12 month training plan

SO I have pretty much decided on doing my next IM in Maaysia at the end of Feb 2011. That gives me pretty much 1 year from now. While I have some ideas mysef, I am interested to hear what others would suggest for the year ahead in the broader sense of training blocks etc.

Things of note are.

1. I am currenty in a fair state f fitness so am not starting off the couch. Running 12 or so kms in 60 mins, 120km bikes at IM effort no issue, swim is lacking but reently did a 3km session no probs.

2. Body composition is good. Have a few kilos I coud drop but nothing of any note. Diet is good as well and living in a Muslim country, don't have the issue of too much alcohol

3. There are no hills in this town at all. There are some undulations but nothing that would be classed as a hill.

4. I have acess to unlimied swimming in both the sea and a 25m pool. These is a squad available to me twice a weeks as well.

5. I will be doing a 15 week race specific block from November 1 2010 so from now and that includes a Marathon about 6 weeks out from race day, so that leaves 38 weeks I need to fill in with useful training and the like. I am very aware that motivation can be up and down over very long builds ence why I ask for some ideas for the period. I have done 12 month build before and am aware of what that entails.

6. The months of August and September are very hot here so long day time sesions are going to be minimised. I see this as a good ting as it means I will get the opportunity for 5 or 6 months traning up until then then a semi enforced pull back then 1 month to get back into the swing and then the 15 weeks start.

Suggestions?

I will be doing this as a bit of a project X set up on here for any interesed parties.

G'day Alex,

Think about your goals and which discipline sits the furtherest away from that goal. Single sport focus that discipline until it is achieved in training. No matter how long it takes you keep focusing on that goal until it is achieved. Building new fitness takes longer and more time in that discipline then what it would take to bring it back up to speed. So, once that hardest hurdle is ticked off you can then focus on the next goal whilst maintaining a minimual focus/effort to hold onto the orginal goal.

For example, goal might be to swim a sub 52 IM swim in Malaysia(this is well within your reach), this will require be able to comfortably hold 1:30 base in the pool at IMeffort for a whole swim session (4-5km), and then maybe a short set like 6 x 100 at threshold on a 1:20 base. Think about the swim volume and time you'll need to devote to get there. This may take a benchmark of 20km PW. However, once you have it, you can hold that fitness with around 10-12km PW.

This same principle would apply with the bike and run, just work from your most important goals to you least important goals.

Train to your weaknesses in order to race to your strengths. I like that moto.

Lap it up living in a flat area, you're going to become a TT monster. Raw strength and power come from riding and developing that power in the aero position. Hills will only take you so far. That's the one thing I took away from Tokyo being flat too, you really turn yourself into a good TTer.

I have stacks of sessions to mix things up. I can email them to you if you like?

fluro

working back wards from the start of your 15 week program.. your ultimate goal is to get to this point in the best shape mentally more than physically.

you have to have fun for the next 38 weeks, find an active sport that you love to do be it MTN biking in the dunes or riding camels or even a shorter Tri to peak at over the next 20-30 weeks HIM or less.

or we can race each other on computraiers!

Build threshold paces across all three disciplines at seperate times in the offseason.

Target
1km swim (13-14min)
40km TT bike (55-57min)
10km run (35-37min)

This creates a big window for you to maximise your IM specific power in the last 12-14 weeks. For example, if you race the bike at 70% of FTP. If you can raise your FTP before your IM specific preps then you can be starting your IM specific preps at 65% of FTP, without being any less IM fit. You now have a 5% window to improve even more as a result of a higher FTP going into your IM specific preps.

Of the three I would have the bike threshold at it's best right before the start of the IM specific preps, followed by the run and finally the swim.

other things that are on the list are

1. Body composition (power to weight ratio)
2. Swim Technique (Very low energy cost)
3. Single sport focus benchmarks: swim 20-30km, bike 500-700km, run 90-120km.
4. Injury prevention management plan: Nutrition, recovery, massage, supplements, Yoga, core, pilates, shoe selection, bike setup, etc.
5. Pyschology: Developing mental toughness, mental arousal, reading motivational books, training with motivated people, etc
5. Planning: Backward planning by design, looking at where your at to develop a plan on where you want to go, analysing the data accurately, benchmarking, evaluation and assessment, forward planning, tracking progress; daily, weekly, monthly, per training block.

fluro

Great ideas fluro. That also keeps up the interest as I do like my numbers. I have the perfet places to do uninterupted TTs as well.

I am thining 52km bike and 13km run TTs as the enclosed loop is 13km long and mostly dead flat. I will go and get bench marks the next few weeks. What is also a bonus is that this area is half way between work and home so I can drop in easily on the way to or from.

I start work in 8 days which will see me get some organsation back into my schedule. I am one who trains way less when I am not working for some reason. The last month has been the lightest training I have done in 3 years. Has been good though as I have been as busy as a busy thing. Just got my official Residency docs today so things should settle down significantly with just one or two more boxes to tick.