First Half and not sure about Training plan

I assume you mean a Half Ironman not a Half marathon.

It depends on what your goal is. If it is just to finish and don't mind possibly suffering to make it, then in my opinion you could get away with a something like a peak of 9 hours a week. To me 9 hours should be more like the starting point for an HIM training plan and over 20 weeks build to something around the 16 hr/week training effort.

I finished a HIM last year and followed a plan that peaked out around 16 hours/wk. I was glad I did. A HIM distance is asking a lot from your body so the training plan should be designed to build the endurance to make it. The key is building good endurance on the bike so getting in that long ride in is essential. The plan I followed built to from 2 hour long rides to 4 hour long rides fairly quickly and maintained that until the taper. The long run built more gradually from 1 - 2 hours.

I just finished my first 70.3, Mooseman, going by the plan here:

http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms/tno_HIM.asp

I was peaking at about 15 hours a week. I finished the race at about 650 out of 850. I'm no slouch, but I didn't push myself. I just wanted to finish under 7 hrs.

Still, it was a tough race, and I'm glad I followed that plan (though I skipped a few weeks due to fatigue.)

Now I'm lining up my training plan for my next 70.3 in September, and thought I'd try the training plan here. It's a little more structured than the plan I followed (more emphasis on zone workouts and things like form and practicing transitions) -- but it also seems REALLY light in terms of workload.

I got to this thread because as I was reviewing the workload, I wondered, "Is this for real? Has anyone ever raced on this plan?" A lot of the workouts are swim-based too. Weird, especially since that's the shortest leg of the race.

So there's my two cents. After I finish reviewing, I may go back to the plan I initially followed.

My bf used the BT Beginner HIM training plan for his first HIM.

It's too light on the bike. He suffered on the run... badly. The heat and hills didn't help... but his cycling wasn't where it needed to be, because the plan didn't call for it.

If you want to up the hours... you can easily add time by spending more time riding. You can do it swimming too. But I think most plans are way too heavy on the swimming anyways. So your time is probably better spent on the bike.

Also, I know it's based on time... but I personally, run 13-15 miles in training for a HIM. So if they say run 2 hours and that only gets you 10 miles, it's something to think about as well.

Good luck!

I can echo what KSH said above.  For me, the key wasn't figuring out the amount of hours of training, it's figuring out that you can cover the distance.  I just finished a beginner/intermediate HIM program that was based on time, and what I did was figure out what I thought my race pace would be and make an estimate based on the time on the plan.  For example, I thought I would average around 20mph on the bike, so when the plan called for a 3.5hr ride, I extrapolated that to mean a 70 mile ride.  For that ride I didn't ride at 20mph, I just worked on covering the distance and let the time be what it may.  Does that make sense?

From my own personal experience here were my lessons learned:

• Follow the plan.  Focus on getting in 90%+ of the workouts per week.
• Respect the distance.  Understand that those long rides/runs are the key components to your program, DON'T skip any of them.
• If you need to make weekly adjustments to fit the workouts into your schedule, you have the flexibility to do so.
• If you miss a mid-week workout, don't beat yourself up about it, sometimes life just gets in the way and move on.  Don't worry about trying to make it up unless you miss 2 or more workouts.

I tried to work out every day, even if it was just a swim.  I found that when I took a rest day once a week that it actually made me MORE tired.  My body adjusted well to working out every day.  With that being said, when I hit peak weeks I had to incorporate a rest day.

Hope this helps!

I agree with the sentiment to go by distance more than time.

Last year was my first HIM, but I've raced and trained for Olympics for 5 years before that so I had a good base.  I ranged from 6 to 12 hours a week.  I tried to stick around the 3 times per week plan.  3 rides, 3 runs and 3 swims.  The swims were more like 2 times a week and I didn't get enough in.  It's my weakest link but didn't destroy my race.  I also did not train enough BRIK workouts.  Ride to run transition was a little rough.

This year I'm ranging 8 to 11 hours per week training but the HIM target is in September so I'm not looking at my peak weeks yet.  I had an early HIM this year (flatted out) and I was pretty confident I was going to better last year due to a modified traininig plan, more swimming and more BRIKS even though it wasn't a target race.  I think you want to be in the 9-12 hour range for HIM training to have an A race if you have a good base.  If you're going from no tri's or sprints to a HIM, I'd be looking at 12-16 hours per week if you want to cross the line strong.  9 hours a week will get you to the finish line.

In reality everyone's different.  Choose a plan and modify it to what you think will get your there so you don't have the anxiety of "did I train enough?  too little?  too much?".

Thanks for confirming that KSH!  I had that plan loaded but I looked at it and said, "no way in heck!"  I jumped up to the intermediate plan in the silver membership.  Fear of not being prepared is a great motivator.  I feel as though I need to be spinning 100 - 150 miles per week with lots of hill work to prepare.  I did my first half mary in May and as I was finishing the .1 mile of that run, I thought that there was no way I could do that same run after 56 hilly miles on a bike. 

Yep I do 100 to 120 miles a WEEK on the bike when HIM training.

See, a 60 mile ride should be easy in training. So on race day 56 miles is easy and you don't suffer on the run.

I also go by distance and not time.