Lifting Newbie, need some advice

I did my first triathlon last August and I'm currently planning on doing a triathlon at the beginning of May, which will give me about 17 weeks to prepare. Unfortunately, over the last few months I haven't done nearly as much training as I would have liked, but I am always pretty active. While getting ready for my triathlon, I'm also interested in strength training, but I know nothing and have only done it a couple of times. I know I will be doing a lot of cardio over the next few months so I don't want to over do it, but I really want to try for flat solid abs and I toned body. My question is, how much strength training should I be doing and what type of lifting should I be doing? My workout program consist of 9 sessions and 6.5-12 hours of training per week. Am I trying to do too much or is this reasonable? Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.