Marathon training and Sprint tri's

[email hidden] (Spm073) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Im planning to run my first marathon next year (in the hope of one day doing a full IM) and was
wondering what to expect in terms of performance on sprint Duathlons/triathlons.

Im a regular middle to back of the pack triathlete and by no means competitive (except among other
Clydesdales). Im just wondering if/how i should adjust my expectations for my triathlons while
pursuing my marathon goal.

your best bet would be to train for the marathon during the winter/spring so it doesn't conflict
with the triathlon season. you'll find that well planned marathon training will make you a
stronger runner in the long term; in the short term it might (not necessarily though) take away
some top end speed.

if you decide to train for a late spring/summer marathon, then all things being equal, the run
volume will leave you more fatigued for riding/swimming/strength training. but, since IM is an
eventual goal, that would be something you'd want to get used to one day.

long story short, marathon training will eventually make you a better sprint triathlete, but
marathon training concurrent with sprint triathlon training would be sub-optimal, unless you have
plenty of free time.

(Spm073) said:

Im planning to run my first marathon next year (in the hope of one day doing a full IM) and was
wondering what to expect in terms of performance on sprint Duathlons/triathlons.

Im a regular middle to back of the pack triathlete and by no means competitive (except among other
Clydesdales). Im just wondering if/how i should adjust my expectations for my triathlons while
pursuing my marathon goal.

Part of that depends on how many miles per week you're running now. If you're only running 6 miles a
week, but increase it to 40 to train for a marathon, you will probably improve your performance on
the sprint triathlon, so long as you don't get injured. If, at the other extreme, you're already
running 40 miles per week (and have been for a long time) and plan to increase it to 60 for marathon
training, improvements on the sprint triathlon will be minimal - the time would be better spent
swimming and biking..

It all depends on how hard you go on the swim and bike. For me, the swim and bike are warm-ups for
the run. In which I case, my run times are very fst. When I run only, I need time to warm up before
getting up to speed so the times are a bit slower.

However, if you go too hard on the swim and bike, you'll blow up on the run and your run times will
be slow (which I think is the typical case for most people). You have to make a decision where you
want to go hard, and how much time you'll save by doing so. I say hold back on the bike and save
your energy for the run. If you do that, expect 110% running performance.

Cheers Pubrat

"Spm073" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Im planning to run my first marathon next year (in the hope of one day

doing a

Quoted message said:

full IM) and was wondering what to expect in terms of performance on

sprint

Quoted message said:

Duathlons/triathlons.

Im a regular middle to back of the pack triathlete and by no means

competitive

Quoted message said:

(except among other Clydesdales). Im just wondering if/how i should

adjust my

Quoted message said:

expectations for my triathlons while pursuing my marathon goal.

Thanks for the insight. My best of the three is the bike, and im resigned to the fact that i'll
never be a competitive swimmer, so im hoping the additional run training (even if it is a bit slower
and longer) will help me keep more gas in the tank for the runs.