How do you train in the winter?

ephiemarie

I'm trying to piece together a realistic workout/training program for the winter months. How often do you swim each week? Bike? Run? Lift, etc.?

lmihalcik

All of our YMCAs closed here, so we won't be swimming at all this Winter. This is what we are doing and it seems to be working well. My running has gotten much weaker in the past couple of years and my husband is new to tris with running being his weakest discipline, so we decided to work on it this Winter. With that said, I can't do a ton of miles due to a bulging disc and bone spurs in my lower back. I limit my running to 3 days/week. Now that we have backed off on the cycling intensity for the year, I am seeing and feeling some nice gains in my running. I'm actually finding it easier to control my diet and am dropping more weight now. I think the exhaustion from the intense riding and bricks in the heat was causing me to snack more.

-Monday Tempo run
-Tues Easy ride with the road club (we play this by ear, if we are really tired we turn around at the 10 mile mark and do an easy 20. The club does 30), weights at lunch
-Wed long run
-Thurs Easy 1 hour mtb ride, weights at lunch
-Fri marathon pace training run
-Sat longer ride with the road club (40-50) or ride offroad for a couple of hours
-Sun rest - or use wetsuits and do an open water swim if warm enough.

scott091501

For most people the winter is a great time to focus on bike power and running endurance.

Personally I'm swimming 3 times a week, lifting 3-4, riding 4-5, and running 3-4. It looks like this:

M- Form swim, lift, maybe a 30 min recovery run
T- Lift, Interval ride
W- Endurance swim, form ride (one leg peddaling)
T- interval ride with a short run off the bike, lift
F-Speed focused swim, lift, tempo run
Sa- Off
Su- Speed intervals on the bike, Long run off it

lemurcat12

I'm trying to figure out the same thing. I've already gotten ridiculously derailed from my running schedule, but since I've been mostly running to increase distance and then biking for pleasure/commuting, it's a great opportunity for me to work on speed (bike and run interval stuff) and work the swimming back in.

ephiemarie

Thanks for sharing your schedules! It helps a lot to see how others lay out the week. I took the summer off of lifting while training for my first tri, but I missed it and will be adding it back into my routine through the winter months. I live in an area with 6" of snow on the ground already, so that also impacts my plans. I avoid the treadmill as much as possible and have a bike trainer at home. Right now I'm trying out the following schedule:

M - easy run
T - Body Pump class, bike trainer intervals
W - tempo run
R - Stronglifts
F - swim, trainer intervals
S - long run
S - Stronglifts, swim

This rotation doesn't give me any real rest days, but so far that hasn't been a problem. As I go heavier in the weight room, that will likely impact my run and require some scheduling tweaks.

scott091501

Lifting heavy is good. I do 5/3/1. Generally your s/b/r'ing will be the light high rep stuff. Focus on the heavy stuff in the off season. If you lift the same day you swim, swim first.

jacksonpt

Here's what I try for each week... what actually happens may or may not be VERY different.

Heavy lifting (5/3/1) - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday
HIIT - Monday, Friday
Bike Trainer (for mental toughness) - 2x week
Long run/ride - as often as weather and schedule allows, hopefully once a week.
Swim - realistically, never... I just don't care enough to deal wtih the suck of swim drills.

ShawnTX

Throwing my 2 cents out there. My running has gone from 4-5 days a week down to 1-2 in the winter. Mileage from 30-40 to 10-15. I'm still working out 5-6 days a week, but more bike and swim workouts as I can't stand to run on a treadmill so I only run outside as weather in N. TX allows. Funny thing I have noticed is that my run times are getting faster. I have heard people say that the bike helps with the run so I don't know if the extra bike miles are helping or if I was over training, but I was plateauing on the run toward the end of the season and since my winter change of pace I have started seeing the run improvements come back. I know switching it up from time to time is a good thing and the seasons seem to build that in for me if I just go with it.

davert123

good question. I'm in the uk and the winter isn't that bad - temperature outside is between -2 and +8 most of the time. I ride my bike to work every day which gives me 15 miles a day. I want to go fora longer ride one day but I haven't been able to bring myself to freeze for 2 hrs. I run 3 times a week, a fast 5K one dinnertime, a long run friday dinnertime/afternoon and a medium run Sunday evening. Swimming has been difficult but I am joining the baths near where I work so I can get in in the morning. I have brought some free weights as well so I can do at least some resistance training in the week at home. I am going to rejig my programme in the new year to increase my running milage by driving to work one day, go for a swim and run and drop my bike off at work. Drive home then run back in in the morning and ride back in the evening. I need to then have a long ride to get my miles in. I think the simple answer to your question is that I am bending my life around training, not so that it takes over completely but so that life and training and live together. I am trying to find ways of merging training with things I would have to do anyway - like get to work etc. In a way I feel lucky to be able to start and finish flexibly as well as have flexible lunchtimes but I think it it just making it work really. I am seriously trying to cram stuff into the morning or dinnertime as much as possible because the weather does get terrible after Christmas and I think if I tried to do it when I was tired, later in the day, I just wouldn't . Get out of bed while still half asleep and not realizing its -8 outside seems easier for me lol

davert123

so my ideal week is going to be
- mon - am swim dinner run
- tue am 7.5mile run cross country with head lamp, pm bike
- wed bike/swim/bike
- thur bike bike club swim)
- fri long bike, bike (and perhaps a 10K run at lunch if I am not too knackered)
- Sat - rest
- Sun 4 mile run
-

chunkytfg

I'm in the UK the same as Dave and tbh except for the few weeks a year there is loads of snow on the ground to stop the cycling nothing really changes for me I just have to wrap up warmer. Personally I don't find riding in the winter too bad you just need some decent winter cycling kit to cope with it.

A typical week at the moment for me looks like

Mon- PM 1hr Swim
Tues- 6-8 miles steady Run
Wed- 1hour Gym/75min Swim
Thurs-6-8miles run or 1.45/30 brick depending on shifts and time
Fri-4-6miles run fast 90min swim
Sat- Possible parkrun if others from club are doing it then 2 hour bike
sun- 10-15mil run

After each run I take about 30 mins to stretch and roll out my legs to keep ontop of the extra stresses the Gym session and parkrun puts on me.

wolf2000

After several years off from any real training I am taking this winter to try to build my base back up and also planning on taking some swim lessons to improve my swimming. Right now I am running 3 days a week, biking 2-3 days a week and swimming 4-5 days a week.

hazleyes81

It hasn't snowed here yet so I am still running outdoors 3-4 days a week to work on my distance. My cycling frequency has decreased because of the heavy winds but I am picking up a trainer I found on craigslist today and plan on using trainer road. Last but not least I lift 5 days a week (upper lower split) and I also have a gym membership for $10 a month that is my backup in case I want to use the treadmills, their weights, or the stationary bike (which I find really uncomfortable) for some reason.

Really right now I am mainly working on a good base and will start my harder training in the spring. My first race is not until mid June.

(Note: I am only planning on doing duathlons, so no swimming for me at the moment)

mandster

Hi, I've been a lazy git for several years (other than a few attempts at exercising that lasted a few weeks) so entered a tri in June to motivate me. It worked! I swim 3 times a week, run 3-4 (only a 2-3 miles at the moment though) and bike 2-3. Not doing much distance on the bike though just due to time so really need to work on that. ..