Training for a Triathalon...

[BigGreen]

...I have a good friend preparing for her first triathalon. In the past, she has been able to complete and do well in mini-triathalons simply because of her natural athletic ability. Coming up on her first real event with full distance, she has asked me if i was familiar with how to most effectively train for a triathalon. I'm clueless other than I know that there exist some pretty strict patterns to insure that one peaks at the right time and whatnot.

Anyone here either know where i can head for detailed info or have experience themselves?

Thanks.

[Dude-Man]

...I have a good friend preparing for her first triathalon. In the past, she has been able to complete and do well in mini-triathalons simply because of her natural athletic ability. Coming up on her first real event with full distance, she has asked me if i was familiar with how to most effectively train for a triathalon. I'm clueless other than I know that there exist some pretty strict patterns to insure that one peaks at the right time and whatnot.

Anyone here either know where i can head for detailed info or have experience themselves?

Thanks.

I do triathalons.. The biggest problem with them is that the tapers required to peak at the right time for each leg are different.. so it's impossible to peak for every single leg at the perfect time, but you can have what's called an average peak. I'll go into that later.. first basic training philosophy.

Most triathletes make the mistake of preparing like this..

day 1 run xxx yards
day 2 rest
day 3 swim xx miles
day 4 rest
day 5 bike xx miles
day 6 rest


for a 6 day roation, repeat ad nauseum. That isn't the proper way to prepare for a triath.. because you're not preparing your muscles to do the legs in sequence. Doing it like this will of course make you better, but not the best you can be. The guy that designed my tri training was very good in his younger years, and still is to this day. I don't know if there's anything about him on the web, all i could find was a former swimmer's bio that names him as a coach, but his name is fran pentino and when he was younger he was number 1 in my state for sprint triathalons for around 4 years. Anyway, his method is fairly basic.. there's 3 training periods. He didn't have fancy names so i'll just say what they are

Endurance training
Race familiarization
Taper

During endurance training you're basically trying to prepare your body. Depending on the length of the triathalon, he would follow the training pattern listed above starting about 4 months before the race and stopping about 7 weeks before. The basic forumla for distances used are 2X race distance for sprints (5k run, 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike) and 3X race distance for anything longer. Over the course of the endurance period you're trying to improve the time that it takes you to make these distances.

at 7 weeks you you enter the race familiarization period, where the training changes to look like this. X is race distance, and the coefficeints depend on the length of the race. Sprints are the lower coefficients, while distance tris use the higher ones. This phase is to adapt your body to doing the legs back to back, while continuing to improve upon your endurance for each leg. Each leg of your routine should be performed back to back as if it were a race on the days that you do all 3 legs

weeks t-7 to t-3

day
49. swim 1.5-2x, bike 1.5-2x, run 1.5-2x (aerobic pace)
48. rest
47. swim 2-3x
46. rest
45. swim 1.5-2x, bike 1.5-2x, run 1.5-2x (same)
44. rest
43. bike 2-3x
42. rest
41. swim 1.5-2x, bike 1.5-2x, run 1.5-2x (same)
40. rest
39. run 2-3x
38. rest
37. swim 1.2x, bike 1.2x, run 1.2x (still aerobic)
36. rest
35. swim 2-3x
34. rest
33. swim 1.2-1.7x, bike 1.2-1.7x, run 1.2-1.7x (ibid)
32. rest
31. bike 2-3x
30. rest
29. swim 1.2-1.7x, bike 1.2-1.7x, run 1.2-1.7x
28. rest
27. run 2-3x
26. rest
25. swim 1.2-1.7x, bike 1.2-1.7x, run 1.2-1.7x ( race pace swim, others aerobic)
24. rest
23. swim 1.2-1.7x, bike 1.2-1.7x, run 1.2-1.7x (race pace bike, others aerobic)
22. rest
21. swim 1.2-1.7x, bike 1.2-1.7x, run 1.2-1.7x (race pace run, others aerobic)

The last section tapers down the workload and prepares your body to peak at the best possible time. Depending on how your body responds to training, this is different for different people. The basic rule is if you're still sore on your next training day, take another day of rest.
20. swim 1.1-1.2x, bike 1.0-1.4x, run 1.1-1.4x (race pace swim)
19. rest
18. swim .75x-1x
17. swim 1.0-1.2x, bike 1.1-1.4x, run 1.1-1.4x (race pace bike)
16. rest
15. swim 1.0-1.2x, bike 1.0-1.7x, run 1.2-1.4x (race pace run)
14. bike .75x-1x
13. rest
12. run .75x-1x
11. rest
10. swim 1.2-1.7x, bike 1.2-1.7x, run 1.2-1.7x (race pace whole thing)
9. rest
8. rest
7. rest
6. swim .5-1x, bike .5-1x, run .5-1x (easy aerobic)
5. rest
4. rest
3. swim .5-1x, bike .5-1x, run .5-1x (easy aerobic)
2. rest
1. rest
0. RACE


This kind of training will work very well for triathalon distances up to a half iron man, where the strategy needs to be changed drastically and much much more training time is required.

[BigGreen]

Chris, thanks a TON for the response, that was, as they say in the biz "above and beyond".

[zx7racing]

i never knew training for a triathalon was so complicated????

[Dude-Man]

Chris, thanks a TON for the response, that was, as they say in the biz "above and beyond".

I made one mistake buddy, in the race pace practice triathalon, the coefficients were wrong, copied and pasted but forgot to change. They are fixed now.