Couch to IM in 14 months

bobstri

 

Hello,

I am a trial member of EN and trying to see if it will work for me.  I am going to try to do IM Florida next November (13 months).  I am out of shape now but have done some shorter distance TRI's in the past.  Right now I can do about the following: 

* Swim - About 500 meters non-stop

* Run - About 1 mile decent pace, 2 miles very slow pace

* Bike - Not sure, tried a 20 minute bike test and thought i would die.  Did an 8 minute test instead on indoor trainer.    

My question is mainly how to adapt the EN prgram to work.  For example I have the pre-season plan but i cant do any of those workouts so I just make up stuff on my own....but that is not really the point.  Has anyone else done this adaptation from beginner and adapted the plans.  

Also - am I nuts for trying this?  Do you know any other success stories like this that may give me hope?  

Thanks

Bob

jen2012

Hi Bob:

Of course it can be done,but it will most likely come at some costs, physically and mentally. I wanted to do IMWI in 2013, but on the advice of my trainer and doctor, I am choosing a half in 2013 with the goal of full in 2014. Up until january 2012, I was a couch potato, today I am in the best physical shape of my life with plenty to improve on. Just be smart about your body and mind.

Jennifer

GMAN 19030

From one Bob to another,
13 months is long time and can be more than enough time to whip oneself into shape for IMFL 2013. That's also dependent on many factors.

What's your body composition? You said you're out of shape. Does that mean overweight and out of shape or just out of shape? If you're overweight I'd be more cautious about committing to an Ironman because I believe greater strides could be made with a focused effort on dropping the pounds first. That also depends on how much weight we're talking about. For example, there's an obvious difference between losing 20 pounds or 80 pounds.

If you're just out of shape than I'd say go for it.

My intention isn't to get too personal. The more information we have the better advice we can offer you.

John Withrow

Hi Bob! Welcome to the team!

You are absolutely NOT nuts! I honestly believe that ANYONE who really wants to do an Ironman, can do an Ironman. And you are in the right place. Not only will you get your fitness to the appropriate level over the next 13 months, but you will also learn how to execute like a Ninja that will extract literally hours of time savings on the course on the day of the race.

A close friend (Carlo Portes) of mine couldn't run 1 mile 1.5 yrs ago. And he literally couldn't even swim 1 length of the pool. He started running (slowly) and bought a bike. His first Sprint Triathlon last summer took him ~55 to swim the 1/3 of a mile and he was one of the last people in the entire race to finish. He took swimming lessons. He joined EN. He's currently finishing up the Beginner IM plan. He will be doing IMFL with me in 4 weeks. Track him during the race and watch his progress. It's actually funny because on the beginner plan, the Thursday long run this week happens to be shorter than the previous several weeks and then it bumps back up. True story, before I read your post I was talking to him this morning and I said "How was your run last night?". He responded, "It was really short actually, I only did 8.5 miles in about 90 mins but I felt really good". We both had a good laugh after I said "Wow, just last summer you could barely run a mile, now you brush off a 8.5 mile run as 'short' ". Moral of the story is that your perspective on what is possible changes over time if you do the work. Now please root for Carlo to make the swim cut-off in IMFL, because I'm certain that if he does, he will become an Ironman!

Swanie

Yes, you can do it! BUT, you must listen to your body. What that means is, you are going to need to ramp up some basic fitness rather quickly to get into an ironman plan by June. A regular out season plan is probably out of the question due to your current physical condition. You will need to SLOWLY improve your swim,bike,run endurance. Don't worry too much about speed right now, if you do you are sure to get hurt. Overuse injuries will be your biggest concern. Definitely post a question to the coaches in the MACRO tab of the general training forum regarding this, they will plan an entire years worth of training to keep you healthy first and to get you to the finish line second.

cportes

Hey Bob! As my friend John Withrow said above, you can use my example as a precedent (and hopefully, for motivation as well). In fact, my baseline fitness when I started was much worse than yours! John was not exaggerating - in fact, my first run was on a treadmill (I stopped after 1/2 a mile) and I had never done a triathlon. My first triathlon swim was straight out of a horror movie (complete with my wife freaking out because she thought I was going to drown)! And now, just last month, I finished my first half IM (and hopefully a full IM soon)!

It certainly was not easy but it can absolutely be done. And what I found was that every little improvement I noticed was exhilarating, and it motivated me to keep going. And instrumental in my gains was the EN community - the members are such a great source of support and information, while the actual plans really helped me because it provided a "dynamic" structure that yielded results.

Feel free to reach out to me if you want to know more about my newbie experiences. And best of luck!!!

