KloOfyRoLaNd's Coach/Mentor Group for Newbies -- OPEN

Howdy! I’m preparing for my first foray into the tri world. I was an avid cyclist in a previous life and was coming back to it when my brother-in-law was training for a 70.3. Well, my wife and I decided that we’d try our hand at a sprint in 2020 but on a training ride I lost my bike from underneath me on a 30mph descent and had several broken bones and a really bad concussion. My wife is a runner (sub 3:20, perennial BQer) so she pressed ahead and did the tri without me and had a blast (she crossed it off her list and is back to marathons, but she’d do a duathlon if the right one came along, schedule wise). We have other friends who commit to multiple tris per season and they’re always fun to watch and support.

2021 was a blur while we welcomed a new addition to the family but by mid-2022 I started to kick the tires on a sprint again and started training (with the help of a plan here) and am looking forward to my first sprint in early June (King Pine). I’m terrified the water will be cold, but I’ve scuba’d in springs and with a wetsuit I should be okay. We’re outside Boston, so June can still be kind of chilly compared to other parts of the country. King Pine is about 90 minutes north of us, so it’s potentially colder there.

My big issue will be running. I just don’t like it enough to put any real effort into it but when winter starts to wind down I’m going to focus on running more. Now I’m just a hamster on a treadmill which doesn’t make it any more exciting. For cycling, I love speed but am not a great climber. Never have been, but am Zwifting the winter away to get better at climbing. I feel comfortable in the water, and by that I mean my lane in my gym’s pool. I have no idea what it’s like to swim in a pack like that so I plan on staying on the outside for my first one until I can see where I am speed wise.

Looking forward to the banter and war stories. Cheers!

Hi there! Oh man, that was a serious crash man. It's so good to hear you recovered from it getting back into your first triathlon. Your wife is a great runner!

How cold do you think the water will be? I remember swimming in a sprint triathlon with the water between 50-55°F and I was so wobbly coming out of the water. I only wore a full wetsuit. In hindsight, maybe a neoprene cap and socks would have helped. But I see that you have some experience in cold water so you should be okay there after some open water practices.

I'm with you about running. It's always the part of the race that continues to require development but I've learned to love it enough to try getting better when I'm racing a triathlon or standalone running race.

How much swimming, biking, and running are you doing right now?

Roland

Hi Roland,

Thanks for the greeting! My weekly schedule is generally 3-4 days of swimming, 3-4 days of biking, 2 days of weights/resistance training, and 1 running day. I’m trying to get 2,000-3,500M of swimming per week, 20-40 miles of seat time, and a 2-3.5mi run on my running day. My running pace is generally in the 10:3X neighborhood.

Swimming and biking are where I’m focusing now. I’m swimming at 2:15-2:18/100 and would love to get that time down. In speed workouts I can do sub 2 100s, but I can’t do it for more than 2 or 3 attempts. I’d like to get faster but not sure how to build on it. One of my swim days is dedicated to endurance, so that’s just banging out laps at relaxed pace. I spend another day trying to do speed drills I read about or find online, and my other day(s) are just a potpourri of swimming to get time in the water and is largely mood dependent!

For biking, I try to find Zwift routes that balance distance and climbing. I’ve only recently started using their workouts (as opposed to free rides) and am looking into pace groups more.

When winter wanes/breaks, I’ll probably do a more rigid 3-3-2 schedule of swimming, biking, and running for a bit and then add a 3rd day of running and pull a day of either biking or swimming.

I’ve been pretty true to the plan I’m using (Pates Total Sprint) except for the holidays, so I am backpedaling a bit there. My longest continuous swim to date is 850M and my longest ride is just under 16mi. To go from pool to open water swimmer, I’m trying to get to 1,000-1,250M. I’d like to be able to bike 20mi consistently to get comfortable for that portion of the tri.

Looks like you're off to a good start and that training plan looks solid. It's really good that you have some ST in the mix as well. I didn't in my early days and paid the price, hehe.

I'd say your current swim speed will put you in the middle of the pack and you're putting in some pretty good volume what will enable you to transition to the bike leg not out of breath. If you can record a video of you swimming a lap heading out and in and another video from the side, that'll help me see where you can make some improvements. Send me an email here so I can share my personal email address with you if you'd like to share the recordings.

Being early in the year right now I think you should keep building your base right now with nothing too intense because you don't wanna burn out/peak too soon. You can start the swim/bike/run intensity workouts about 3 months ahead of your race and see some nice results.

Do you have any particular goals for the triathlon in June?

I’d like to break 1:40. I feel pretty comfortable that I can break 2hrs, but the run will be key to breaking 1:40.

I have found my way on to the treadmill a couple times now. It’s not fun, but it’s getting easier to get on and bang out a run indoors.

I was the opposite of your wife.  I did the tri, which was a miserable experience, but stuck with the sport because trading out a few runs for cycling and swimming made training a ton more fun, and my long standing PR's in running events started falling like flies after I changed from running everyday to cross training with swimming and cycling.  In my 20's I did sub 3:20 marathons, but now that I am in my late 40's and have been doing triathlons training for 6-7 years the goals in now sub 2:50.  Is your wife doing Boston this year?   

Your wife is smarter than me.  I wouldn't do a Duathlon for my first 5 years in the sport.  I am not a fast swimmer so I am always playing catch up on the bike and run, but I figured it was better to get my butt kicked in a Triathlon and be motivated to work harder than to breeze through a Duathlon with no one to push me.  In 2020 all the Triathlons where I was living were canceled, but I guess they though that if you didn't have to swim that the events could be done safely so they gave out several Duathlons race permits and because I didn't know when I would get another chance to race I did three of them in 2020.  They were pretty fun so I searched for a the biggest most competitive duathlon I could find which took me to the USAT National meet in Irving, TX in 2022 where I did have a blast.   So...I was stubborn and it took me a while but I finally got to where your wife was after one race and now am always on the lookout for the right Duathlon to come along.  

Edited by BlueBoy26 2023-01-25 3:15 PM

I just researched your triathlon course details and with your current fitness across all 3 sports I think you can break 1:40 if you keep your transitions short and efficient. However, at your current run pace your finish time might be slightly above 1:40 because most athletes generally end up running slower than their training pace on race day but we can improve on that after a few months of you building your base. Do you think you'd be comfortable doing 2 quality high intensity days during the week when March comes around?

2 treadmill runs now eh! Yay! That's where I'm at too but I have to stop running due to some problems creeping up on my right calve. Do you listen to music or watch any videos while you run on the treadmill?

Roland