The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.

Michelangelo (not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle but the painter)

My aim for Celtman is to get a blue T shirt. To do this I have eleven hours to reach the start of the climb to Beinn Eighe. To get there I have to swim 3.4K, ride 202K and then run 15K.

If I take longer than eleven hours to reach Beinn Eighe then I will be sent on the low course and I will receive a white T-shirt. Although the low course does not go over Ben Eighee it is still a hard technical off-road route.

So what does it take to get a blue T-shirt?

Swim

Last year the average blue t-shirt finisher swam 01:06:50. The slowest swam 01:39:42.

Bike

Last year the average blue t-shirt finisher biked 07:07:59. The slowest ride was 07:57:16. This equates to an average speed of between 15 to 17 mph. I suspect the slowest cyclist was a very quick runner.

Run

The run course has changed slightly this year so I can’t compare it to previous years but based on the average swim and run times I’ll need to run to Beinn Eighe in about 2 hours 30 minutes.

My plan is to get fit in two stages.

Stage 1: Get fit (Dec 1st until 12 weeks before Celtman) 

My swim fitness is good. I have spent allot of time in the last year improving my swimming. I regularly swim once or twice a week doing 2K metres a session. I cope well with cold water as I swim regularly outdoors. Therefore I won’t change anything I currently do as I’m happy at my current performance level.

My bike fitness is good for short rides. I commute to work by bike a couple of times a week (16 miles per day) and I occasionally ride a 30/40 miles route at the weekend. I’d struggle with anything longer than that so I need to increase my stamina and speed over the winter so that I can cope with long training rides in the spring.

For Norseman I did allot of work on the Turbo over winter. I will repeat that for Celtman. I will aim to do 120 miles a week by the time spring comes along.

My base run fitness is good for up to half marathon distance. I try to do one long run and one 10K a week. The majority of my training is off road on hills/trails which should stand me in good stead when it comes to the race. I’m doing an Ultramarathon in March. Training for that will hopefully bode well for Celtman.

Part 2: Get Celtman fit

Part 1 will hopefully got me fit enough tthe longer rides/runs necessary to get in triathlon shape.

I’m going to reuse my Norseman training plan. It worked well for me in terms of fitting training around having a normal life. It involves doing one key session a week in each discipline.

Week	Run	Bike	Swim
1	2hr run	5 hour	2k swim
2	2.5hr run	5 hour	2k swim
3	half marathon		2k swim
4	10K + half marathon	5 hour	2k swim
5	10k	5 hour	2k swim
6	2.5hr run	5 hour	2k swim
7	Easy week
8	HALF IRON MAN
9	Recovery week
10	2.5hr run	5 hour	2k swim
11	2.5hr run	5 hour	2k swim
12	1 hr	3 hour	2k swim
13	RACE

I can’t find a half ironman to enter in week 8 so I’m going to do my own instead.

I will come up with a more detailed plan for each month but this will be starting point.