1/2 ironman training plan?

gdyment

Wetsuit depends on where/how far is the race. You probably won't want to bike 90k in swimsuit - some races have change tents some don't - the race should have a general guide of everything they expect you to have. Gels, water bottles, various shoes as well.

sarabushby

dee_thurman wrote: »

What will I need to swim in my first triathlon. Currently I have a pair of cheap regular swim trunks and that is what I have been training with. I have no cap, no goggles, no wetsuit, no anything else I might need. What do I NEED?

So over here we would wear a tri-suit or two piece, wetsuit, swim cap you may want to take your own but they'll probably give you one anyway. For OW practice you should invest in a brightly coloured cap for safety anyway. Plus goggles - think about ones with a coating so you don't get the glare of the sun in your eyes, ear plugs if the cold water makes you dizzy (it does me), nose plug should you wish, Bodyglide to get your wetsuit on and off easier and stop it rubbing, towel, talc for your bike shoes, drink/food for t1/onto the bike.

On the bike you'll need a lot of fluid and nutrition that you've practised with too. Have you got a road bike or tt bike with cleats & shoes that you clip in? Most ppl will for ironman. Like you say, helmet is essential, gloves are optional. Glasses to protect your eyes from bugs etc with clear or tinted lenses depending on the weather. You might want to get a race belt to put your race number on.

For the run, trainers, optional socks but for a half distance you probably would want them, more nutrition, maybe a visor or cap? Whatever you normally run with. Most people use elastic laces for quick changeover but in a half distance you might not think it's worth bothering to swap them out given the relatively small time gained as a percentage of your overall.

I'm sure I've missed some things... Oh and don't forget nutrition for after. And wear sunscreen!

dee_thurman

Sarabushby: i do have a road bike.

Here is my list from your post -

tri suit? I am not sure what this is but I can look it up
wetsuit
swim cap
goggles (coating)
ear plugs - optional
nose plug - optional
bodyglide
towel
talc (not sure what this is but i can look it up)
bike cleats
pedals with clips
drink/food - for t1
on the bike food
glasses (tinited lenses)
race belt
trainers (what is this?)
optional socks (won't I wear socks on the bike?)
more nutrition

I think I have everything that you listed?

Capt_Apollo

i cannot emphasize enough that you need to get out and go for a run after your long bike ride. even a mile after your ride is very important. after riding for so long, you will feel that you are going slow when you start to run. too many people go waaaaaay too fast on the first couple of miles on the run, and burn themselves out. you mention that you were doing an 8:30 pace for your marathon, and i won't be surprised that for the first mile of the half iron man run will be closer to a 7 min/mile pace. but like others have said, running a half marathon and running a half marathon of a half iron man are two different things.

Capt_Apollo

dee_thurman wrote: »

Sarabushby: i do have a road bike.

Here is my list from your post -

tri suit? I am not sure what this is but I can look it up a racing kit, either a one piece or a top and bottom. most girls prefer two-piece for easier bathroom access. the bottoms have a cycling chamois that is thinner and smaller to not interfeer with running, but still provide comfort on the bike
wetsuit
swim cap
goggles (coating)
ear plugs - optional
nose plug - optional
bodyglide
towel
talc (not sure what this is but i can look it up) goldbond, baby powder. put it in your cycling and running shoes to help absorb moinsture, especially on the cycling shoes after you swim
bike cleats
pedals with clips
drink/food - for t1 do not waste time eating or drinking in T1 or T2. if you must consume calories or liquids, do so while moving
on the bike food the bike is 56 miles long, and the best time to consume calories, especially if running gives you GI issues when consuming solids or gels. Practice during training- nothing new on race day
glasses (tinited lenses)
race belt
trainers (what is this?) Sara is probably british, as they tend to call sneakers or running shoes trainers
optional socks (won't I wear socks on the bike?) when i've done shorter races, eg sprints and olympics, i don't bike or run with socks on. i don't want to waste time pulling socks on. for my first (and only) half iron man, i didn't wear socks on the bike, but i didn't put them on during the run. that was a mistake. my feet were very very blistered up and dying near the end. if you plan on cycling without socks, i recommend practicing them during training-nothing new on race day!!!
more nutrition

I think I have everything that you listed?

Capt_Apollo

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2010/09/training/super-simple-ironman-70-3-triathlon-training-plan_12364?utm_medium=whats-hot

sarabushby

Thanks @Capt_Apollo you did some good explaining!

