How to train for Olympic Tri in 3-4 hours / week?

I'm reminded of people who ask things like "How can I lose lots of weight really fast without changing my diet?"

How is your swimming? If you are comfortable that you can swim the distance then I think there's not much reason to train that a lot as there isn't much time to gain probably. I'd really suggest you get at least a few long'ish bike workouts in, and then spend the rest of the time running. Drop strenght training and all that, if you have limited time then just bike and run all you can. You won't get any benefits from doing anything else if you don't train more often anyway

Without knowing anything about you here's a basic idea:

Swim 2X30 mins (assuming you are an OK swimmer who can swim 1500 in 30 mins): 1hr

Bike 2X45 mins hard: 1.5 hrs (more would be much better)

Run 2X30 mins, one 45 min: 1:45

Total: 4:15. Will you be well prepared? Not really. But certainly enough to finish in decent shape.

Thanks for the tips so far.  To answer a few questions:

1) Why not do another Sprint Tri?  I want to complete an Olympic Tri, doing another Sprint Tri after the one I did last summer didn't sound like much fun or much of a challenge.  I'm 35, and I don't see myself having more time to train as I get older, so I figured now is as good a time as any to do it.  I understand I'm going to be near the back of the pack, that's fine, I just want to do as well as I can given the amount of training I have to give.

2) I am not a good swimmer.  I can swim a 1500m in a pool (not flip turning, not even going to try that) in about 43 minutes, which I realize is REALLY slow.  I've only been swimming a few times a month over the winter, which is most likely why I haven't gotten any better, like I said, training just isn't a high enough priority for me to give more time to it.  I think I have decent technique based on the reading I've done and videos I've watched on proper freestyle technique.  Not sure at this point focusing on swimming will do me much good, the race is in 7 weeks, but I'm open to suggestions.

3) The one time last fall I tried the 25 mile bike followed by 6.2 mile run, I did the bike in about 90min and the run in about 54min, so from what I can tell from looking at others results, my swim is definitely my weakness, the run is my strength.

Any other advice would be appreciated, especially related to relative intensity of the workouts I should be doing, whether I should bother with "recovery" weeks, and how much I should taper.

Thanks

I would agree with the swim as much as you can. Based on the information you provided, you are truly taking a risk doing an Oly with your level of swim training. I am not talking about how slow or anything like that, but something tells me that swimming 1500m in open water would be a serious challenge for you.

It is important to realize that the swim is the most dangerous leg of a triathlon, and being confident that you can swim the distance and that you have the ability to "defend" yourself if something unexpected happens is critical. I am not trying to scare you away from doing this, but you really need to ask yourself if a 1500m open water swim is something you feel comfortable with...

So your swim time is 43 min, bike is 90 min and run is 54 min, totaling 187 min.  So just to finish the Olympic tri is going to take you more than 3 hours and you want to train in 3-4 hours / week.

...stick to sprints...

Thanks for the training input.  I'm a bit concerned that if I focus on swim for the next month or so, that I'll lose some bike/run endurance, and that I might not improve my swim much anyway.  Anyone have experience doing almost no run/bike for a month, that could weigh in and reassure me that I wouldn't lose much in those areas compared with what I could gain by swimming more? 

As for the thoughts about the danger of the swim, I appreciate that concern.  In the sprint tri last year I did get to experience getting legs pulled, getting elbowed, etc, so I have at least experienced that once.  And I feel comfortable swimming 2000m in the pool (as previously documented, I'm just slow), but haven't tried it in open water yet since that wasn't really an option this winter.  I do plan on swimming long distances in open water over the next 7 weeks to get more comfortable sighting, etc.

brad_isu - 2013-05-06 2:31 PM
Thanks for the tips so far.  To answer a few questions:

1) Why not do another Sprint Tri?  I want to complete an Olympic Tri, doing another Sprint Tri after the one I did last summer didn't sound like much fun or much of a challenge.  I'm 35, and I don't see myself having more time to train as I get older, so I figured now is as good a time as any to do it.  I understand I'm going to be near the back of the pack, that's fine, I just want to do as well as I can given the amount of training I have to give.



