I had a job over the summer and I payed for the race

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Don't listen to all these people who have less adventerous spirits than you do. It is only an Ironman. All these old guys like to tell young people they CAN'T do something. Well I think you CAN and can do well.

When I was 18 I packed up my bike, loaded it up with camping gear and and saddle bags, jetted off to Germany, and biked south through Switzerland and the French alps doing a 2500 km loop in 21 days. Most days that I rode I did 160km because I was in France around the time of the Tour de France and that was a "short stage" so I figured if the pros can do that every day, i should too. This was in 1984 before there was any internet to read anything. i just picked up some cycling magazines and read what the pros were doing and figured it can't be that bad. Before that I barely biked in my life other than my parents would not drive me to soccer and baseball games so I got around on a beater bike,

I was on my high school track team and practices were 90 min (not continuous) and i . After I came back from that bike tour after 1 month of running I ran my first marathon. It was awesome until it was not. Went through 10km, 20km, 30km at 45, 90 and 2:15 respectively and it just felt easy, until I broke down walking from 32 to 37 km then I realized I was a 3:20 and could get the 'silver medal' if i ran faster and got coke at the side of the road from a spectator and suddenly had legs to run 5km in 20min....then realized the finish line was 200m further and just lost it and walked it in at 3:43. I said I would never do that again !!!

The longest run in my life 8 days out before that marathon was 10km or whatever I ran in an overtime soccer game. Weekend before marathon ran 15km and felt if I could do that and could do back to back 200km biking days, then a full marathon would not be that hard (well it wasn't until it was).

I told myself I would never do a marathon, and next year I did a super hilly and hot half Ironman . I crossed the finish line of that and said, I would never do that again too. That half Ironman was in Brattleboro Vermont (if any of the old timers are around you know how hard it was and I went 4:54). All of this was just on youth and general fitness doing team sports, track, lifting weights etc

I am 58 now. On the other side of those adventures, and have done 25 open marathons, 31 Ironmans and still do olympic, halfs and swim races.

I think in the time of my youth, we did not overthink it. We just figured it out as we went, because there was not information out there. Just put one foot in front of each other, hammer your buddies, and blow up trying, get up the next day and repeat it over and over and over. I remember one of my rides with a friend and he said he read that Eddy Merckx did 200km per day on a bottle of water and banana, so that was what he was going to do. The problem was we decided to throw in a 4km swim in a lake in the middle with no wetsuits. I had 4 granola bars and a stopped for a few bottles of coke (you could not get Gatorade in stores that easily). In any case around 192km into the ride (incluive of a 4km swim), my buddy was so low on blood sugar, he almost crashed into a guard rail on a bridge over a river and luckily bounced off and did not fall over (YIKES). We literally had zero training information and just read legends in magazines and figured they must be good ideas.

Unlike us you have the strength of youth (which we had) but you have information, so you can do this safely.

In any case for you 1 hrs swim, 5.5 hrs ride, 30 min run days, I want you to do them on a weekend but without stopping. The reason is you are a 55 kilo male athlete, and I have found that super lightweight lean guys don't do that well at Ironman relative to their FTP W/kilo and their 10km speed, and I suspect this is due to not enough built in storage on the body for a 10 hrs day, so you have to race at a low enough threshold that you are fat burning (like 3W per kilo bike pace) and and figuring out how to absorb sugar and salt through your gut while you heart rate is moderately elevated. Anyone can digest a turkey dinner sitting down, but putting say 1500 calories through your body in roughly 5:15 on the IMLP course which you should be able to do easily at your FTP is the hard part.

I've personally raced IMLP 12 times so kind of know the lay of the land. Your lightness will help big time. So will your youth until it doesn't. The key is going to be to race in fat burning mode, and taking in enough calories on the bike and run part 1 so you can race the final 21km of that run.

If you swim every morning and bike/run evenings on weekdays, you have plenty of training to do an Ironman with one long workout on the weekend. Keep swimming a lot. Every strong Ironman athlete has a big swim background. You just can't replicate the volumexintensity in the other sports during this formative period in your life. I wish I was put in a swim program by my parents, but we did not have the means for that.