@dee_thurman
A tri suit is something you can swim, bike and run in. Usually made from swimsuit type quick dry fabric. You wouldn't want to swim in normal bike shorts as the thicker chamois would absorb too much water and also get in the way on the run.
Do you have a local Tri-Club you could join?

dee_thurman

I live in a small town where there is no tri club. Is there a store specific for triathletes? I can go into running or biking stores and ask where the best place to purchase these things.

Capt_Apollo

i'd say the runners and cyclists hate each other... and they both hate triathletes.

but the stores might have some good resources. probably a combination of both stores.

glevinso

My bike shop bills itself as a cycling and multisport shop. They don't sell running shoes, but they do have tri bikes, wetsuits and tri suits. I am guessing your best bet is to look around at the local bike shops and see if they also have tri gear.

dee_thurman

I do have a bike, helmet, gloves, lights, and a cell phone holder that keeps me updated on how long I have biked and how fast I am going through an app.

I don't have anything for swimming except an old pair of speedo goggles that I don't know will work or not.

I don't need anything but fuel for my run. I have running shoes and I feel like I have an idea of what I am doing running. I will train to run after biking. I am sure by that time of the triathlon I will be hurting because of how long the race is but that doesn't change with gear.

bluetrumpet01

Don't try to do a half ironman until you do some short races. Triathlon, while also an endurance sport, is very different to pure running. Your running base would help you, but not as much as you think. Sprint and olympic races are great because:

1) you don't really need to worry about nutrition. in races longer than olympic, nutrition and hydration can make or break your race
2) if you screw up your pacing, you can still tough it out to the finish line. not so in the longer distances. if you bonk on the bike, just give up, your race is done.
3) you don't have to put in 10 hours of training a week at least
4) the shorter races are much cheaper
5) there's shorter races everywhere that won't require you to travel

If you're really hellbent on doing a half ironman right now, my suggestion would be to get a coach. There's a lot that goes into it. When I started my half ironman plan, the prerequisites were: run an hour and a half nonstop, swim an hour nonstop, ride for 2 hours nonstop.

If you decide to be reasonable instead and do some shorter races, a local triathlon club can be an invaluable resource. Not only can you get discounts at local shops, they might have local coaches they work with, and will be at the races cheering you on.

As far as gear, this is the minimum that you need:

1) tri shorts
2) swim goggles that don't leak
3) bicycle
4) helmet
5) shoes

Optional gear that will really help:

1) tri top
2) heart rate monitor and watch
3) speed and cadence sensor for the bike
3) sunglasses
4) visor
5) towel

Also, you probably don't know this, but having a cell phone on you during the race is against the rules. Any communication device is illegal, so you probably want to invest a multisport watch.

that really is it. everything else is a bonus. i saw someone mentioned you should get a bicycle trainer. yes. these are awesome. they allow you to do bicycle workouts indoors which saves time and reduces your exposure to getting hit by a car. i do 3/4 of my bike training indoors now. i use a website called trainerroad that has training plans for triathlon and has cycling specific workouts based on your power output.

dee_thurman

bluetrumpet01 - How long do you usually train for a half ironman? I am pretty confident that at this stage in training I can swim for an hour, bike for two hours and i just finished a marathon a little more than 3 weeks ago. I don't know if I could do all 3 back to back to back all in one session (probably not right now.) I have allowed myself 18 weeks to train to put everything together. I know that I won't finish near 1st place or probably not even in the middle of the pack. That is not my goal. I am not trying to win the race. I have bad form swimming and little experience biking but I am going to train for it and see what happens. When I do some of the longer distances in training and if I feel like that this isn't a good idea than I will do a shorter race or I just won't do it. However I enjoy swimming, biking, and running. I like to train because it keeps me in good shape and healthy. I also like trying something new and challenging (at least for me a 1/2 ironman will be challenging)

I am taking everyone's advice and halfway in my training I am going to do a sprint triathlon as my first race before I do the 1/2 ironman down the road.

I am curious, If an average triathlete biked for 25 miles with very little wind and pretty flat paved trail what time would he normally train at? When I ran in my marathon I ran around 8:30 - 9:00 pace. I trained around a 9:30-10:00 minutes on long runs and around 8:30 - 9:00 minutes on shorter runs. I could enjoy running at this pace. I just wondered what an average workout pace might look like. I was about an average pace for the marathon that I participated in with that pace.

dee_thurman

By the way, hydration about broke my race in the marathon. So I 100% agree with you about that and nutrition. I am reading about it now and working on getting better in those 2 areas. I would welcome any advice or any thoughts on what I could read to help me.

sarabushby

@dee_thurman If you don't mind saying, which race have you chosen/booked out of interest?

