Should i do a half ironman

Put the time into the training so the race is a great experience for you. You and or your coach can make this as simple or as detailed as you want. A big key is to know your caloric needs and your sweat rate. Should you take in calories an hour or should you take in calories an hour? Do you need one bottle an hour to replace what you sweat out or do you need 3 bottles an hour? Do you need to take in mg an hour in sodium or mg an hour? These are questions that need to be answered during your training and you need a solid plan on race day.

The last thing you want is a few saddle stores to stop you cold in your tracks. The same can be said of the run. Run often, and cap your runs at 90 minutes. Although you can be limited in the winter months for longer outdoor bike rides, you can certainly gain a lot of fitness by continuing your long runs of 90 minutes or more.

Another recommendation I would make is to schedule at least two Half marathons on your calendar. For the first half marathon, run this race as fresh as possible. Some athletes get amped up from their half-distance performance and jump right back into training 48 hours after this race. You should take a week of active recovery, not only to recuperate from the intensity and duration of the race, but to consolidate the benefits of that long race-paced training session.

I like to do a short ride or swim the day after a race, as a recovery activity, rather than take that day completely off. But I recommend taking days completely off in the days immediately following your The remainder of the week, your activities should be at a low intensity. Not a moderate or endurance intensity, either. I mean low, slow, easy, etc. In some cases, these recovery-paced sessions might be somewhat long. During your recovery week, you should also focus more of your activities on cycling and swimming.

You can pour on the fuel and gather speed, lighten up on the throttle to save precious resources, and make course corrections, but you have to be realistic about what you can change about your fitness in the final 6 weeks leading up to your Ironman.

You basically have time for one last hard training block before you begin your taper. The primary goal of this final training block should be extending the amount of time you can sustain efforts at lactate threshold pace. Your longest sessions A lot of athletes look at their longest individual training sessions as a crucial milestone for Ironman preparation. Your longest run, ride, and swim are important, but you have to keep them in perspective and plan them appropriately.

Rather than focus on mileage for the run, for instance, I like to have athletes do a run that is minutes shorter than their fastest open marathon time in the past two years. That means that if your fast marathon time not in a triathlon, just a running race is , then your long run in Ironman training should be about Some athletes and coaches will say that is too short for a longest pre-Ironman run, but for athletes who can run a open marathon, this long run will most likely end up covering miles.

For a fit Olympic distance triathlete, this means 1 to 4 long bike rides around the 3-hour range. These rides fall within the last few weeks of training before volume tapers heading into race day.

When I design a In one of my ready-to-follow plans, the longest ride is at four hours. Many athletes have proven that it is possible to successfully complete a Tip: Triathletes that can complete to percent of the race distance in training, can be successful on race day.

This means a long ride of 25 to 45 miles. If you have several weeks prior to the race, completing one to three rides in the to percent range 45 to 62 miles will build deeper endurance fitness. More: Anaerobic Cycling Workouts for a More Triathlon Articles.

Look for this banner for recommended activities. Cancel Yes. Join Active or Sign In. All rights reserved. Go Premium.