tajsss

Planning my first HIM in September. The long run is going to be my hardest part. This is my second year of tri's. I did a few sprints and an Oly last year. This year I've already done 3 sprints and another Oly. Figure I'll give a HIM this fall. Got another Oly planned for July as well. Here is my plan for long runs leading up to the HIM. Think this will work? Taper the last 2 weeks. My goal is only to finish. I am a slow runner as well so I'm not too worried about speed. I would however like to run as much of it and walk as little as possible.

Date------Long Run Time(min)
6/17/07------65
6/24/07------71
7/01/07------78
7/08/07------85
7/15/07------Oly
7/22/07------90
7/29/07------98
8/05/07------107
8/12/07------117
8/19/07------125
8/26/07------100
9/02/07------80
9/09/07------HIM

chrisesposito

As standalone runs go, these look comparable to my training runs I did before the Grand Columbian half IM last September. But I'll venture a guess that you will be on the bike longer than you will be running, so your bike fitness will (obviously) affect your run performance. So how long and difficult are your bike workouts relative to the race bike course, and how long are your transition runs?

tajsss

Bike course is 56miles of course and is flat. I live in Dallas and it is a local race. I think there may be a few hills (hills to me, flat to everyone else).

I have not planned out my bikes yet as I have no doubt in finishing the bike. I will be putting more miles than normal on my bike as I just got a tri bike a few weeks ago and need to really build my back muscles up. I'm hoping to get up to 4 hours or so on the bike with as much in the aero position as possible. I have never trianined properly on the bike other than just going out and riding a lot. This is only my second year of tri's and am slowly getting into more formalized training as I am setting higher goals for myself rather than just finishing. My first HIM will be just to finish though.

As for bricks, I will likely do some longer bike rides of 40-50 miles followed by some longer runs than my usual bricks, maybe 10k or so. My usual brick is just a 45 min. to 1 hour ride followed by 2 miles run.

Since my long runs look similar to yours, how did they do? Did you feel it was enough training? How fast was your run split if you don't mind me asking. I'm really only aiming to be an 11:00min/mile. I'd be super happy if it was closer to a 10min/mile, but I am a poor runner and worse at longer distances.

chrisesposito

I felt in good condition. I was conservative on the bike since it was a very tough course (4600 feet of climbing), so my legs felt relatively good as I got on the run. My run split was about 2:20, although that time was slower than I did in training. I had severe foot problems during the race - Morton's neuroma in both feet required that I take off both shoes about every mile, massage my feet until the pain subsided and I could run again. I had been down to a hair over 2 hours for the 13 miles a few weeks prior to the race when my foot problems started.

tajsss

Thanks for the feedback Chris. So as long as I keep my bike fitness up and do some longer bricks, I should be good to go hopefully. I always have two goals for races, my really ambitious goal if I have a good day and a more reasonable day. Ambitious goal for my first race is sub 6 hours. My reasonable goal is just to finish. How'd you do on your first HIM?

lilscotboy

i wish i was feeling so confident, my first HIM is steelhead on Aug 4, my long run schedule looked pretty bang on with yours (last weekend was 105min), my goals were sub 6 on a good day or just to finish, but with 7 weeks to go my IT band has out of the blue started to give me a lot of problems.

I rested solidly for a week (biked and swam more instead), lots of RICE and then ran last night for 3 miles at a really easy pace. I could feel my knee, but nothing crazy. Then attempted to run the same 3 miles, same pace, fully stretched this morning and my IT band just said NO

Back to square one i guess

Valpo Hawkeye

Some tempo/fartlek running will help you to run through fatigue. One workout I like to do is run out at a comfortable pace for 20 minutes, stop and clear your watch. Stretch if you'd like now that you're warmed up. Then turn around and run back as fast as you can, trying to shave off as much from that 20 minutes as you can. Interval training builds speed, but I know that's not what you're going for. One other trick in dealing with fatigue is to actually pick the pace up by 0:30 pace, or so, when you're really struggling. This restores confidence and often restores your form that you've likely lost due to fatigue. Better form equals more effecient equals an easier run.

tajsss

lilscotboy, good luck with the IT band issues. I've had a few problems as well. Luckily my wife is a massage therapists so with some help from her and a lot of stretching, it seems to be better now. I'm just hoping it stays good with the build up in long runs.

Valpo,
I've done a lot of speed work this spring but that was all focussed on 5k and 10k's. So a lot of 400m repeats and short stuff. I've started doing some 3 or 4 mile runs and just tried to work on keeping a little higher tempo than usual to get used to running longer. That fartlek sounds interesting.

chrisesposito

My ambitious goal was 5:30, my middle goal was 6:00, and low-end was to finish, although I never really worried about finishing. If I remember correctly, my time was in the 6:20s, so I figure if I hadn't had my foot problems I would have just broken 6.

The biggest problem for me in long course races is proper pacing - I've learned the hard way in my other sport (XC ski racing) the perils of going out too hard in a long race and have heard countless times of the number of people that go too hard on a HIM or IM bike, only to have to endure gratuitous suffering on the run. As a result I probably overcompensate a bit and take a slower time in order to ensure I'll finish without bonking or burning out, even if I felt like my fitness would have supported a faster time.