When I do a 50 mile bike or 10 mile run and I feel pretty zonked, I wonder if I will ever progress to the big dance. I ride for 50 miles and I think “that wasn’t even half way through one event.” It’s kind of discouraging. On the other hand, I have made huge progress since coming back to tri after a 20 year layoff. I can now do an Oly an come in the the top third of the field. Maybe that will be the best I can do and I should be happy with that. I hope that is not the case.
My plan for 2006 was 2 Oly, 1 half IM, a half marathon and a century ride. I’m not sure I can fit the 1/2 IM in but the rest I have acomplished. For 2007, I would like to do 1-2 Oly and 1-2 half IM and a marathon. Hopefully, without any injuries or flareup of my ever-present AT, I can get to IM in 2008. I would like to finish in 12 hours ± or I probably won’t attempt it.
Is this a reasonable plan for someone who is 48? I really work hard at keeping myself contained because my enthusiasm gets ahead of my body limitations.
One of the things I really noticed while training for an IM is that if I look at things in parts, the IM appears much harder than it really is. For example, I did a half-IM prior to doing an IM and thought, there is no way I could do that again, thinking that I would have to go around the whole course again to complete an IM. The same thinking went after I ran a marathon, I thought if I feel this tired, how could I possilby swim/bike for 7 hours and then run the marathon.
However, I find the IM much easier than that. I found the marathon of an IM easier than a stand alone marathon, and I did not find the IM to be twice as hard as a Half, and I think it is because I race slower at an IM.
If you just keep putting together consistent workouts and slowly build up to where you can do some long rides of over 100 miles, and some 20 mile runs without getting completely wiped out, you can finish an IM if you pace yourself. Just focus on building your strength/endurance slowly and you can do it.
FWIW, if you want to do an IM, don’t run a marathon first. You will be very sore after it and it will discourage you. I would work on developing a week of workouts which you can repeat without them completely exhausting you but are challenging, and then repeat that over and over for a long time.
Sounds like a plan that you can work. You don’t have to do a marathon to be ready for IM. You have lots of time. There will be times in your training that you will doubt yourself - its part of the journey. Plus when you get to the taper you have lots of time for your body to rest/recover and then you have to keep the mind occupied. ST is a great place for that. : )
IMMOO isn’t here yet?!! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGG ! I don’t know if I can wait.
How hard are you doing the 50 mile bike and 10 mile run? If you are pushing too hard for theses distances you may be underestimating the true capabilities of your endurance. Maybe a minor tweak in the intensity will allow you to go much longer.
I think the key is finding a good training plan and sticking to it. I’m training for IMF (first IM) and in May I was where you were, after 50 miles I was tired, and coldn’t think about a run. Any run over 9 miles was slow and tiring. But I found a training plan and am following it. Some weeks (about 75%) I am still worried about it. But then every once in a while I have a great training week/weekend and it makes me think it’s doable. I’m like you in that I want to go under 12 hours, and want to be pretty confident that I can…I don’t want to do a 5 hour marathon or 7 hour bike ride (or God forbid, both). Last weekend I had a miserable 2 hour run. This Sat I did a 2000 M swim, followed by a 4.5 hr bike, followed by a 55 min run at 8:30 min/mile (I kept forcing myself to slow down knowing I still had a long run today). Today my long run was about 1:55 at 9 min miles and an easy 1:30 bike ride after. I felt and feel great.
You have to be prepared for setbacks, but stick to the plan, follow it and if it’s a good plan (I’m using the Competitive plan from the book BeIronFit) it will get you there.
Consistency. When you keep training, your body and fitness build up to what you want it to do. You’ll get there, have some patience! I think it is sweet that you’re back into tris, even after two decades away.
You’ve more or less alluded to the issues facing you (just getting back into it after 20 years) and have received the best advice (keep at it)…and stay injury free.
If your long range goal is an IM in '08, you’re well on your way. I think we’ve all been faced with the question after a 50-60 mile bike “f***, that’s only half the IM ride and I’ve got to swim for an hour before and then cover the marathon distance after…no way!!”
It sounds like you are well on the way to figuring it out. IM is both a physical and mental challenge.
Ask yourself whether you have, objectively, the ability and willingness to commit to the training requirement. You’ll have some idea what that means for you at 48 with your base, your experience, your physiology (& your 12 hour ambition). As a benchmark, I’d guess you’d need a minimum of 4-6 months at about 12 hours per week. It could be more or less, based on personal factors.
Then ask yourself whether, subjectively, you really want to take up the challenge. Don’t ask the question “can I do that - race so far - 12 long hours?” Wrong question. Ask “Do I want this? Do I commit?”. If the answer is yes, then trust that everything else will flow from the commitment and fall into place. It has for grandmothers and grandfathers and wheelchair athletes, and one-armed athletes, and many thousand Joe/ Mary Average athletes who took on IM, and it will for you.
