Getting Started (Page 6)

Hi- I'm just getting started as a triathlete. I have been a Cat 3 competitive cyclist for the past 25 years logging 250 miles a week on average for most of those 25 years. I have recently added a ton of travel to my work schedule and training on a bike at 250 miles plus per week is not really possible anymore. 8 weeks ago began adding running to my weekly training out of necessity. I'm up to 4 to 5 mile runs 3/4 days a week and 2 hour rides (35 to 45 miles depending) 3/4 times a week. I was a competitive swimmer as a kid and will be adding swiming to my weekly schedule this coming week. None of the beginner training programs I've looked at take into consideration my current fitness level. I'm somewhat of an anomoly; at age 52 my max heart rate is 193(ish), V02Max 62.4, resting heart rate (when I wake in the AM) 54. My 45 min runs AVG HR is 160 +, and I regularly find myself north of 170, while my bike AVG HR is well below 150 if I'm not doing any INTs.  - I really need some perspective. The sprint w/o plans don't seem to have enough volume for me, and I don't see any Olympic distance tri's on the horizon to shoot for. HELP - I don't know where to begin.

Thanks in advance, 

Mike Fine

Well, if you want to do an IM next year, you need to start base building now. You can start by following a sprint or Olympic training plan, then keep up your volume until you are 16-20 weeks out from your IM, at which point you will start the IM training plan. The key is to build your endurance up to the point where that first week of training in the IM plan is doable, but to NOT burn yourself out getting to that point. If you follow a rigid training program starting now, you may find that when it's time to really focus on IM training, you are worm out and sick of it.

If you can loosely follow a training plan rather than feeling guilty and like you need to do every workout, that will be a good way to build endurance. You can also start doing sprint and olympic distance races to mix things up until it's time to focus on the IM.

Hi Mike. You are going to be a great triathlete with your background! You are right, most of these plans won't suit you very well as they are geared to a more novice athlete. You may want to consider mixing two plans together, like an Olympic and half-iron plan. You can follow the Olympic for running while building your running volume, but use the HIM plan for cycling and swimming. The best thing for you would be a coach, but if that isn't in the budget, you can make things work by being creative with the plans here.

What races are you thinking about doing?

Hi Jessica!!

I am excited to be a part of this forum!!! I am new to this whole thing and can't wait to really start diving i and learning!

Thannks,

Sonya

Hi Jessica,

37 and registered for my first Sprint for June with the mere goal of crossing the finish line in one piece and essentially see what a Tri is all about.

For the last six months my regular weekly training has been  3xrun (between 45min and 1h) and 3xswims (at least 1500 meters, usually w/o stop). Bought a road bike last month and love riding  but really can only fit 1 to 2 hours a week schedule-wise.

My objective is to complete (yes, just finish)  an Oly in Sep. I tried a brick (b:40km + r:7km) a couple of weeks ago and found it more challenging than I expected, kind of a yellow flag. On the other hand, I do love my current  training routine.

So my question (sorry for the long message): can I stick to my training routine or am I  just setting myself for failure ? If the latter, which plan would you recommend me?

Thanks for your time.

Fred

Welcome! We are so excited to have you! Please let me know if you have any questions about getting started!

Hi Fred! You are doing great with your training but I do recommend that you pick a training plan and follow it. A training plan is built to get you ready for a race in a measured, controlled way that maximizes gains while minimizing injury risk. Periodization is very important in training for a triathlon, and that is where most people make mistakes when they train on their own without the guidance of a training plan. You do not need to follow a training plan to the letter if it doesn't fit perfectly with your life, but instead use it as a rough guideline as to where your training volume should be from week to week to allow gains AND recovery. If you are already swimming and running 3x a week, you might want to look at the Olympic 3x balanced plan. It will get you riding your bike more (many of the workouts will be under an hour) and make sure you aren't doing too much, which I suspect you are!

Hi, need some direction here !

I am down 30 lbs, in the last 100 days and just now have decided to focus on a local sprint  tri which is in about 90 days.  As part of my weight loss program, i began some light running and biking at the gym.  

I"m overwhelmed by all the stuff on this site and the huge variety of training plans.

I live on the lake where the Tri will be, and today swam .70 miles in 35 minutes, but I don't know how to swim with my face in the water and turn to the side to breath.  When I try that, I drink water.  NOT afraid to be in water, just don't know the technique.  How do I learn this most effficiently ?   Books ?  Private coach ?   

I have built a carbon single-speed fixed-gear bike and frequently now do 15 mile rides and enjoy it, but 15mph pace, not very fast (I think).  

running:  I am now able to complete the run around the lake (5 miles) which is part of the tri I'll be doing.  Running 9:30's currently.

QUESTIONS:

is my single speed fixie bike OK for the tri  ?  How limiting is the 1-speed aspect for a 17 mi ride ?

Can I just keep doing 1 sport per day for an hour (as described above) and maybe 2-3 days / wk I do combo of bike-->run ?

OR-----  do I need to follow some 'plan'.  Seems like if I"m biking OR running OR swimming for at least an hour every day (3 or 4 day s per wk) AND doing combo sports (bricks?) on the other 3 days,  this would be an alternative which is acceptable ?

Any help appreciated !!

american fat-

Hi Jessica,

thanks for your answer. I looked at the plan more closely, especially the volume variations within the week and between weeks over time, and it makes sense. I work as a project manager and I have to say you totally sold me with the risk management (maximize opportunities, minimize threats) and the quality management (control limits for under/over training). After all, there is a clear goal (Olympic distance), a target date (Sep), a budget (# training hours) etc.... so if it's a project, I concur  I need a plan.

I will be taking it easy this week as I will be running my first Sprint this Sat and will start the week after with the recommended plan.

