My client Fabrice Guillaume completed his first Iroman last weekend – Ironman France in Nice, France, finishing in a time of 11:29:51 on arguably one of the hilliest Ironman courses in the Ironman series.
As his triathlon coach, I consulted with Fabrice approximately once a month since late last year as he first created a high level triathlon training plan with distinct training periods (e.g. off season, base building, tapering, etc) then later broke each week down into detailed daily workouts.
What impressed me was his methodical and purposeful approach to finishing his first Ironman.
Fabrice approached Ironman as a three year plan starting with SPRINT and INTERNATIONAL distance triathlons in YEAR 1 then HALF-IRON or 70.3 triathlons in YEAR 2 before moving up to the IRONMAN distance (2.4mi swim / 112mi bike / 26.2mi run) in YEAR 3..
Once he had a time line in place, Fabrice focused on the events he needed to do for that year, learning as much as possible from reading articles and books and talking to his peers and coaches. He developed a plan for his racing then executed it in training. What he learned in training, he applied in racing.
A surefire approach to success! As Scott Molina once said about triathlon training, “It’s not rocket science.”
Here’s what Fabrice summarized at the end of his race report:
That’s it, I’ve done my first IM in my home country and town!
I wish everyone a great 2009 training and racing year. May all your dreams come true – and not only in sport.
If I may give a piece of advice and a credo, here they are: Nothing is impossible.
Just plan, work hard, stay motivated and focused and execute come race day the plan you have trained for so long. It is truly at the end all about execution.
You can read Fabrice’s complete race report at www.trirats.net.
Official Ironman France website: http://www.ironmanfrance.com
Congratulations, Fabrice!
Live life richly and boldly!
David
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David B. Glover
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine
© 2009 David B. Glover
Whether you're training to win a triathlon, training to finish or just need inspiration from my life journey as a cancer survivor, Navy officer and sub-nine hour Ironman triathlete, my book will inspire you to chase your dreams and live life richly and boldly.
I’ve been interested in learning a reasonable timeline to get to ironman distances. I just began endurance training in Feb with swimming; running in march, and my first bike in May. I entered a sprint in June and finished middle of the pack, leaving with a lot of great experiences.
I want to increase the tri distance this year. Is 3 years lofty or reasonable as a goal for ironman?
Three years is a very reasonable time frame to build up to an Ironman. I’ve seen folks do it in as a little as one year but they frequently end up injured and overtrained leading up to the race, have a bad experience then never do another one. The more gradual, three year approach gives your body time to “soak in” and adapt to the endurance training. There’s also a big jump in time and commitment as you progress from sprint to international to half Ironman to full Ironman. As you progress, you can decide if you want to keep going to the next level or not.
Cheers,
David