Triathlon (any distance) + Marathon Training - How to do it?

Since the marathon is my priority right now (first one, don't want to die) I basically plugged my marathon plan in my calendar and worked my biking and swimming in and around those runs.  I sometimes don't get in all my runs during the week, but I figured as long as I am keeping up with my long run I will be ok.  This results in a couple days of double workouts but so far it hasn't killed me

How well do you want to do in your marathon?  When I was doing my HIM training, I think my 35 miles per week, with a 15 mile long run, would've been sufficient to finish a marathon.  It wouldn't be 3 hours, but it wouldn't be embarrasing.  If your focus is on the run, I think you could do well with a weekly long run around 15ish, 2 solid runs in the 8-9 range, and a speedwork (5-8k tempo) day.  That gives you the running base for the marathon, biking the other 3 days will help, and the speedwork will keep you on your toes for the shorter tris.

You can do very well in shorter triathlons by focusing much more heavily on the run than the bike.  It's not ideal, but it certainly isn't bad.

Depends on your priority.  If the marathon is your main goal, add in swims and bikes when you can to your run schedule.  If the marathon is not, just make sure you are getting in sufficient running during the tri training.

While training for IMFL I ran Baltimore as my last big workout.  I didn't run more than one 18 miler during the whole period and still ran a 3:15 at the marathon.

I'm training someone now and her goal is a solid time at Marine Corps, but she still had a tri in August.  I added in appropriate bikes and swims to keep her sharp enough and even though she skipped a few of those, she still did just fine (knowing her swim and bike were down).

I'm personally scheduled for 2 olympics this month a week apart and because of run training have not even really been on my bike or in the pool at all in two months.  We'll see how it goes.

Edited by Daremo 2009-09-01 3:08 PM

Similar to the other posts - it's about priorities...

I'm currently training for an HIM and a marathon that I will complete in a month later.

These are my thoughts...  I think the long run is the most important for marathon training, IMO.  So I follow my tri training in during the week, which usually is a couple runs anyway that are close (or MORE) to the distances my marathon plan calls for, THEN increase any long run my HIM plan calls for to the distance my marathon plan calls for on the weekend.

For example, my long run this last weekend was for 60 minutes per my HIM, but 9 miles per my marathon plan.  I just ran and extra 25 minutes to get the 9 miles and called it good.  So far so good...

I think it might be easier depending on the length of triathlon.  If I was training for an IM, I probably would follow that plan and assume it was good enough for a marathon.  My HIM plan is very close to my marathon plan except for the length of long run (as stated earlier).  The trick comes into play when training for a sprint or Oly tri.  They usually don't have enough running in them to train for a marathon, so bigger adjustments have to be made.

0.02...

It comes down to compromise, in my experience, if you're trying to do both in the same time frame.  I did Wildflower HIM on May 2 and LA Marathon on May 25 this year and training wasn't optimal for either.  (Wouldn't normally have committed to both, btw, but the marathon got moved from mid-Feb to Memorial Day after I'd signed up for both and the marathon fit into my training for an Aug 1 IM...but I digress...)

I usually take a longish taper for a marathon, but normally my last long run (20 miles) would have been the same weekend as Wildflower.  So I basically chose to compromise my taper for WF by doing a very slow 20 miler the weekend before (I'd done a faster 20 miler a couple weeks before that...leading into my WF taper).

In the longer view, I'd front loaded my bike and swim training for WF earlier in the winter and focused on the run in the month prior to WF.  Coming off the marathon, I then hit the bike and swim hard in June and left the run mostly alone for the balance of my IM training.  In general, everything went pretty well--PR'ed the marathon by 13 minutes and had a good swim and bike at WF...but I was definitely not rested sufficiently for the WF run...I'd say that's where the compromise bit me on the butt.

I also did a tri (sprint) two weeks before LA Marathon last year ('08)...that was really no biggie...fit right into my mary taper.  Sometimes it works out well...other times the compromises are harder to manage (assuming--like most humans--you have only so much time to train).

I am also training for an oly and a marathon and then an oly and then a marathon.
So, I am making sure I get at least 3 quality runs in, including the long run on the weekend. At my fitness level, the biking and swimming are still good cross training, so I push a little on the bike to get my HR up.
Look at the F.I.R.S.T. marathon training plan (Rodale's Run Less, Run Faster has it). You can kind of use this and use the x training for tri training.
Good Luck!

I agree with other posters- it is about priorities.  However, I think that if you have limited time to train, it's more about the quality of the workouts you are doing than the quantity. 

Currently, I am training for a spring on Sept. 12 and marathon on Oct. 25.  At this point, I only run three times a week and fit my biking and swimming in as "cross training days" between my runs.   Each of those runs will be as solid as I can make them given the insanity to ensue from Sept to Thanksgiving. (I recruit for a college and travel a lot in the fall).

My peak training week for the marathon is 29 miles.  I'm not in it to win it, just finish.   And I don't rely on the bike to build running fitness- I rely on running to build that.

Needless to say, I would think about which race is more important to you and focus on getting in the best workouts you can with the limited time that you do have.

Good luck with your training!