IM Finishers

I'm not an IM finisher but since nobody responded  ....

Many coaches will limit you to 3 hours on the run for an IM race.  Beyond that the potential for injury increases.  They expect you to get your endurance on the bike.. A coach on tb.com told me that I can always hop on my bike after the long run if I wanted to extend my endurance training for that session.  

Last year my longest bike was 91 miles, I was concerned about not doing a century.  I asked about it on trainingbibile.com and a female pro told me that her longest bike was 80 miles while training for IMC and she did very well.  That said,  I believe the majority of  folks get a couple century rides in before the race.  Some will ride the 112 for confidence.

Gale Bernhardt's 13 weeks to a 13 hour Ironman plan has the run at 3 hours max, and it's been a while since I've read Going Long but I think Gordo has a run of about 3 hours also.  Gales max ride is only 5 hours, but 6 hours seems to be a common max ride for many, unless your fast.

Gale's plan is on this page, there is a red link to a table of the plan.
http://www.winningmag.com/training/ironman/index.shtml

I've finished two IM's. The answer to the first question is a bit nebulus as it depends on your definition of training.

In "Frielspeak" I took a week off after a Sept. 1/2 IM in 2002 and then began my prep phase with my Base phase beginning in mid March. 21 weeks out - Base1= 8 weeks, Base2 = 6 weeks, Race Prep (Build) = 5 weeks, Peak = 1 week, Race week.

I felt well prepared going into the race.

For my first IM I never swam 2.4 miles continuous until race day, and the longest run I had was 2.5 hours (~18 miles). I had one ride that came in at 116 miles. I think I had 6 or 7 rides of 100-110 miles and another 5 or 6 that were at least 5 hours long. I finished comfortably in 12:07.

The keys to IM training, IMHO, are: consistancy, endurance (bike endurance above all else), nutrition, and recovery. On race day it's mental focus, pacing, and fueling.

scott

Molly/Lane

I have never completed an IM ( or a 1/2 for that matter) , yet

but I wanted to pass along a link for you to check out

http://personalbestnutrition.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?board=IMH

BrianBPN, is on BT and its his personal workouts for the 21 days leading up to Kona.

His workouts are very detailed and also insane. But very interesting to read

I just wanted to offer some feedback on my own perspective of prep for IM. I'll have to take up that personal attack from John calling me insane :o)

I am a strong proponent of low/moderate HR's and overdistance for 1/2 and IM racing, assuming your mechanics are good enough to support this type of volume. If you are an inefficient runner, for example, simply adding distance will be a prescription for injury, so there are many other factors that go into the equation. It is not simply overdistance = good IM

With that being said, in this year's lead into Kona, I have done more volume than in previous years, in particular, on the bike. Cycling is my weakest leg and I feel that to have an effective bike leg in Hawaii, and more importantly run well if the winds are bad on the bike (when are they not!), a heavy dose of overdistance in the saddle will be effective.

For your notes, below is a snapshot of the distance (in miles) of my longest weekly ride starting 11 weeks outside of race day. Week 11 was after a (2) week 'transition' from a mid-Summer 1/2 IM:

Week 11: 90
Week 10: 110
Week 9: 96
Week 8: 80
Week 7: 122
Week 6: 145
Week 5: 80
Week 4: 125
Week 3: 140

As you can see, I had (2) very long rides of 8hrs on Week 6 and Week 3. I feel the benefit of these efforts is after spending 8hrs in the saddle, riding 5hrs on subsequent days felt like a cakewalk. I am not suggesting that you and everyone else who trains for IM should follow this type of volume, as until Oct 16 I don't know that this will prove to be effective for me. What I do know, is that today I feel more confident in my ability on the bike and I believe this will translate into a good race in 2 weeks.

Your question is tough to answer in a single thread as creating a schedule for a successful IM is much like making an award winning recipe...there are many ingredients which go into it, and there are many different ways to make it and you need to determine how to put these ingredients together to work for you. We (myself included) are still learning ways to get to the finish line faster and it takes years to get it right. I'm planning on hitting my peak in another 15yrs!

Good luck with your training and please don't hesitate to drop a post here or on the PBN Forum. Also, as John mentioned, my lead in to Kona can be followed here:

21 Days to Kona - A Pre-Race View into Ironman Hawaii

I will be updating it daily, including reports from Kona when I arrive on 10/10.

Brian Shea
www.PersonalBestNutrition.com

Brian, is this the first year you've done the overdistance work on the bike? This past season I did a couple of OD rides (120 and 140 miles) and some big weekends of back-to-back 100 milers. It really paid off big in terms of bike fitness.

Good luck at Kona.

scott

Of this magnitude, I would say yes. Customarily I complete 3-5 (100+) mile rides (pre IMF '03 I had (1) 120 miler), so this is the 1st season I have done multiple rides at or approaching 8hrs and (4) over 120 miles.

As I mentioned, all this is meaningless unless I can 'put-up' on Oct 16...I'll let you know how things go.

Time to grab a few hrs in the saddle!

Brian Shea
www.PersonalBestNutrition.com