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Ironman - Sub 10 Mentored Thread
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17-02-2011 5:15am#1
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Here’s the structure of my training plan. It consisted of three hard weeks followed by a recovery week, this was repeated four times. The basic structure of the hard weeks never changed and consisted of the sessions you see in the table below. I did my best to do each training session whenever it fell. This was not always possible and I sometimes had to swap sessions around. Don’t worry too much if you sometimes find yourself doing the same. I think the key to it is making sure you complete each type of session and train the planned number of hours over the week.
Day|am|pm
Monday|30 mins weights + 15 mins core|cycle intervals
Tuesday|1 hour swim session|long run
Wednesday|run intervals|cycle tempo
Thursday|run tempo/fartlek|1 hour swim session/30 mins weights + 15 mins core
Friday|REST DAY
Saturday|long swim|long cycle
Sunday|brick
Some points to note about these sessions:
a) long bike I did on time, my long run also on time and finally the long swim on distance
b) my long cycle consisted of 5 stages; 30 mins warm up, 30 mins maximum effort, whatever time in between was done at a slightly lower intensity than maximum effort (no way would I have been able to hold a conversation), 30 mins maximum effort, finally 30 mins cool down. So a three hour cycle would be 30 mins warm up, 30 mins max effort, 1 hour slightly less than max effort, 30 mins cool down
c) my long runs were all done at a pace quicker than 4.30/km. Wearing a Garmin I'd get splits for every 5km and I'd pick up the pace to faster than 4.15/km for the final split. So a 22.5km run would be run as such 20km @ <4.30/km 2.5km @<4.15km. Hope this makes sense. I had my own theory behind this, which I think was proved right.
d) long swims was just a case of getting in the pool and swimming that day's distance. Is there any other way? When the weather got warmer I did these in the open water.
e) The plan began doing around 15 hours a week, rising to 26 hours at its peek. (These are fairly crude figures)
f) All my run training was done using pace as a guide. I had targets of >4.30,<4.30, <4.15 <4.00
.50. Depending on the session I'd be looking to hit these speeds, without paying any regard to my HR.
g) Long bike I've already explained, Monday's cycle was a coached club session and the effort required varied by the week. I'll post details as and when the training weeks themselves are posted. Wednesday evening I was on my own and perceived effort was what guided me.
I don't know if this seems like a lot of training to you, but as far as I'm concerned it's what is required to go sub 10. Is there a risk of overtraining and burnout following this plan, sure there is if you jump straight into it, without having built up a decent base. I had been competing in triathlon for 4 years when I took to the start line in Copenhagen, I'd often spent 18 hours a week training in the years prior to this and I didn't find it too daunting an increase. I managed to get through it all without picking up any injuries or illnesses of any sort and I don't think this was luck. My body was ready for the increased training load, I increased it gradually and probably most important of all I had factored in recovery weeks. If you haven't already done so I suggest you take a look at this thread before beginning your ironman training plan;
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056179370
In the weeks and months prior to commencing this plan, I just trained as I normally would have done in any other year I wasn't doing an ironman race.
Over the winter period I spent a lot of time working on my pedalling efficiency. I'd go for 100km cycles without going into the big chainring, this was an awful pain at times, but I've no doubt it helped my cadence.
My brain's not functioning properly anymore and I need to go to bed. I'll have another look at this tomorrow and see is there anything I'm forgetting.
Any questions, ask away.0 -
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Nice one Alan and nice timing with it too
Fair play. Jeez you had some tasty results in the bag before going sub 10. 2:53 in Conn :eek: A 4:45 in Kenmare and a 4th place finish in the Sperrin HIM! I agree with Abhainn too that was really savage pacing in your IM to run a 3:10 off the bike. Really enjoyed your race report too, thanks.
Clearly you had the work put in and the previous years stood to you.
I have a couple of questions.
The plan above: Is this IM specific phase training? So, finish your base phase first then hit this right?
The long bike: Max effort for 30 mins?! Is that eyeballs out TT effort or IM pace effort? How much hillwork did you do?
