What it took to break 11hrs

Triathlon Forum
1

My goal this year is to break the 11hr barrier. My goal race is Ironman Arizona. I just raced SOMA where I finished in 5:10. I have a coach now and am planning on training close to 16 hrs a week on average. My question to you is;

  1. Did you have a coach?
  2. How many hours a week did you train?
  3. Did you train alone?
  4. What was your half iron split prior to breaking 11hrs?
  5. How many months did you train?
  6. How many Ironmans did you complete prior to breaking 11?

Thanks for all the help.

2

Pool Time.

3

Speaking of 11…

Chip, it’s been asked many time before, but when and where did you break 11?

http://www.triresults.com/Participant_Results.cfm?participant_id=23057

4
  1. yes, but only for a program and in the pool.
  2. max 20 mostly 16
  3. swim squad otherwise alone
  4. 5.15
  5. 12 months but years on the bike and years running
  6. 0
5

Cool site! But you it is missing anything older than 2001.

Oh, and many times before? I cant recall anyone on ST asking what my times are…I am MOP at best man.

6

Thanks! What was your time and what race did you get it at?

7

bump
.

8
  1. No
  2. about 15
  3. mix of alone and in a competitive group situation in all three sports
  4. close to four hours
  5. Started tris in 1981 did not do an IM till 1989
  6. None.

Fleck

9

Average 2 hours of training per day for 2-5 years. That will get you to ~700-800 hours per year. That should give you the overall aerobic base from where you can safely do a 6-8 week mega volume push to realize your Ironman goals, without burning out or getting injured. Its the training to train part that most people overlook. They want results and they want them fast…but if you talk to DeBoom or Reid, they’ll tell you it took them years to “train to train”

Personally, I was doing triathlon for 6 years before my first Ironman. I feel that people jump into Ironman racing too quickly with unrealistically high expectations. i am not saying that your expectations are high as I have no clue what your Olympic and half Ironman times are, what your run base is and how many years you have been racing.

Good luck.

10

I went 10:48 at IMAZ and 10:55 at IMC this year…

  1. Did you have a coach? No
  2. How many hours a week did you train? average about 15 for 3 years. Biggest week was 23
  3. Did you train alone? Yes
  4. What was your half iron split prior to breaking 11hrs? 6h 03m (I don’t really do many tri’s other than IM, and this was on a hard course (old world’s toughest half))
  5. How many months did you train? I have pretty much trained straight through since my first IM in 8/2003. I take 1 month completely off after each IM.
  6. How many Ironmans did you complete prior to breaking 11? 4. Previous best was 11:14

The biggest changes I made to my training between the 11:14 and the 10:48? I bought a computrainer and increased my bike volumen/intensity significantly. I took 21 minutes off my bike split in 5 months of training.

11

dp,
Here is a little background, I have been doing tris since 1998, I have completed 9 Ironmans, most around low 12 with one high 11. These were all done with approximately 8 hrs a week training. Most recently, at SOMA 1/2 (same course as IMAZ) I finsished in 5:10. I am trying to get an idea if I am close to what others have done in terms of background and training to get to the 10 hour mark. I am currently training now with a coach and we are progressing towards 16 hours a week on average. Thanks for the reply!

12

1 no, other than Gordo’s site
2 10-20, usually about 15
3 no, run with runners, bike with roadies, and survive masters
4 4:58 (first triathlon)
5 about 9 from the time i signed up, about 12x24yrs leading up to that
6 0
.

13

I’m also currently training for IMAZ with the goal of going sub 10. I did SOMA in 4:26 and live here in the Valley.

  1. Yes
  2. Currently approximately 15 hours/week
  3. Mostly, once a week with my coach, once a month in a group ride
  4. 4:26 and that was my first Half
  5. I have been training since March of this year
  6. 0
14

OK, 2 problems that I detect that your coach likely already has spoken to you about:

  1. 5:10 on a fast course like Soma likely does not equate to the speed required to go sub 11. You likely need to get closer to 4:50 range at Soma for that to translate for a sub 11 IMNA performance

  2. You can’t expect to do 10:59 hours of exercise in a day at a high output, when you only do 8 hours in an entire week

Also I am curious … when you say 8 hours average, and 16 hours average is that for a key 3-5 month period, or are we talking for 52 weeks. I’m saying that you’ll want a few years in the 700-800 hours range, which is just under 2 hours per day of training EVERY day of the year which is a lot. This means several days of 3-6 hours to balance off all those 0 hour days.

Dev

15

I did a 10:23 at IMFL 4 weeks ago. Prior to that I did an 11:48 at IMWI.

  1. No coach, I was my own coach.
  2. Highest 2 week average was 20.5 hours per week.
  3. I mostly trained alone, except for open water swims and some group fun runs.
  4. My half iron split was 4:34 in 2006.
  5. I train year round.
  6. I did 1 prior Ironman before IMFL.

However, you need to determine how fast you think you can bike 112 miles and have something left for the marathon? The bulk of the time is on the bike but if you wipe yourself out on the bike your marathon will be a walk-a-thon. A better indicator then the half-iron split would be your 112 mile bike and 15K run split during training, this would not be an all out performance, just a training workout to base your fitness levels upon.

16

Shouldn’t your coach be the one to answer your question? What is the point of having a coach if he/she can’t help you attain your goals?

17

Who are your parents?

18

not to be a dick to the op, but I kind of agree with Picasso.

You need to address these questions with your coach.

19

Another 2007 IMAZer

  1. No
  2. Weekly average for 2006 is 15, minimum focus training is around 20, max is whatever i survive.
  3. Most of the time
  4. Went 4:31 and 4:28
  5. I’ve been training with an Ironman focus since July of 2004, been training in some fashion since 1991 (mostly swimming).
  6. 1 - 12:05

According to the rule of thumb I follow (HIM * 2 + 1 hr) your goal is realistic provided you have a good training period and good race execution.

I’ll echo the sentiments of dp that background training, and length of consistant training is huge.

I am currently on working towards having a super-peak IM race in 2008, everything I’ve done and am doing now is just helping me to be able to absorb the training I’ll need to do to do something insane relative to me in 2008.

20

dp,
I agree on your points, here is some more backgrund to help clarify my situation. The Ironmans I did in the past were based on about 8 hrs a week of training. Last Ironman I did was Florida last year. I am not training 8 hours a week now, more like 14-16. I stared training with my coach just after SOMA which was OCT 30th. I am in the Navy and just returned from a long deployment mid september, my 5:10 at SOMA was after only 5 weeks of training. I think that I could have been a bit faster than that if I had more time to train. I understand that I dont have 700-800 hours a year of training under my belt, but I think that I have a good aerobic base, and I have from now until April to train hard and with the help of a coach it seems possible.