lot, and run a lot. Over many many years.

Not much more complicated than that.

Your focus is IM distance for the long term. Then your goal should be developing an aerobic base for the long term. You said you have a running background so your running aerobic base is likely to be much more advanced than your cycling or swimming aerobic base. According to many experts it takes around 3 years to fully develop your aerobic capacity, so although you may be ahead of the game in running you still have another 2.5 years or so of developing your swim and bike aerobic base according to specificity. Make your swim and bike your focus in training as they are your limiters right now. Don't make any of your "A" races Olympic or Sprint distance. This will keep you targeting basic aerobic development. 2 years on from this post you will have learned exactly what you need to do to achieve your long term goals. Buy and read "Going Long" by Byrn and Friel in the meantime, and you will be well on your way.

Thanks for all the replies! To summarise your comments, my "game plan" for the coming years will be:

- Racing in the sprint, olympic and half distance triathlons for the next 2-3 years with the half-distance as an "A" race of the year. After that, I may give the full distance a try.
- Because I have relatively more experience in running, I am targeting the bike and swim more at first (with the bike being by far the most important). Still, I am not a great runner in absolute terms so there is much to develop in running also. I feel that especially in biking I have the most minutes to gain. Overall emphasis on the aerobic endurance training.
- Increase volume progressively. Other commitments in life (family and work) dictate what is ultimately possible and sustainable.

I guess that was gist of it. Someone pointed out that I should have some short term goals ranging few months. Well, I do but I wasn't asking comments for that kind of planning.

I will check out "Going long" by Byrn and Friel. Thanks for the suggestion.

Rather than thinking about the race distances, I would focus more on development at the 3 disciplines. The training is not much different at the pointy end anyway. If I were you I would spend the next year trying to get somewhere near you potential in swimming. As you get older your swim ceiling will shrink more so than the other two sports. Get the swim focus out of the way now--start building to 6 or even 7 days/week swimming over the next 6 months, then do another 6 months at the most yardage you can handle. Bike/run at least 2x/week later in the day if you swim in the morning. After you've done this you can put the swim on the shelf on focus on the other disciplines. Spend a year focusing on the run, at your age you can work harder and recover. Get the 5k time as fast as possible, swim 3x/week and bike at least 2x/week. When your 5k times level out, cut the run down to 4x/week, swim 3x/week, and bike as much as possible for a year. At that point you can assess where the low hanging fruit is and tailor training accordingly. If your focus is IM and you are fit, you will only need 2-3 months of focus to get ready for that race distance.

---

__________________________

Oh yeah!

Just keep swimming. After 32 years in the sport, it still surprises me just how badly most triathletes swim. Why not go into the swim confident & comfortable instead of feeling dread? Do open water swim races. Swim some masters' meets. Get comfortable & then the bike & run are so much easier...

---

#swimmingmatters
Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
The Doctor (#12)

qT2. Check them out

This.

Also, yes, take your time before you go long. There is no reason to race an IM in the first 3-5 years even. Hit a year or two on Oly and/or under, build up to 70.3, then hit the full distance after a few more years.

There are FAR too many dudes out there thinking they need to race the full distance early in order to be good at it. Simply doesn't work.

---

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

Interesting suggestion and I will definitely consider this. My current regime involves 4 times per week at each discipline. Increasing the swimming frequency to 6-7 times per week over the next winter would be even quite realistic. The winter time here in Finland is not the easiest anyways when it comes to bike training.

I am inclining to this point of view also.

For the QT2 suggestion that was posted, already know about them but at the moment I don't have any extra funds to place in coaching services. However, if I do come by with some, I will start considering such things. I'm glad I can even buy the tickets to the local swimming pool at the moment...

Flat race times would be useful. What is your goal? You are relatively young and career/family will likely derail you....but depends on your circumstance. Knowing your relative speed would help with advice.

Also height/weight.

Marathon times and average miles per week for the 3-6 months before?

Dave

If you are eventually trying to maximize your ability at the IM distance then Test your fitness and be honest with yourself, do a Sprint and if you finish top 5 overall then focus on Olympic's then HIM then IM.

Have fun doing some shorter higher intensity races, and gain that quickness that most IM athletes don't have. And learn about your body and long distance racing through experience, but eventually get a coach or buddy up with more experienced triathletes.

I agree, I think it depends on your relative fitness on where you should be focusing. If you are running 5 hour marathons, then setting your sights on sprints/olys would be a good decision. If you are running 3-3:30 marathons, then there is no need to take things so slowly. Though usually other things limit your race options other than fitness (location, cost, season).

FWIW I have just started training for triathlons in the last ~10 months after having absolutely no athletic base whatsoever for my whole life (former 125kg fatty checking in).

You mean goal for the next summer or some long term goal? Season 2014 is over for me so my next goal races will be in the summer 2015. Preliminary plan involves sprint and olympic distance races (at least one each) and maybe one half distance race. The plan will clarify next spring when more races are announced. About time goals for those. I'm not sure. I thought that I would just get some consistent training and come spring time, I would start to form some time goals for the races based on the fitness level I am at that moment. Last autumn I set way too unrealistic goals for training and racing. I ended up not completing most of the workouts and had lost motivation by the spring time. The immediate goals are to improve my race times but by how much, that remains to be seen.