Sub 4:30 pace LSRs: 4:30 pace for 20km then 4:15 for 2.5km is a nice approach, with a 2:51 marathon behind you though I'm sure this was comfortable. How much confidence did those marathon results give you? From seeing you at our own duathlons you are a cracking runner anyway. When did you do those Marathons in terms of the IM programme. Did you do any road races in the IM phase?I don't know if this seems like a lot of training to you, but as far as I'm concerned it's what is required to go sub 10. Is there a risk of overtraining and burnout following this plan, sure there is if you jump straight into it, without having built up a decent base. I had been competing in triathlon for 4 years when I took to the start line in Copenhagen, I'd often spent 18 hours a week training in the years prior to this and I didn't find it too daunting an increase. .
It does! However as you said if that what it takes to go sub10 then so be it. I've reached that volume just recently but its taking some adaptation. I'm in tri 2 years and last year was an avg 10-11hr week with anything over 13hrs being a rarity. Max week over my first 2 years was 16hrs and that included the W200
As a result I've taken a longer than usual base. 5 blocks of 4 weeks with the 4th week being a recovery week. I'm currently at the end of block 4. So IM phase kicks off for me around Mid March. When I initially laid out the planned progression of hours to the 18-20hr volume weeks I found it very very daunting but its less so now. It involves some serious life balancing and sometimes the training has to take a back seat.
You mentioned your hours ranged from 15-26hrs at peak. Again was this specific IM phase? What was the build pattern, and recovery week volume?
Last question: What were you key benchmark sessions and what was your longest bike, brick, long run, swim?
Sorry one more question: Weight training. Did you continue this throughout the programme and what do you feel the benefit of it was?
Thanks a mill 0 -
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Hi Alan,
I think MCOS covered most of the questions but I have 2 that I can think of:
1. What was your stretching routine like and how often did you do it?
2. For the gym and core, what sort of routine did you do? I'm assuming deadlift, squats, cleans, etc but I know a lot of people take different approaches. Some people do strength sessions in the base phase and then switch to metcon sessions as they progress through the phases. just wondering what worked for you? Cheers.
Oh ya, one other question - where's your IM race report?
Cheers.
P.0 -
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The plan above: Is this IM specific phase training? So, finish your base phase first then hit this right?
Ye that's right, sorry thought I had clarified that somewhere.
The long bike: Max effort for 30 mins?! Is that eyeballs out TT effort or IM pace effort? How much hillwork did you do?
Eyeballs out and eyeballs out again for the second last 30 minute section. The goal was to be able to hold the same pace for the two efforts. I don't think there's any point just going out for a long cycle without any intensity behind. You're just teaching yourself to cycle slowly.
I did a lot of hill work in the base phase. These long cycle were all, bar one, done on a 20km stretch of the N11. (I hate that road now) Some climbs now and again, but nothing drastic. I stayed in the big ring all the way. I'd do hill repeats perhaps every second week, short sharp climbs more for strength training than anything else I guess.
Sub 4:30 pace LSRs: 4:30 pace for 20km then 4:15 for 2.5km is a nice approach, with a 2:51 marathon behind you though I'm sure this was comfortable. How much confidence did those marathon results give you? From seeing you at our own duathlons you are a cracking runner anyway. When did you do those Marathons in terms of the IM programme. Did you do any road races in the IM phase?
I'd no problem hitting these targets, in terms of my marathon race pace they're way off. When finished the 20km would probably have been ran at 4.22/kn and the 2.5km effort at 4.08/km. I drew huge confidence from my marathon times. I was in effect training for a 3.15 marathon, which on it's own would be very easy for me, so I was never worried about running my entire long runs at my PMP. (I don't know if this approach would work for a marathon itself, but something tells me it wouldn't)
I'd ran three marathons prior to doing an ironman, Oct '08, Mar '09, Oct '09. I didn't do any road races, very rarely do. During the base phase I ran the Wicklow Way Trail in March, got lost along the route, myself and hills don't mix well. That was the only running race I did that year.
You mentioned your hours ranged from 15-26hrs at peak. Again was this specific IM phase? What was the build pattern, and recovery week volume?
