# Half Ironman Training Plans???



## Davzorla8 (21 Jan 2013)

Hey guys. 25 weeks until my first half IM... Would like to start following a proper programme. Seen a few out there which are like £100 to buy. Not sure if its worth spending that kind of money on? Anyone know of any good programmes for me?

Thank you


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## Crackle (21 Jan 2013)

Seriously, try your local library.


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## Arsen Gere (21 Jan 2013)

Friel and Fink do various ones but tbh you need to make your own plan round your life.

Look at the date of your race, take off four weeks, then work out how you are going to get to those distances at that date. You need some contingency built in too for injuries, illness and family matters and say a 2-3 week taper. Then work on a build up of around 10% per week for each distance. The sooner you can get to the required distances the more time you have to spend on improving speed etc.
Plan for at least 3 runs/3 swims/3 bike rides. The runs are most important because if you don't maintain fitness there and bang a long a or hard run you risk injury more than the other two and it will set you back.
Aim to do the distance over a couple of days in training. You should be able to do a 2k swim and 13 mile run in a day and still do a 60 mile bike ride the following day. I do them that way round as the bike takes a long time and it is my Sunday ride. Thats the guts of it.

You can do bricks at various distances to get used to the transitions.You can use shorter races in the lead up to improve transitions and fitness. You need to write down what you have done so you can work out what you need to do next. If you skipped bike/run/swims, make sure you do them the following week.


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## Davzorla8 (21 Jan 2013)

Very helpful, thanks very much


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## Rob3rt (22 Jan 2013)

Arsen Gere said:


> Friel and Fink do various ones but tbh you need to make your own plan round your life.
> 
> Look at the date of your race, take off four weeks, then work out how you are going to get to those distances at that date. You need some contingency built in too for injuries, illness and family matters and say a 2-3 week taper. Then work on a build up of around 10% per week for each distance. The sooner you can get to the required distances the more time you have to spend on improving speed etc.
> Plan for at least 3 runs/3 swims/3 bike rides. The runs are most important because if you don't maintain fitness there and bang a long a or hard run you risk injury more than the other two and it will set you back.
> ...


 
I think this needs clarification. I think (at least I hope) what Arsen Gere is saying is, don't miss the same thing a couple of weeks on a trot. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE UP LOST HOURS/MILES/TRAINING STRESS SCORES IN A SUBSEQUENT WEEK. If you miss a workout, note it down, but do not try to fit it in else where in addition to a weeks training load, it is gone, forget it and move on. If you skip too much, you need to go backwards along your time line and repeat an earlier week and carry on from there.


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## Arsen Gere (22 Jan 2013)

Rob3rt said:


> I think this needs clarification. I think (at least I hope) what Arsen Gere is saying is, don't miss the same thing a couple of weeks on a trot. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE UP LOST HOURS IN A SUBSEQUENT WEEK. If you miss a workout, note it down, but do not try to fit it in else where in addition to a weeks training load, it is gone, forget it and move on. If you skip too much, you need to go backwards along your time line and repeat an earlier week and carry on from there.


 Yep, playing catchup is not a good idea. If I did 2 bike sessions, 3 runs and 3 swims last week. I will make sure I do 3 bike sessions this week even if I have to drop one off the swim. 3 x run is the most important to prevent injury. I swap around what I do all the time for work and bad weather conditions.


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## Rob3rt (23 Jan 2013)

BTW, didn't mean to be overly shouty with the caps lock, sorry if it came off like that ^^

It is just a terribly bad thing to do and most of the people who do it are those who are at the highest risk, i.e. newbys. Done it myself plenty times and see others doing it all the time.

Even now I still get tempted, yesterday I missed my 4x5 min session on the bike, missing the session was my fault and I felt guilty, so today I was very tempted to double up and 4x5 min it on the morning then a 40 mile aerobic endurance ride this evening. Knowing full well tomorrow is pencilled in to be a 2x20 threshold session. I would be smashed by the end of tomorrow if I did this and the threshold session probably would not be very productive.

In such circumstances you need to think, which is the more crucial session at this stage in your season, for me in this example, the choice is do I sacrifice a 40 mile endurance ride with the club or a high intensity ride? In my case my aerobic base is pretty good (less than 3% decoupling between power and HR over a 2 hour ride), so by skipping this endurance ride I am not sacrificing much other than a bit of a social and can fit in my high intensity session today and recover enough to perform my threshold session at the right intensity tomorrow.

It is hard sometimes but you need to think like this to get the best out of yourself.


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## xxmimixx (4 Feb 2013)

is this of any help? 

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/trainingplans-list.asp?h=1


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## Arsen Gere (4 Feb 2013)

xxmimixx said:


> is this of any help?
> 
> http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/trainingplans-list.asp?h=1


 
I've not seen any of the details of the plans from this site so I am talking out of my hat but I don't like plans based on time, ie swim 2 hrs. I prefer to work with volume based on distance. ie swim 4k.
Same principle for run and bike. The reason being that people vary so much in their abilities. For example I occaisionaly swim in the same pool as a guy who does 55 min 4k's so a 2hr swim would not be appropriate for him for an Ironman.
I record intensity separately but constantly watch volume (distance) which is crucial to longer distance races. HTH.


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## black'n'yellow (4 Feb 2013)

Arsen Gere said:


> I've not seen any of the details of the plans from this site so I am talking out of my hat but I don't like plans based on time, ie swim 2 hrs. I prefer to work with volume based on distance. ie swim 4k.
> Same principle for run and bike. The reason being that people vary so much in their abilities. For example I occaisionaly swim in the same pool as a guy who does 55 min 4k's so a 2hr swim would not be appropriate for him for an Ironman.
> I record intensity separately but constantly watch volume (distance) which is crucial to longer distance races. HTH.


 
99% of all performance coaches would probably disagree with you on that. Training volume is usually measured in hours, not distance.


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## Demonclimber (4 Feb 2013)

Tend to agree with above, don't get bogged down with distances - it's the long dark road to beating yourself up if you don't do the same/greater distance each week, go by hours with time spent in training zones (HR and/or Power). Trained with a coach from The Triathlon Coach for 3 years for half and long distance races and NEVER EVER recorded or worried about distance, just time. Hope that helps and good luck.


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## Davzorla8 (5 Feb 2013)

Cheers for all the messages guys. Taking it all in and applying my own style on it. Injuries are holding me back at the moment tho


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