General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Beginner (maybe not so beginner) training question Rss Feed  
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2011-02-05 8:13 PM

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Subject: Beginner (maybe not so beginner) training question
Hello!

So I'm training for my second triathlon.  I'm planning on doing a sprint on May 5th, which gives me 3 months to train.  The thing is that I had been training quite a bit already, mostly for a half marathon a week ago.  So once in a while, I was doing a 26 mile bike / 6 mile run brick. For my first triathlon I had little time to train, and I was barely doing the distances for the sprint, so it was easy to know what to do to train.  My medium term goal is to do my first olympic distance in September.  I still feel like a beginner, and even though I can do the mileage, I'm still pretty slow and the 26m/6m training leaves me a bit drained . Any recommendations on where to go from here? Should I just keep doing the same volume? Focus on something else?  


Thanks for any help,

Andres 


2011-02-05 8:35 PM
in reply to: #3341038

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Subject: RE: Beginner (maybe not so beginner) training question
Sounds like you need to build up your endurance and distances in each sport. It's not necessary to do bricks exactly the distance of the Olympics.   You can do a long bike ride, and do a T-Run...like 1 to 2 miles.  Over time once your build gets much better in biking, then you can add the runs. 

When I did my first tri, I only did one brick.  When I did my others, I did one brick prior to the Tri, however, I knew that I tend to have issues with getting my bearings, I did a few bricks before my Olympic. It seems to help a little bit, but come race day, it was totally different.

My suggestion is to log in your workouts, so people can take a gander and give you advice.

I think it's just too much to do 26m bike/6m run, especially when your olypmic tri isn't until September.

Anyone else can chime in.  
2011-02-05 8:35 PM
in reply to: #3341038

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Coach
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Subject: RE: Beginner (maybe not so beginner) training question
In general, in order to improve your fitness, you need to apply training stress. That can be done in three basic ways, but the number of ways you can manpulate these three things for three differen sports is nearly limitless

#1) Frequency
#2) Intensity
#3) volume

Increasing any ONE of these will increase your training stress, which when combined with rest & recovery will result in improved fitness.

If you feel you are currently doing proper distances for a sprint tri, you could try adding some intensity by doing one workout each week slightly faster than your current effort, or dividing a single workout into blocks of harder intensity. Or simply doing a "fartlek" type workout where you randomly accelerate your pace for 15-60 seconds with seversl minutes of rest inbetween.

That's possilby the simplest way to increase your traiing stress without risking overtraining and improving on your previous sprint results.
2011-02-05 8:42 PM
in reply to: #3341038

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Subject: RE: Beginner (maybe not so beginner) training question
There's nothing in your log, so it's hard to know what 'same volume' means.

My advice would be to find a plan from a source that you trust, with volumes in the initial weeks that are feasible for you (i.e., comparable to what you are doing now), and volumes overall that will feasibly fit into your schedule.  Follow it.
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