Question:I have been very interested in doing a triathlon for the past 3 years.
I have finally decided this is the year and I am looking for some
training tips. I am an avid runner and mountain biker, however I lack
extremely in the swimming area. Does anyone have good training advice,
tips, anything? that could help me. I currently run 5 days a week, and
bike 4 days a week. I also lift weights 5 days a week. Anything would
be helpful!
Answer:
Their drills really laid out a path that was easy to follow and helped
me considerablly. IMO swimming is much more technical than running or
cycling. You can be VERY fit and still not be able to pull yourself
through the water with bad technique.
Drop a couple of your running days for swimming, or if you also have
running goals, drop those weight sessions. You don't need to put in a
lot of time on the swim to start - on a sprint the difference between
a great swimmer and a mediocre one is 4 minutes. For doing tris versus
trying to win them or set PRs, you just need to able to comfortably
cover the distance in open water. Later you can build on the speed.
Since most of the course is running or biking, focus more time there.
I think many here would question 5 days of weight training - when is
your body ever going to get rest time to build muscle tissue? A lot
of the debate here has centered on doing any at all.
In any event, with your training base, as soon as you can do the swim
leg, you're ready to race.
I'll second the TI methods. Terry Laughlin even wrote a book targeted for
triathletes. For distance swimming, I don't think you could do better than
learning to swim as he teaches.
If you're just looking to finish a set distance (Olympic distance,
sprint, etc.) in a reasonable time, the main thing you'll need to
focus on is developing enough endurance to handle the swim with enough
energy left over to handle the rest of it. If your first triathlon is
a reverse order, as a few of the shorter sprints are, you'll need to
spend a bit more training time swimming.
As far as triathlon distance swimming goes, the most important things
are technique and sustainable upper body power. For me, using the TI
drills as suggested by others have been useful for improving
technique, although I disagree with their overall philosophy of
training which emphasizes mostly low-intensity drills and low yardage.
I've found that once I developed a reasonable technique, the best way
to improve times is swim as much as I find time for. My usual swim
session, which I do twice a week, is about 2 hours with 1000 yds
warmup, ~8 x 200 with 20 second rests, ~8 x 200 with some combination
of pull-buoy and paddles, sometimes an all-out 400 or 1000, and
sometimes some shorter all-out sprints (50 - 200 yds.). This usually
adds up to about 5200 yds over the 2-hour session.
In training, the biggest problem you'll face is that is that the while
the swim is usually only a small fraction of total race time, training
to anywhere near peak condition for it is very time consuming, thus
will cost you training time on the other two events. Thus, if you're
looking to enter a triathlon in the spring, I would start swimming
now, assuming you won't be biking and running as much over the next
few months of winter.
sounds like you have the running and biking down so now you just need to
work some swimming in. Maybe there is a local masters swim team or a
school class that you can take..You should try to swim 2 to 4 times a week
and you will get better quickly. You can also look into joining a Triathlon
Club in your area. Sign up for a short triathlon this spring/summer and
have fun!
I think this is a very important point. As you mentioned the
difference in actual time is very little and can be made up on the
other disciplines. However if you don't gain the technique in the swim
to be "comfortable" in the water you may very well end up 4 mins
behind and have expended much more energy than the person 4 min ahead.
The biggest difference swimming has from the other two sports is that it
tends to be more coach based at all levels. To really learn you need to get
into the swim culture a bit. As others have mentioned, try to find a
Masters group that welcomes newcomers or acknowledges triathletes.
i haven't even done a triathlon yet (my goal is to do a beginners tri in
May 2003), but have been through what you are going through, so i feel i
can offer advice.
i haven't even done a triathlon yet (my goal is to do a beginners tri in
May 2003), but have been through what you are going through, so i feel i
can offer advice.
i'm not a bike fiend like you, so my bike mileage is low. mind you, i'll
ramp up to more miles shortly as i prepare for my May tri. this is
"easy" training for me right now :)
