Training for Half IM question.

Personally I think the more important thing is getting the workouts in - especially key/long stuff.

If you have to move workouts around to different days to meet your schedule or life, no biggie. Just be aware of putting harder workouts of the same discipline on back-to-back days (like a medium and long run up against each other).

Be Iron Fit is an awesome book.  I have it and have read/reread several sections.  I don't want to give bad advice on adjusting the training plans to a half IM, aside from I don't think you need 30 weeks to train for one, unless you're brand new to the sport.  

As far as getting your workouts in, the order isn't too critical, and like the other poster said, the long workouts are your key workouts, try not to miss those.  also, I prefer to have my long bike the day before my long run, mainly cause I prefer to do my long run on somewhat tired legs, like you'll do on race day. 

This past year I did my third Half IM, and the one big difference I did between this one and the last two, was my peak bike rides were substantially longer than in previous training sessions.  Before I peaked at 60 this time I peaked at 75 with several 60-75 mile rides thrown in there.  It resulted in the fastest bike speed I've ever had(at any distance).  Good luck, half IM is a really fun distance!

I have used Fitzgerald's plans for my past 2 HIM races and have been very pleased. I like that there are 10 levels to choose from and you can mix and match a couple of the levels if you want (I use the running from level 7 and the S and B from level 6). I also move the workouts around during the week to fit my schedule. I have found the key is to just get them in each week and to be consistent. 20 weeks is a long time, if you can consistently get all the workouts in each week you will do fine.  Good Luck!

I'll answer only to the swim part.  I also swim masters, average workout is one hour, average distance is about 3,000 yards.  If you do that 3x week you've got the swim covered.  Work on bike run schedule, you'll be fine for the swim.

The swim is 2100-2200 yards so swimming at least that, with occasional higher intensity during masters will suffice.  Open water is different of course, so get some OW swims in before the race, maybe a sprint or Oly race etc.

My $0.02 worth anyway...

I would not worry too much about getting in all the workouts, or certain combinations of workouts on a certain day, etc. Focus more on gradually building total volume and intensity, adequate recovery, and getting in some key workouts that will help you dial in pacing, nutrition, and hydration (specifically, longer bricks, and race-simulation type workouts). Not familiar with the Fink plan but one big shortcoming I found with the BT  beginner HIM plan was that for my bike pace, the "long" bike ride in the program (max 3 hours) was not enough time for me to do the race distance, and there were few substantial bricks. I gradually worked up to a 100 km bike followed by 8-10 km run, and found that really useful for building endurance as well as figuring out pacing, nutrition, and fluids. Definitely felt I was prepared well for the race in those respects.

I loosely "followed" the beginner HIM plan on BT last year, but pretty massively rearranged things as the times that I can do various workouts such as swimming, outdoor biking, and long runs are tightly constrained due to my work schedule and living in the tropics. I also substituted most of the swim workouts with masters' workouts of similar distance downloaded from the NTC master's website and, in the summer, my club workouts in Oregon. No problem--as long as the volume is similar and you get in some OWS you should be fine for the swim.

Wow!  I'm amazed by all of the great information I just received!  Such great suggestions and things I had not thought of.  Who needs a coach when you have this forum?   

I'm adjusting my plan based on all of your knowledge.  I am the weakest on the bike and I know that it won't matter how strong I am on the run, if I can't come off the bike in good shape.  Living in Minnesota, computrainers will be my friend this winter!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond! 

This past September, I managed to complete a HIM with a very spotty training plan.  I had been focused on biking a century in August, and hadn't swum or done a lot of running since completing an olympic in July.  I had similar concerns as yours - I wanted to finish but was worried about the fact that there wasn't a plan that fit where I was athletically at the time.  The guys from my mentor group assured me that I could pull it off with just two months of run/swim training and they turned out to be right.

I agree with the last poster who mentioned that it's all about steadily building up the distances so you can improve while avoiding injury.  Feel free to play around with the schedule to suit your needs.

Great advice. Don't miss the long runs/bikes/swims and be careful about increasing mileage and flexibility is okay.  This advice has helped me a lot as I think about my training plan.  I've finished two marathons, the last one with injuries, which is how I ended up in the Triathlon world.  My plan is to finish strong, but not injured.

I am a member of our local bike club and most of my rides are with the club.  Biking is very social for me, but I know this does not always fit into a training plan as most of our long Saturday rides have a coffee stop planned and easier rides then I will need to be doing.  Have others found this same issue?  I'm thinking about still trying to ride with the group to the coffee stop and just keep going and finish the ride myself or with others that are game to ride whatever my training ride might be that week.  

