triathlon training (Read 1117 times)

Hi.  I have decided to do a tri in June, a 750m swim, 27k bike, and 6.5k run.  As of the moment, I know I have the cardiovascular fitness to finish, but I am looking for a way to prepare my muscular endurance.  Does anybody know of a good plan (preferably an 8-12 week) that will help with my muscular endurance and make the transitions easier? 

I currently run around 30k (18 mi) of running a week, 10-25k of biking a week, and just this week started swimming (officially- last summer did a lot of swimming but did not record it)  I hope to maintain my running, and dedicate more time to biking/swimming.  Unfortunately, outdoor biking will have to wait until at least March until the ground is visible, although I do have a stationary.

trinewbies.com has training plans for varying distances of triathlon and is a good place to start. Brick work is essential to tri training and should be incorporated into your plans. After riding your bike, whether on road or stationary, go right into a run. I'm in the same boat road wise right now but I'll do something like 15-20 mile bike  on the trainer and 3 mile run either outside or on the treadmill. These distances vary but I'll always try to throw a short run after my bike. Once the good weather arrives I try and train on the courses of the three local tri's I'll be racing in...always a plus when you can do that.

You can also opt to go for a run after a pool swim.

Congrats on jumping into triathlon!  Be careful... it's a super addictive sport!  Maybe even moreso than running.

That being said, the most difficult part of triathlon is the transition from bike to run.  You probably have already read about doing some brick workouts, so I won't touch on that too much right now.  I will mention that for a SPRINT, your brick workout can be as simple as a one hour bike ride followed by only 10 minutes of running.  There is no need to do a brick run that is longer than that; your legs will adjust within that amount of time and that's all that brick training is trying to accomplish.  By running harder/longer, all you are doing is risking extra recovery.

What I would really like to suggest is a serious upgrade in your bike mileage.  Yes, even for a beginner.  Believe me, it will pay off dividends in your RUN and that's where even experienced runners completely poop out.

Right now you are doing 10-25k of cycling per week which is really low, even for a sprint.    Until the weather is better, the stationary bike is fine to work with.  If you are able to, I think you should gradually work up to a long ride of 2 hours and support this ride with two shorter (1 hour rides) during the week.   Forget bike mileage right now; what you want is time in the saddle.  You have 8-12 weeks, so increase your bike distance gradually over that period of time.  Try to get in at least 2 or 3 of those two hour rides before your triathlon.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!!!!!!

Thanks for the tips.  I will slowly build up my bike time, and get some of those 2 hr long rides in b/f the race.  Right now I can go steady for about 20k (45min-1hr) and then my legs feel it.  My bike needs brakes right now, but I asked my dad (mr. handyman) to pick up some at Canadian Tire and replace them.  (believe me, not being able to stop on busy streets is bad)

Hopefully I don't get too addicted to tri's, or I may have to quit school.  (just kidding- I have too good of grades to do that)