Ironman Training

am now in my second season of Ironman training, preparing for my third one. Training for Ironman does take a lot of time for an athlete's week. An average of 20hrs a week are needed to prepare the best way possible for this long day. Personally I think that there are three key sessions though which one needs to give importance to:

1. Long Run
2. Long Bike / followed idealy by at least 30mins of running
3. Interval Bike session

Doing these three sessions well, and including 3 basic swim sessions in your weekly programme you should be on the right track to get a good strong finish in an Ironman. Now I shall explain these 3 key sessions further individually.

Long Run

The Long Run is important in our programme as we are out there running a Marathon, so we have to prepare our body for those 3 - 5hrs of running. Ideally you start building your Long Run 10mins every week till you reach 2hrs 30mins. Long Runs should the done at Zone 2 (70 - 80%MHR). Once you reach the hrs target you can include higher pace work towards the end of the run. This part of the run should be done at Upper Zone 2. There are coaches who suggest doing 3hrs or more of running. From my own personal experience 3hrs does take way too much out of you, and triathletes take long to recover from it. The secret of Ironman training is the ability of being consistent in training. It is also important to place the long run away from the long bike to have a better quality session. Running on tired legs does increase the risk on injury as well.

Long Bike

Your weekly long bike is usually placed on a Saturday or a Sunday. Long Cycling starts at 2hrs and for an Ironman you need to build your long bike to 6hrs. You need to do these session at Zone 2 (in other words aerobicly). Ideally you try to do these sessions on road similar to those you are going to find in your race. In Malta this is quite difficult but there are a few good road like Coast Road, Hal Far and the Hill towards the North of the Island which are perfect to include in your route. It is also ideal to run off the bike for 30mins to mimic the same feeling you are going to face in the Ironman. Some coaches suggest longer then 30mins, even 2hrs. For newbies to Ironman it is better to stick to the 30mins mark.

Bike Interval Session

Ironman is all about aerobic training, so when you hear the word intervals it has nothing to do with the intervals you did till now to prepare for an Olympic Distance Triathlon. Intervals in Ironman mean blocks of 20mins with 5-10mins rest at Zone 3 or else at the pace you can keep in a Half Ironman bike section. You can repeat these blocks for 2 - 3 times. You can also do these intervals on a hard gear spinning at 60rpm to build strenght and resistance, this will depend very much on the type of course you are going to race on.

These three key workouts are the base of your Ironman Training programme. It is important to do them 72hrs apart. The rest of the sessions are just a filler for frequency, milage and endurance. You need to be fresh (as much as possible) prior to start these sessions. In the following articles I shall go into detail on some other aspects of Ironman training and racing.

Yours,

Dermot