An Intro and a question

[SBR]

Hi Ladies!
I've been lurking a bit and posted a couple times over the past year, but I wanted to "formally" introduce myself...

My name is Colleen and I live in AZ. Right now I'm doing triathlons, but started off mountain bike racing and then road racing. I've done 2 marathons and 2 half Ironman over the last couple years and just made the leap and signed up for IM AZ 2008! Which leads me to my question...

I've noticed that some women on this board have done IM's- what training plan did you follow and how did you like it? I'm looking for the minimalist program I work part time (26hr/wk) and have two little ones (a son that just turned 4 and a daughter that's almost 2)- so time is very limited...
I've gotten a few programs online (Trifuel, Beginner Triathlete websites) and bought the Ironman Start to Finish book. Any suggestions? TIA!

Oh- and congrats to the women that just did IM AZ 07!

[Tri Girl]

Hi Colleen, and welcome to the site (officially now that you're posting)!! It's so nice to meet you, and we look forward to many posts from you in the future.
Congrats on your marys and HIM- and an even bigger congrats on signing up for IMAZ 08!!!! Denise, Laura and many others can tell you all about the course and what to expect!
As for programs, for the IM I did I used Trifuel. I LOVED it!!! It was so clear cut as to what I was doing every day- it took all the guesswork out of what to do at the diff. stages of the preparation. Also, the weekly hours weren't that intense. The longest week was 19 hours (and that was 5 weeks out from the race). The program assumed that I was faster than I was, so I just added a little extra time to each workout to compensate. It was my first season of tris and within 7 months I had done my first tri and then an IM. It was a fantastic program (but I know there are soooo many other good ones out there). Bonus- it was free and easily accessible- both good for me.

Anyway- best of luck in your upcoming tri season!! Glad to meet you!!!

[SBR]

Is this the program you're referring to? (SuperCoach?)
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/

I looked at that one and the only thing that scared me a bit was the weekend stuff in the later weeks- for example, competitive season wk 9- there's a bike and a transition run (5:15 bike + 45-min. run)- seems reasonable enough, but then Sunday: run 1:45, bike 1:00, run 45:00...yikes! Most prgms I've seen have the long bike with a transition run on Sat., then just a long run on Sunday. I was wondering why there's a bike also on Sun., and why the run is split up like that. I guess just to get transition practice? If I followed that one I would be tempted to skip the Sun. bike...

Also- did you do a lot of the bike stuff on the trainer? The workouts are so detailed, if I did them on the road I'd need to bring a notebook along with me, LOL!

Congrats on your IM! Wow, going from your first tri to an IM in 7-mo! Woah!

Hi Colleen, and welcome to the site (officially now that you're posting)!! It's so nice to meet you, and we look forward to many posts from you in the future.
Congrats on your marys and HIM- and an even bigger congrats on signing up for IMAZ 08!!!! Denise, Laura and many others can tell you all about the course and what to expect!
As for programs, for the IM I did I used Trifuel. I LOVED it!!! It was so clear cut as to what I was doing every day- it took all the guesswork out of what to do at the diff. stages of the preparation. Also, the weekly hours weren't that intense. The longest week was 19 hours (and that was 5 weeks out from the race). The program assumed that I was faster than I was, so I just added a little extra time to each workout to compensate. It was my first season of tris and within 7 months I had done my first tri and then an IM. It was a fantastic program (but I know there are soooo many other good ones out there). Bonus- it was free and easily accessible- both good for me.

Anyway- best of luck in your upcoming tri season!! Glad to meet you!!!

[Tri Girl]

Yup- that's the one. I'm not sure of the reasoning for the Sunday run sandwiched around the bike. I know that I liked that format, especially because I have signifigant knee trouble when running long distance and since the runs were always split up by a bike, I never had any knee trouble during the whole training program. I felt like it gave me the time investing in running, but reduced the risk of injury. Don't know if they did that to keep your legs fresh and from over-running, but it was nice for me. It also made sure that I could do a long run off the bike. Perhaps that was the purpose?
The bike workouts that were really detailed with lots of drills/intervals/sequences etc I did around a local lake. It's a 10 mile lake so I could do my workouts relatively traffic free. Beat being on the trainer (something I dread although some people like it). I would put the workout on a sticker and put it on my aerobars so I could see it as I'm riding. Wasn't too big a deal for me. Now the long rides on the weekend I just did those out on the long stretches of country roads. As I recall- there wasn't too much of a set workout- just get the mileage in. And yeah, as the training progressed- my weekends were simply work that I wasn't getting paid for (8 hours on Saturdays sometimes- between the swim, bike, run and transitions driving to and fro) and 3-4 hours on Sundays. It was soooo worth it tho!!!!

If you have any other questions about the program, let me know. A friend of mine also did the Trifuel program at the same time as me and she did well. Also you can e-mail the guy who did the program and ask him questions too. I did that once and he was super helpful! Again- I'm by NO means an expert and I am not some super athlete. Just a slow,fat triathlete (from Jayne Williams' book) who likes to play the game.

[SBR]

I did e-mail the guy who wrote the prgm. and , if you're interested, this was his response to my question about the Sun. run/bike/run:

...the bike ride in between the two runs (also called a "bike
sandwich" by some) is designed to give you the feeling of running
later on in an aerobic effort, while minimizing the banging on your
legs. If, for example, you run for an hour, then bike for an hour,
then run for 30 min, that last 30 min will "feel" a bit like running
from 2-2:30 of a long run. I'm just trying to get you to feel that
sensation without having to put all that pressure on your legs. Hope
that's clear.

I'm sure I'll have more questions along the way

[Wahine]

SBR - I do my own programs based on Joe Friel's book "The Triathlete's Training Bible." It's not hard to use but does take a lot of time and thought. You can buy prepackaged programs for various triathlon lengths at:

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/trainingplans/joefriel/

For my first attempt to qualify for IM Can I used a program form Triathlete mag called "13 weeks to a sub 13 hour IM". It was OK. It got me in shape but not as well as a custom program based on my strengths and weaknesses did.

This book also looks like it would be pretty good and it's not too expensive:

http://www.amazon.ca/o/ASIN/19313829...researcher1-20

Good luck with your training.