My First Tri

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

Quoted message said:

Glad to have found this group and I hope you all can help me keep
motivated and provide some pointers. I am set to run my first sprint
tri in October, I am concerned about where I am at with my training and
was wondering if those of you who have done this before and let me know
where I stand.

As of right now I am training very hard working out 1-2 hours a day.
My last gut check was yesterday, in succession I swam 400 meters, ran
2.0 miles and biked for 4 miles, total time elapsed, keeping in mind
this all occured within a gym setting, was 1:05:00. Yeah I know it
wasn't neck breaking speed, but taking into consideration a 10%-15%
increase every month, I am wondering if I will be ready in October...

Stealth,

You'll have to give us some more information. How long is the race you're
planning on doing? Do you have a background in any of the three
disciplines? Do you have a physical fitness history or are you a reformed
couch potato? The good news is that for the most part you don't need to
train for all three sports in the same day and it sounds like you may be
making it harder than it needs to be.

Assuming we're dealing with a typical sprint-distance event, training for an
hour or less a day will probably be plenty. I'd recommend picking up a book
like Gale Bernhardt's "Training Plans for Multisport Athletes". It's only
about a $12 book and it offers an explanation of training methods for
triathlon, the concept of periodization, how to balance the three
disciplines, and (most important) specific plans for people of varying
capabilities striving for races of various distances.

I used this book four years ago to transition from couch potato to
triathlete and then again two years later to finish my first Ironman. The
first workout in the plan I followed was a 5 minute run (no joke). Good
luck and welcome to the group.

John

SD said:

Glad to have found this group and I hope you all can help me keep
motivated and provide some pointers. I am set to run my first sprint
tri in October, I am concerned about where I am at with my training and
was wondering if those of you who have done this before and let me know
where I stand.

Sounds to me like you're well on top of it. I don't know what your background
is, but if anything I'd be concerned with overtraining. If you feel like
you're training very hard at this stage you're probably overdoing it. I did my
first tri on no more than 45 minutes of training per day, and I didn't get up
to that level until a month or two before. I didn't follow a good program, but
my point is that you're doing a lot more than I did, and it's months before
the event. Search the web for beginner triathlon programs. You don't have to
follow one, but they'll give you an idea of what most do. In particular
scheduling at least 1 day of rest every week can be really important.

As for motivation, I like www.trigeekdreams.com.

Tim
--
Tim Newsome nuisance.at.casualhacker.net http://www.casualhacker.net/

John,

The race is as follows: 827 Yard Swim, 3.1 Mile Run and 12 Mile Bike.
You're right at the end of the day I am feeling pretty wiped, as I can
only train during my lunch break - I'm spending about 1.5 hours a day
running, swimming and biking. I also try to break the training up on
some days by doing some focus training for swimming and running.

I would say that I was a couch potato, I only ran and generally no more
than 3 miles every other day. Now that I have made the decision and
committment to tri, all I find myself wanting to do is run, bike and
swim every day.... My wife is telling me to slow down or I'll burn
out, but I feel so good after my work outs, that on days I do take a
rest, I am actually a little edgy...

Thanks for the book recommendation will google some titles including
yours and check them out. Thanks for your thoughts.

Stealth

Thanks Tim, and I am forcing myself to take Sundays off. I'll check
out trigeek. Your response combined with John's above seem to be
delivering the same message, I am overtraining. I'll see about weening
myself from the regimen and slowing down. Thanks.

I'm in the same boat as you..

I was heavy into cycling when I was 18 and did some running, but I was a
HORRIBLE swimmer.. My first sprint distance tri I did, took me 25 minutes
for a 500M swim.. but, I had the second fastest bike split. the thing was,
I was so far behind after the swim, I couldn't catch up. The only guy I
beat was hit by a car on the run portion.. 🙂 He was being carried around
the track for his last lap.

So, After 11 years off and 5 years of bodybuilding (bad bad bad idea, really
hard on the joints) I've decided to go back into it. Bodybuilder's body is
fine and dandy, but lugging around all that weight is super hard... ONce I
moved to another part of town, I was close to a gym that had a pool, spin
classes, and an indoor track. So, I'm going to do indoor training for the
first few months to see if I cna shed some weight... And hopefully do an
olympic distance in august... And not finish dead last.. Or dead... 🙂

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

Quoted message said:

Glad to have found this group and I hope you all can help me keep
motivated and provide some pointers. I am set to run my first sprint
tri in October, I am concerned about where I am at with my training and
was wondering if those of you who have done this before and let me know
where I stand.

As of right now I am training very hard working out 1-2 hours a day.
My last gut check was yesterday, in succession I swam 400 meters, ran
2.0 miles and biked for 4 miles, total time elapsed, keeping in mind
this all occured within a gym setting, was 1:05:00. Yeah I know it
wasn't neck breaking speed, but taking into consideration a 10%-15%
increase every month, I am wondering if I will be ready in October...

remember all you can do is all you can do,enjoy you first tri, take it
easy at the start and remember all you want to do is finish your first
one,but if you fill good when you get to the run KICK BUTT,
The Alabama Tri-man
http://www.tri-mansworldmailboxofficesupply.com/index.html

Triman said:

remember all you can do is all you can do,enjoy you first tri, take it
easy at the start and remember all you want to do is finish your first
one,but if you fill good when you get to the run KICK BUTT,
The Alabama Tri-man
http://www.tri-mansworldmailboxofficesupply.com/index.html

What excellent advice!

I'd add: never push too hard in the first bit of the run, but give it
everything you've got on the way home.

And finally: If it's the first tri, use it as a learning experience.
Look at what people are doing, especially in transition. Look at how
they set out their gear. Think about how your body feels and identify
things you can work on for next time. Look and learn, and set big goals
for your second race.

Tam