Written by: Craig Zelent
Posted: Monday, 12 May 2008
Shown below are your mileage expectations for the build up period ending in early June. Doing the mileage described probably won’t be enough to qualify you for Hawaii, but it will provide you with a solid foundation for a great racing experience. This is a general guideline. Depending on your skill sets, you will need to make some adjustments. For instance, if you are an aquatically challenged swimmer, then you will need to do more yards than I have shown.
If qualifying for Hawaii is your goal, then we should talk individually. In fact, I welcome any Triathlon Club of San Diego member participating in an Ironman distance race during 2008 to phone me at 760-214-0055.
Racing at a warm venue is a unique challenge. I fear many racers will feel pretty comfortable with the weather and make a key tactical error by not using enough salt tablets. I recommend using the Sportsquestdirect.com product called Thermolytes to replace your sodium. This type of product is used by endurance athletes to minimize heat fatigue and muscle cramps due to excessive perspiration. You should follow the products recommended dosage. I have used over 50 Thermolyte capsules at Ironman Hawaii. That sounds like a staggering quantity, but it was absolutely the correct amount for me as it was within the recommended dosage.
For each month I describe 2 types of weeks. The first type of week is “EPP” (Endurance Protection Plan or Extra Painful Portions). You have 2 days to really focus during the EPP week. Ideally I would suggest doing the long run on Wednesday and the long bike on Saturday to spread these out by a few days. But most of us have jobs so it is more likely you will do these 2 workouts on consecutive weekend days. In that case, it is best to do the long bike on Saturday and the long run on Sunday to mimic the order you will do in the race. Because I work Monday through Friday, this is the program I follow.
The second type of week is the “Brick.” Again you have 2 days to really focus your efforts and they should be consecutive days. On Saturday you will do a bike/run workout with no break in between. On Sunday you will definitely do a longer run than you did the previous day. The purpose of the Sunday run is to simulate the later stages of the Ironman and running on dead legs. The bike ride sometime later that day is optional, but highly recommended especially if you are trying to qualify for Hawaii.
To mix up your training and avoid boredom, I recommend alternating these weeks. You should figure on doing each type of week 2 times per month. I do encourage a third type of week called a “Race” week. The Race week will give you some mileage relief, some fun and more variety to your program. You should still have pretty solid mileage during a Race week, but your main focus is to have a great race performance. The Race week gives you a chance to lower your weekly mileage total which will better enable you to make a mileage increase the following week. Thus, the EPP and Brick weeks allow you to take a step forward while the Race week lets you take a step backwards – that’s a good thing. During the winter and early spring there are not many local multi-sport events so the Tri Club monthly races would be an excellent choice and they are free to members.
Some good local events to consider would be the San Dieguito Half Marathon on 2/10, Inland Empire Half Marathon on 2/10, Palm Springs Half Marathon on 2/17, Camp Pendleton Bulldog Bike Race on 3/1, Los Angeles Marathon on 3/2, the Solvang Century on 3/8, Orange County Duathlon on 3/8, Havasu Triathlon on 3/22, California 70.3 on 3/29, Superfrog Half Ironman on 4/6, Camp Pendleton Devil Dog Duathlon on 4/19, Desert International Triathlon on 4/20, LA Tri Series Triathlon #1 on 4/27, La Jolla Half Marathon on 4/27, Wildflower Half Ironman on 5/3, Napa Valley Half Ironman on 5/3, Spring Sprint Triathlon on 5/4, Wildflower Olympic Triathlon on 5/4, Bakersfield Triathlon on 5/17, Encinitas Triathlon on 5/18, LA Tri Series Triathlon #2 on 5/18, Tempe International Triathlon on 5/18, Auburn World’s Toughest Half Ironman on 5/18, Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon on 6/8 and LA Tri Series Triathlon #3 on 6/8.
I highly recommend participating in a weekly spin class. These classes usually take about an hour and this will be the most beneficial hour you will spend on the bike all week. The most important factor in an effective spin class is a knowledgeable, motivated instructor. To max out your speed on the bike, you must do a spin class. Since half of the time in the Ironman is spent on the bike, you can really gain a lot of ground on your competition by spinning. On a personal note, since I have been doing spin workouts my bike performance has improved at least 10%.
