Triathalon

**"DIRTY D" SANCHEZ** · 03-04-2010, 04:12 PM

Anybody know what the traithalon training regimens look like?

"dirty d"

***D7M*** · 03-04-2010, 04:50 PM

I did a triathlon before, but I didn't do anything special for the training.

Just did a bunch of cycling, swimming, and running.

Wish I had a more detailed response for you, and maybe someone who competes regularly at triathlons will,

but that's seriously all I did. No special training programs, no drugs.

And I did pretty well....

**"DIRTY D" SANCHEZ** · 03-10-2010, 12:56 PM

Cool, my main concern is whether this is a setup to become even much more skinny or can i maintain nice size while training the swimming/cycling/and running that intensely?

Thanks,

"dirty d"

**kiddo24** · 03-30-2010, 12:30 AM

My college teacher is a good Triathlete, her training is pretty intense.
As for the size, you're not going to be able to run the distances expected in Triathlons without losing some muscle tissue, honestly how many long distance runners have you seen that have girth?
Not many I can say, they sacrifice size for speed.

**run_n_fool** · 03-31-2010, 07:24 PM

I used to be a VERY serious triathlete. I think your training will depend greatly on what you want out of it. If you are only doing a sprint distance tri, you can probably keep most of your mass and get by with a minimum of training (assuming you can swim already). If you are looking to go half iron or longer, you can expect to lose a fair amt of muscle and your training requirements will probably exceed 15 hours per week.

Let me know if you need more info. Tons of stuff out there on the internet

**Cyclehard** · 04-12-2011, 08:49 AM

I'm a cyclist and am looking for advice.

**tupollo** · 11-05-2011, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by run_n_fool

I used to be a VERY serious triathlete. I think your training will depend greatly on what you want out of it. If you are only doing a sprint distance tri, you can probably keep most of your mass and get by with a minimum of training (assuming you can swim already). If you are looking to go half iron or longer, you can expect to lose a fair amt of muscle and your training requirements will probably exceed 15 hours per week.

Let me know if you need more info. Tons of stuff out there on the internet

id like more info please post if you can.

**DoubleDown** · 04-12-2012, 10:35 PM

Hey. Triathlete here.

It's the same with any sport training: you get out what you put in.

As far as your size is concerned, it doesn't make a bit of difference until you get to the pro level. The top guys are all around 5'11" to 6'2" and weigh between 155 and 170 lbs. That being said, I've had my ass kicked by someone who's 5'8" and weight 220lbs.

For swimming, it's less about strength and more about form. It's frustrating when fat weak people swim faster than you, but they've been swimming longer than you and that's the way it is. It's more about how many hours you spend in the pool working on your form than it is about swimming hard until you puke. Start out by swimming 2-3 times per week, 1000-2000 yards per swim. If you know you can do more than that then go for it.

For biking it's pretty much the same. Your strength will give you a huge advantage over everyone else on the hills. For starting out, focus on getting distance up. When I started riding, I would put in 25 miles per week. This ramps up quickly, so don't worry if it doesn't feel like much at first. If you can get up to 100 miles/week you'll be doing more than 90% of the people in your age group (and that's only 6-7 hours/week of riding.) You might notice that your back hurts before your legs do when you go longer distances--if that happens, stop riding right away and get your bike fitted at a shop. In fact, go do that right now if you haven't already.

I'm sure everybody here has some experience running so I can't really teach you much, especially because running is my worst sport out of the three. The thing you have to keep in mind, is this is the sport where it's the most crucial to not train overzealously. Running hard day after day, while it may seem like a good idea, puts a lot of stress on your tendons (it's the same as with lifting.) The golden rule is to not run more than 10% total per week than you did the week before (assuming you are going the same speed.) If you speed up then don't speed up by more than 15 seconds per mile and keep your total volume the same. If you can do a 5k, I suggest running between 2 and 4 miles every other day to start out with (not race pace, go slow.)

Since you're training for three sports you're not kicking your ass at each workout. Fitness takes patience. For a good first race performance, expect to train 8-10 hours per week starting out. Ambitious beginners will put in 4 hours of swimming, 6 hours of biking, and 3 hours of running in per week.

If you're really serious, I recommend buying Your First Triathlon by Joe Friel