newbie questions

"Nicole Seekely" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hey all, I'm training for my first triathlon(s) this
summer and I have a couple questions/concerns that I would
love to be answered.

Okay, being in college, I can't find time to workout in
two different sessions such as a.m. and p.m. so I usually
will do my workouts consecutively such as swim and then
get out and run right afterwards. Is this going to majorly
hurt my training since I'm tired by the time I get

to

Quoted message said:

my second workout or do you have any suggestions?

And with regards to swimming, is there an average time
that a "newbie" to swimming like me should aim for? I feel
like or actually know I am going

so

Quoted message said:

slow but I'm at my correct heartrate. I think I manage to
do over 2 min.

on

Quoted message said:

each 100 m.

And any other suggestions, first time experiences you like
to share or anthing else would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

Nicole Seekely Georgia Institute of Technology 334316
Georgia Tech Station Atlanta, GA 30332

When your training time is limited, for whatever reason, it
doesn't make sense to over-engineer (pardon the pun) the
time that is available. Work with what you have however you
can. Apparently there is an absense of alternatives, so go
with it and have fun!

BTW - - I started triathlons, in college, in the early
eighties. I have kept going with a few extended
interruptions for "life events".

Good Luck at the "North Avenue Trade School", ; )

rsquared UGA Class of '85

"Nicole Seekely" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:c51nus$2h9$1@news-
int2.gatech.edu:

Quoted message said:

Okay, being in college, I can't find time

Bad news, it ain't gonna get any easier in the coming years!

Nicole, do not worry about doing two sessions. Most of us
only do one session a day. That session may involve two
sports. Speed is not important for your first triathlon.
Just be able to go the distance plus a little extra in each
sport. It will all come together on race day.

I recommend that you spend as much time as possible on the
bike, next on the run and least swimming. Swim enough to get
very comfortable with the distance. Speed will come as your
training and racing progress.

Have fun, train safely

Ken @ Kauai

"Nicole Seekely" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hey all, I'm training for my first triathlon(s) this
summer and I have a couple questions/concerns that I would
love to be answered.

Okay, being in college, I can't find time to workout in
two different sessions such as a.m. and p.m. so I usually
will do my workouts consecutively such as swim and then
get out and run right afterwards. Is this going to majorly
hurt my training since I'm tired by the time I get

to

Quoted message said:

my second workout or do you have any suggestions?

And with regards to swimming, is there an average time
that a "newbie" to swimming like me should aim for? I feel
like or actually know I am going

so

Quoted message said:

slow but I'm at my correct heartrate. I think I manage to
do over 2 min.

on

Quoted message said:

each 100 m.

And any other suggestions, first time experiences you like
to share or anthing else would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

Nicole Seekely Georgia Institute of Technology 334316
Georgia Tech Station Atlanta, GA 30332

Indeed, some of us only do three or four structured
sessions per week.

It really depends on how competitive you want to be and what
you have for family, education and job pressures. While I
know its not practical for a lot of places in the US, it is
for many. Next time you are going to jump in the car and
drive a few miles to get something from the shops, bike or
run instead.

Get someone to give you a lift to your swim session, run
back. Sit on a turbo trainer while watching TV, do runs with
a buddy late in the evening instead of going out; Lots of
ways to double up your time.

Ultimately though since you don't say what length event you
are doing, its hard to be specific with advise. For a pool
or lake based sprint with a 400m swim, then 7-mins would be
a reasonable time, you won't be the slowest if you do 9-
mins. For a standard/olympic race 35-mins would be OK, 30-
mins average, and sub 26-mins good, 18-mins excellent. You
won't be last though with a 40-min time.

++Mark.

Nicole Seekely said:

Hey all, I'm training for my first triathlon(s) this summer
and I have a couple questions/concerns that I would love to
be answered.

Okay, being in college, I can't find time to workout in two
different sessions such as a.m. and p.m. so I usually will
do my workouts consecutively such as swim and then get out
and run right afterwards.

That is actually a training format you should be doing often
anyway - swim, then run immediately afterwards or ride the
bike and then run immediately afterwards. Of course, the
same common sense rules about not overtraining still apply.
The benefit here is that your training resembles an actual
triathlon, in that you are training to run on muscles
already fatigued by swimming and biking. If you do each
event separately, you don't get this benefit.

If you want to run well on the shorter races, you will
eventually need to do some speed work, but there is no need
to rush into that at this point. As a beginner, you'll have
your plate full worrying about swim technique and just
getting in the necessary training distance.

