Looking to fellow Texans for an answer.

welcome todd.  congrats on quitting smoking.

looking at what you have in your logs, only a few days of course, and looking at your results from couples, a 10:48 pace (5k),  tells me you're probably not close to 20 mpw right now.  so if you do that in bold you're gonna get injured.  which makes everything else, longhorn, woody, etc... irrelevant.  

good luck. 

Do you have a training plan or coach? If not then find a plan and get started working towards your goals. You say that your goal is to complete the races within the finishing time. But you also don't want to have a miserable day at the race because you're under trained. It is a lot easier to throw together a plan for shorter distances and then suck it up at the race. HIM or IM distances aren't races that you would want to try that at. It is going to take more than completing X amount of hours in each sport to complete the race. Which is why I suggested getting a good plan or a coach. There are many plans on BT or the internet to choose from.

Congrats on setting a goal. That is the first step. Now its time to get to work and start training for your races. Enjoy your journey.



Edited by Catwoman 2010-08-06 5:13 AM

This user's post has been ignored.

I personally believe if your set on doing this and willing to put the time in and follow a set training plan for the IM then I see no problem. I personally went a little slower. I didn't do my first half til 15 months in but I also wanted to be fats and possibly place. I hope ya accomplish your goal and good luck. Mind over matter

while there is often good advice on BT, Don't put a lot of weight into the opinions of your goals/dreams from anonymous people on the net.

while it may not be what some would describe as the best way, it's not completely unheard of.  Train to the best of your ability and enjoy yourself. 

Finding a good coach or a tri club to learn from are great sugestions

It comes down to how much time and focus you have (or will have).  The long-course events require a lot of base-building - something you can't rush too much because you have to also allow your body time to recover - or injury is a major risk (ask me how I know...).  I've stayed away from them my first year since I know that building a good base for even an Olympic distance is going to be tough and my view of a "race" is something different - I want to be more than prepared for it where finishing isn't even a question. 

You are using the events as motivation for some life changes so that's a good thing - but make sure you have guidance (coach, tri-club, training plan...but don't forget nutrition, recovery, etc.).  The injury risk is very real and will set you back a lot if it happens. I've gotten some scares when I didn't take my own advice (a couple of weeks ago, I did a 50-mile bike ride then decided to brick a run after...I felt good so I kept running and did my longest run ever - 7 miles...had some slight strain that went away, then decided to run 4 miles the next day...finished feeling ok, but then my achilles started getting sore to the point where I was limping a few hours after the run...glad it went away the next day but considering I only run about 12-15 miles per week, doing 11 miles in 2 days was not very smart).

Also, if you're on an aggressive base-building HIM/IM plan, are you realistic about your ability to recover.  Can you get enough sleep in AND still do your workouts AND do all your daily activities (work can get in the way ....) AND balance life? You'll have to learn proper nutrition as well to help with recovery and improvements.

Your plan should have a variety in activities  but I can tell you immediately that your cycling plan is pretty weak (40-50 miles per week is way too little). I cycle around 120+ miles per week (averaging around 19-20mph) and I think that it barely meets the criteria for being ready to do the HIM 56-mile distance. Remember that cycling is the longest portion of the long-course events.  5 miles of swimming sounds like a lot in comparison to 40-50 miles of cycling...so that may have to be rebalanced if needed. 20'ish mpw sounds a bit low for HIM distance as that is close to what my target is for Olympic distance and that's only a 6.2 mile run vs 13+ miles.

Good luck!

First, welcome to BT! Second, as gaary pointed out, I'm just some guy on the internet, so bear that in mind while reading my opinions, for that's what they are.

I'll agree with Brandt (OldAg). Your times are not terribly slow and you have some time to work with before Austin 70.3 (which is what I think you're referring to, not the Austin Triathlon Olympic next month).

If you're realistic in your expectations, and it sounds like you are, I think you can get to the point of completion. Despite the doubling of the distance, you're actually better situated for IMTX than Austin 70.3. You've got just over 10 weeks for that one. That said, you need a plan. Your proposed swim volume looks fine, maybe even a little higher than absolutely necessary. Your run volume, depending on how you break it up, should be okay. The bike volume is almost certainly too low. Most plans you'll find, even those where the goal is just to finish, will have close to double that volume each week.

At a minimum, I would consider the following (which are pretty core principles):
- one long run each week, starting with the longest your comfortable doing now. Don't go out and run as far as you can. From there, add no more than 10% each week to gradually build the max distance. If you can't get to race distance in the time you have, get as close as you can, without breaking the 10% rule. To do otherwise is just asking for injury.
- one long ride each week, again starting at a comfortable distance and gradually building. If you can get to race distance, do it. The more of those you can do in the weeks before the race, the better.
- don't worry about tempo or interval workouts. That's the icing on the cake. You haven't even baked the cake yet. You workouts should be all about building your base fitness.
- the 10% rule applies to overall volume as well as individual workouts. In other words, don't increase your long runs or rides more than 10% week over week, but don't increase the total volume for the week by more than 10% either.
- as suggested, find a training group to join or a coach. They cost money, but especially when you're first starting out, can be an important resource.

So let's say a run of 7 miles and a ride of 30 are within your abilities right now. That would mean your progression of long workouts (many people ride Saturday, run Sunday) would look something like this:

Weeks left: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Race
Long run: 7 7.75 8.5 9.5 6 10 11 12 13 8
Long ride: 30 35 40 45 35 50 55 60 60 30


That's just an example, of course. But it illustrates the point. Week 6 is basically a recovery week. Most people (though not all) will cut their volume back significantly every 4 weeks or so to give their body a chance to recoup. They don't stop training, they just cut the number of hours and the intensity.

ETA: well the spacing on that didn't come out nearly the way I typed it, so it's kind of hard to read.

Edited by dgunthert 2010-08-06 12:46 PM

 this is a smart guy and a great post. 

I was more referring to the comment when you thought you have bitten off more than you can do.  Just keep training and you will be fine

Most posts have suggested a coach on here.  I'm going to have to second that suggestion.  There's a couple of things that I noticed looking through logs and reading your post.  your HIM is 2 months out.  you don't have a whole lot of time for error or wrong plan or injury or anything of that sort in my opinion.  That would be reason 1 to get a coach.  Based on your goals for the race, I think you should be fine to finish, but I also think you are going to need help with pace and nutrition plan for the race.  That would be reason 2 to get a coach.  If you have any weight you can drop between now and then it will make it easier too.  You might see some distance improvements.  Muscles won't have to work as hard pushing less weight.

Everyone has given you some pretty good advice, and I think you can get it done.  I just think you probably need more help than you have now based on your time constraints.

BTW, I'm not a coach and I don't have a coach (unless you count my swim coach).

best of luck dude.

Hi Tri Todd,

I assume you are training in Austin?  There is such a great Tri community here.  I am training for my first HIM (Conroe) and am just wrapping up week 14 of the 20 week BT training plan.  I have had coaches in the past and they are great, but I couldn't afford one this time around.  The great thing is that I have met so many people in triathlon that I am getting plenty of free advice and coaching.

I think you can do it, just pick up the training a bit.  Good luck and let us know how it goes! 

Did you read the OP again? The phrase is in there verbatim.

That's what gaary was referring to. The OP said the replies he's read (presumably in the IMTX forum or elsewhere, not to this post) have made him second guess himself. Gaary was talking about those replies. In other words: don't listen too closely to random people on the internet who tell you that you can't do something.

Edited by dgunthert 2010-08-07 7:27 AM

 bingo... I owe you a beer young man.

sorry for the confusion Andrew... my comment was NOT directed at you... totally poor phrasing on my part.