Hi,
I’ll be doing my first half ironman this summer and am looking for a good 24 week training plan. I’m not a total beginner and have been fairly successful in my age group in the sprint and olympic distances.
Has anybody ever done a program from this website? http://www.enduranceworks.net/
They seem like a credible source. Thanks
karen
Karen,
I really recommend Matt Fitzgeralds Essential Week by Week training guide. It’s cheap and can be had from Amazon to your house quickly. It’s a very short read and the plans are well thought out. I used the L2 plan to complete my first Half. I am currently using L4 to prepare for my 2nd in April. I will probably use L4 again for the October HIM I’m going to race, but I will just be faster. Most of the workouts are time based so it makes planning your days much easier. You can easily use the swim plan from a level or two lower as the plans are swimming intensive in most people’s opinions.
It’s also nice to see a variety of plans and read his methods. It will give you a great foundation to prepare your own plan. I’m essentially using a modified plan based on my master’s swim schedule and BarryP’s running method. I run 5 or 6 days a week instead of 3. I use the plan runs as my medium and long runs but add 2 or 3 short runs to the week as well per BarryP.
Read and become your own planner is my advice.
From and old thread I wrote a few years ago:
"Just about year round, I do a weekly 3-4k swim during the week, a 90 minute run between Tues-Thurs, and then I hit a 55+ mile bike ride on Sat or Sun. This gets me within easy striking distance of a half Iron and with only about 8-10 weeks training, an IM. About 10 weeks out from IM, I start the buildup to a weekly 4-5k swim, an eventual 5.5-6 hour ride closer to race time, and several 2.5 hour runs. Take your time moving from 1.5 to 2.5 hours on that long run! 3 weeks out taper for run, 2 weeks out taper for bike, and 1 week prior is a 4-5k swim in open water, so no swim taper.
The other s, b, and r during the week are shorter tempo, threshold, and some V02 max in all 3 sports. The key is to run and swim long during the week, usually putting the long swim after the long run day, saving you to do well on the weekend long bike. If you want a 12 hour Ironman, about 12-15 hours per week the last 10 weeks with some pretty good intensity will do the trick. Of course, the preceding 10 weeks should be shorter, higher quality stuff.
IMCDA for me in '08 was a 1:10 hr swim, approx. 18.8 mph bike (19.5 mph on the powertap, so potty breaks cut into the overall), and 4:52 mara. 12:18 hrs overall. I did that with only 11 weeks notice. Hope this helps,…"
Karen,
I really recommend Matt Fitzgeralds Essential Week by Week training guide. It’s cheap and can be had from Amazon to your house quickly. It’s a very short read and the plans are well thought out. I used the L2 plan to complete my first Half. I am currently using L4 to prepare for my 2nd in April. I will probably use L4 again for the October HIM I’m going to race, but I will just be faster. Most of the workouts are time based so it makes planning your days much easier. You can easily use the swim plan from a level or two lower as the plans are swimming intensive in most people’s opinions.
It’s also nice to see a variety of plans and read his methods. It will give you a great foundation to prepare your own plan. I’m essentially using a modified plan based on my master’s swim schedule and BarryP’s running method. I run 5 or 6 days a week instead of 3. I use the plan runs as my medium and long runs but add 2 or 3 short runs to the week as well per BarryP.
Read and become your own planner is my advice.
I have my first in August and this was my plan almost exactly I have the book arriving today.
Theres a copy fittzgeralds book on ebay for4 dollars. It takes about 2 hours to map out your season because its customisable but its better than most generic plans I’ve seen.
Try the library and checkout any and every book that has to do with triathlon and multisport training. There are also books specific to swim, bike or run training, but they won’t help as much as the other books. Read a lot on them, look at the plans they give and then take a few samples of weeks and actually imagine how plausible they seem. Some have long bike on Saturdays with a long run on Sundays. If you work Monday through Friday and this is your only option, then do it. If not, adjust.
I found about 7 books that I read at our local library and made a training plan based on what I read and what sample plans they had. I learned a lot more doing that than posting on forums (no offense slowtwitch, I have learned a decent amount through the search function) … and then after I read those books the information on this forum started to become more informative.
ok thanks.I just ordered the Fitzgerald book
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I got the book last night and started looking through it my only issue which I am not sure how to solve yet is the start of my 20 week plan will still be during bad weather time here. So most of my riding and running will be indoors the running is easy to do tempo etc on a treadmill however I am not sure how to simulate the different workouts he plans on the trainer such as the hills etc.
Half Iron 26 Week Plan
http://opentri.com
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Hello
thanks for posting this link. Can you comment between this and the workout listed on http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=52
thanks a lot.
I don’t have any experience with the BT plan. I’ve used the Opentri 36 week plan and it was a great 9 months!
thanks Chris. the BT 1st workout was a little scary with 2000+ yards in the pool! lol