Training Questions

Adam Sack said:

I am new to tris, having competed in 4 sprints this season. I am
currently in a training program for my first Marathon(the January
Houston Marathon), and am having difficulty working in any training
other than running. Current schedule looks like this:

Monday - Hill training with group (10 min w/u & cooldown w/ 25 mins hills)
Tuesday - Easy Run on my own(60 minutes)
Wednesday - 60 minutes on my own with 20-30 minutes intervals
Thursday - Easy run on my own(60 minutes)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Long run with group
Sunday - 0-60 minutes easy (semi-recovery day

So far, all of the training is in the a.m. I would like to swim 1 or 2
times per week, and cycle (my strength) at least 1. I have been trying
to swim at the (30 minutes) on Tuesday and Thursday followed by 30
minutes on the treadmill. I have also been trying to go to a Thursday
p.m. spin class.

I am afraid I may be over reaching, as last Thursday at spinning, I
couldn't get my HR above 75% of max (usually in the 90+ range.

My question - Do I focus solely on running through January, and worry
about swimming and cycling after? I have no more tris planned this
year, but I do plan on doing to 190 mile MS150 bike tourin January? Or
can anyone recommend modifying the marathon program to include cycling
and swimming? This is my first marathon, and my longest run to date
(last weekend) was only 12 miles. The marathon is very important to me,
andI really don't want to shortchange myself on the running.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

If the marathon is very important to you then I suggest you either drop
the MS150 or accept that you will not have the right cycling
preparation for it. Focussing on running until January will give you
plenty of time to get your cycling back for the tri season,
particularly if cycling is normally your strongest event.

You should keep on trying to get to the pool at least once or twice a
week to maintain your swim form. If you did want to add any cycling to
your program then why not do a fairly gentle ride on sunday instead of
a recovery run? If the volume of training you are doing is fairly new
to you (sounds like it is) then it's no surprise you can't throw in
additional sessions at 90% MHR.

Rookie said:

Adam Sack said:

I am new to tris, having competed in 4 sprints this season. I am
currently in a training program for my first Marathon(the January
Houston Marathon), and am having difficulty working in any training
other than running. Current schedule looks like this:

Monday - Hill training with group (10 min w/u & cooldown w/ 25 mins hills)
Tuesday - Easy Run on my own(60 minutes)
Wednesday - 60 minutes on my own with 20-30 minutes intervals
Thursday - Easy run on my own(60 minutes)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Long run with group
Sunday - 0-60 minutes easy (semi-recovery day

So far, all of the training is in the a.m. I would like to swim 1 or 2
times per week, and cycle (my strength) at least 1. I have been trying
to swim at the (30 minutes) on Tuesday and Thursday followed by 30
minutes on the treadmill. I have also been trying to go to a Thursday
p.m. spin class.

I am afraid I may be over reaching, as last Thursday at spinning, I
couldn't get my HR above 75% of max (usually in the 90+ range.

My question - Do I focus solely on running through January, and worry
about swimming and cycling after? I have no more tris planned this
year, but I do plan on doing to 190 mile MS150 bike tourin January? Or
can anyone recommend modifying the marathon program to include cycling
and swimming? This is my first marathon, and my longest run to date
(last weekend) was only 12 miles. The marathon is very important to me,
andI really don't want to shortchange myself on the running.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

If the marathon is very important to you then I suggest you either drop
the MS150 or accept that you will not have the right cycling
preparation for it. Focussing on running until January will give you
plenty of time to get your cycling back for the tri season,
particularly if cycling is normally your strongest event.

You should keep on trying to get to the pool at least once or twice a
week to maintain your swim form. If you did want to add any cycling to
your program then why not do a fairly gentle ride on sunday instead of
a recovery run? If the volume of training you are doing is fairly new
to you (sounds like it is) then it's no surprise you can't throw in
additional sessions at 90% MHR.

Thanks for the advice. Actually the MS150 is in April. Don't know why
I said January.

Rookie said:

Adam Sack said:

I am new to tris, having competed in 4 sprints this season. I am
currently in a training program for my first Marathon(the January
Houston Marathon), and am having difficulty working in any training
other than running. Current schedule looks like this:

Monday - Hill training with group (10 min w/u & cooldown w/ 25 mins hills)
Tuesday - Easy Run on my own(60 minutes)
Wednesday - 60 minutes on my own with 20-30 minutes intervals
Thursday - Easy run on my own(60 minutes)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Long run with group
Sunday - 0-60 minutes easy (semi-recovery day

So far, all of the training is in the a.m. I would like to swim 1 or 2
times per week, and cycle (my strength) at least 1. I have been trying
to swim at the (30 minutes) on Tuesday and Thursday followed by 30
minutes on the treadmill. I have also been trying to go to a Thursday
p.m. spin class.

I am afraid I may be over reaching, as last Thursday at spinning, I
couldn't get my HR above 75% of max (usually in the 90+ range.

My question - Do I focus solely on running through January, and worry
about swimming and cycling after? I have no more tris planned this
year, but I do plan on doing to 190 mile MS150 bike tourin January? Or
can anyone recommend modifying the marathon program to include cycling
and swimming? This is my first marathon, and my longest run to date
(last weekend) was only 12 miles. The marathon is very important to me,
andI really don't want to shortchange myself on the running.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

If the marathon is very important to you then I suggest you either drop
the MS150 or accept that you will not have the right cycling
preparation for it. Focussing on running until January will give you
plenty of time to get your cycling back for the tri season,
particularly if cycling is normally your strongest event.

You should keep on trying to get to the pool at least once or twice a
week to maintain your swim form. If you did want to add any cycling to
your program then why not do a fairly gentle ride on sunday instead of
a recovery run? If the volume of training you are doing is fairly new
to you (sounds like it is) then it's no surprise you can't throw in
additional sessions at 90% MHR.

Thanks for the advice. The MS150 is actually in April, not January.
Don't know why I typed that, but should have time to train after the
Marathon.