There is too much mystique about IM. It is just the perfect length, no more. Not everyone can do it, but pretty nearly anyone who wants to can. Casey is right - you just change your perspective. I do ultras as well as IMs - 24 hour races, 48 hour and multi-day races. You just toss your ambition a little further out, your perspective shifts. I raced a 15/400/100 deca tri once. During the run I was thinking…that’s one marathon down… that’s two marathons down… nearly there… It’s all just one foot in front of the other! Once my entry form had gone in, I didn’t ever think I wouldn’t finish.
I like the advice that says “Bite off more than you can chew, then chew like crazy!”
Is this a reasonable plan for someone who is 48? I really work hard at keeping myself contained because my enthusiasm gets ahead of my body limitations. <<
Don’t even bring your age into it. Your plan looks good and now you just need to execute and stay consistent. I’m a year younger than you and I’m excited about the year ahead–doing things I’ve never done and have been afraid to do in the past. You’ll get there, I’ll bet.
I’ve never done one, and I’m not a USAT certified coach, but everything I’ve read (and I’m the difference between knowledge & information), says that it’s a multiyear journey. Just keep trucking until you can bike 6 hours and run 2 hours, easy, w/o needing extended recovery. Do some olys & halfs along the way. Enjoy the journey. If that doesn’t work, pay a coach $500/month to tell you “more is more”.
Tim, whats the issue? I did my first and only IM so far at 48. I had NEVER ridden my bike more than 56 miles in a HIM. I had only ran once over 13 miles in a marathon. I only trained 4 to 6 hours a week total.
So, as long as one paces themself, you would have no issue doing an IM. But, I did not pace on the run correctly, so it was a lot of walking on the second lap.
Now, no question the more on can train, and stay healthy and motivated, the “better” one can do. But for most of use, its an experience, not a race. And I see nothing wrong with this. The world now has more fat folks than hungry folks from what I just read. So, our world would be much better off with a lot of folks doing events for the experience, than the pressure to race, IMO. :o)
This may sound really crazy or totally off the wall, but my experience is, after having climbed this mountain about three times, that the first 50 miles on the bike, or the first 10 miles on the run in training are much harder than the second 50 miles on the bike or the second 10 miles running. In other words, it it a lot harder working up to being able to ride 50 miles or run 10 miles, then it it is to extend rides from 50 miles up to 100 miles or runs from 10 miles to 20 miles. However, in races, it is the opposite. The second 50 or the second 10 miles are always harder.
Now this is just empirical data based on a sample size of one so reserve your own judgement. But I know when I get back up over 10 miles per run or 50 on the bike, it is very easy to dial up to 13, 15 and 18 mile runs. Similarly, once I get to 50 miles reasonably it is very easy to dial up to 60 and 80 mile rides.
For the record, Christmas 2002 I was 35+ pounds heavier (5’3", 170+ lbs), 48 years old, and out of serious triathlons for 12 years. I did my first IM two years ago. Next week, Wisconsin will be my third. It can be done.
Yup, I like Casey’s post - the total IM is NOT as hard as each individual sport. After a marathon, the runners (whom I’m friends with) always ask “how in the hell do you guys do this after a 112 mile bike ride!” They are in awe because they are so knackered after the run (and they run hard). They can’t get their head around a 10 - 11 hour race. I am just as sore after a mary (if not more). I think the same after a tough 120 mile ride with the roadies - ouch, I wouldn’t to run 5K after this. But … somehow, magically, it gets done. Just keep going, build your nice, deep base, and it is YOURS!
Just get Gordo’s “Going Long” and Gale Bernhardt’s “Training Plans for Multisport Athletes,” follow the plans and recommendations about nutrition and pace, and you should be fine.
Jump in the Deep end and learn to swim with the Sharks.
I think you are limiting yourself too much. Launch yourself into the world of learning what you can do buy biting off more than you can chew and then chewing it.
Have you ever seen a ski jumper jump off the jump when he is not totally committed? He ends up in a crash!
Those who totally commit to a goal achieve it! So where is your focus?
I hear your voice, soft and whimpery! It needs to be a roar!
A training buddy and I were noting the other day how the mind prepares itself for the distance you’re planning to do so that you tend to feel roughly the same after a ride of any distance, no matter what. In other words, if I’m doing a 50 mile ride, I’ll start smellin’ the barn and looking forward to being done at about mile 37 or so. But if I’m doing an 80 mile ride, I won’t get into that mindset until I’ve reached 65 miles or so. It’s just something the mind does.
So go out and do an 80 mile ride and you’ll probably see that you don’t feel much different than you did doing 50. Then go do 100, etc.
Not that I’m any IM expert. Never done one and never will.