I was thinking about joining the highschool swim team next year, because its too late now. I picked up a used road bike for $80 and fixed it up with my friend, but do you think I should try and get a better bike? It's a pretty old jamis satelite, but it has a carbon fork. I'm trying to gain weight, but it's pretty hard with how much I'm exercising.

I’d definitely try to get a tri bike if you can swing it, and a bike fit.

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Let food be thy medicine...

Try to get a carbon fiber bike and if it is a road bike, put aero bars on it. Ride as much as you possibly can. Get comfortable staying in aero for long periods of time.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

There is a tt bike shop near me so I can get the right fit, but I can't really get a tri bike right now since I used most of my money to sign up for the race. I was looking to see if there were any used bikes that were more affordable, but I didn't really see any good options, plus I don't know a ton about bikes.

I'm trying to ride as much as I can. Is 15 hours of riiding per week enough? Also, let me know if you know anyone selling used tri bikes

Put some clip-on aerobars on the Jamis and ride the hell out of it. Maybe have someone look to give you best fit possible on the road bike/aerobar setup. Don't forget about hydration/nutrition on the bike - bottle cages (downtube, seat tube, behind the seat xlab setup, etc) Top tube bento box for gels, bars, etc. Also, for race day - make sure to carry 2 spare tubes, pump and/or CO2 system, allen keys, etc to tighten any loose bolts)

Bike and run - don't forget about electrolytes (fluids, capsules/tabs) especially if its warmish/hot on race day. Run - go with a race belt that has a pouch (electrolytes, gels, Aleve, Tums, anti-chafe) that you can attach your race number to.

Lake Placid course - if you're within driving distance (even for a weekend training commitment), ride as much of the course as you can. Same goes for the run course.

Swim - get a triathlon wetsuit cheap off of eBay or Craigslist. You will save tons of energy on the swim. If you get a wetsuit, train with it to get the feel. Do not have race day be your first experience - it will go badly!

Lastly, as others have mentioned - key workout: 'the brick'. Which is bike/run - long ride immediately followed by longish run. (practicing your hydration/nutrition)

You're young, fit, committed, and putting in the hours. You can do this!

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tinman

I am a bit suspicious, over the years on here there were various troll posts from "new users" asking sort of loaded questions....not sure what their intent was.

I'm very happy to be proven wrong and will come back on here with my 2c, you could evaluate whether it's worth anything.

Maurice

I'm not really sure what you are insinuating, but I can assure you that I'm not trolling.

So “long term” athlete development was a huge hotbed topic over the last few years within usat. I was part of a group that helped with guidance etc.

I actually wouldn’t suggest “training plan” training for the next year. I would just show up on race day and do it. Suffer like hell, suffer afterwards but in terms of likelier healthier path. I would wonder all the training you *need* to do to be “prepared” for IM distance is worse on your body and mental wel being than just showing up 1 time and “doing it”.


Eta: I wouldn’t advise it ever. But if your telling me what’s going to be worse for long term development and or mental anguish- I would think the training you need would be “worse” than just showing up and doing 1 long day.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Do a swim/bike heavy training program and just deal with the run/walk on race day.

It is far better to "suffer" on the run than on the bike as you can always just walk and socialize your way to the finish line.

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I would be exercising the same amount even if I weren't going to do this race just because it's fun and a way to spend time with my friends, so I feel like it's not that big of a deal.

I'm have a lot of fun running, so I'm still planning to run quite a bit, but I definitely agree that I need to bike more.

A “training plan” as a 17 year old is going to get old really fast. Talking about the fun you have with your friends sorta proves my point. Just do that. Screw worrying about hitting specific training metrics/volumes. The less “plan” you have to follow the better the overall experience will be imo.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I agree, I wouldn't want to do a training plan. I'm just having fun with the training, but I also want to be prepared for race day. Thankfully my idea of fun is running, biking, and swimming.

I have posted this before. Go out and have fun. The girls will love it.
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Well I'm definitley not going to waste all the money I spent to sign up for the race by not training, plus, training is the main thing I do for fun.

