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Newbie needs help

Hey all. New to this and new to triathlon. Quick background. August I was 18 stne, now 14 stone, all through doing running and alot of fitness classes. I an do 5k in 23mins, 10k in 54 mins. I run 4 times a week, 2 gym session for strength and 2 early morning fitness classes. Running wise I love. So to get me up to sprint race what will I need to change and what would I need to put. I k ow I need swimming and cycling but where? Can I run and swim in same day? All help please as I really want to do this.

Comments

  • Well done so far, great change to weight and run sounds good.

    For a sprint, you need to start swim and bike as you say and I´d suggest:

    Swim: do you have a swim background/can you swim? If you can´t swim you´re best trying to find a GOOD TRIATHLON coach who can hopefully help you do the right things rather than learning to swim like a swimmer. You need to try to swim 3 times per week if possible - 30min per time is fine, frequency is important.

    Bike: learn how to ride a bike confidenty on the road but you can do a lot of training indoors - you can use a spin bike worst case, but many gyms have Wattbikes as well. Try to bike 2-3 times/week

    Run: cut it down to 2 runs per week - you have made gains in running but you need to focus on swim and bike, and the fitness you get from these will help running anyway.

    Stop the 4 gym sessions (unless you have enough time to do these ON TOP of the suggested swim, bike and run sessions) - focus on doing what you need to do.

    Finally, train at the right intensity - mostly easy - but build specific strength in swim, bike and run sessions (much better that doing gym strength that is non-specific and timeconsuming if you´re time limited); see:

    https://mastersoftri.com/triathlon-effort-pyramid/ and https://mastersoftri.com/the-core-of-the-matter/

    Plus other blogs will help

    Hope that helps

     

     

     

  • Hi there,



    I'm new to this forum and to triathlon also. I've always wanted to do one and so have set myself the challenge. It's a year from now 2020 and so as a total beginner I'm slightly confused as to what training regime I should be following at this point. I've seen many 12 week training plans quoting 3 X bike, 3x run, 3x swim, 2x s & c.



    My question to you guys is what should I be doing at this stage bearing in mind I'm not very fit and don't want to burn out before I've even got started. Any advice is appreciated
  • chrisdusichrisdusi Posts: 8

    Hi Laura 

    Start in the pool, get out on the bike short during week, longer on weekend. Throw on the shoes and go for run, sometimes straight after bike. Now you got some routine and rhythm continue, dont get hung up on training plans, do what you can and enjoy the process.

  • HarryDHarryD Posts: 425
    Training plans on websites and in magazines are generally pretty dreadful and are very rarely even targeted at beginners. Not hard to see why eyes glaze over when reading them.



    Have a look at Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Triathlon. The book has several training plans for each distance from sprint up to Ironman. They are well thought out and achievable. It explains durations and training intensities. Some sessions will feel too easy and some will be quite challenging which is how it should be when training properly. The plans are 12 week long including a two week taper. I'd suggest start with the Level 0 plan and when you complete week 10 either move to Level 1 or restart but increase the session by a Code or two depending on how you feel. its all in the book.
  • HarryDHarryD Posts: 425
    Training plans on websites and in magazines are generally pretty dreadful and are very rarely even targeted at beginners. Not hard to see why eyes glaze over when reading them.



    Have a look at Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 Triathlon. The book has several training plans for each distance from sprint up to Ironman. They are well thought out and achievable. It explains durations and training intensities. Some sessions will feel too easy and some will be quite challenging which is how it should be when training properly. The plans are 12 week long including a two week taper. I'd suggest start with the Level 0 plan and when you complete week 10 either move to Level 1 or restart but increase the session by a Code or two depending on how you feel. its all in the book.
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