The Journey Begins!

They say, “A journey of 1000 miles, begins with one step.”  Well, on Monday, our Ironman journey began with a 2000 yd swim.   And so it begins, the road to Ironman, and 24 weeks of disciplined and progressively increased training.

Our training will be broken up into six 4-week training blocks, with a swim test and a bike test done at the end of each.  (we will not be doing much in the way of run testing, as our run focus will be more about just increasing our weekly mileage)  The first 12 weeks (3 blocks) are considered “base training,” as the focus will be mostly about building endurance.  The majority of our efforts during this time period will be at lower intensities, allowing us to gradually increase the mileage we are able to swim, bike and run.  The final 12 weeks (3 blocks) are known as “the build,” and our focus changes from increasing our mileage, to getting faster at our current distances. 

Our first 4 week block began this week, and my goals for week 1 are as follows

Swim: 8 kms

Bike: 5.5 hours

Run: 30 miles

(included in these are a 2000 yd swim time-trial test and a bike threshold test)

Bike goals are in hours, instead of miles, as I will be doing a decent portion of my bike training indoors, on my rollers.  Since this does not lend itself to mileage (at least not real accurately), time spent biking is a better indicator of work done on the bike.

My schedule calls for me to run Monday – Saturday, swim M-W-F, and Bike T-W-Th-Sun.  Saturday is the long run, and Sunday is the long ride.  This week’s long run will be 9 miles, and my long ride will be 50-60 miles.

At this point it’s hard for me to have very specific time goals for this race, as I’ve never done anything close to this distance.  So, I really only have a guess as to how fast I could do it now, and another guess on how much improvement I should expect over the next 24 weeks.  As such, I have set a “loose” goal of trying to break 11 hours.  Breaking 11 hours will give me a really good chance of being top 5 in my age-group, and thus earning a spot on the podium. I really have no idea how realistic that is, but it is at least a starting point.  As we get into the season, my training and testing will give me a better idea of what kind of times I’m capable of.  We are also doing a ½ Ironman 3 weeks before the full Ironman, and that race will give us the best estimate of what time to expect in Orlando.

At this point, I’m excited about the journey ahead.  The trick will be maintaining that focus and enthusiasm during the tough training days ahead.  Consistency will be the key.  If I listen to my body, and stick with my plan, I will arrive in Orlando, on race day, in peak condition and ready to put forth a great race.