Hey all, I’m just starting to train for my first 70.3 (it’s in mid-July) and I’m looking for opinions on whether 8-10 hours/week is enough. I could probably squeeze out a few 11-12 hour weeks, but not many (job, kids). Background: 45 years old; two Olympic distance events; 2x Escape From Alcatraz, inclu 2 weeks ago; plenty of trail runs up to 10-12 miles, half a dozen runs up to 20 miles, though not recently; no marathon experience; longest ever ride 70 miles, a couple years ago; only ridden 50 miles once or twice, also a while back. I’m not concerned with high performance, but I really don’t want to walk the run. Am I kidding myself at 8-10 hours a week? Anybody done one on this little volume?
Finishing, definitely. There are some Age-groupers doing IMs with 9-10hrs / week, but its going to show in your speed.
Absolutely - thats a lot of training from the point of view of another 40+ y/o with job, kids, etc.
Absolutely doable. I can hardly ever go over 10 hrs. a week in training. It’s mostly 8-9 hrs a week. Job and family just don’t allow more. I’ve done plenty of half’s with this amount of training, I’m not fast however. I do a lot of interval training, to make up for lack of volume. Fastest is 5:20.
Very good thread.
40+, kids, running a startup, coaching Lacrosse, 7-8 hours is about all i can manage. not even close to podium but finish comfortably LMOP.
I did my first 1/2 2 years ago (Big Kahuna in Santa Cruz) with about your background and never went over 8-10 hours. Most weeks were more like 5-7.
My time was 5:05, which was not fast enough to win anything, but I certainly felt like I was racing, not just finishing. I think that volume is plenty and walking the run seems more about execution and preparation.
I’m 53 and haven’t trained over 10 hrs/wk in the last 14 years (since our 1st child was born). I have continued with IMs and have done 11 more IMs in that time period. Usually don’t walk on the run, although I do run slowly.
I did a sub 5 hour race on that sort of volume, I went heavy on the intensity though , lots of bike intervals, masters swims, and tempo runs.
When people say their training consists of “X” hrs of training per week, is that peak hours?
Very doable, you should be front if the pack.
Yes
.
not sure what you mean by peak hours, but I meant, by 8-10 hours, 8-10 hours of actual swim/bike/run/lift time. But that does include warm up and cool down.
Much obliged for everybody’s input here, by the way. It’s enormously helpful and reassuring.
Along with the above, try to spend lots of time on your feet when not training. It’s the time-poor man’s zone 2.
I did Tremblant 70.3 on a mighty 3 hours a week. I wasn’t racing. I was there to participate and enjoy the experience. I never did any long training sessions. I’m not genetically blessed.
I swam leisurely in z2. I biked in z2. I kicked it up a notch in the run as the finish was within my grasp and ran the whole thing passing some people who were burnt from the bike.
My time was slow. I was near last in my age group for every segment. I even took 10 minutes during transition to put on sunscreen and chat with my wife. But none the less I finished and was quite content.
The most hours you would train for any given week during your training cycle.
When you start the training season you might start at 5 hrs, building to a maximum of 8-10 hours during your peak week.
i went 4:40 on back to back weekends last summer on roughly 8-12 hours a week from april-sept. I had a 2 bigger weeks (because I did epicman and American Zofingen those weeks)…and several under 8 hours before april. I’m 40 with 2 kids a wife and a full time job (you know…much like a lot of people here). I personally know others who went faster on about the same volume. It’s a matter of what you do in that time.
Yes. Put time into your run. It will help lean you out, and will help you at the end of the race. Don’t sweat the cycling, the bike flies by in a half. The biggest thing w/bike, no matter how good you feel at mile 28, DO NOT STOMP IT.
The best insight I have ever heard about tri is this: “The person who wins, is the person who slows down the least.” I’m not sure who said that, but I believe there is wisdom there.
Also,
no,
you are not swimming enough.
One last thing: Macca was right, if you’re cramping/walking/sucking, flat Coke can help you finish.
I’m planning an IM this year and train just under 10 hours per week. 51 years old, spend 45-50 a week at work standing on concrete floors. I guess that counts as some type of training. Have 34 marathons and four HIM under my belt. Looking forward to knocking the IM out. Good luck to you!!!
i went 4:40 on back to back weekends last summer on roughly 8-12 hours a week from april-sept. I had a 2 bigger weeks (because I did epicman and American Zofingen those weeks)…and several under 8 hours before april. I’m 40 with 2 kids a wife and a full time job (you know…much like a lot of people here). I personally know others who went faster on about the same volume. It’s a matter of what you do in that time.
Doesn’t Murphy’s Law go sub 4:20 on sub 4:20 per week of training (aka The Steve Larsen program). Meanwhile, I seem to need to take 4x that amount of training to go half an hour slower!!!
To the OP, 8-10 hours per week is totally possible to finish well, especially if you already have a swim background in which case, you can do 30 min per week of swim training and devote the rest to bike (4- 4.5 hours), and run (2.5 - 3). Make the bike hours count and hammer those hours…just put easy run miles in and stay injury free.