The Ironman Training 2022 Thread

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It’s here! I’ve started these threads primarily as therapy/support for anyone subjecting themself to the Full or Half distance training plans, or otherwise building themselves up to iron distance races! :swimming_woman::biking_woman::running_woman:

Is your first time or last (!)? Planning problems, nutrition questions, injuries, podium places, travel, bike mechanics and of course shopping! :laughing: No, really whatever it is, whenever your race is or the plan is TR wholly or otherwise share your journey :slight_smile:

Ironman or any other brand doesn’t matter, anything long course; half to full distance or similar/longer. Short course thread is elsewhere.

This will be my ninth season and as always hopefully my most successful - I hope it will be for you too.

The 2021 thread2900 posts, 37,000 views 2021 was successful for lots of us as pools reopened and racing resumed :slight_smile:
2020 thread for reference, contains lots of good discussion, over 3500 posts, the challenges of training in an uncertain world, and the 2019 thread with all the hard work and success stories with a decent medal count at both Full and Half distances!

There will be a monthly roll call where we all post the previous months training, successes and failures. Post your username, and if you have a race signed up, the name and month it takes place. Optionally I’d also be interested in what plan you’re following, a half or full TR plan , part TR part something else, or something else entirely.

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No full distance races planned for this year…yet

Shamrock Marathon Virginia Beach shooting for a BQ

At least five races put on by Kinetic Multisports TBD

Eagleman and one other half. August, Memphis, or North Carolina, Hoping for Worlds, AW

I hired a coach for this year, first workout under him is today’s 14 mile run

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Muskoka 70.3 planned for beginning of July and i’ve gained a whooping 15 lbs since september. None of it is muscle.

I’ve got a steep hill to climb. I’m starting with cycling and running at first. Hopefully by feb/march brings my masters swim team is back as it’s been effectively closed since March 2020.

I’m still trying to decide whether to go with an 80/20 plan or trainerroad one.

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Hell, yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this thread. Last year’s was so motivating and informative, it was a big factor in deciding to do triathlons for the first time in my life this year.

My A event is Ironman 70.3 Arizona in October. B event is the Olympic-distance Bozeman Triathlon in June. This will be my first triathlon ever, but I hope it’ll give me some valuable race experience before Arizona. My C event, I suppose, is the Jackson Hole Half Marathon in September, which I have as a deferral from last year. I think I’m just going to treat that as my long run for that week.

My plan for this winter is to finish the gran fondo plan I started in September for a now-cancelled event, get some base miles under my feet on the treadmill while I wait for the snow to melt, and work with a swim coach at my local rec center to get my swim technique dialed in. In the spring, I’ll start a HV triathlon plan, although I might only do the bike portion and swap the swims and runs with some other plan (suggestions welcome).

The biggest question mark for me is the swim, in particular open water swimming, which is impossible until the lakes melt in May, and even then I might only have a narrow window for it if the lake is emptied again due to the drought. I suspect most of my swimming is going to be in a pool, unless COVID forces a closure of the rec center. We’ll see how it goes; I think worst case scenario I’ll get a swim erg as a better-than-nothing option.

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I’m starting the TR half distance plan Monday. My A event is 70.3 Wisconsin in September. I am planning three local B events, two sprints and one Olympic.

I have been building my run base slowly after knee surgery in the fall. I followed Garmin’s suggested workouts (bike and runs) in December. So far, it has been a good mix of intensity. I plan to continue to follow the suggested runs at least for a couple more months. I will controlling the overall weekly/daily running distance, though.

Looking forward to my first races since 2019! Happy New Year and happy training!

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Thanks for keeping it going, @JoeX !

My main races this year are Ohio 70.3 and Xterra EX2, both in July. I had a surprisingly good training block in November and December following ankle surgery, and got my FTP up to 304, the highest in a couple of years. Then I had a recovery week, during which some knee pain (runner’s knee?) I hadn’t felt since the summer came back. I am guilty of overriding adaptive training’s suggestions because my big dumb ego is in a big dumb hurry all the time/trying to compensate for the low volume my life requires with more intensity. It hasn’t gone away, so I’m taking some time off of running and cycling (which is especially challenging since neither activity hurts while I’m doing it, but leaves inflammation behind) and focusing on swimming, strength, and yoga for at least two weeks. I had been letting my swim fall by the wayside during a busy fall, so this is a good opportunity for me to get my swim fitness back. The knee pain shows up almost exclusively when descending stairs, and it seems to be present less of the day the more time I rest it. Hoping to be back to full-on training all three sports next week. I’m proud of myself for taking a step back, as I tend to train through injuries, against my better judgement. Once I get back to the plan, I am committing to trusting the robot overlords and doing what is prescribed. Maybe I’ll take a week of recovery rides to ease back in. Should I just skip the workouts while I’m resting my knee and then jump back in, or do folks recommend adjusting my plan somehow?

I’m also signed up for a 20 mile trail run in March, but my run volume has a long way to go for that to be realistic. The registration was on sale for $15, and it’s 45 minutes from my house, so no pressure there. Hoping to do a big MTB event as well, ideally the Mohican trail 100k. Happy training to all yinz guys and gals!

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Happy 2022, everyone….best of luck at all your races this year!