Thanks again Jessica, you're good!

Welcome! Lots of good questions. Yes, you should follow a plan. You are doing too much with no real purpose right now. Following a plan will prevent you from just throwing hours at your training and hoping it works, and it will also help ensure that you don't end up injured.
You can certainly do the triathlon with a fixie, but you will wish you hadn't when others with similar fitness are blasting past you. Training with that fixie is probably turning you into a great cyclist, but it would be nice if you could race with a bike with gears to use the advantages of the gearing to be faster. I would say go ahead and do the first race with your fixie and then consider getting a different bike IF you want to continue to race.
If you can afford it, hire a swim coach. Just a couple of sessions should be enough to give you an idea of what drills you can do on your own to learn to breath better. You are not alone - most people struggle to learn proper swim technique.
I am excited for you!! Once you choose a plan, please join us in the discussion for that particular plan in the threads below!

Thanks for your insightful reply.  10-4 on the  bike thing, I"ve been doing some group riding this week, I think I will go buy a tri bike a few weeks prior to needing it so I can train on it, and ride my fixie until then because it is cool and I dig it !

I just got the  name of  a local swim coach, and will take that step right away.

Based on (earlier post) where I am with my current workouts,  could you recommend which plan would best prepare me ?  I guess I just need someone to say "here, follow this, starting from this point."

I do not have time constraints, I live on the lake where I'll be swimming so fitting this in is logistically easy and I'm willing to pay for equipment and coaches without limitation. If you'd suggest a plan or overall strategy based on those criteria I'm be very grateful ! 

Hey Jessica,

I just have an update. Training is going great. I had a slight injury to my neck for about a week and a half (not from training) at the end of May. So I didn't get to train much then. But, I am back in the saddle! Doesn't seem like I lost any endurance from the injury. Exactly one month from today is my first sprint tri! I am very excited and nervous! Thank you so much for all of your help.

I live in nyc and would like to attempt my first tri. any suggestions on good starters? how many months out should training begin 

Welcome! I suggest you take a look at all the Sprint training plans BY offers and pick the one that suits you the best. Most plans are 12-24 weeks long, so you could easily get in your first race in August or September this year. You can find all the training plans HERE.

Is it too late to for this year?  I have this big desire to do a tri sprint this year.  I haven't been very active in the past year.  I've jsut started back at  it about 2 months ago.  I don't work so I have time to do most anything.  I'm looking at doing a tri the end of August.  I've been following the a 13 week tri sprint training program.  for abotu 2 weeks now.  It ends at the same time of the race so I'm on pace with it.  I can do all the events I'm just slow, and swimming is not great.  And I'm not use to doign them one right after the other. 

I ride at about a 12 mile and hour pace right now,

and my 5k I just did was at 45 min.  (I walked a lot of it)

Swimming I'm not sure how long it takes.  I am able to do 200 yard of brest stroke and back stroke each with out stopping.  Freestyle I can't do for more than 25 yards.

I'm at a point of being scared that I may want to do something that is imposible just yet for me>?

It sounds like you are on the right track! I am sure you will be able to finish the race if you keep up with the training. I am excited for you!

Hi, Jessica. I am a newbie, and I am following a "customized" training schedule (from this site) for a women's sprint tri this August. My goal is simply to finish (preferably not last, but it that's the case, then so be it!). My training is not as diligent as I would like - work and kids get the lion's share of my energy. But I can picture that finish line!

P.S. I haven't yet given up the swimmer's snorkel. I know that this is frowned upon (er, mocked) by triathletes, but I know I'll get there! I think I can, I think I can...

Michele

Welcome! Sounds like you are on the right track! I wish you the best of luck in your first triathlon!

Welcome! You can visit the thread for the Aggressive Couch to 5K plan here. Even if it's not the exact plan you are following, you can still learn from others and ask me questions there. See you in the thread!

Hi there,

I am new to triathlon, was once a serious amateur oarsman am athletic in potential but am currently unfit and need to get in shape.

I decided that Triathlon was the way to go as I want to have a goal (entering the Bounemouth Triathlon in July 2012) and want to be out in the open when I train as much as possible (happy to swim indoors ) )

I would say that my max distances as one-off sessions would be:

*) cycling 30k (medium pace)

*) running 5k (slow)

*) swimming 0.75k (slow)

I am serious about doing this and (given a hectic work schedule) would have up to 10 hours (approx) a week on average.

The question is, if I have approximately 1 year to prepare, which programme would you recommend?

Your help would be much appreciated )

Thanks,

Paul

Hi Paul! Welcome to BT. I had to look up the race you mentioned to see what the distance was. Are you doing the International distance race or the sprint? Either way, a year is a long time and you already have the ability to do some of each discipline. You won't find a training plan that is longer than 20 weeks because it just becomes too hard to follow a plan for more time than that. Even and Ironman plan will not be longer than 24 weeks usually. While triathletes can be great at focusing on training, it's usually too mentally exhausting to follow a training plan for longer than 4-5 months, as life becomes a constant battle of schedules and commitments.
Save the scheduling conflicts and stress of fitting it all in for when you MUST make the time - while you are following the plan. But until that time when you are 16-20 weeks away from your race, let your exercise schedule be a bit more at the whim of you work and life schedule. Try to do each discipline 1-2 times a week so that you build frequency and endurance. This will ensure that you are fully able to handle the volume of the plan. Look at the Olympic plans here on the site and see what the first few weeks call for. Make sure that by the time the plan starts, you can handle those distances. You can use a plan now just as guidance and to give you workout ideas, and then repeat it again with more strictness, but do your best to not feel the need to follow it to the letter on the first go-round. Hope that helps!