Quoted message said:

Is this going to majorly hurt my training since I'm tired
by the time I get to my second workout or do you have any
suggestions?

The answer here is don't kill yourself with the training. Do
what's necessary to maintain good form on the swim (drills,
intervals, get a coach, read a book, etc.), but save a bit
for the next event. Same goes for the run - take walk breaks
if you must, just be sure keep the walking pace fast and run
with as good form as possible. The walk breaks will actually
promote better form and allow you to cover more miles. I run
an 18:40 5k and I still find this approach beneficial to my
training. Once you get to a certain level of conditioning,
you'll be able to swim as much and as hard as you want and
still be able to run a few miles afterwards without too much
difficulty.

Quoted message said:

And with regards to swimming, is there an average time that
a "newbie" to swimming like me should aim for?

You'll have to determine that from training. Do a timed swim
(such as 500 yds or 1000 yds) every once in a while and use
that as a basis for setting your intervals. For example, if
you swim 1000 yds in 20 minutes, you might try an interval
set of 10 repeats of 100 yds, starting every 2:15. You might
end up doing each hundred in 1:55 and consequently resting
for 20 seconds before you start the next one.

Quoted message said:

I feel like or actually know I am going so slow but I'm at
my correct heartrate. I think I manage to do over 2 min. on
each 100 m.

And any other suggestions, first time experiences you like
to share or anthing else would be greatly appreciated!

You mean, other than don't show up at that first race riding
a 45 lb huffy?

Quoted message said:

Thanks!!

Nicole Seekely Georgia Institute of Technology 334316
Georgia Tech Station Atlanta, GA 30332

In article <[email hidden]>,

Nicole Seekely said:

Hey all, I'm training for my first triathlon(s) this
summer and I have a couple questions/concerns that I would
love to be answered.

Okay, being in college, I can't find time to workout in
two different sessions such as a.m. and p.m. so I usually
will do my workouts consecutively such as swim and then
get out and run right afterwards. Is this going to majorly
hurt my training since I'm tired by the time I get to my
second workout or do you have any suggestions?

And with regards to swimming, is there an average time
that a "newbie" to swimming like me should aim for? I feel
like or actually know I am going so slow but I'm at my
correct heartrate. I think I manage to do over 2 min. on
each 100 m.

And any other suggestions, first time experiences you like
to share or anthing else would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

Nicole Seekely Georgia Institute of Technology 334316
Georgia Tech Station Atlanta, GA 30332

i hear you on the time constraints and training issue. what
distance of race are you shooting for? swim distance/bike
distance/run distance?

i did my first coupla tri's last year and loved them
immensely and am keen to do more, hopefully one next month,
too. i started out with a "try-a-tri", meant for newbies,
and it was 100m swim, 12k bike, and 3k run (a breeze for me,
having road raced at much longer distances). i later did a
sprint distance tri which was 750m swim, about 24k bike, and
5k run. THAT was tougher (mainly on the swim), but by the
run, i was again back in my element.

your idea to do back to back workouts is actually a part of
tri training... that's called a "brick", esp. if they are
REALLY one sport immediately following the other. you can
mix up any of the sports in this combo, but from my
experience it was the bike to run brick that was most
beneficial, mainly because the legs feel pretty weird when
you start to run straight off the bike leg. make sure you do
some bricks like that... they're essential. the swim to bike
transition is not a problem, but you'll want to practise the
act of changing gear (swim cap off, bike helmet on, put on
race number, shoes, etc).

just make sure you do workouts of each sport individually,
as well as the combined workout. which sport are you
strongest at? That's the one where you needn't spend as much
time (if time is tight), though if it's the run, don't cut
back more than a few workouts a week. that's what i do, and
i can still do at least one swim a week, and maybe two or so
bike w/o's.

for the swim, when i got started, i was over 2 min. for 100m
too. not sure where i'm at now, but anyway, i'd say stick
with whatever is comfortable. resist the temptation to go
really fast on the swim... as they say in tri, you can't win
the race in the swim, but you can certainly LOSE it in the
swim. don't even speed up near the end of the swim. you want
to save your legs for the bike, and then the run. it's
crucial to have gas left for the run.

near the beginning and end of the bike, do some spinning
(high RPM's in low gear) to loosen the legs up. i find that
doing a few simple stretches on the bike just before the run
help prepare me too.

i'm not a pro, but have learned a lot in a short space of
time, and am willing to share my experiences and knowledge.
i'm not a gear-head (yet) like some triathletes, but like
to learn lots about the physiology and nutrition aspects of
the sport.

best of luck and feel free to ask more questions.

Cam