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Help - IM Pacing Advice
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Hi,

I'd like to ask for some advice on pacing my IM in 5 weeks.

As background:

I'm MOP and I've been training consistently all year, managing to average just over 10 hours per week. The first week of April, I ran a marathon in 3:15.

Whilst training for the marathon, I followed the TrainerRoad sweet spot base (3.5 hours a week of fairly tough cycling intervals) and swam once a week. I'm really time pressed for training due to family and work.

Due to the lack of endurance, at the end of April, I took a week away and started getting some longer riding done, riding five days, each day 2.4-4.5hrs, IF 0.75-0.85, followed by a run off the bike.

then I went back to 10-14hrs a week training, mostly lots of one hour sessions in each sport (and the odd 3hr ride).

Then, this last week, I took holiday to do another heavy week. The plan (which happened) was:
Mon - Tue - Wed did three big days (30min lake swim, bike > 5hrs at > 0.7IF followed by 6 - 10km run/walk).
Thu - 45min spin
Fri - 60min swim, 2hr Hard bike, 90min run / walk.
Sat - 2hr Bike
Sun - 70.3 (with 3600ft Elevation gain bike) in a fatigued state.

The strange thing is, the HIM went quite well (for me, a MOP athlete), and it was 30 Celcius on the run.
Swim 33min,
Bike 2h50 with an IF of 0.8
Run - I used run / walk (10'run 1' walk) and ran 1h35


For the IM, my 'goals' were:

Swim 1h15
Bike 6h00 at IF 0.65 (it's 185km this year and about 3500ft elevation gain)
Run 4h10 (using run walk again)

I'd love a sub 11:30

So to the questions:

In the next three 'big' weeks of training (I can afford to sacrifice the next three weekends) how do I determine the correct IF to ride the IM bike? Is 0.65 about right, if 0.8 seemed to work out well in the 70.3?

Is my run target maybe a bit slow? If I can run/walk a 70.3 HM in 1h35, what should be the aim for an IM run off a correctly paced bike?

And is it normal for a HIM to go so well after an abnormally heavy week?



I'm sorry it's such a long post, but the 70.3 really surprised me today. I finished about 25min faster than I expected!
Last edited by: bluefever: Jun 3, 18 11:53
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Re: Help - IM Pacing Advice [bluefever] [ In reply to ]
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I would think your .65 bike goal would be wise. The 4:10 marathon might be a great finish to a good day for you. Neither of those will happen for you if your not disciplined though.
Here's how IM's go for a lot of folks: I felt really good early on the bike, so I figured that I would put some time in the bank. Then for some reason around mile 90 that crappy Gatorjunk they make us use on the course started to disagree with my stomach. I was soo bummed because I was having a great bike. Then my run/walk plan became more of a walk/walk thing because my stomach never came back. And down the drain the day goes all because a lack of discipline.
Don't ride any harder than your planned .65, then when you start the run, stick to your plan because the same scenario from above happens to lots on the run. At mile 20 you can decide if you have enough left to pick up the pace or skip a walk, then do it, but not before.

"I wish I would have run those first 3 miles of my IM marathon a little harder." Said no one, ever, in the finishers chute of an IM.
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Re: Help - IM Pacing Advice [Ktri] [ In reply to ]
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How do you see IF while riding? I have a Garmin 935 and also using TR for my IM training. But, I only see my IF AFTER my ride.
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Re: Help - IM Pacing Advice [Spartan420] [ In reply to ]
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IF is your NP/FTP.
If the OP wants to Target .65 IF and his FTP is estimated at 260 than a ride with a NP of 169 would be a ride done at an IF of .65. IF is a ratio of NP/FTP.
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Re: Help - IM Pacing Advice [Ktri] [ In reply to ]
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Ktri wrote:
I would think your .65 bike goal would be wise. The 4:10 marathon might be a great finish to a good day for you. Neither of those will happen for you if your not disciplined though.
Here's how IM's go for a lot of folks: I felt really good early on the bike, so I figured that I would put some time in the bank. Then for some reason around mile 90 that crappy Gatorjunk they make us use on the course started to disagree with my stomach. I was soo bummed because I was having a great bike. Then my run/walk plan became more of a walk/walk thing because my stomach never came back. And down the drain the day goes all because a lack of discipline.
Don't ride any harder than your planned .65, then when you start the run, stick to your plan because the same scenario from above happens to lots on the run. At mile 20 you can decide if you have enough left to pick up the pace or skip a walk, then do it, but not before.

"I wish I would have run those first 3 miles of my IM marathon a little harder." Said no one, ever, in the finishers chute of an IM.


Thanks, I will stick to 0.65. You have my FTP nearly bang on in the post above :)

Regarding the run / walk - if in the half I managed to run / walk to a 1h35 HM, what kind of run pace would be sensible to aim for in the IM? I didn't empty the tank yesterday, I was pretty fresh over the line - the run was a negative split, also, which was nice. Is there any kind of rule of thumb?
Last edited by: bluefever: Jun 4, 18 1:52
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Re: Help - IM Pacing Advice [bluefever] [ In reply to ]
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If you felt good at the end of your 70.3, I would say to use the same run/times and paces you did there or even a few seconds slower. I really don't want to be more specific than that as there are multiple things you can change around, run time and pace, walk time and pace, time between walks. Just remember that there is a compounding factor to the day. You do your best in training to replicate the fatigue with key long workouts. You never really know what it feels like at mile 18 in an IM run until you're there because it's new. Good luck and have fun.
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Re: Help - IM Pacing Advice [Ktri] [ In reply to ]
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If you're not looking to win a prize and your main goal is to finish the race and become an Ironman then take it steady. It's not hard- it's just a really long way.

It sounds like you're doing some pretty good training already. I reckon you'll be fine. Just think "All Day Pace".

Remember to eat.

and

Remember to eat.
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