Ironman Preparation by Craig Zelent
Craig Zelent is a USA Triathlon Level 1 Certified Coach. Craig can be reached at 760214-0055 or tricraigz@yahoo.com. This is a training plan that 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. Swim Training: I highly recommend participating in a master’s swim program. To find a program near you, go to www.usms.org. If you need stroke help, then ask the coach to give you feedback. My personal testimonial is that within 4 months of committing to a master’s swim program, my swim times dropped by 15% for all distances. For the typical Ironman triathlete the swim represents only 10-15% of the entire race. You need to prepare for the swim, but allocate your swim training time accordingly. Bike Training: I highly recommend participating in some type of weekly stationary bike workout such as a spin class, using a CompuTrainer or rollers. These workouts usually take about an hour and will be the most beneficial, highest quality 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 some regular stationary bike workouts. On a personal note, since I have been doing spin workouts my bike performance has improved at least 10%. Half of the race will be spent on the bike. Unless you are a real “ace” on the bike, then you should plan on spending half of your training time on the bike. Your #1 weekly priority on the bike should always be to make certain you get in 1 long ride. Run Training: Track workouts can be a great training tool, but I believe they are overrated for Ironman. They can be a prescription for an injury. Your focus should be mostly on getting your run miles in…and staying injury free. 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. At least 30% of the race will be spent on the run. Just like the swim and bike, you should plan your training time accordingly. Your #1 weekly priority for the run will always be to make certain you get in 1 long run. Core Strength Training: 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 strength training is critical. A strong core will enable you to swim,

bike and run that much faster. 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. Mileage Goals and Training Plan: Below I have shown your mileage goals for the 4-month build up period leading up to your Ironman. For each month I describe 3 types of weeks – EPP Week, Brick Week and Race Week. To mix up your training and avoid boredom, I recommend alternating the EPP and Brick weeks. You should plan to do both the EPP and Brick 2x per month and the Race week 1x. EPP Week: 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 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. Brick Week: 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. Race Week: 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. For the 5 weeks ending 16 weeks before your Ironman: 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 4 weeks ending 12 weeks before your Ironman: 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 5 weeks ending 7 weeks before your Ironman:

EPP: Long bike: 90-95 miles, long run: 18-19 miles. Brick: Saturday: bike 75 miles then immediately run 75 minutes. minutes, bike 1.5-2 hours. Weekly totals: swim 8-10,000 yards, bike 175 miles, run 35 miles.

Sunday: run 90

For the 4 weeks ending 3 weeks before your Ironman: 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. For the final 3 weeks: Much of your focus should turn to swimming in the final 3 weeks. 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 in the final 5 weeks, except do not do this distance during the final week. In addition, you should get your bike tuned 2 weeks before the race to allow for a few rides afterwards to make certain it is dialed in properly. I suggest a 3 week taper following these guidelines: 14-20 days before the race: Do a max of 75% of your biggest week's mileage. 7-13 days before the race: 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. For a Sunday race, 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. For a Saturday race, my personal preference would be to take Monday and Thursday off completely. On Tuesday and Wednesday I would do 2 of the 3 sports (swim, bike and run) each day for a total of 1 hour max. On Friday I would do a max of 15 minutes of swimming or biking. Your emphasis over the final days should be on hydrating, resting and mentally preparing. Keep those feet up, especially the day before your race. Allow for extra time to turn in your transition bags. Race Nutrition: The most common question I get is what I consume during the actual race. Everyone has different caloric needs. My IM looks like this: 2 days before: Take 4 Vantage VO2 Max capsules at lunch. This is a phosphate loader. The purpose is to increase the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood. 1 day before: Take 4 Vantage VO2 Max capsules at lunch. Night before: Big pasta dinner that I finish at approx 8pm. That is my last solid food.

Pre-race between 5am - 6:45am - 400 calories from Carbo Pro 1200 mixed w/PowerBar Endurance (PBE) formula. 2 Motivator capsules (caffeine). 4 Vantage VO2 Max capsules. Motivators, Vantage VO2 Max and Carbo Pro 1200 are available through www.sportquestdirect.com. 1st 56 miles of the bike: 2 calorie bottles. 1 is a dense dose of Carbo Pro 1200 w/PBE probably 700 calories (I nurse this for the entire 56 miles). The 2nd bottle is a thin dose of Carbo Pro 1200 w/PBE - probably 300 calories (I'll finish this by mile 20). I'll also consume probably 2+ Gatorade bottles. 2-3 Saltstick capsules (available through www.saltstick.com) per hour on the 112- mile bike. 3 Motivator capsules total during the 112-mile bike. 2nd 56 miles of the bike: 2 calorie bottles. 1 is a dense dose of Carbo Pro 1200 w/PBE probably 700 calories (I nurse this for the entire 56 miles). The 2nd bottle is a thin dose of Carbo Pro 1200 w/PBE - probably 300 calories (I'll finish this by mile 76). I'll also consume probably 2+ Gatorade bottles. Run: Probably 4-5 PowerGels w/double caffeine chased down mostly with Gatorade. Certainly by mile 10 I'll start drinking the cola. Probably 2:1 cola to Gatorade in the final 16 miles. 3 Saltstick capsules per hour on the run. 3 Motivator capsules total during the run. Generally speaking, I'd say I like to race "light", meaning I really don't overeat during the race. Afterall, I loaded up on glycogen the night before. The above is really not that many calories compared to what I can put away. If my stomach presents a problem during the race, the thing I'll change 1st is to stop taking the Motivators. For questions about nutrition I am referring people to seek out the various nutritionists and dieticians in the area. These are the experts at nutritional counseling and meal planning so I should defer to them.