Beginner Triathlete Training Blog

I’m not a swimmer but I need to learn for a triathlon. I have pretty good endurance from cycling and running, but my form is not good. Fat people pass me in the pool. Although a lot of overweight people are really good swimmers. Anyhow, I would like to improve my form, and I heard about the total immersion but I’m wavering between that and conventional swimming technique. Help?

I practice total immersion. A useful video would be Shinji Takeuchi on You Tube along with Terry Laughlin’s 6 seminar You Tube video(s) (by beginner triathlete).

Last year I could only swim 100M in 2:10 before having to stop to rest for 5 minutes. It was horrible until someone mentioned Total immersion. Thank goodness for Youtube and google. Today, 1:55/100M is literally my non-stop 2 hour ez recovery pace for 6000M (I do stop to eat a power gel every 45 min so that I don’t fall asleep). My T-pace for 100M now is 1:25 . (Between 1:23 and 1:27)

Do not make any assumptions about weight or body type. Total immersion is about learning a form and reducing water resistance/drag as well as balance. Fitness is tertiary. Get the book Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin and look at the YouTube vids.

I will be racing in a sprint- 750M swim, 20K cycle and then 5k run.

I really need to improve my speed swimming and running… anyone done a sprint before and how did you train for it?

I would try doing alot of running/swimming/cycling

Hey, so I’m planning on doing a Danskin Triathlon in June and I just wanted to know if anyone has some tips for training and for the actual event. This is my situation, I’m a pretty good swimmer- I have no problem swimming the 800, and I like to run- I’ll run like 4 miles at a time three times a week or so. However, I’m not really a cyclist. I’m starting to go to some cycling classes and I don’t find them to be too much but I’m not exactly sure how I will do when all of the events are back to back. Are the events really hard when they are back to back? I’m pretty fit I think… but I don’t usually do consecutive workouts. How should I go about getting ready for this? I’ll give an example of what I have been doing to train… let me know what you think and how I should modify my training.

Last Week:
Friday: ran 2.8 miles
Saturday: ran 2.8 miles
Sunday: Cycling Class 45 minutes
Monday: nothing
Tuesday: Cycling class 45 minutes
Wednesday: Ran 2 miles swam 800 meters
Thursday: 45 minute
Thursday: 45 minutes cycling class
Friday : nothing
Saturday: 4 mile run

yeah that is a preview of what I do… what should I add? Or not do? Tips would be greatly appreciated thanks!
Oh yeah and the triathlon is a 3.1 mile run, 800 meter swim, and a 12 mile bike ride. yep yep. that is all.

What you’re doing is adequate preparation to complete a Danskin sprint. You probably won’t be competitive, but you’ll finish comfortably and won’t be last.

Combination workouts are useful, but not totally necessary. Doing the events back to back is more difficult mentally than physically. The toughest is the bike-run transition. Your legs feel really strange for the first half mile or so as blood flow shifts from bike muscles to run muscles. If you push through it, you’ll find that it doesn’t affect your speed all that much. My 5k and 10k pr’s are only a little faster than the run splits I turn in at the end of of tri…

Doing bike run combinations is useful because it helps you get used to the odd sensation.

What you need to do beyond that would depend on your intentions going forward. Is this a one-off to put a check on your lifetime things to do list? Is it a test to see if you want to compete regularly, and perhaps move up in distances?

Most short distance triathletes put in 8-10 hours a week training. For longer distances, like iron and half iron, figure on considerably more.

Sport specific magazines like Triathlete and Inside Triathlon regularly feature beginner workouts and schedules.

I run varsity cross country/track 6 days a week, and im participating in a sprint triathlon in September, i know its early but i would like to win my age division (under 18), im a good runner and a really fast cyclist already, but i need help on where i should fit bike and swim workouts into my 6 day a week running schedule, and some swimming training tips, thanks!

Here’s what I would do if I were you; Check the race results from the last couple of years of the race you intend to participate in to see how fast you might have to swim bike and run to be able to win your age group. This will give you some parameters upon which to base your training pace.
Since your running well already and you say your fast on the bike, the relevant question becomes how well do you run coming off the bike. Since your running so often try to cycle before two or three of your easier run training workouts but not before speedwork or a long run.
As far as the swimming goes. invest most of your early swim training in developing proper stroke mechanics and efficiency in the water. You won’t need to swim long to accomplish this but you will need to swim often. I hope this helps. Good luck

I’m from the baseball and NFL section, ok, that’s how i got my Top Contributor status. I’m a runner and triathlete too

Look when some high school kid or a beginner runner comes on here asking for training advice….I see the runners with some really good tips, training schedules…almost at the level of on line coaching..that’s great.

