My wife gave me a challenge. Can you train for an Ironman doing other exercises, with these caveats:
No swimming, no vasa swim machine, no aqua
No bicycling indoors, no trainers, no stationary bike, no recumbant bike
No running, no treadmill
Max is 7 hours per week
My thought is as follows:
Dead Bug exercises (simulates free style swimming)
Each Dead Bug takes about 10 seconds
(10) sets of 12 Dead Bugs is 20 minutes, 3 times a week is 1 hour per week
Rowing machine (works quads, glutes, aerobic)
Do (4) sets of 15 minutes, which is 60 minutes, 3 times a week is 3 hours
Yoga (works on balance for running and overall body conditioning)
Do 1 hour sessions, 3 times a week, total is 3 hours
Total is 7 hours total per week.
I would love to cross country ski, but there is not a lot of snow in Florida. Lucky for Dev and the Canucks.
Can anybody think of better exercises/drills/etc. to do?
It’s really not foolish. I’ve done (33) Ironmans (10) Boston Marathons and (5) 100 Mile Ultras and countless other tri’s and marathons. At 64 years of age, my body can no longer take the day to day training, but I’d still like to continue competing and racing. Maybe a month before the Ironman, I’ll get in the water, bike a few miles and jog around the block.
I think there’s a good chunk of people who do an IM without even these substitutes. A bunch of them (not all) are the ones suffering before the half-way point on the bike and plans to actually walk the marathon.
As per your question, we learned here a while ago that one could, umm, substitute elliptical for running. This might help on the bike as well. Maybe also some version of roller blading or those cross-country ski roller blade thingies I see every once in a while.
I think there’s a good chunk of people who do an IM without even these substitutes. A bunch of them (not all) are the ones suffering before the half-way point on the bike and plans to actually walk the marathon.
As per your question, we learned here a while ago that one could, umm, substitute elliptical for running. This might help on the bike as well. Maybe also some version of roller blading or those cross-country ski roller blade thingies I see every once in a while.
Yup - I specifically know 2 people who don’t swim at all, except for one or two sessions, before doing an ironman and a couple others who really do almost no training before an ironman - they finish the races in about 16 hours and don’t care that they walk 90 percent of the marathon.
My body is starting to fall apart from all of the years pounding the pavement. Thus, the challenge is “How can you train smarter without the continuous repetitive effort of S/B/R and still be in shape to toe the line?”
A lot of athletes (me included) always felt that pushing your body to do one more set, running 1 more mile today, doing as many 4+ hour bike rides as possible in order to acclimate the body for the ability to cover 140.6 miles on race day.
I love to train, but the reality is that I can no longer go out for a long 60 mile training run to get ready to do a 100 mile ultra.
I’ll be 64 next month and I’m a vet of multiple IMs and ultras like you. I quit swimming and cycling training during the pandemic but continue to run just under 40 miles per week and do push-ups and pull-ups daily. I’ve done multiple sprint tris the past two years and my times weren’t that much slower than pre-pandemic when I was doing balanced SBR training, but I can’t imagine finishing an IM on my current training. Talk about a sufferfest that could cause your body to fall apart, at least short term.
Candyman, thanks for your response. I still don’t see the point of what you’re planning. I’m however in no position to tell a guy in his 60s and with loads of experience what he should do or want to do. Hope I’ll still have the enthusiasm to get off my ass in any way, shape or form 23 years from now.
My wife gave me a challenge. Can you train for an Ironman doing other exercises, with these caveats:
No swimming, no vasa swim machine, no aqua
No bicycling indoors, no trainers, no stationary bike, no recumbant bike
No running, no treadmill
Max is 7 hours per week
My thought is as follows:
Dead Bug exercises (simulates free style swimming)
Each Dead Bug takes about 10 seconds
(10) sets of 12 Dead Bugs is 20 minutes, 3 times a week is 1 hour per week
Rowing machine (works quads, glutes, aerobic)
Do (4) sets of 15 minutes, which is 60 minutes, 3 times a week is 3 hours
Yoga (works on balance for running and overall body conditioning)
Do 1 hour sessions, 3 times a week, total is 3 hours
Total is 7 hours total per week.
I would love to cross country ski, but there is not a lot of snow in Florida. Lucky for Dev and the Canucks.
Can anybody think of better exercises/drills/etc. to do?
That sounds like an interesting challenge! To the suggestions already made, I’d add some aerobics - break out the old P90X, T25, Reebok Step and Jane Fonda videos and feel the burn. 3 out of 7 hours on yoga doesn’t seem like a great choice to me - could you replace those 3 hours with aerobic exercise and then do the yoga in smaller chunks and call it “rehab” rather than “training”, or would that be cheating?
My body is starting to fall apart from all of the years pounding the pavement. Thus, the challenge is “How can you train smarter without the continuous repetitive effort of S/B/R and still be in shape to toe the line?”
A lot of athletes (me included) always felt that pushing your body to do one more set, running 1 more mile today, doing as many 4+ hour bike rides as possible in order to acclimate the body for the ability to cover 140.6 miles on race day.
I love to train, but the reality is that I can no longer go out for a long 60 mile training run to get ready to do a 100 mile ultra.
I hear you about getting older and finding it more difficult to keep the body from falling apart. At least you don’t have to deal with menopause. That sucks!
Some strategies I’m incorporating to do my 5th and maybe last Ironman at age 53 (crushed my first 4 IMs all in my late 40s but 50s I am struggling)
I finally have a Lever coming early next week according to FedEX - It’s the “poor man’s” Alter G. I’m hoping to add more running at less body weight and hoping this allows me to add more speed work w/o all the problems I get now. If the Lever is good enough for the pros, it’s good enough for me. You could also add in some Elliptical as someone mentioned in place of one of your weekly runs if you normally do over 3 runs per week.
-I purchased an Endless Pool over a year ago and now swim 6 x a week. Swimming is easy on the body. I realize not everyone can purchase one, but adding an extra swim day at the lap pool and one less run per week may help.
-cross train! Do more xc skiing in the winter if possible. Hike once a week even if it’s a short hike from your house. Great for all those stabilizer tissues in the feet and ankles.
-add mobility work and dynamic stretching or yoga as well as some strength training. I’m not convinced you need to “lift heavy shit” (I see that on all the old lady menopause FB groups) but just reasonable movement at home is very helpful
-foam rollers and The Stick - use them daily. I don’t go to bed until I’ve done at least some foam rolling or using The Stick for a few minutes
-less is more - I’m not convinced you need to do 20 hrs a week when older. Find a coach who will give you a “work smarter” not harder training plan