If it's open water then please make sure you get a good number of OW swims (5+) in before race day, swimming at a decent pace whilst sighting is a skill in itself, plus reading the current, plus learning to turn buoys efficiently, getting used to swimming in dirty water where you can't even see your hand, mass starts, getting kicked, punched (oh yes I have had a bloody nose before!), being swum over, legs sinking in mud, weeds getting stuck in your hands & watch strap or if in the sea then you need to practice breathing bilaterally and also to your weaker side as you may need to breathe away from the waves. If you can practice drafting safely with friends, either beside or behind to get used to swimming in close proximity to ppl. Or, if you're a competent OW swimmer already please by all means ignore all of this...!

glevinso

Regarding nutrition:

For shorter races I don't do much in the way of fueling. Sprints are usually just a caffeinated gel before the start and some water on the bike. Olympic I go with just a caffeinated gel before the start, and maybe one gel as I leave T2. But a half-iron is long enough that you need to take actual fueling into account.

I normally ride around the 2:30 mark for a half-iron bike leg, and in that time aim to get in about 700 calories. Usually this is a 100cal gel in T1, two Powerbar Endurance Energy bars during the bike (about 1/3rd every 20 minutes), and a bottle of Gatorade.

I leave a gel in T2 and consume it there.

Then on the run (I plan on <90 minutes) I bring two gels with me that I take at the 30 and 60 minute marks, and usually I use caffeinated ones for this.

Depending on how long you plan to be out there you will want to work with roughly those fueling rates. Thinking around 300cal/hr on the bike and down to 200/hr on the run.

I use the same fueling strategy/rate for a full iron, I just carry more of everything.

bluetrumpet01

@dee_thurman: it's hard to answer the "how long for a half ironman" because I've been doing cycling and triathlon for a years so I have a good base in all three sports. The training plan that I started specifically for my July race is 23 weeks. With little wind on a flat course, a triathlete that is prepared for a half ironman should be able to do 25 miles in less than an hour and 15 minutes (average 20-22 mph). That's just my opinion though.

dee_thurman

http://www.trifind.com/re_219018/MichiganTitaniumTriathlon.html

i need to research it a little more but this is the one.

glevinso

I am impressed they have a full distance option. Not many "small" races do that, especially in conjunction with the other events going on. I can only imagine the handful of people taking the full option are going to have a VERY lonely day.

glevinso

dee_thurman wrote: »

I am curious, If an average triathlete biked for 25 miles with very little wind and pretty flat paved trail what time would he normally train at? When I ran in my marathon I ran around 8:30 - 9:00 pace. I trained around a 9:30-10:00 minutes on long runs and around 8:30 - 9:00 minutes on shorter runs. I could enjoy running at this pace. I just wondered what an average workout pace might look like. I was about an average pace for the marathon that I participated in with that pace.

With cycling it is different than running. Most people back off their marathon long run pace a bit to avoid beating themselves up in training. Many people train cycling the other way, doing quite a bit of faster work even with the long rides, especially for the longer distance races. You don't get "beat up" by your bike like you would running fast.

In any case the "average" mid-packer? Maybe 18-20mph is what I would call a mid-pack cyclist. If you can maintain >20mph for 25 miles you are in pretty good shape.

sarabushby

@dee_thurman the good thing about that race is it sounds like a nice clear lake. But it does look like you'll need a wetsuit and to get used to swimming in it. It needs to be a proper swimming one, fit you properly and suit your swimming style, e.g some have thicker neoprene in the legs or other areas to give more buoyancy for ppl whose form may not yet be as good and whose legs tend to drop. Do not try and swim in a borrowed wetsuit that doesn't fit or a surf wetsuit, sadly we lost a guy locally last year in a lake based sprint tri and his ill fitting / inappropriate wetsuit was deemed a contributing factor.

dee_thurman

It looks to me like about the average time for people who finished in the middle of the pack is anywhere from 3:10 - 3:30 on the bike. Which means 16-18 mph will get you pretty close to that range. My last 25 mph training ride was in that range and I have ridden for a couple of weeks and I don't have shoes or clips yet. I would think that with time I will become better on the bike and in the water. My training times for the bike and the run look to be where I would finish in the middle of the pack. My swimming times show that I am not very efficient in the water. Unless I improve I will be more towards the middle to low end (but still others have posted times that I am currently training) From looking at the times, I am training at a pace where I need to add distance and put everything together to get out of it what I would like (I THINK). I am currently running my miles as soon as I get out of the pool (twice a week) which I know is much different than getting off the bike. It doesn't have hardly any effect on my run. For instance today I swam 1250 and ran 5.5 miles back to back. I feel like if I keep training I will be able to finish and enjoy the race but I still understand that I have a lot to learn and a long way to go. Your guys info and help have helped a lot.

