Swim distances for the beginner

There are some training plans on the left side of the home page that are already set up. check them out first.

I have found the online programs excellent. I replied with quite a long reply to another beginner swimmer with a few tips but can't remember the name of the thread but if you want to search back it won't be too long ago. My best advice is to do the suggested volume in the training program but use short fast fins for around the first month to allow your upper body to develop. Aim to gradually wean yourself off them - by the end of the second month you should be doing your main sets without but you can still use for warmup and cool down. Unfortunately you can't do Tris without swim training and it needs to have equal status with the other two legs. In fact if swim is your weakest you should put in more sessions, not less, with some sessions purely short drill and technique sessions. Believe me - I hate swimming and I would do anything to avoid it!!! ;-) Dx

My interpretation of the programs I am looking at on the right hand side of the home page say that one should only run for the first 3 months unless am reading it the wrong way. And then in the fourth phase it brings in cycling.
Based on the cycling I already do would the initial 3 months training not be a good starting point?
and so push ahead to phase IV.

I may be overlooking something somewhere but it does seem to indicate that I should only run for the first 3 months.

Apologies if being a little slow here :-)

Sorry Gaz I am using the Half IM training program and there was no sliding in to swim training slowly!! I am not sure that you really are couch to sprint given your cycling base. Do you have a running base as well? You may be able to skip a chunk of the program. Also you don't have to live and die by the program - if you want to swim once a week then do it - it will rest your legs. I can't help but ask if there is a pool in Manchester ;-) . I recall being told that there are 4x 50metre pools in total in the UK. Please tell me that it a lie ;-) An alternative would be to get a good book such as the Triathlete Training Bible or invest in personalised on-line coaching, particularly if you are concerned about overtraining. If you are an older beginner make sure you go with a coach that understands the mature athlete - I made a mistake of training under a coach that thought I could handle the same load as the juniors he was coaching. Didn't work out for me at all - now I just use the generic training program and adjust it to suit me and my time constraints. Dx

I'm still a beginner, too, with one pretty unimpressive triathlon under my belt. When I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, I swim twice a week, bike twice a week, and run three times a week. I strength train 3 times a week, and do yoga every day. In principle it goes like this:

Sunday: yoga, biking-running brick (still really a baby-brick), upper body weights
Monday: yoga, running, lower body weights
Tuesday: yoga, biking
Wednesday: yoga, total body weights, and swimming
Thursday: yoga and swimming
Friday: yoga, running
Saturday: yoga only, and restorative yoga at that. In short, this is my rest day.

Of course, this is the theory. In reality, the schedule gets rearranged almost every week. I still TRY to fit everything in, but it rarely works perfectly. And, in the interest of full disclosure, my runs are really pathetic jogs. It's just that I feel cooler if I call it a run
And, I give myself unplanned rest or yoga-only days pretty much whenever I need one. And soemtimes I'm just plain in the mood to do a step class or go rock-climbing or some other fitness activity, and I do that. I think I have exercise-ADD!

The idea is that yoga happens first thing in the morning, sometimes still in my pajamas. I do something at lunch time, and whatever's leftover right after work. Then I come home and deal with the rest of my life. The crockpot is my friend, or we'd never eat around here

Good luck!

Andrea

Please let us know how you would rate yourself as a swimmer; complete beginner, intermediate, etc. Give us some sense of how long/far you can swim now, what stroke(s) you are competent in, etc.

Second, do you plan to do a triathlon with an open water swim or a pool swim?

If you are a complete beginner as a swimmer, or if your technique is not well developed, I would recommend that you start swimming 2x per week now, with a focus strictly on technique. You might consider swimming lessons or some coached/structured workout option. These sessions will be low intensity so overtraining should not be an issue.

If your are already a competent swimmer I don't see how it would hurt you to start swimming 1-2x per week. Your cycling and running base seem to be coming along very well and if you feel you have the time to add in a swim or two each week I'd say go ahead and do it.

To avoid overtraining just remember that every workout does not need to be a breakthrough workout, make sure you rest when you feel tired, and pay attention to your body. Go slow, remember that you are building your aerobic fitness base and not trying to set world records, and you'll be fine.

That's my $0.02 ...

My cycling is pretty good, having always done some form of cycling. As regards swimming I havent done any swimming for a good few years now and I dread to think what am going to be like when I first get in there. I have a pretty good base fitness for cycling but the running is causing stiffness in the morning so a day on day off would be good for me.

I think the lessons would be an option as I havent had any formal training, swim wise. I will check out my local pool this evening and ask there. By the way, within 6 miles of where I live there are 4 pools, 1 of which is a 50m pool.

I am when it comes to swimming an absolute beginner, the first triathlon I would enter would be run in an indoor swimming pool


I will do some homework on the swimming lessons and in the meantime will stick to 3 days running (I do need the running training) and keep up the cycling 2-3 times a week as Ron suggested. Cant believe the responses am getting in here and how fast, what a great forum and acting as a great incentive for me.

Edited by bermudaGaz 2004-08-31 10:49 AM

You can check out my free online swim clinic, which is four free sessions sent to your email. Just sign up for my newsletter at www.triswimcoach.com
From there, I offer workout plans for Olympic distance and Half Ironman.

This is a good way to "ease into it."

Good luck!
Kevin

Hey Andrea, I think you should perhaps rethink running AND doing lower body weights on the same day. Running counts as enough of a workout for the legs, lifting weights afterwards can put to much strain and sometimes promotes bad form which can lead to injury. If anything, switch your upper body and lower body lift days that way you arent overworking your legs.

You haven't seen me run! It's the most pathetic thing you can imagine. I doubt I'm over-training anything. And the schedule never works out quite like that anyway. That's my fantasy schedule. Come Monday morning at about 9:00, my employers seem to think they control my time. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE????? So the schedule gets tweaked.

But I do appreciate the concern.

Although yesterday I did do step and lower body weights..... It's probably the same difference. Possibly worse, since I can actually DO step..... Will muse on this....

Andrea

Aight well, just wanted to give you a little heads up.

I would say cut down the running distance or speed or both AND do day on day or two off. Should be no stiffness. At least not on regular basis! It is sign of to much inflamation. Do this and you'll be injury-free and achieve a much better long term progress.

my 2 pennies

Typically you want to lift weights after swimming, biking or running. The reason for this is because if you come into your workout already fatigued then you're efficiency and form are more likely to break down which over the long haul can start to negatively affect you. With swimming, however, unless you are using your legs a whole boat load to get you moving, I wouldnt see anything wrong with working lower body before swimming. Just make sure you dont overdo it so that your legs are so pooped you cant even do a 2 beat kick. Hopefully this helps, if you have anymore questions, just lemme know.