How to manage the time for your Ironman Triathlon Training
Feeling overwhelmed with finding the time for your ironman triathlon training?Maybe you are one of the many athletes that are intrigued by the idea of doing an ironman. Proper ironman triathlon training requires a commitment to lots of hours spent on training. But maybe there is a solution. On the cycling part of this website I wrote about the possibility to collect training miles throughout your week by taking the bicycle instead of your car when going to your work (if possible). I would like to expand on this idea and give you a complete training guideline here that is pretty little time consuming. So how many hours do you need to spend on your training to arrive on two rather than on four legs? If your only intention is to arrive within the time limits of the race which is about 16 or 17 hours for most competitions than you don't need to worry too much about lots of training hours. With relatively little efforts you can reach this goal if you didn't spend the last year doing nothing nor are a complete beginner. Swimming:
If you are familiar with doing the crawl then a "one time a week" workout can be sufficient. Arrange it to complete longer distances and integrate some technique exercising. You should also vary your tempo because in swimming it is more important than in any other portion of triathlon to not stick with a chosen tempo throughout your training unit if you want to become faster. Here is an example: Do some intervals of 1000/800/400/200/100/50 yards (meters) with short breaks (make them active, that means reduce tempo or change activity but don't stop) and increasing tempo during each interval. Since the ratio of the swimming during an ironman holds responsible for only 10 percent of the whole racing time (compared to 20 percent in a short distance) we can also reduce our training efforts here more drastically. Cycling:
This is where you should put your biggest attention on because the cycling portion makes up more than 50 percent of the racing time during an ironman competition. One long unit in the weekend of at least 4 hours is compulsory and to add some spice into our soup we will need a shorter second unit with higher intensity during the week. For example you could do some Fartlek or a interval training with lower intensity for about 2 more hours. Running:
As with the cycling I would recommend that you spend at least one longer run throughout your week (about 2 hours) and perform a second training unit with some light intervals, e.g. 3 - 5 times 8 minutes with higher pulse rates. In case you have left more time for your training on a certain day, use it for additional cycling units or an endurance-building long run. Maybe you can make it to add a short run after a cycling unit from time to time. If you can maintain these five workouts per week on a consistent basis then you will spend 10 hours a week on your ironman triathlon training. As a test it makes sense to do some short distance races up front. During the race you should remember S-E-D: Slow tempo and don't forget to eat and drink. If you take care of this and have prepared well with your ironman triathlon training as described above you are very likely to finish. With this schedule you won't fight for the first price though, nor the third or second. But it's definitely enough to enjoy the adventure of your first ironman. Once you've finished for the first time you may find yourself trying to invest more time into your training.Return from Ironman Triathlon Training to Triathlon Training
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