Endurance Training For Your First Ironman

The goal of all serious endurance athletes is to one day complete an ironman.

It is a grueling 3.8K swim, 180K bike, and then a marathon.

Completely just one of these legs is no easy feat and requires plenty of training, but how in the world can you train for and complete all three?

Well first off you have got to set your goals.

If you are just looking to complete an ironman, and I use "just" here loosely, your training is going to look much different then say trying to win your age group or qualify for the world championship.

Once you have your goals in mind you then have to determine which ironman you will be competing in.

The amount of time you will need to train will vary person to person but for most it is somewhere in the 20 to 30 week range.

If you have lived a relatively sedentary lifestyle up to this point then you may need a little more time because you are going to have to strengthen connective tissues that have likely had little use.

Now that you have determined which race you are going to attend you can begin writing up your training plan.

The average training time for most amateur triathletes is somewhere in the 13-25 hours per week range.

If you are looking to complete an ironman it will be somewhere in the 13 range and if you are looking to compete in your age group or even overall then it is going to be on the higher side.

In the first 10-15 weeks you are going to want to get comfortable with the distances, building muscular and cardiovascular endurance, strengthening connective tissues, and working on overall body strength in the weight room.

It is good to plan it out so that each week you gradually increase your training by no more than 10% up until the point where you feel comfortable completing the individual distances.

During the next 5-15 weeks you will want to begin combing the three sports together and working on any weaknesses.

So perhaps one day you can swim and then bike, another day you can bike and then run, and then at least one day a week you can do all three.

Finally, you want to begin to taper about 2-3 weeks out from your target race.

Basically you want to reduce the mileage but still train each day at your target pace.

The goal is to get rested up without losing any fitness.

Completing an ironman is a challenging feat but if you set your goals, write up a manageable training schedule and stick to it there is no reason why you cannot achieve what you have set out to do.

There will be times during the season where you will not feel like going for that 20K run or 100K bike ride but you have got to do it in order to achieve the ironman designation.

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DS Carroll is a consultant for Biomedical Research Laboratories. Biomedical Research Labortories market scientifically based nutritional supplements for endurance athletes including supplements for cyclists, runners, triathletes, and mixed martial arts. Visit http://www.epoboost.com to learn more about how EPO-Boost can increase VO2 max, running economy and endurance.
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