Ironman Coeur d'Alene pre-race report

There are plenty of post-race reports. I thought maybe some of y’all would be interested in a pre-race report that provides quantitative insight into a year’s training leading up to a full Ironman (in this case, Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2010). This data may be helpful in answering the question, “How much training do people really do?” Or it may be incredibly narcissistic of me. For reference, I’m a M35-39 MOPin AGer, probably finishing in the 12hr-14hr range . . . again. I'm sure some may train more, others may train less, so a sample size of 1 person shouldn't be used to make recommendations. I was partly motivated to post this because I keep reading - and over-hearing the obnoxious trinoob's - references and insistences on repeated 20+ training weeks. I never hit 20 hrs. Not once. Never have.

Races and Training Programs (July 2009-June 2010)

• August ’09 – December ‘09: 20-week full marathon training program with Dallas Running Club
• October: Half Ironman (PR)
• November ’09: Half marathon
• December: Full marathon
• January ’10 – April ’10: 16-week full marathon training program with Dallas Running Club
• January ’10: Half marathon (PR)
• March: Full marathon
• May: 2.4 mile open water race

Training Log (July 2009-June 2010)
I follow absolutely no triathlon training plan. I know how I should be performing and feeling at any given point in a season, and I know the general distances I should be hitting dependant on how far from the race I am. I set a 1-year goal of 4,000 miles cycling, 1,000 miles running, 100k swimming. Based on my pace(s), this would come out to 425-450 hours of annual training with about 50% of the time cycling, 40% running, and 10% swimming. Each week I tried to balance my sessions to keep that ratio. That's about as complicated as it got. I’m lucky that I have numerous running clubs to train with and cycling clubs to ride with, so I spend a lot of time in marathon programs and cycling with Cat IV and III roadies. As such, I just go the pace and distance the group dictates. I don't fixate on HR zones or intervals; I just ride the damn bike as hard as I can. The cycling avg mph is less than impressive, I know, but it includes thousands of stops and starts, with 1,000 miles of slow and dark winter cycling. Oh, and I didn’t do a single brick. I hate bricks.


Training Results (3 months prior to the race)
Longest week was "only" 16 hours or so. Some may need (or want) that mythical 20hr week. It builds confidence if it is your first Ironman. For subsequent Ironmans, you don't really need a 20hr killer. In the three months prior to the race, I spent nearly 60% of my time on the bike, only swam 1-2hrs a week, and my run totals were consistently 4-5hrs per week with half of that time coming in one long weekend run. The last three months (one-quarter of the year) of training comprised 28% of my annual training volume. This is noteworthy because it means I didn't cram all the training into the race prep phase. I think that's when/where injuries occur.