Winter training plan

During the winter, I would concentrate on building running base. Start out with medium length runs (and this distance all depends on your base fitness and muscularity, i.e. can your legs handle it without injuries) and then start to add a longer run each week. The medium run should be at a level where you can carry a conversation in short sentences, while the long run should be a pace where you can carry a continous conversation. Try talking to yourself if your not running with someone, you get great answers and no arguments (and if you do, then we have another problem...).

For biking, I would recommend getting a trainer (a fluid trainer is the best and the resistance is progressively increasing with speed). In the beginning just get on a ride easy for 20-30 minutes a couple of times a week (riding too hard will not only drain you, but also teach your muscle memory all kinds of wrong things...). After you feel comfortable on the bike, get yourself a couple of DVDs (Carmichael or Spinervals), great way to get very specific training and making the time fly. You will need a fan, a towel and lots of water as it gets to be hot riding indoors....

Swimming, no clue... I'm a duathlete!
No seriously, my wife is a triathlete and she'll just continue going to the pool (no idea what she's doing there, but swimming laps would be a good guess, I think).

The great thing about winter training is that you can not only afford to go slower but longer, but you actually will build lots of endurance that is needed to start building speed in the spring. Starting with the heavy training already in the winter is a great way to make certain that you are burnt out before season starts....

Consider working on your form through the winter. Get a coach or find some program (ChiRunning, Pose, whatever floats your boat) and really slow everything down, strip off any bad habits, and rebuild inch by inch. You are under zero competition pressure so it doesn't matter that your first month or two you'll lose speed, by the time you come into spring, you'll be flowing more efficiently, have a good base under you, and be ready to start building race-specific goals.

Same deal for the bike - concentrate on technique, work on any hard areas (climb, in-saddle, out-of-saddle, race-pace, LSD, etc.). Yes, some of your rides will be just putting in time, but honestly you should be putting in as much or more effort over the winter, just not in the same way.

You can also play around with high-intensity training if you like the looks of that. Short bursts of intense workout, google or search here for more info.

For swimming, I'd just get to the pool every couple of weeks to relax, play around, keep your technique fresh, remember how good the water feels, etc. Winter is the time to remember why this stuff is FUN!

You could just follow my training plan.





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I agree with you that you work on your weakest discpline in the winter.  Reducing your time spent in the other two activites makes sense, but I would not eliminate the swim.  A run-focussed winter maintenance plan would include getting you out on the roads 4 or 5 times per week while maintaining your swim and bike with 2-3 workouts a week in each.

Basically, I think that your plan for the run and bike are solid, but that you should not postpone pool time until the Spring. 
Besides the ideas that others have already given you, consider the following additions to help with your run training:  strength training, adding hills to your runs and plyometric exercises, or joining a running group at the track 1/wk.

All good comments except the person advocating taking LSD on the bike.

I usually take a few weeks completely off in November. Usually includes Thxgvg. This way I can just ride and enjoy fall thru October as the first month I haven't raced in a while, heal fully, sleep in, eat big at Thxgvg dinner, and mentally unwind. I'll still go for a run on occasional nice Nov day, but nothing structured and just for fun and no HRM or plan.

Come first of December I start a couple of months of just base workouts with a little weight training 2-3x a week on areas I felt were poor over the summer. I will get in the pool and do a warm up, a few hundred drills of 50m drill x 50m easy swim, then a long swim depending on how I feel (800-1500m), then a cool down. No sprints unless I feel like cranking it up for 50 a few times, but totally listening to the body. The focus is on base and form and fun for about 12-16 weeks before jumping into a focused plan that is 12-16wks to peak around whatever peak races I choose for the summer. Same goes for the bike and run. Someone already keyed this idea of base time during the winter too. It works good and keeps it fun. Enjoy.

How timely, it was 34 this morning.  My winter training started 10 hours ago.

Since my real focus is skiing, this tri training has been a great warm up for the real season.

I am new to this tri stuff, but I would just try to make sure I didn't lose focus and backslide.