I go 5:47 @ Ralph’s: 42:30 swim, 3:02 bike, 1:54 run. My '05 goal is to break 12 hours @ IMF–1st IM. What is your take on making this goal based on these times in March? Doing 3 more 1/2s in '05 and scheduling training in two-week intervals w/ about 12 hours per week–six swims, six bikes w/ one brick run, and five runs. Free coaching?
I’d say you’re on the road. The Ralph’s bike course is very tough. Guys I know who went 3 hours on that course went in the 5:20’s at IMF.
I’d say you definitely need more run frequency and judging from your swim time, more work in the pool(Not putting you down - I didn’t swim much faster than that).
w/ about 12 hours per week–six swims, six bikes w/ one brick run, and five runs.
If that many sessions only totals 12 hours, many of your sessions aren’t long enough. You need to do a 90-minute swim workout once a week if you expect to be fresh after swimming 75-90 minutes in the ocean. You need to ride 5-6 hours at least a half dozen times, and you need to run 2 hours every week for 8-10 weeks. Those three long sessions alone will eat up most of your 12 hours.
Instead of swimming 6x, you might try cutting that down to 4 and swimming longer. Same with the bike rides.
I hope that it works, I’m planning on the same sort of thing.
Aiming for 5:45 at Timberman in August and sub 12 at IMNZ next March.
J.
General rule of thumb is double your half and add an hour, but this does not always work out. Could be better or it could be worse. It all comes down to the last 13 on the run and how well you prepare for that.
You also have almost another year to train, so you should be able to improve a lot with consistent smart training and recovery.
March is early, so you’ll need to plan out your transition from this season to the next. Try to focus on your halfs as one year is a long time to be thinking about one race.
Buy Going Long and read all of Gordo’s stuff on his site. You can also get a ton of advice here on ST.
My last 2 IMs were just under and just over 12 hours. Like you, the majority of my training was with 12 hour weeks. I did 5:32 at IM 1/2 CA so I’d say that with the correct work-outs a sub 12hr IM is a good target for your first IM. For me the key to doing my best IM has been having a couple of mega work-out weeks with long work-outs to prepare my body for the demands of a 12 hour race and good recovery in between those weeks.
One thing for you to keep in mind however is that regardless of your fitness and the # of halves you’ve done, the full IM is a very different beast in terms of nutrition and hyrdration and many a first time Ironman participant has been forced to walk the last 10 miles because the body just doesn’t have any more to give. Testing nutrition strategies on long bike rides and runs is a good idea but sometimes it just takes a full race or two to dial in on what fueling strategy will keep you going at the end. There is a good Scott Molina story somewhere about his many struggles at Hawaii and what he learned about his personal physiology in the process.
–wh