Apparently he can. Many thanks to Mr David W my extremely fit friend who decided to challenge me to a Half Ironman. So how does one prepare themselves for an event that is far outside their comfort zone? We break it down. It’s a problem after all like any other.
The Event
Great Lake Taupō, home to the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 Taupō, is a popular tourist destination, it has beautiful scenery and is home to New Zealand’s premier Iron Man Events. Even the top 30 will qualify at this event for the world championship haha
2km Swim through Great Lake Taupo followed by a 90km cycle around the lake and finish off with a half marathon of 21km. They call this event a 70.3 and I think this is going to be fun and exhausting.
The Plan
I like to have goals. They allow you to break your problem and solutions down into manageable chunks. After looking at past years results and cross referencing with my current abilities I have chosen to come top 20 in my age group…. this means aiming for 5 hours and 15 mins. Although I haven’t been swimming properly in 12 years I am going to focus on that as a strength and then work out my delta. This leaves me the following:
Swim: 30 Minutes
Cycle: 2 hours and 50 Minutes
Run: 1 hour 55 Minutes
The Training
To start I am going to make this simple. First 8 week training period is going to be Four sessions a week. The aim of round 1 of training is just to get used to doing all three events.
Monday: Swimming (around 1.5-2k a sesson with variable work to get swim fit)
Tuesday: HIIT Training on alternating bike/run
This is to aim to get a greater fitness in a short time frame. Think sprinting for 1 min and then 2 minutes easy
Wednesday: Tempo work on alternating bike/run
Longer distances on even times. Think 4-8 minutes race pace and then 4-8 mins faster
Friday: Long Run or Cycle
60 minutes of running or cycling
After I have completed this I have roughly 16 weeks left. This gives me plenty of time to work on speed. The aim is to be able to keep my heart rate below 160 while completing the above times singularly and then bring it all together at a later date.
The Diet
Well I feel I am going to have to put cutting on the back burner for the moment… I will focus 65% of my diet on carbs and ensure I get at least 100g protein a day to keep muscle up to date. Total calories I will build up to 2.5k-3k a day from my current 1.5k. Due to the level of carbs I see no need to eat eggs which puts me officially in the vegan camp for the next 6 months. I will stand by my 95% vegan statement as I not as anal as most.
wish me luck 🙂
