I was trying to find a training program for HIM from the net. Either they were too demanding for a triathlete who holds a full time job; or the training schedules provided were just too complex as they changes from week to week. Either way they weren't very motiviational to start with as they made it looked like a daunting task.
I happen to come by this site,
http://www.jeffdevlin.com/articles/halfiman.php, which i think makes lots of sense and most importantly simplified the whole approach to training especially for someone who wants a easy to follow and simplified training program.
Just a little about the article before i go on to dish out the training program. The writer talks about Quality training compared to Quantity training (against building rubbish mileage) and it provides a simplified approach week in week out. The fundamentals of the training was hugely heart rate based - using a heart rate monitor. This is nothing new to many seasoned triathletes i guess. But for amateurs who need some organised training program and has little time left till the next HIM (9 weeks), this is it! Of course, whoevers embarks on the said training program should be fairly fit and has certain amount of base fitness prior.
The write carefully dictate his training sessions in word form, so i took the liberty to simply it further into tables and charts for my own use. In this posting, i have summarise the whole lot of text into easy to understand/use tables to guide you in each session. There are 3 tables below for your use and i will explain what is it use for.
1) TRAINING SCHEDULE - WEEKLY
(to view the image, right click and save then open)
This is basically your weekly training program. Its simple and easy to follow every week as the sessions are fixed. This schedule will require you to put in 10-15 hours per week over 9 sessions. Do not that 3 AB sessions are good to have if time and body (recovery) allows. But minimally you must complete 6 key sessions i.e. 3 AT & 3 LG sessions
INDIVIDUAL WORKOUTS
(to view the image, right click and save then open)
This table basically break down each of the 9 sessions into details based on what you see in the training schedule. Firstly you will 3 sports segmented, then each sports segment is further categorised into LONG session (LG), Anaerobic Threshold (AT) session & Aerobic session (AB). Each session are aimed at achieving different purpose as per below:
1) LG = to build aerobic endurance; just below race pace intensity; teach your body to utilise fats
2) AT = to build your Tempo; race pace intensity; to improve your AT upwards
3) AB = to buid aerobic endurance; lowest intensity; easy mileage
Within each session, i have indicated the duration/distance, training zones (i will talk about this in my next posting) and workout aims (if any).
RATE OF PERCEIVED EXERTION CHART
(to view the image, right click and save then open)
This chart is very useful to help you identify your effort while workinh out. This is especially useful for the swim sessions whereby heart rate monitors are not being utilised to guide your effort.
(to view the image, right click and save then open)
Ok everyone who enjoys tri will somehow toywith the idea of getting a cool tri bike. Hoping to look really good on it and improve on the bike leg during each race. Now i'm looking at these 2 bikes above that is somewhat at a touchable price point yet offering tip top tri bike set up in top of the shelf range. Bikes like this will be a dream to own and ride for a amateur weekend triathelete. Maybe i should set a goal for myself - buy it only after 10 events.
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