Half-Ironman Training

Last week, training for Ironman Wisconsin 70.3 officially kicked off.  With this race, I'm trying something new and have gone with a training plan from Training Peaks.  A week in, I've been very pleased with the plan and with the Training Peaks platform in general.  It imports all my workout data from Garmin Connect, and the premium edition shows me more graphs than Garmin does, which I like.

I've also started group training with Endurance House Kansas City, a multi-sport store that is set to open in the Northland at the end of January.  I'm friends with the two owners, and did group open water swims with them last summer.  Right now we've been running on Tuesdays, but once the store opens the plan is to incorporate track workouts and spin nights at the store as well.

Another cool option from Endurance House is the fact that they have official teams.  Joining with them (for a cost) gets you some pretty sweet bonuses, including a tri kit, store discount and priority scheduling for bike services.  It is something I'll be taking advantage of to get in shape for this race.

Overall I'm really looking forward to the race.  This is a first-year race; WTC bought out the old Wisconsin Milkman Triathlon.  From what I understand, it will be the same, or a very similar, course.  WTC is known to put on well supported events, so there's that to look forward to.

The swim is the only portion that I'm worried about, and solely because it is projected to be wet-suit legal.  I need to get some practice swimming in a wet-suit, because if not experience has taught me the swim will not go well, regardless of my level of fitness.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a few open water wet-suit swims in before the race.

It feels good to have something big to train for again.  My level of fitness is such that I can out and do a sprint triathlon on any given weekend.  I'm not saying I would do particularly well in that event, or that it wouldn't end up as a sufferfest once I got to the run, but I could finish it.  That is not the case with the half-ironman, so having this race on my calendar really crystallizes my training for me, and that has made all the difference in the world.