But there’s another group here who just doesn’t have a clue but still insist to hand out advice. sometimes you are telling the kid.."just do what I say and you will win your race"…that’s wrong guys, it’s really not that easy.

Giving a few words of encouragement is ok but at least keep it realistic. Telling about personal experience is ok too…but please limit it. Don’t give out training programs if you dont know.

Even for top runners, a program may take 3 months to show any resultds..even 6 months if it’s starting from scratch.

Discuss the topic. Am I right or wrong? I will listen to you now.
So there are people out there who share my view.

Like the kid who’s taking a medication and he’s asking if he can run or not…and the answer is…give it a week or two…like really, do you know that?

I have to agree completely. The answers in this section are either very good, or very bad. College/high level runners don’t always grasp that they’re talking to kids and couch potatoes, and they give them suicidal training plans. Yes, that plan would make you an awesome runner, but realistically who could stick to it? Or, people just jump in to say "keep running, you’ll get better!" and grab 2 points for answering. Any of us who give serious answers (should) know that it really is different strokes for different folks, that the same program may not work for 2 different runners. We also should be doing too much detail work when helping someone come up with a program. But certain things really do work for almost everyone, and offering this up can be of great assistance. Any one answering (should) know that they’re talking to strangers on the internet, and that means there is no guarantee that what they’re getting is good information. In fact, anything obtained from the net should automatically send up a flag in your mind to scruitinize it heavily before accepting it.

It also angers me (a lot, thanks for letting me rant about this) when people answer just for the purpose of bashing the person’s time. These people come here looking for advice, they’re willing to share their training times with us (strangers on the net), and people will jump in just to tell them how slow they are, to tell them they suck, etc. If you were running very fast, you wouldn’t be on here asking how to get faster, now would you?

As for the encouragement, the more the better. For beginners, for kids (anyone under 20), they need to be encouraged and praised for their success, and dealt with mildly, we want them to keep looking ahead towards their goals, not get discouraged and quit. We runners tend to take for granted that there are a great many folks out there who cannot jog a mile without stopping, who aren’t in fantastic physical shape. We should encourage people who are seeking to improve themselves and are out there trying to get in shape. Beginners and young athletes sometimes need it sugar-coated, we should reserve the heavy-handed advice for the experienced runners who’ve been around and can take the straight talk.

Excellent question, by the way! I’ve enjoyed this one a great deal!

Aric of AricInTraining, shares his Triathlon Tuna Sandwich (TTS) recipe. The TTS is a traditional meal that Aric has on the eve of each triathlon. Providing lots of protein, low-gci carbs, and pro-biotics, the sandwich helps fuel his body for the next day’s events. In this case, the 2010 UCSB Triathlon.

Duration : 0:9:29

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Technorati Tags: cooking, health food, nutrition, sandwiches, Triathlon

http://swimmingtechnique.org/ Learn All the shocking amazing on swimming technique, Including Freestyle Swimming Technique, Swimming Stroke Technique, Proper Swimming Technique, Triathlon Swimming Technique, Backstroke Swimming Technique, Swimming Technique Breathing, Breaststroke Swimming Technique, Micheal Phelps Technique So learn all today

Duration : 0:1:59

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Technorati Tags: Backstroke Swimming Technique, Freestyle Swimming Technique, Proper Swimming Technique, Swimming Stroke Technique, swimming techniques, Triathlon Swimming Technique

Bike training is important for triathlon conditioning; learn how to train for the triathlon bike in this free sport competition video.

Expert: Dave Campbell
Contact: www.velotv.net
Bio: Dave Campbell has been competing in swim, bike, and run competitions for more than 30 years and is a two-time USA triathlon All-American.
Filmmaker: Sal Collura

Duration : 0:0:55

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Technorati Tags: athletics, biking, jogging, marathon, running, Swimming, Training, Triathlon

reactions to the tridonkey trailer at wildflower triathlon

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Technorati Tags: trailer, transport, Triathlon, tridonkey, widlflower

Recorded on August 28, 2009 using a Flip Video camcorder.

Duration : 0:2:55

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Technorati Tags: Cycle, energy, food, ironman, nutrition, run, Triathlon