Subject: RE: Gym and run or bike on same day? Not sure how much training benefit you are getting from lifting once a week. There's not a lot of solid evidence that strength training helps tri performance, but even if you have other reasons for training (injury prevention, addressing imbalances, aesthetics ) spreading it out (even if that means doing mostly body-weight exercises you could do at home ) between 3 or 4 shorter sessions would probably be more effective.
That being said, unless it's serious power lifting, plyometrics, or something else that's going to make you really sore, I wouldn't worry too much about where it goes relative to swim/bike/run. Basically you just don't want to be starting a workout, especially an intense one, already sore/fatigued from lifting. That's particularly true for swim and run, where your form can easily fall apart if muscles are tired/tight/sore, and make you more vulnerable to injury. I lift three times a week and not at the most ideal times, training-wise. I do it when it's most convenient time-wise, which is usually the evening after run speedwork (in the morning ), after and easy run, and after my long ride. I do make it a point not to do a lot of lower-body work if I'll be running hard in the morning, or too much upper-body work before swimming. |