Background info:
- One child (maybe second coming next year/year and a half(?))
- Open half marathon 1:34 (may 2014, no marathon time from this year (focus in triathlons) but as I did some solid training during the summer I guess under 3:20 would be doable at the moment).
- No open bike race times. During a sprint race: 20 km @ 36 km/h over some relatively flat urban course.
- No open swim race times. At that same sprint race: 750 m @ 12:53 with wetsuit. Very choppy ocean swim, second out of water (small local race only). The swim time is a little bit on the slow side when compared to what I usually swim in the pool without wetsuit (standard aerobic swim speed ~1:42 - 1:44 / 100m).
- Height 1.73 m, weight 65 kg (I am not the skinniest guy and I have some upper body muscles although I haven't visited gym regularly since my high school years)
- Running volume average from march to august 42 km / week. This year my mileage is little bit less than previous two years. Last year corresponding time range average 50 km/week. As my swimming and biking volume is bigger this year (and the overall training volume) than last year, my running fitness has still improved quite noticeably. Still working on incorporating more consistent swimming and biking into my routine. The running comes way easier.

That is always a possibility but what kind of an attitude would that be: "I won't even try because something else is going to derail me anyway". ;)
Not very constructive in my opinion. My family comes first always but I will still try make the best of this and develop myself as far as I can go with the given resources.
That's why I'm talking about age group racing and not pro racing. I don't want to do this for a living.

Seem like a pretty fit guy if you can still hold those timings with room for improvement. Why don't you join a few more OD's and crush them and see how you stack up against the others? If it's not enough for you, the half is always there.

Consistency is key whatever approach you choose. You could try a balanced approach and slowly improve all 3 sports or you could try ?duffman?'s focus approach. I think he was pretty spot on. IM racing is all about running well after a decent controlled bike. Swim isn't too important and you likely don't have to get much faster on the swim if at all....you could spend a winter and get the swim down a bit - depends on how much you like swimming....

Run - miles and miles without injury is key....most top age groupers can likely run under 3-3:10 open and I mean a true open marathon not a "I could run a 3:20 based off my 10k or HM time".

Bike - get your FTP at least to 250 if not closer to 280 plus. I think you can take time off the bike more than the run and still improve.

I'd run year round - try to keep miles above 20-30 per week even for low mileage weeks and have blocks of 50-60 plus eventually.

Goals. I like training goals like run every day even if its 1 mile. Swim 3x per week. Bike 100 miles per week. Then time or power goals. Swim 10x 200 on 3:30 with each less than 3:10. Run a 10k under 42. Get FTP up by 10 within 3 months....focus on short term goals. Make some performance based and some not. Have levels....an ok goal, a good goal, and a great goal. Be realistic. Keep it fun.

I agree that race distance is sorta irrelevant. If I'm in good sprint shape, I can race an IM and vice versa. I don't think the training changes all that much. It does take time to figure out long course racing as nutrition/stomach becomes a 4th discipline.

Not sure I answered your question but I tried....you're in good shape as you are fairly balanced with decent swim/bike/run. If you are consistent, you'll do well. Consistency trumps any specific plan.

Dave

I agree. Talk is cheap and I honestly do not care what my open marathon time would be. What matters is how well I can run after the bike (and swim). I think you answered my questions.

If you came to me in that situation, my ideal plan would probably be to spend next season (2015) improving Olympic distance speed and maybe HIM performance, then trying to do one great late season IM for the 2016 and 2017 seasons (before aging up into the 30-34 AG). The footspeed from shorter distance training will carry over longer than the endurance, which comes and goes with volume much more quickly. Just my 2 cents.

---

Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

I didn't mean that 3:20 to sound so harsh.

You should care about your open marathon time just as you should care about your 60 minute power and your 1000 free time. You can plug your 1000 free time, your FTP (knowing rough speed forgiven watts), and your open marathon time in and basically come up with an ideal IM time. Many underperform due to pacing, nutrition, weather etc....but nobody over performs. If they do, they were wrong in their numbers :).

Want to get faster - get your 1000 free, your FTP, and your marathon (or 10K/HM etc...) times down.

Dave

Hi there fellow Finn,

I cant really say I have experience, since I've been doing this only for one year. Despite that, I would say the sustainability is the key and I would (and have) spend some time thinking about it. How can I keep it fun and interesting enough so that I can train and get better for the next 5-10 years. The miles per week will sort them selves out and depend very much on you and how you respond and train anyway.

I did 4.34 (1.29 half marathon) HIM and 9.52 Full (3.43 Marathon) with on average only 17.5mpw (28km) for 50 weeks, but with only 3 zero weeks. I also went straight to longer distances because Oly's and sprints didnt interest me and I would not have managed the training with only those as goals. Even one year is awfully long time to sustain decent amount of training, the motivation will vanish, other things become important and at that point it is completely irrelevant if the plan says 20,30 or 40mpw, if you're not doing it anyway.

For me (note, me not necessarily you) some key's are:

- Interesting and motivating goals (HIM, IM, Kona(? kidding))

- I play ice-hockey in recreational and senior-league Oct-March, so about 6h of my weekly training in this period will be hockey. Not optimal for triathlon, but different, social, fast thinking, hard full speed intervals, skill... Would my triathtlon improve more if I spent those hours riding on rollers and running alone in dark forest, yes, but I would not be able to sustain it. So better do something I can sustain and has benefit. By the time season is over I am really looking forward to long bike rides, long runs etc..

- I share my goals, friends can be incredibly supportive and also understand why you're not everytime drinking like you used to (for non Finns, you would not understand), but dont be a dweeb about it, once in a while go get drunk even if it means missing the long run or whatever...

- My daughter swims, so I can go with her to her training and get couple weekly swim sessions, which seem to be enough for me to be fop AG triathlon swimmer (I guess I am lucky in this regard)

Good luck and have fun!