Jess Withrow

Hey Bob! The desire is so much more than half the battle - if you commit yourself, you CAN do this! Google "Couch Potato to Ironman" if you haven't already. There are definitely success stories out there! You are absolutely in the right place to get there, too. Nowhere else will you find the support and positive energy of as many like-minded folks as you will inside EN. No matter what you go through, or what questions you might have over the course of the next 13 months, I can almost guarantee someone here has been through it. I myself learned to swim 18 months before my first Ironman - and when I say "learned to swim," I mean Lesson #1 was "put face in water, blow bubbles." I wasn't a runner, either. The first day I ran 2 miles on the treadmill I called John from the gym, completely ecstatic that I had done it (this was also ~18 months pre-Ironman). I didn't own a bike and hadn't been on one since I was maybe 12 years old. I was a spin class junkie. That was it.

The beauty of EN's workouts is that you'll be testing first - whether you test and base your results on Heart Rate, Perceived Exertion, or Pace and Power, your workouts going forward will be tailored to YOU and YOUR level of fitness. No, the testing isn't fun, but it gives you the data you need for "x" in your workouts, and when you re-test you'll have a quantitative measure of how much you're improving, which is HUGELY motivating!

And finally, if you're concerned about the intensity of the workouts, here's a great excerpt from one of Coach R's posts regarding modifying your workout for injury - I think it's applicable in this sort of a situation as well, when you might be ramping up your fitness in the beginning (and you have TONS of time to build a good base if you need to!):

1. Reduce the intensity of your workouts first.
2. Reduce the volume of your workouts second.
3. Try to maintain the frequency of your workouts (4 runs per week, for example).
4. Ask yourself, always "how will what I'm doing now affect my ability to successfully complete my downstream workouts?"

You can definitely do this, and all of us are here to cheer you on!!!

bobstri

Thanks for all that info and it is really helpful and encouraging. I think i might be in a pretty good place. I am not in a situation where I need to lose a lot of weight. I have lost about 50 pounds and need to lose about 15-20 more but that is not that big of a deal. I have run a couple 1/2 marathons in the last few years but just nothing in the last year. I am excited to get going!!

This is awesome help and response. I just checked back to see if anyone had even looked yet and I had 6 responses that are all great and helpful.

Thanks again!
Bob

spabblington

Bob - as a guy who started out in a similar boat as you, here is a quick summary of my Pre and Post EN story. But also know that I have not yet completed a full IM - but have done 3 half's. My first will be the IMWI next year.

In 2010, I could not swim 1 length of the pool. I took a TON of spin classes so I thought I could convert to the road bike easily. I did not run - at all. I weighed over 300 lbs. I took 4 swim lessons and was able to complete 1 sprint tri with a borrowed bike and dropped out of another race. The 200 yard swim in a pool was pitiful.

In 2011 I completed 4 triathlons but had no idea what I was doing. I bought a bike, barely made it through the swims, executed the bike portions poorly, and walked most of the runs. I weighed in at between 265 - 285 pounds for these races. One of them was Augusta 70.3 where I 'just finished'.

On January 1 of this year, I weighed around 285 lbs but had signed up for Kansas 70.3 and a repeat of Augusta. In March I signed up for something called "Fast Camp" with EN which was my pathway onto the Team. After completing most that, I signed up for a trial membership and posed a question to the Team asking, basically, should I join EN while I was still overweight or wait until I lost a bunch of weight and then join. I was concerned about being able to do the intense workouts and didn't want to "waste" anything by not being in top physical shape. The overwhelming response was to join, use the EN plans to improve body composition and improve results at the same time. I joined towards the end of April and have never looked back.

In the short time I have been on the team, I have seen improvements in every aspect triathlon. Swim, bike, run - speed and endurance. Mental fitness. Race execution. Transition speed. Gear selection. Bike fit. You name it, I have benefited. I am currently at around 225 pounds with more to lose. I just repeated Augusta and did it in 1hr 19min faster than last year. I have absolutely NO DOUBT I could do an IM this year if I had one scheduled. But with a year to continue to improve on body composition, speed, and endurance?? Oh my! And this is based, not only on the plans that you get from EN - the support, encouragement, knowledge, wiki, good mojo and vibe - all that is in here is absolutely priceless! And will help you along the way!

All that said - I truly believe that if you put in the work with EN, you will be successful in Florida next year. As Jess mentioned, you may need to modify some workouts in the beginning, but you have time. You can absolutely do this!! One word of caution, however, is you do not want to make that your focus at this point. If you spend 13 months thinking about THAT RACE, you will surely burn yourself out. You do not want to think about any single race for 13 months. Pick something else to focus on - maybe an early season race - a sprint or olympic and work towards that eventually. But for now, get used to the work, see what the coaches say for which plans to start with and keep Florida at the very back of your mind.

Good luck!! I look forward to watching your progress!!

Nate Parady

Consistency trumps a lot....The fitness will Come in time. EN training is hard and it's ok if you can't do all the workouts as prescribed. That will come in time. The great thing about IM full distance is there is a huge mix of folks at the start line. 9 hour folks and 17 hour folks all starting together.

500 meters non stop is a good place to start...at least you know how to swim...

Bike and run...stay healthy with lots of stretching/rolling and consistency...fitness will come...

You are in the right place....EN will shorten the learning curve a ton...helps keep you accountable and motivated.