Am I training hard enough?

dunno... not enough info.

What are you doing now?
What kind of mileage/hours/history (what kind of volume did you do for your marathons/halfs/etc, and how does this compare?)

If you've been competitively running for some time, I would think you would know what the symptoms of getting close to overtraining are. Just guessing...I'd say you're not even in the ballpark of overtrained.

The word overtrain usually implies your training has been counter-productive i.e you end up fatigued or injured. It's still possible to train hard and not end up over training. Have a goal time in mind and train accordingly. Just because it’s your first triathlon doesn’t mean you can’t train hard.

Like the other replies, its hard to say without more history and actual numbers.

A few things to think about:

You can swim an intense workout basically every session you do, but build volume responsibly.

Cycling also allows you a good deal of intensity with a bit more injury potential than swimming, but a lot less than running.

You may and probably will find that you will have to drop some intensity from your running as the other two sports will take a bit out of you.

As a general rule, you want to hit your workout goals, but not be too exhausted to hit your goals in your next session.

Overall volume is generally dictated by the distance that you are training for, but not always, depending on how high you set your goals, and your base level of fitness, even shorter course athletes can put in a huge amount of training.

Acutal "overtraining syndrome," is hard to pull off. Its far easier to train at a higher level of intensity than you can handle and get injured.

When increasing training load, try to remember to increase either volume or intensity, but not both simultaneously.

The older you are, the more stuff starts to break down.

People do have a different amount of natural "injury resistance," some people can take a pretty good beating, others have to train smarter. Its always good to train smart, but some people can get away with pushing or finding their limits. This knowledge generally comes from trial and error.

Ok, This is helpful. I guess I was looking for an uncomplicated quick answer, but it seems my question wasn't that straightforward. Here's a quick look at what I'm doing. I have a four month training plan for a sprint tri. I average 28 miles a week on the bike, with a max of 45 in one week, and a total of 508 miles. For running I'm doing an average of 6 miles a week, with a max of 10 and a total of 100 (This is way out of the norm for me so I will definitely be changing my running plan). Honestly I haven't really made any attempt at swimming yet.

As I look at my training plan it seems kinda wimpy, so I'll be bumping the mileage up a lot. Thanks for putting up with unintelligent questions from a newbie. Thanks again for your help.

P.S. When I say I got 2nd in two half marathons I don't mean I race competitively. I don't They were small races that didn't have a lot of people, so that's why I was able to do anything more than just finish.

Never train hard enough where it sacrifices your training the following day. Training is a progression. Epic workouts usually are not the ones you make the biggest gains off. Remember what the goal of the session is, if that is accomplished no matter how hard/easy it is, you reached the goal of the session.

Based on what you've said here (although we still don't know quite enough about your base fitness) I'd say you need to train MORE and not HARDER. Also, if you're not already a very competent swimmer, as in former competitive swimmer, you need to get in the water ASAP.

OP. As a newbie to the tri world and fitness in general. I have had the good fortune to be able to take a TRI Camp at my local YMCA. We are finishing up 8 weeks of meeting every Sunday for an hour and a half. During this time we do brick training which is time devoted to two of the disciplines. This last week we did 45 mins of swim doing a variety of drills. The last 45 mins was devoted to running and some exercises designed to help with running muscles. You should spend a training day each week doing two disciplines to get used to that. Distance at this point does not matter. Rather getting two disciplines done back to back is the key.

If I remember correctly you said you were doing a sprint tri this year. That is what I am doing and the distances should be similar to mine as well. 700 swim 14 bike 3.1 run. You should really get in the pool and set a plan to be able to swim above that level. Maybe 1200 to 1400 yards so that the 700' will seem easy. Additionally you will be swimming in open waters (which I haven't done before). The info I have been told it is way different than a quiet lane in a swimming pool. I experienced something like this last week during my 45 min swim. There were 4 of us in one lane. I am a really slow swimmer but can go for long distance. The other 3 people in the lane were really fast so it really churned up the water and at times it simulated what I think the choppy open water will be like. Get swimming soon.

Hope this helps and good luck to you in the race. Some of you need to take it down a notch. Nit sure if some of you have forgotten the title of this website. " beginner triathlete ". Elitist attitudes need to go to the "veteran triathlete ". Message board