Also, I'm pretty sure lake placid is a lot hillier that texas

Thanks for the video. I do find it funny he titles it-"I did an Ironman without training". Then he states at the end of the video how he "worked so hard" for the race.

littlefoot wrote:

Thanks for the video. I do find it funny he titles it-"I did an Ironman without training". Then he states at the end of the video how he "worked so hard" for the race.

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Yeah,he gets called out in the comments for that.
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There are a bunch of "I did an (insert event) without training" videos on YouTube. My favourite guy is this dude who goes out and does all these stupid challenges for his channel. He is highly entertaining and I wonder how he gets the time and money to do all this stuff.

This is a thing to consider. I think it's great you have your friends to train with and I wish more people could learn to enjoy the sport more. That being said what is the nature of your training sessions with them?

I remember being your age and the competitive edge was alive and well. Are you all training at the same pace? It seems like youre the one with the big goal ahead so naturally the group needs to cater to your training goals.

Its easy to get sucked into training too fast for too long with group sessions especially younger athletes who may just have the natural desire/tendency to throttle up. This could be disastrous for you. Remember the majority of issues that plague endurance athletes are cumulative in nature. Meaning you wont know it until its too late and it can derail you.

Or perhaps you are all very disciplined and will be able to be comfortable at low effort sub-threshold work for the majority of the week. I hope thats the case.

I think a large part of the advice we can provide for athletes in you position is the common pitfalls to avoid and highlighting common areas to pay special attention. You have youth on your side and often the biggest issue is not the fitness but the rest of the things that can derail you on the journey.

First timer, nutrition, training partners, sleep, too much speed to frequently for the base, ramping up too quickly, managing expectations, etc.

I always want to see other athletes succeed but also want to see them stay healthy and reach their goals. Of course I also know what its like to be 18 and think I know everything or let my youth/vigor cloud the very real possibility of injury. I also work in sports rehab and have seen my share of youth adolescent injuries skyrocket especially with runners.


If youre gonna do this you need to eat more, sleep more, and be comfortable not working too hard during the bulk of your training.

For bikes and equipment theres an entire classifieds forum here and social media is your friend. Facebook has groups dedicated to seeling cycling and tri gear.

I ran my first marathon at 18 and one month. I did two that year. I started training in December for a May race. I was up to an 18 long run in March, and then bombed at track practice the next week. My coach had heard what I was doing, and told me no more 18’s. I probably didn’t do more than 12 the next two months and walked most the last 5 miles to a 4:02. I was more like a 1:25 half runner then. So I would tell you if massive training is on tap you can’t be a good high school runner at the same time. That’s why full course athletes (other than the Norwegians) don’t race in the Olympics.

I am in the camp of don’t do it, but you got to to a sprint as soon as you can. You don’t want to find out after all that hard work and expense you panic on the swim and your day is over. You have to know what it’s like going form the bike to run. Since you’re a good athlete, you should do it right, and not make it your first race. your not just a guy checking off the bucket list who is one and done (if you like it). I’m not saying do a 70.3, but do a sprint/olympic or two ahead of time. If nothing else you can make transition mistakes and learn what you need for the goal race to go smoothly.

Ok I'll look to see if there are any in my area.

My son was on the XC team in high school with Sam Long and I head he was running IM Boulder in 2015. With dozens of Tri's and 5-6 IM's under my belt, I would sometimes drop a training tip or two when I saw him ( I was running it that year also)...he ended up beating my by ~ 90 minutes and finished top-10 overall!

You should be fine to run the race - as a teen you have recovery abilities all the boomers here can only dream of. :-)

I always tell new racers the most important thing is to get to T2 feeling strong. Then, take it mellow the first part of the marathon. It feels great to be running smooth on the last 10k while so many others are walking/cramping/suffering.

Good luck!

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

Can't emphasize that enough! There's a bonus fitness level that gets unlocked when you feel strong and people in front of you are dropping like flies. And the inverse is also true. There's nothing that makes you slow down more than struggling and having people pass you with ease.

Make it easy until the last 20k.