Your own iron man: How to independently make an annual plan to prepare for IRONMAN

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The decision came spontaneously. I just had to change something in my life. Don't just change but challenge yourself. What did I know about triathlon and IRONMAN in particular? There you have to swim, ride a bike and run. Well, and the fact that the passage of the distance is entirely beyond the capabilities of ordinary people (4 km swimming, 180 km cycling, 42 km running). Tempting? It's tempting! Can I? Why not! The idea was crazy enough to capture me, and then captivate me.

I spent several days studying the official site and all the articles that were there. We got a lot of information. Everything: nutrition, race, gear, recovery, training, skill development, etc. etc. A huge amount of notes lay on my desktop. I looked at them and realized that the notes themselves do not carry value. A system is needed. A system that will allow me to get the desired result - to master the IRONMAN 70.3 race (2 km swimming, 90 km cycling and 21 km running). For many years I have been building business systems. And all systems are subject to the same fundamental laws. One of the simple rules - don't know where to start? Look what systems already exist around.

I looked around. And, since I considered running as my biggest challenge in triathlon, I signed up for the "Half Marathon" training program through one of the running apps. Well, that's a good start. I scrupulously followed the recommendations of the program and did not miss a single workout (by the way, 6 days a week). In parallel, I was studying all the available information. Having stumbled upon several references to Joe Friel's book "The Triathlete's Bible" and after reading the reviews, I decided that the book should be immediately studied from cover to cover.

And he made the right decision.

At first I just started reading. Then the understanding came - this is the system that I was looking for! It soon became clear that the book would have to work seriously and scrupulously in order to get the system just for me. Fortunately, this is what the book was written for. With careful and patient study, the Bible will allow you to create a training and nutrition system for any class of triathlete or duathlete.

I devoted a lot of time and effort to preparing the program for myself. And now I want to save your time and talk about preparing a training program in a series of articles "His own iron man".

Preparation of the annual plan

Preparing your annual training plan is based on 3 fundamental ideas:

You must be in peak physical condition when participating in major events.

The year is divided into periods, while each period has its own goals and objectives, and also differs in intensity, duration, volume of training and skills practiced. At the same time, the goal of periodization is precisely to reach its peak at the right time.

It is necessary to avoid overtraining and other mistakes associated with excessive loads.

The idea of periodization of training is rooted in the history of the development of sports in the 20th century and all the necessary information can be found on the Internet. A brief description of the periods will be a little further, but for now, let's move on to the practical steps to prepare the annual training plan. In each step I will give points of my plan as an example.

So.

Step 1 - Set goals for the coming year

What do you want to achieve this year? In terms of sports, of course. Regardless of whether you are going to take part in an IRONMAN race, a marathon race, or simply achieve certain indicators, you need to clearly define goals and fix them. I will not argue about the need for a written fixation of the goal - there are enough materials on this topic. Just do it. Take a blank slate and write down your goals. Don't get carried away. There cannot be many goals. No more than 3.

My goals for the coming year:

Complete the IRONMAN 70.3 distance in less than 5 hours.

Complete the IRONMAN distance in less than 10 hours.

Step 2 - Define training objectives for the coming year

These objectives should enable you to achieve your goals. The problem statement should answer 3 questions:

What needs to be done?

When should this be done?

How to measure it?

You shouldn't set more than 5 tasks.

My training objectives:

Swim 4 km in an hour by February 10, 2014.

Run 21 km in less than 1:40 by November 11, 2013.

Run a marathon in less than 4 hours by February 10, 2014.

Cycle 180 km in less than 5 hours by March 24.

Please note that my tasks are based on my plans for the race and current capabilities. Having completed these tasks, I will definitely achieve my goals.

Step 3 - Determine How Much Time You Can Exercise

More specifically, you need to determine how many hours per year you can train. To do this, you need to take into account how many hours you will devote to training on weekdays, on weekends, whether you will train on vacation, how frequent are your business trips and how they will affect this time, etc. In the total time, all types of training are laid, as well as tests, warm-ups and other sports activities.

