JOES TO PROS EP 2: HOW TO TRAIN FOR AN IRONMAN 70.3 AS A BEGINNER
Hunter and Calvin are two long-time Quintana Roo employees who have never done a triathlon. This year, that's finally going to change! "Joe to Pros" is a series where we'll follow two triathlon newbies as they prepare for IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga.
In our last episode, we met Hunter and Calvin and learned about their lives and athletic backgrounds. Now the real work starts. Hunter and Calvin are working with Coach Conrad Goeringer of Working Triathlete. He provided a training plan for them to follow, plus he wrote up a blog post explaining the 5 important things to focus on in the 18 weeks before they line up to race.
Following a Beginner IRONMAN 70.3 Training Plan
By their own admission, Hunter and Calvin are not triathletes (yet). They’ve never had to dedicate time and energy to training three different athletic disciplines. So, of course, they were shocked when Coach Conrad sent them their plan for the next few months on TrainingPeaks.
The plan is simple. Hunter and Calvin are doing workouts nearly every day of the week. They’re often given one optional rest day per week, and most training days are “two-a-days” where they have to complete two workouts for two different sports within the same day (e.g., a swim and a run in the same day).
As former single-sport athletes, a training plan like this can look pretty intimidating. But if you drill down and look at the actual workouts, Coach Conrad is actually keeping the workouts pretty short and reasonable for athletes with Hunter and Calvin’s level of experience. For example, on a day with both a run and a swim, both workouts are under an hour, and the total amount of work is under 90 minutes.
More importantly, the vast majority of workouts are “easy.” That is to say, they largely consist of “zone 2” workouts that aren’t super taxing. Many new athletes make the mistake of going too hard during their workouts. Staying in zone 2 while running or cycling might not feel as exciting as going hard, but it’s the best way to build aerobic fitness, and it makes it easier to do a large amount of work. Calvin was particularly struck by this revelation.
“I’m realizing that by staying in zone 2, even though it is slow, at the end of [my workouts], I’m not absolutely throttled,” he explained.
Developing Consistency Leads to Fitness Gains
Hunter has seen huge gains just by sticking to Coach Conrad’s plan. (She’s sticking to it so well that Calvin is realizing that he really needs to step up his game!) Over just a few weeks, Hunter has really settled into the routine of training. As a result, she’s the leanest she’s been since having her two kids. Losing weight is always a nice bonus; the increase in her fitness and strength is what has been truly rewarding.
“I’m not doing this to change my body image,” she explained. “I’m really here to see my strength and abilities, and I feel like I’m making progress there, and I think that has all really come with consistency.”
Despite working out twice a day, nearly every day of the week, Hunter and Calvin never blow themselves up or dig themselves into a hole with too much fatigue. This helps them maintain their routine because they’re able to recover from their workouts and work out again the next day. This is the secret to staying super consistent, and consistency over time is the key to progress!
What Can Our IRONMAN 70.3 Beginners Improve?
Calvin consults with QR Pro, Miguel Mattox, for swim tips.
With two young kids, Hunter is facing the biggest challenge nearly every parent faces: finding the time to train, staying healthy, and getting enough rest. She’s doing an incredible job fitting in her workouts during her busy day, but avoiding illness and getting enough sleep are proving to be a bigger challenge. Unfortunately, for parents of young children, these things are often out of their control, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that Hunter doesn’t catch any bugs during her 70.3 build and that she can get more good nights of sleep than bad ones! If illness or sleep deprivation strikes, it will be a good time to consult with Coach Conrad to reduce the effect it might have on her training.
As for Calvin, besides improving consistency (no more bike parks this spring, Calvin!), he really needs to work on his swimming form. He admits this is his weakness, and he’s consulted Miguel Mattox, a Quintana Roo pro and former collegiate swimmer, to get some tips. Calvin is doing one of the most important things a new swimmer can do to improve: he’s filming himself. This allows him, Coach Conrad, and Miguel to see exactly what he’s doing well and what he needs to improve. It might take an extra set of hands, and you can’t be camera shy (fortunately, Calvin isn’t!), but reviewing footage is one of the quickest ways to improve a technical skill like swimming.
Stay tuned, because we’ll check back in with Hunter and Calvin in a few weeks to see how they are progressing and get more great insights for athletes training for their first 70.3!