Sarabushy - Thanks for the info on the wetsuit. I will take your advice. I also need to get a wetsuit pretty soon so I can see how I can swim in the open water. I am sure that it is much different than the pool.

By the way my training has me swimming mon, tue, thur; I bike mon, wed, sun. I run tue, thur, sat. I have also added doing around a 50 minute circuit training lifting session on wed, fri, sun. FYI.

bluetrumpet01

i definitely admire your commitment.

see if you can get a bike trainer and do some structured workouts on the bike through trainerroad, sufferfest, or a slew of other online options. you'll see huge gains doing that instead of mindlessly biking. also, pay for at least 2 or 3 sessions with a swim coach. swimming is all about technique. you won't get faster just swimming more until you've nailed the technique.

glevinso

bluetrumpet01 wrote: »

i definitely admire your commitment.

see if you can get a bike trainer and do some structured workouts on the bike through trainerroad, sufferfest, or a slew of other online options. you'll see huge gains doing that instead of mindlessly biking. also, pay for at least 2 or 3 sessions with a swim coach. swimming is all about technique. you won't get faster just swimming more until you've nailed the technique.

TrainerRoad and the Sufferfest are the absolute best way to make yourself a total beast on the bike. Not a huge cash outlay either for a decent trainer, a speed/cadence sensor to add to your bike, and a subscription to TR and/or the Sufferfest app.

sarabushby

@dee_thurman Here's an interesting article I just saw on our club page, all about the differences between pool swimming and O/W http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2015/10/29/swim-like-a-triathlete-not-a-swimmer

If you can, check out the route profile for the bike leg, look at the elevation gain. Anyone may happily train at 16mph on a flattish circuit at home, think they're sorted for race day and turn up only to find it's hillier than they've dreamt of. If you can try and locate some practice circuits which have a similar climb to distance covered ratio and practise that or hillier then there's no nasty surprises on race day.

Keep us posted on your training progress, it's interesting to follow someone else's journey.

Capt_Apollo

a trainer is a great idea, but i think it's not really for the beginner triathlete. honestly, i don't think a 70.3 is for a beginner either, but hey, this guy is committed to his goals. i recommend getting out there and putting miles on the bike, and in the pool. you have an incredible base for the run, so i recommend making sure to get in a 1-2 mile run after your long bike ride every week.

btw, it's an inevitable question, but swim-bike bricks are not very necessary.

glevinso

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

btw, it's an inevitable question, but swim-bike bricks are never not very necessary.

Fixed

Actually you can extend that to "bricks are never necessary". Quick transition run off a long bike is valuable, but there is no value in doing an actual "brick" workout.

Capt_Apollo

glevinso wrote: »

Capt_Apollo wrote: »

btw, it's an inevitable question, but swim-bike bricks are never not very necessary.

Fixed

Actually you can extend that to "bricks are never necessary". Quick transition run off a long bike is valuable, but there is no value in doing an actual "brick" workout.

for short course races, i think bike-run bricks can be a great addition to a training plan to add variety and really get some good training for your legs. for long course, yes, a 1-2 mile run after your long bike ride is better.

the closest i've gotten to a swim-bike brick is riding to the pool (or beach) for a swim and back.

glevinso

Well I guess it depends on your definition of "brick". To me that means a "real" run workout of significant distance off the bike. Like 6 miles.

It isn't uncommon for me to run off a long bike and go for 25 minutes, covering 3.5-4 miles in that time but I still call that a transition run.

dee_thurman

I don't know if everyone that is commenting knows that I am only doing a 1/2 ironman not a full ironman.

1.2 mile swim
56 mile bike
13.1 run

FYI - The only time I have to workout is in the morning most of the time on Tuesday and Thursday and to max my time I just run after the swim. I do it because of time more than trying to simulate anything race like. I will 100% practice transition runs. It is also a great point to check the evaluation of the course especially as I train moving forward.

All of you have been a great resource.