In my case, I calculated that I was ready to devote an average of 1.5 hours on weekdays (4 days a week, 1 day off) and 3.5 hours on weekends. A total of 13 hours per week. Multiplying by 52 (weeks per year) and rounding down, I got 670 hours per year.

Step 4 - Determine Race Times and Priorities

If you are not planning to participate in the races, you can skip this step or plan for yourself an individual time trial, as close as possible to the racing situation.

First of all, we create a table in any table editor and indicate the week number in column 1. Only 52 weeks. Then in column 2 we indicate the name of the main race and in column 3 the date for Monday of the week in which the race is to be held. The most important race has priority A. Next, you must specify the less important race with priority B. Races with priority C are intended to test your abilities and are not mandatory. They also need to be marked on the calendar.

It looks like this for me:

At the same time, I plan to take part in two races of type A. But for now, let's stop at one.

Step 5 - Divide the year into periods

And now the fun begins. Our goal is to break 52 weeks into periods. There are 6 periods in total:

Preparatory

… This is one of the easiest periods to prepare the body for the next hard training and getting on the schedule. Duration 3-4 weeks.

Base

… Divided into 3 parts. Each part differs in duration and in the set of skills and exercises trained. Here, trainings are already held for an adult. It is called basic because the emphasis of all training is on 3 basic characteristics - endurance, strength and speed. In total, this period lasts from 24 to 32 weeks.

Construction

… At this stage, we are working on specific characteristics - muscle endurance, anaerobic endurance and power. At the same time, without stopping the training of the base. Also, at this stage, work is underway on personal weaknesses. Duration 6-8 weeks.

Peak

… 3 weeks at the peak of your physical strength. At this stage, there is a gradual reduction in the load to prepare for the race.

Racing

… In our case, this is 1 week (since 1 race). This week is one of three in the peak period.

Transition

… Recovery period after the race. It can take up to 6 weeks if the race hits the body hard and painfully. If not, then 1-2 weeks are enough WITHOUT jogging, swimming and cycling. This does not mean that you have to wallow on the couch. You can do any other sports. Skiing, skating, volleyball, tennis and more. After that, we again enter the preparatory phase.

We find a racing week in our calendar, mark that it is such and then start the countdown:

• 2 weeks before the race week is the peak period.
• 4 weeks before peak - construction period 2.
• 4 weeks before construction 2 - construction 1.
• 20 weeks before construction 1 - base period 3. (this period can be significantly shorter, but this is more the prerogative of experienced athletes)
• 8 weeks before baseline 3 - baseline 2.
• 4 weeks before baseline 2 - baseline 1.
• And the last 4 weeks are the preparatory period.

Hooray! Now we know when training starts. Well, or we know that we should choose another, later race.

I got it like this:

Step 6 - Break the hours into periods

Now you need to determine how many hours of training to allocate for a particular period. The Triathlete's Bible has a whole table on this topic. I analyzed the ratios and got the following:

Step 7 - Break the clock by week

The principle is the same as in step 6. The table is below:

Please note - every 4th week has fewer hours. It's recovery week. It is imperative to reduce the load and actively recover. We will talk about this in more detail in the next article.

My graph looks like this:

Step 8 - Determine what abilities we will work on

Now we need to designate in what period what abilities we will develop. There are 3 basic abilities and 3 special ones.

Basic Abilities:

Endurance

- endurance is the ability to withstand the effects of fatigue and reduce the negative effects associated with it. Most important ability for a triathlete.

Force

is the ability to overcome resistance. From an all-around perspective, strength is especially important when swimming in open water, biking uphill and upwind. It is also important for conserving muscle effort.

Speed

- Speed skills are the ability to move effectively while swimming, cycling or running. It is a kind of combination of technique and performance that determines how efficiently the arms and legs work when moving quickly.

Special abilities:

Muscle endurance

- Muscle endurance is the ability of a muscle to withstand a relatively high load over a long period of time. It is a combination of abilities related to strength and endurance.

Anaerobic endurance

- As a combination of speed skill and endurance, anaerobic endurance is about resisting fatigue under high stress when you move your arms or legs especially quickly. Least important ability for a triathlete.