It was yes. I need to think it out how it was built up. Obviously the biggest increases came as the long bike, run swim got longer. Brick session also accounted for an increase of approx 2 hours over the programme. The volume also increased in my tempo cycles and another smaller increase in my tempo runs. To be honest I was just checking back through email communication I had with a fellow club member to come up with the numbers 15-26. I had it fully thought out then though, so I'll still stand over them.
Recovery week was around 50% of the volume of a hard week. I dropped weights and tried to get things done in the mornings. Did more swims during recovery weeks than otherwise. I'd generally just do whatever training I felt like doing, they weren't as structured as the other weeks.
Last question: What were you key benchmark sessions and what was your longest bike, brick, long run, swim?
My longest bike was a 190km TT effort, exact same set up as race day (bar the Camelbak on my back), Zipp wheels, aero helmet and all. This doubled up as my longest brick as well as I went for a 14km run straight after finishing. In terms of the regular, Sunday bricks the longest efforts were 3hr 30 mins cycle and 1hr 30 mins run.
Longest run was 41.4km in 3 hours on the button, was very tempted to run an additional 800m, but the plan was a 3 hour run, bot a minute more, not a minute less.
Longest swim was 4,000m in a pool, spent approx 50 mins in the open water.
Sorry one more question: Weight training. Did you continue this throughout the programme and what do you feel the benefit of it was?
During base phase I split lower body and upper body over two days, followed by core at the end. During ironman phase I did all three two days a week. No real rationale behind this, it was just what a guy in the club who qualified for Kona advised. It turned out to be more aerobic exercise than anything else the weights were so light and I was rushing through them to finish on time. As I said earlier I dropped weights during my recovery weeks. I tried vary the exercise every session, while still working the same body part. The benefit it provides me is my muscles and body don't be as sore after races and I think I can hold form better because I am stronger.
Thanks a mill 0 -
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Good man Alan for stepping forward and agreeing to do this thread. By the looks of things, there's huge interest in what you've got in store. Great to see some focus on the sharp end of Tri's, and I'm sure your thread will be massive benefit to anyone looking to improve.
Best of luck with it 0 -
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Hi Alan,
I think MCOS covered most of the questions but I have 2 that I can think of:
1. What was your stretching routine like and how often did you do it?
2. For the gym and core, what sort of routine did you do? I'm assuming deadlift, squats, cleans, etc but I know a lot of people take different approaches. Some people do strength sessions in the base phase and then switch to metcon sessions as they progress through the phases. just wondering what worked for you? Cheers.
Oh ya, one other question - where's your IM race report?
Cheers.
P.
Sorry skipped answering this earlier on.
1) I didn't have a routine for stretching and it might surprise you but as part of my warm ups I only did it for running intervals and running tempo runs, after a 10 minute warm up, then I'd follow this by 5-8 minutes of drills.
2) Sorry I know very little about weights, so what I tell you is far from expert advice. There was a range of exercises I used, and I tried to vary the sessions as much as possible, while still exercising the same body parts. I don't think it takes too much imagination to come up with a session. Often it was determined by whether a machine, or don't know what you call it (but the place people do bench presses and or squats), in the gym was free or not
Unless I was really stuck for time and I'd be late for work, I'd exercise one leg a time.
All exercises were done in 3 sets of 15 reps. For lower body I'd do four separate exercises and same for upper.
The following is only for the sake of example only;
Chest press (with dumbbells); 3 x 15
Shoulder press (with dumbbells); 3x 15
Bicep curls; 3x 15
Some sort of exercise for triceps (can't think of any proper terms); 3 x 15
Think superset is the term and this is the way I'd exercise, whereby I'd do a set of chest presses and move straight onto the shoulder press, without any recovery.
Sorry I don't know what metcon sessions are, but the above is what I did for the 16 weeks of my specific ironman training, if that's what metcon means then I guess that's what I did.
Many in ironman training don't bother with weights. I feel I need to, so by that logic any session with light weights and high reps has to be better than nothing. I feel weights are important, but not important enough to worry about what exact exercises you're doing. As long as you're not trying to bench press your own body weight, you should be alright.0
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