I have to live on my trainer until mid-April. Yeah, I know, it sucks. However, does anybody think I could pull off an IM with only 12 good weeks cycling on the roads? Perhaps I should select a race further out towards September? Any ideas from those of you who live in the snow covered regions of North America?
guess a good part of the answert depends on how much base you already have in you?
I have a fair amount (base) and never took any extended time off after IMC last Aug. pulled back in late Sept. and devoted Oct. to a running month. I have been on the roads on a limited basis since Nov. 1 (actually not at all in Nov. just 2 days in Dec, 4 days in Jan) but have lived on my trainer in prep for IMAZ. Rode 70 miles a couple weeks ago and felt fine.
With 12 weeks prep and all the trainer time you want until April you should have no problems.
Whew, I’m glad I’m not the only one with a similar ‘problem.’ I’m coming off a winter of xc-ski racing and haven’t touched my bike or swam since IM Moo last September. I won’t start riding my trainer (or swimming) until early March and most likely won’t get outside on my bike until April at best. I’ve get IM CDA at the end of June so that gives me about 3.5 months of bike and swim training to prepare for the Ironman. I’ve never tried this before but I’ve received comments from people that have done it on 12 weeks of specific Ironman training and they say it’s definitely doable but it may be best to not think about setting PRs and the like. What IM are you looking at doing?
-Matt
I don’t have a specific race yet. I am open to about anywhere but Lake Placid and Madison are appealing (I am from NY and have family in WI). I don’t think AZ is an option as we don’t see pavement here in Newfoundland until about mid-April. Hills don’t bother me as that is all we have here. A flat ride is out of the question. We have only about 1 km of flat down at the harbour front. The rest is either up or down. I guess if I hit the trainer really hard…