Also - off season.  I'm trying to keep my workouts light, rest and not gain a lot of weight!  I can't wait for March to come, I miss training and a schedule.  Do others find this difficult.  

Weight training?  I've worked with a trainer in the past, but this has fallen to the wayside as swimming/biking/running have taken so much of my time.  How important is it to try and fit this in too?

Thanks for all of the help, advice and encouragement! 

Quite a few underestimate by more than a little just how much the swim takes out of them. Didn't see any mention of how that felt, and how you determined yourself to be fit enough for that section. The weather on the bike could have made race day harder and therefore you expended more energy on the bike than in your race sim, leaving you with less for the run. The swim was not accounted for at all in the race sim either. 

That is a good point about the swim.  I tend to skip past the swim in any overviews of my race since it's my weakest event of the three but it should definitely be factored in to any race calculations for first time HIMers.  I probably was not fit enough to "race" that part of the event and I went pretty slow to account for that.  I also spent the first 300 yards or so sidestroking because I could not get into any flow which is fairly typical for me - by the turnaround of the out and back swim I was doing fine and swam well all the way back but the damage to my time had been done (I was 5 mins over my goal time). 

Another area I would practice some would be transitions.  I have done an OK job of getting my transition times down in shorter events but my times in the HIM were pretty bad.  Lots of stuff to think about when you'll be on the bike for 2-3 hours and in my case it was raining hard when we exited the water so I had to move to my rain management strategy.  I would do my best to eliminate any thinking in either transition next go around.

I agree with your comment about the weather taking more out of me that in my race sim - it was raining hard with a cold wind the entire ride and halfway through the run and I was almost exactly on my goal pace through that point (I was 5 mins off - the five mins I had lost on the swim).  I had also lost all my cushion in transition.  The part that threw me was health related and it's where I think if I had run some longer brick runs in training I may have discovered it pre-race.   I have every day reflux that I control with otc meds.  On race day that reflux got really bad.  It started halfway through the bike but I didn't realize what it was.  Became hard to take in my nutrition and got harder as the event went on - to the point where it felt like everything was coming up and there was no way to get anything else down.  Had trouble swallowing for days after. 

From what I've read here and on other Tri forums, trouble usual comes and comes hard for first time HIMers on the second half of the run.  That turned out to be my experience, for lots of different reasons, so next time around I'll be better prepared.  At the end of the day the OP will have to try out what works with their schedule/training and hope it works race day. 

Yeah, the weather can take more out than realized, until it's thought about. It takes some practice to learn to incorporate everything. But that's part of the fun!

You could go a bit longer on the transition runs if you like, but it's hard to see more than 5-6 miles being that helpful. It's going to take a lot out of you unless you're really in shape. Not sure where you're at, but 6-8 would take quite a few people here near an hour, likely over if there was a solid brick ride in front of it. 30-40 minutes or so should tell you quite a bit. I also check by stepping it up quite a bit the last half to quarter mile or so.

Then you have the long runs to tell you how well you can extend out your running distance. From there, it's coming into the run with enough energy. So if there is a big fade, something was off earlier in the event. Are you able to do a bike or run right out of a swim? Like go from the pool to a gym bike or treadmill could help provide something. Even if you swim really easy, unless you're a strong swimmer, it's just going to drain you some. Or a lot. Long bricks have been only moderately useful at best. Simply because there is usually no swimming in front of them. I've only had one time where the bike & run matched that of a race sim brick. And that was for the race where the swim was canceled.

It's the volume of your training load that matters most. If you're going to Masters several times a week, you'll likely be swimming hard and far enough rather soon. Doing a continuous long swim is more psychological. The sets will do you real well. The bike will be getting in a lot of good, solid riding, then adapting that fitness to the race course. And run often for the run. The long run is helpful, but work on running a lot. Often first, then longer with the runs. You need the run volume in order for the long run to be helpful.

Stopping for a few minutes isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you'll have to see how long they are and how hard they're pushing. If they take more than a few minutes or it's too easy, you might need another group to join with for some of these.

Keep it fun and be doing enough so that when the plan starts it's fairly easy to do. You don't want to struggle out of the gate.

That depends more on your fitness goals in general. Some rather fast people here have, but it was more age-related than for s/b/r.

Hi, everyone!

I have taken all of your great advice and turned it into a training calendar using a couple of different plans. I am wondering if anyone would be game to take a quick look at it for me to see if I am on track?  I would appreciate any feedback.  I have created a pdf, can I attach it to this message?  I have not dialed in the swim too closely as I will be swimming with my Master's group until the end of May. 

Darla