Power

- Power is the ability to quickly take advantage of maximum strength. Power comes from having a high level of two basic abilities - strength and speed skills.

First of all, add the following columns to the already created table:

It's time to turn to Friel's recommendations for defining ability training at different times:

Preparation period- Place an X in the Stamina and Speed Skills columns for each week of Prep and each of the three sports. Endurance training during this period aims to improve the endurance of the heart and lungs (the so-called cardiorespiratory system). During this time, you can do a combination workout, especially when bad weather makes it difficult to cycle and run. You can also substitute sports for other sports (for example, swimming instead of running). Also place an X in the "Testing" column in the first and last weeks of the Preparation Period.

Basic 1- Place an X in the boxes in the Stamina and Speed Skills columns for each week of the Basic 1 period. During this period, endurance exercises should be longer, and work on speed skills should also be intensified. At this stage, the weather becomes the determining factor for cycling and running. Mountain biking or cross-country skiing can be an excellent alternative if the conditions of the trail do not allow for regular exercise. If during the Basic Period you are not able to train on the road, exercise bikes will help you.

Basic 2- Place an X in the Stamina, Strength, Speed Skills and Muscle Endurance columns for each week of the Basic 2 period (excluding rest and recovery weeks). Muscle endurance exercises during this period are carried out at moderate intensity, and strength training takes place at the initial levels. Your training should now switch from basic to special abilities. You start building strengths associated with swimming, cycling and running. The duration of the endurance exercise should be increased.

Basic 3 - Place an X in the Stamina, Strength, Speed Skills and Muscle Endurance columns for each week of the Basic 3 period, excluding the weeks of rest and recovery. During this period, training volume reaches its maximum. The intensity and strength are slightly increased. It is possible that you should slightly increase the intensity of the exercise related to muscle endurance.

Building 1 and 2 - Schedule Endurance and Muscular Endurance exercises for each week of the Build 1 and Build 2 periods (excluding the rest and recovery weeks). Identify the abilities that require special attention for each sport and check the appropriate boxes. If you are unsure of your choice, opt for Strength for cycling and running and Anaerobic Endurance for swimming.

Peak - For Peak Period, mark an X in the Stamina and Muscular Endurance columns for each sport. If you're going to race Half-Ironman or Ironman distance, Speed Skills should be in your plan for each sport, along with Endurance and Muscle Endurance.

Racing - During each week of this period, you either participate in a real race or engage in a full-fledged simulation of it, spending a combined cycling and running session for one day at the end of the week, combined with swimming at a racing intensity level. Make the appropriate checkmarks for all Race Periods of the season.

That’s almost all. It remains to distribute strength training. Strength training phases:

AA - Anatomical adaptation - Start strength training. Preparing for serious exercise. 3 weeks in the preparatory period.

MPP - Maximum transition period - The purpose of this intermediate stage is to prepare for the heavier loads during the RP phase. 1 week after the AA phase.

MN - Maximum voltage - 4 weeks in the basic 1 period.

PS - Maintaining strength … Exercises to support strength skills. All weeks except racing and transition weeks.

That's actually all that concerns the preparation of the main strategic map - the annual training plan. My plan looks like this:

In the next article, we will outline the weekly workout plans.

Last thoughts:

1. Having a bad plan is better than no plan at all. The plan implies a system, and the system can be analyzed and conclusions drawn. From this point 2 follows.
2. Once made, a plan is not a panacea. The plan can and should be adjusted. In the process of training, you will better understand yourself and be able to more accurately determine the subject and volume of training. However, point 3.
3. The plan must be followed. Unquestioningly (disciplined) and no matter what. This is the only way to achieve success.
4. Remember - you can get out of the race (this or some other). Nobody will judge you. No one will even say a word to you. But only those who pass it to the end will receive respect.

Every morning I wake up and hear one phrase in my head. I will hear this phrase with my own eyes next year. This phrase just kicks me out of bed.

Roman Zaytsev. You’re an IRONMAN!

Good luck to you!