For those of you who are absolutely certain they will have to walk much of the marathon you should plan to do some long walks as you train. We all hope to “race” the Ironman, but if you know that you can’t possibly do that, then this time on your feet will prepare you for race day.
I do highly recommend non-triathlon related activities like weight training, yoga and pilates. Each of these will improve your strength and help to reduce the likelihood of injuries. In particular, yoga and pilates will enhance your flexibility. For each of these non-triathlon related activities, I'd recommend 2x per week for most of the year. Then when your swim, bike and run requirements are really high and sucking up so much time, you could down shift them to 1x per week. Aim for 2x, but if you just don't have the time that is ok to do this cross training 1x - many full IM and half IM people face that time challenge. Core strengthening is really important. By core I'm referring to your abs and low back. I have a low back problem as do many, many people. I'm also a fan of addressing my weaknesses. So I do 3 sets of my ab and low back exercises 2x per week. I will make every effort to do the ab and low back exercises all 52 weeks in the year. I do many of these core exercises with an exercise ball.
For questions about nutrition and triathlon training I am referring people to Kim Mueller, MS, RD. Kim is a Registered Sports Dietician, competitive endurance athlete, and fellow tri-club member who provides nutritional counseling and meal planning to athletes around the world. Tri-club members are encouraged to take advantage of a complimentary initial 30 minute consultation with Kim. More information on her services can be found at www.kbnutrition.com. Kim can be reached at kim@kbnutrition.com.
For the month ending March 2:
EPP: Long bike: 56-60 miles, long run: 13 miles.
Brick: Saturday: bike 50 miles then immediately run 45 minutes. Sunday: run 1 hour, bike 1.5-2 hours.
Weekly totals: swim 8-10,000 yards, bike 110-120 miles, run 27-30 miles.
For the month (4 weeks) ending March 30:
EPP: Long bike: 70-75 miles, long run: 15-16 miles.
Brick: Saturday: bike 60 miles then immediately run 1 hour. Sunday: run 75 minutes, bike 1.5-2 hours.
Weekly totals: swim 8-10,000 yards, bike 150 miles, run 30 miles.
For the month (5 weeks) ending May 4:
EPP: Long bike: 90-95 miles, long run: 18-19 miles.
Brick: Saturday: bike 75 miles then immediately run 75 minutes. Sunday: run 90 minutes, bike 1.5-2 hours.
Weekly totals: swim 8-10,000 yards, bike 175 miles, run 35 miles.
For the month (4 weeks) ending June 1:
EPP: Long bike: 110+ miles, long run: 20-22 miles.
Brick: Saturday: bike 90 miles then immediately run 90 minutes. Sunday: run 2+ hours, bike 2 hours.
Weekly totals: swim 10,000+ yards, bike 200+ miles, run 40+ miles.
After June 1:
Ironman Coeur d’Alene is on Sunday, 6/22/08. Much of your focus should turn to swimming after June 1. The Ironman swim is just over 4,200 yards. A great swim workout to prepare for Ironman is 11 x 400 yards on an interval or with 5-10 seconds rest. I would do this at least once weekly from May 19. Do not do this distance the week of June 16. In addition, everyone should get their bike tuned the week of June 9 to allow for a few rides afterwards to make certain it is dialed in properly.
The people with a 3 week taper may want to follow these guidelines:
Week of June 2 – June 8: Do a max of 75% of your biggest week's mileage.
Week of June 9 – June 15: Do a max of 50% of your biggest week's mileage.
For the final week I suspect you will all have your own preferences regarding what to do. If anything, please error on the side of doing too little rather than too much. My personal preference would be to take Monday and Friday off completely. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I would do 2 of the 3 sports (swim, bike and run) each day for a total of 1 hour max. On Saturday I would do a max of 15 minutes of swimming or biking. Your emphasis should be on hydrating, resting and mentally preparing. Keep those feet up especially on Saturday. Allow for extra time to turn in your transition bags.
Craig Zelent is a 12x Ironman finisher, including 5x at Kona. Craig is available for personal triathlon coaching and can be reached at 760-214-0055 or tricraigz@yahoo.com.
It’s a really cool concept. We pick one day – Sunday, August 31 – and find out how many people around the world can lace up their running shoes and put in a whole bunch of miles. 