Thanks for the clarification, everyone has different goals, and it helps put things into perspective.    People signing up cold turkey for a fundraiser 13.1 and intending to walk it with friends is one thing, but an Oly is no joking matter.   I can't recommend trying it on that level of training.  I think you are taking a huge safety risk, especially in the water.   There are lots of extremely busy people on this forum, and unless you are going to join us and make 430am your friend,  stick to shorter events. 

You 'may' be able to finish an Oly.  But your margins for error are so close, I doubt you'll ever get any better at them.  So you plans to "Do Well" may be in jeopardy. 

IMO... The sacrifices made to overcome training challenges are what make endurance events so appealing.

That's insane, there are a ton of people here who take 3 hours to finish any Oly, you don't have to excel at something to do it.  As long as he can swim safely (if the plan is to be fished out of the water, or backstroke for 800m, I agree bad plan) he's obviously not hurting anybody by not being FOP on the bike or run.

4 hours of training a week will probably put you in what the top 5% of all adult americans in actual time spent exercising?  If he wants to do an Oly, great, call it a long training day

Well if he wants to go out and just do an Olympic...fine.  

But that's not what he asked...he asked about training for an Olympic in 3-4 hours / week.  However, you're completely missing the point.

You cannot TRAIN for an Olympic in 3-4 hrs/week.  You can get a minimum level of fitness in that time.  You can probably even finish an Olympic with 0 hours.   

If you only have 3-4 hours a week and you want to focus that training to a goal, that goal should be a sprint.  The training time here is inadequate for an Olympic focus.

Why not ask to do an IM in 3-4 hrs a week?  I've got no problem with him wanting to go out and just do it.  But you're not going to train effectively for an Olympic with that little time.

Basically this:  train for a sprint, but do an Olympic if you want

Don't feed the trolls...

Mark

LOL--Roger that RedCorvette

If you want to "train" to swim 1500m in 40 minutes, bike 24m in 90 minutes and run a <55 min 10k, that's not dangerous.  It's not like he will be any more competitive in sprints with only 4 hours a week, just because it's shorter doesn't mean it's easier to compete.

I checked my last oly tri, 50% of the participants were over 2:45, that's a lot of people approaching 3 hours.

Choose another sport.   Why do something if your not able to put the proper amount of time in?  If you focused on just running, 3-4 hrs a week is enough time to build decent fitness.  Do some local run events if that is all the time you have.

I would rotate volume amongst the three sports in successive weeks...maxing with a 90 minute swim session, 90 minute session, and 75 minute run session.  At 4 hours/week, this would be challenging, but certainly possible.  At 3, no freakin' way.

Something like:

Week 1 (run-focused):  2 x 40 swim (80); 3 runs totaling 90 min, 2 bikes totaling 70 min
Week 2 (bike-focused):  2 x 40 swim (80); 2 runs totally 60 min; 3 bikes totally 100 min
Week 3 (run-focused):  repeat week 1, though increase the long run
Week 4 (recovery/swim-focused):  2 x 30, 1 x 60 swim (120); 2 runs totaling 45, 2 bikes totaling 60

And so on.

No one said that taking 4 hours for an Oly is bad.  But a 4 hour race on 4 hours of training a week isn't smart.

You will do better in sprints with that kind of training load, you won't win, but you won't be DFL.

A 2 hour race is only double his normal training day, the op will survive.

The OP is likely going to take longer on the swim than he ever trains in a session for an Oly.  Don't forget, a 1500 swim assumes you are on course, you are never on course. 

A sprint is not easy, not if done right.  A sprint done right is hard because you are going full out the whole time.  I suggest doing the sprint again, and trying to beat your time from last year.