:man_swimming::man_biking:t2::man_running:

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Yeah I’ve added 4+kg of insulation I didn’t need. It didn’t really come off last year, so I’m reassessing my diet too.

I’m using Garmin Coach’s half marathon plan again to get me running. Simple, reminds me without any effort, workouts very easy to follow. As states last year, I have set myself a target to improve my running before I allow myself the reward of a triathlon. I’m using SSB LV partially to back up my running.

Most of my knee pain was from running too hard down hill, quite sharp under the knee cap, when all my running was in a very hilly area. I haven’t seen it for a few years since. I never felt pain on the bike though. Good practice helps though; check your set up on the bike fits well and you have reasonable form. Bring running back very slowly, your first runs can’t be too short, and check form, shorten the stride maybe…these are the kind of cautious things I do anyway.

Happy 2022 all :slight_smile:

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Ironman Alaska in August. I am trying the AT this winter.

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I am feeling pretty good going into 2022

9 weeks into 3-2-1 running and actually feel pretty good (or better than I expected)

I’ve got some running races for the spring, IM CDA 70.3 and Oregon 70.3 for the summer, a credit card bike packing trip in mind for August, and a Grand Fondo for Sept.

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So everyone can see I just put this into a simple spreadsheet that makes it easy to copy/paste out names into the roll call, sort by month so we have an idea who is racing this month, or racing the same races:

Athlete Month Race Distance
@ajbotha 4 70.3 Nelson Mandela Bay Half
@ajbotha 6 70.3 Durban Half
@billabong 8 Eagleman Half
@philippephlop 7 70.3 Muskoka Half
@giventotri 10 70.3 Arizona Half
@bfrostieone 9 70.3 Wisconsin Half
@velopiano 7 70.3 Ohio Half
@smooh 8 Alaska Full
@mikemckinney 70.3 Coeur D’Alene Half
@mikemckinney 70.3 Oregon Half
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And here we go! Thanks @JoeX for keeping us accountable and providing a place where the like minded can gather.

I’ve signed up for IM Copenhagen in August. There are few events along the way to keep things interesting, like a 100x100 swim challenge, a 120k MTB marathon and a local half.

I’m going into the new year in good condition. Near season best FTP, all time best swim form, acceptable running form and only a pound or two above race weight. Can’t wait for spring to roll around and start running harder.

Good luck to everyone in here. These threads are a tremendous source of inspiration and information, I hope you all stay healthy and exceed your expectations!

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I’m so interested to hear how that goes. Sounds like a proper bucket list race. Do you live in the area?

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Looking forward to 2022 being the year of triathlon for me!

I plugged three events (below) into the calendar and let plan builder do the rest. Currently in the first week of Build after eight weeks of Base.

Three events that I’ve committed to:

  1. May - British Universities Standard Distance Tri
  2. June - IM Staffordshire 70.3
  3. July - Outlaw full distance

Looking forward to sharing my experiences over the year!

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no, I lived in Alaska as a child (Ft.Greely) but I’ve never been to Juneau. That was the appeal.

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This table is awesome! Maybe people can even meet up IRL at some of these events.

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Officially registered for my first 70.3.

North Carolina in October!

Looking forward to it!

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Virginia 70.3 in June which I deferred from last year.

Last race was actually VA 70.3 2019 but the old location. Signed up for a local 10k in april and have a deferred half marathon entry I might upgrade to a marathon in october. Probably do a local open water swim event 750, 1500, 2250 meter that I have done a few times before, it is the week before the 70.3 so we’ll see. Might throw in NJ state tri oly in july, done that a few times as well. And lately have had the itch to do some crits but nothing local and I sold my road bike back in 2020, have my crockett and some road wheels.

Hate running but trying to run everyday in January to see if I can get enough base to not hate it so much, of course it is pouring rain and the gym is closed so it may just be a lap around the neighborhood later today. Finishing up TR rolling road race plan tomorrow which I started back in may or june? LV then bumped it to MV. My “FTP” is currently about 8% down from my 2015 peak and my MV half distance tri plan starts tuesday, we’ll see how that ramp test goes. I delete all the swim workouts and do my own 3x a week and modify the runs to fit my schedule. Will do my best to try and keep on the bricks on the schedule though for once.

Tri bike is a 1x so need to figure out gearing on that for Virginia, hopefully can fit etap 12spd 1x into the budget to make that easier. Might start ordering one part a month.

All this planning goes out with window first week of February when the baby is due…

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You’ll enjoy it! Fast swim being wetsuit legal and incoming tide assisted, fast and flat bike (though it’s about 57.5-58 miles long), and nice out and back run around the lake with good shade. I really like this race.

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Thanks for starting this up again @JoeX! I’m looking forward to following along with this thread again in 2022!

I’m registered for my hometown half distance race (Route 66 Half) on 7/30.

I’m currently half way through Sustained Power Build (MV) and debating if I want to do the typical TR Half Iron base/build/speciality (for the bike) or if I want to do SSB2/Sustained Power Build/Half Iron Specialty. I’ve done all of these plans before–just need to think about what I really need to maximize my bike fitness and be ready for race day.

I’ll likely run a hometown half marathon in early April as well (B race). I’m definitely considering an Olympic or second half distance tri this year as well!

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