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New Boy - Training Programme

I'm 36 years old and am hoping to compete/complete a couple of triathlons next year. I have a fairly good level of fitness and have always been active, but have never had the bottle to enter these races before.



I have bitten the bullet and am going to do some races next year. The question is; where can i get training programmes that are suitable for a beginner to the sport. Are there any other good websites (other than this one) or books i should be looking in to for advice.



Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    hey uncle Jim (or does this sound too familiar?[:D]),

    welcome to the forum.

    i'd try typing 'triathlon training' on google and be overwhelmed by the number of sites. Question is are they all good; No sir, definetly not all of them. But hey, try it and you'll find tons of usefull info, which is good; knowledge is power!!

    As for training plans, there are a lot of sites who will give you them, but nyou'llhave to pay a lot on most of them.

    Here's one i know for free(and a lot of info too): www.trifuel.com/training/training-programs .

    I think there are some on trinewbies too.

    C-ya later
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    hey uncle,

    maybe try this; 'Your first triathlon' by Joe Friel (very good coach).
  • i suggest that you talk to a local coach to get a plan taliored to you . this may cost a bit but it the best way to have the best performance on race day. all the internet sites arent very helpful as they are only based on the average joe. any more questions email me at [email=pineappleontherun@hotmail.com]pineappleontherun@hotmail.com[/email]
  • Thanks for all the advice thus far.



    I have a training programme now and am about to start on my base level training.



    The question I have is: i have bought a budget Polar Heatrate monitor, which i have programmed with my personal details and it has given me 3 training levels light 111 -128hbm, moderate 129-147hbm and hard 148-165hbm.



    I intend to train with the most of my work being in the 129-147hbm range for this stage in my training. I went out for a run this morning to try out my new toy, the run was very slow, in fact i had to walk quite a bit to keep my heart in this range. Am i realy going to improve from this training as it is frustratingly slow.
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Hey uncle,

    sounds like your levels are not set right. There are many !ways to calculate your heart rate training zones. Even then there are personal differences.

    I'm sure you can findlots of info on setting your training zones on the net and even on this forum if you search the older threads.

    P.S.: dont get frustrated by going slow, now is not the time for speed!
  • BoycieBoycie Posts: 189
    Jim,



    Benny is right, don't worry about being slow. But also don't take too much notice of the traing zones your HR monitor has set you, they are rarely accurate. Keep your training steady and assess how you feel while training, with experience you will be able to combine this with HR training to get the results you need.



    David.
  • TriHardTriHard Posts: 21
    Hi Jim



    I know how you feel about training programs. I could never seem to get my heart rate going with how it felt like the zones should be. According to most formulas my HRMax should be 197 bpm but it never goes anywhere near that so I decided to get my heartrate zones tested professionally as i'm training for 1st ironman. It wasn't expensive and they done it for the bike and the run. It was invaluable to me though. Now i do all my training with Hr zones. I found out that my MaxHR is quite low so therefore my range is quite small so my zones are only 4/5/bpm wide e.g Z2 my upper end aerobic zone is only 156-161 bpm. According to my first HR monitor it should be 168-177 bpm!! My lactate threshold is 163bpm so it'd be impossiable to sustain that heart rate for the time required even for the simplest of programs. I trained by feel for my first tri's but you've got a huge advantage if you get relativly accurate HR zones and do your base training at the right levels. Good luck with the new venture and keep it simple at the start and enjoy it.
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    trihard, what do you mean with not expensive;10£ or 200£?

    WHere did youget it tested??

    I'mcurious to do it too, but I always think it would be too much money for it.
  • BoycieBoycie Posts: 189
    Be aware that lactate threshold is a term used by different people for different levels of intensity and physiological markers. A proper lactate profile will give you two markers, one that is at a low intensity that can be performed over a prolonged period of time and the other at a higher level which is much harder to sustain. In my view knowledge of these is the best way to really understand training zones. Be aware of the literature though as it can be confusing.



    David.
  • TriHardTriHard Posts: 21
    Hi benny



    I'm from ireland and got it done in the National coaching & Training Centre in limerick. It cost me €150(about £100) for the bike test one day and the treadmill test a week later. They gave me a full lactate profile report and also VO2Max info..........come to ireland and get it done!!!
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    If I ever get to Ireland, then I'll let you know. Maybe you can get me a free bed and roof over the head.[:D]

    I guess it would be too much money just to come for that. I'll search here in Belgium for some coaching and training centre, if I get it done, I'll give my opinion on nit here on the forum.

    Cheers Trihard, thanx for the info.
  • AlfAlf Posts: 2
    Uncle Jim

    Here is a quick and cheap method of discovering your max heart rate:



    You will need a treadmill, a friend and a HRM



    Depending on your level of fitness warm up on the treadmill nice and easy for 10 mins.



    Then set the treadmill (TM) at 8km/hr (this depends on you but make it easy) and run for 1 min

    Then get your friend to set the TM speed to 8.5 km/hr - monitor HR and continue for 1 min.

    Then get your friend to set the TM to 9 km/hr - monitor HR and continue for 1 min.

    Then get your friend to set the TM to 9.5 km/hr - monitor HR and continue for 1 min.

    etc, etc You should see a steady increase



    Carry on with your friend increasing the TM by 0.5km/hr every minute, at some stage there will be a speed that you cannot run the full minute for, this should now have produced your max heart rate. Your heart rate zones can now be calculated from this max heart rate.



    This method can be adapted to the bike, rower, swimming, etc



    It's not expensive or complicated, but it is hard work, the level you start at, or the levels you step up ie every minute or every 0.5km/hr are all flexible. As a disclaimer this will push your heart rate to max if done properly so you will have to take care, and your friend can always push the big red button if you're too tired!!



    Enjoy



  • Hey benny

    I'm sure we could manage a tent or something for ya!!!! Good luck with findin somewhere. Probably somewhere that does reasearch would be your best bet. A university or something..they're normally non-profit.
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Yeah trihard, I think I'll try university in Leuven.

    They did a tv-program called marathon, in which they took 5 average mortals, and transformed them into runnersin 9 months. 3 of them succeeded to finish the marathon. Their coach and doctors are from univ. of Leuven. One of them is Paul van den Bosch; coach of Luc van Lierde and Marc Herremans. Maybe they will test me, if i beg them[:D]

    Thanx forthe tips
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