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Zero - Half ironman in 22 weeks?

Hi,

I decided to set myself a challenge for this year, and found a half ironman distance tri. That should do it!



I ran my first ever 5k (well 3 miles but hey) yesterday.... Started running in Jan and pleased to have got this far. Took it easier and avoided shin splints, which stopped me dead a couple of years ago. The run is the thing that worries me.



I'm confident swimming, last time I decided to get in a pool I swam 1 mile without too much difficulty.



Cycling I love, have recently started commuting to work 3 days a week - 30 miles a day with 350m of ascent total.



I'm 26 and reckon I ought to loose about 22lb of fat ideally (lost about 70lbs in 2005, put a bit back on of late).



Am I insane, or can it be done? I want to finish and ideally run the full distance.......



I have spotted a few programs on the net, but quite a few focus on performance, and my commuting gets in the way a bit. I also ride most sundays - off road is my passion, but theres a local club ride on the road as well as a fall back.



Oh, I also entered the Helvellyn tri as well, but thats 24 weeks away!



Mark [&:]

Comments

  • scott298scott298 Posts: 122
    hi,

    yeah 22 weeks is plenty of time!



    you only want to train specificaly for the race around 12 weeks before the event, so you have 10 weeks to build up a good base.



    so ideally you wanna just avoid over training, so don't do much high intensity training untill 12 weeks before the race.



    all you need to do for about ten weeks is like I said build up your base fitness, and during this time just get in 1Xlong run and 1X long ride at least!

    and these long sessions should be done slowly, this will teach your body to burn more fat than carbs! this sort of training will also easily help ya lose weight!

    so for ten weeks just take it easy and you will be able to run for a long distance and cycle long distance, then 12 weeks before the race then you can start putting in the high intesity stuff to build your speed!!



    hope you understood that? I didn't, reading back at it I'm not very good at explaining things[&:]
  • jon_gjon_g Posts: 318
    Oh yes, that is plenty of time. just make sure you do long, slow training (zone 1 and 2)
  • markc123markc123 Posts: 3
    Cool. Will have to do more reading and learn about these heart rate zones of which you speak. Might even have to slow my commute down a little - I'm pushing to average 20mph (18mph avg today), which means my heart rate averages are close to 150. Forgot the HRM today. anyway......



    What sort of distance should I be able to run before I hit the 12 week to go mark?



    A morning swim could be just the ticket tomorrow then.



    The Ironman 70.3 UK looked awesome, but rather too soon for me. Perhaps the full could be on for 2k9 [:D]

  • scott298scott298 Posts: 122
    just aim to get your long slow run to about two hours.

    if that sounds like a long time now don't worry, with ten weeks training you shouldn't be far of! just remember to take it slow!

    at the moment my max HR for running is 190BPM my lactate threshold is at 151BPM and I have to keep in zone 1 which is between 130-141 BPM and thats avg about 9 min/mile !



    yeah the 70.3 is so good! you could give that a go, with 12 weeks to go you could finish it no problem im sure!!
  • Hi markc123, your zones aren't going to be too different to Scott298, maybe a little lower on the top end. So something like:



    Zone 1 140 - 143

    Zone 2 144 - 157

    Zone 3 158 - 171

    Zone 4 172 - 185



    There are quite a few methods on the web for calculating more accurately.



    I'm also doing my first 70.3 later in the year (Sept), with a few olys, sprints and road races.



    On my long runs (20km) at the moment I'm at between 170 - 180, is that too high for a 28 year old. I find it reasonably comfortable, but am worried I'm teaching my CV system bad habbits. Should I drop the distance and work in lower zones at a slower pace - wpuld feel like I'm not training then! I'm pretty lean so not much fat to burn instead of carbs but pretty new to these season long training plans. Any other things I shouldn't be doing?



    Bike sessions are limited to the turbo at the moment for fear of being blown over - roll on Summer!
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