WARNING: The following blog post is filled with a lot of training jargon and detail.
My "official" Ironman training plan starts in 6 days. What this means is that I will go from my current training regimen of building general fitness and skills in swimming, biking and running to a much more structured program, where I do specific things on specific days and consistently build up the intensity and duration of my workouts with the goal of reaching my peak conditioning just in time for my Ironman. I have been researching and eagerly anticipating this next phase since the beginning of my training.
The only problem is...I don't actually have a real training plan. See, I thought I had one. I found what seemed like a perfect plan from a triathlete writer/coach/nutritionist who I have come to trust and admire named Matt Fitzgerald. But then I read the book Be Iron Fit, which included several training plans, which were very different from Fitzgerald's. So I looked up a couple of other popular plans, and I noticed several key differences.
Fitzgerald's plan is much lower in volume than the others. Meaning, it calls for far less time spent training each week. Yet it doesn't include more intensity than the others. As I have discussed before, there are generally 2 camps in endurance training, the high volume camp and the high intensity camp. High volume takes a lot of time but is done at easier paces. High intensity saves time but requires faster/harder efforts more often. The camp that NO ONE seems to be in is the low volume, low intensity camp. Presumably because this camp would be full of people who cannot go fast or far.
It also concerns me that Fitzgerald's plan is almost completely lacking BRICK workouts. A BRICK is a complete bike workout followed immediately by a complete run workout (eg. 50 mile ride followed by 10 mile run). BRICK workouts tend to be the key workout in most triathlon training plans. Instead he has a lot of transition workouts, which include a short (15-20 min.) run after long rides. These get your body used to running right off the bike, which is obviously extremely important, but they don't really prepare your body to keep running after the first couple miles off the bike. And my body needs to go for 26.2 MILES off the bike, so it's kinda important.
The problem with some of the higher volume plans is that they are measured in time rather than distance. So there are a couple more camps for ya: The time camp vs. the distance camp. I personally prefer to measure my training in distance. I get why the time camp is appealing, but for me, and many others, the bottom line is that races are measured in distance. I don't get to stop running the Ironman when I hit that 13 hour mark. And for someone like me (ie. slow) I fear training by time would leave me very short of the finish line!
To help clear up these discrepancies I checked out yet another training plan on trifuel.com. This training plan called for 14 hours a week of training at 20 weeks prior to the race! Most of the other plans called for 8-11 hours a week! (Fitzgerald's plan starts at more like 6-7 hours a week!) So what is up with that?!
Of course, I always expected to tweak any plan to fit my specific needs. Everyone does. Everyone is different so training needs are highly individual. This is what many fortunate people have a coach for. And if I had any disposable income I too might have a coach. Then again, I might not. I like the challenge of figuring it out myself. Plus I am not a big fan of someone telling me what to do.
Anyway, every plan needs to be adjusted for the individual. For example, I probably put more emphasis on strength training than many beginner Ironmen. Some people make an effort to squeeze it into their jam packed swim bike run schedule, but I actually prioritize it above some of those workouts. For me, I firmly believe that the strength training I do (particularly plyometric workouts, which build strength and power while getting your heart rate up) is as important to my running performance as actually running, so I cut down or replace some running workouts with that. Also, it is important to train to your weakness, so of the 3 disciplines, I personally need to really prioritize bike workouts. (If you are weak in all 3 sports, you should train for the weakest.)
The point is, I was prepared to create my own plan based on the blueprint of existing plans, but I guess I hadn't realized there was such a disparity between plans. The good news is, after all of my reading and training thus far, I pretty much know what is important to me in a plan. So I will likely take the general structure of Fitzgerald's plan and add the things I need, like a little more volume and the all-important BRICKS.
And all that fun and excitement begins July 1st!
Fitzgerald's plan is much lower in volume than the others. Meaning, it calls for far less time spent training each week. Yet it doesn't include more intensity than the others. As I have discussed before, there are generally 2 camps in endurance training, the high volume camp and the high intensity camp. High volume takes a lot of time but is done at easier paces. High intensity saves time but requires faster/harder efforts more often. The camp that NO ONE seems to be in is the low volume, low intensity camp. Presumably because this camp would be full of people who cannot go fast or far.
It also concerns me that Fitzgerald's plan is almost completely lacking BRICK workouts. A BRICK is a complete bike workout followed immediately by a complete run workout (eg. 50 mile ride followed by 10 mile run). BRICK workouts tend to be the key workout in most triathlon training plans. Instead he has a lot of transition workouts, which include a short (15-20 min.) run after long rides. These get your body used to running right off the bike, which is obviously extremely important, but they don't really prepare your body to keep running after the first couple miles off the bike. And my body needs to go for 26.2 MILES off the bike, so it's kinda important.
The problem with some of the higher volume plans is that they are measured in time rather than distance. So there are a couple more camps for ya: The time camp vs. the distance camp. I personally prefer to measure my training in distance. I get why the time camp is appealing, but for me, and many others, the bottom line is that races are measured in distance. I don't get to stop running the Ironman when I hit that 13 hour mark. And for someone like me (ie. slow) I fear training by time would leave me very short of the finish line!
To help clear up these discrepancies I checked out yet another training plan on trifuel.com. This training plan called for 14 hours a week of training at 20 weeks prior to the race! Most of the other plans called for 8-11 hours a week! (Fitzgerald's plan starts at more like 6-7 hours a week!) So what is up with that?!
Of course, I always expected to tweak any plan to fit my specific needs. Everyone does. Everyone is different so training needs are highly individual. This is what many fortunate people have a coach for. And if I had any disposable income I too might have a coach. Then again, I might not. I like the challenge of figuring it out myself. Plus I am not a big fan of someone telling me what to do.
Anyway, every plan needs to be adjusted for the individual. For example, I probably put more emphasis on strength training than many beginner Ironmen. Some people make an effort to squeeze it into their jam packed swim bike run schedule, but I actually prioritize it above some of those workouts. For me, I firmly believe that the strength training I do (particularly plyometric workouts, which build strength and power while getting your heart rate up) is as important to my running performance as actually running, so I cut down or replace some running workouts with that. Also, it is important to train to your weakness, so of the 3 disciplines, I personally need to really prioritize bike workouts. (If you are weak in all 3 sports, you should train for the weakest.)
The point is, I was prepared to create my own plan based on the blueprint of existing plans, but I guess I hadn't realized there was such a disparity between plans. The good news is, after all of my reading and training thus far, I pretty much know what is important to me in a plan. So I will likely take the general structure of Fitzgerald's plan and add the things I need, like a little more volume and the all-important BRICKS.
And all that fun and excitement begins July 1st!
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