First Tri- training advice

gearhead426hemi

I decided to sign up for a tri this year and just looking for some advice. I currently run a 5k once or twice a week. I ride mountain bikes on single track once a week or every other week. I do mostly circuit training for strength and endurance between running and biking. My race consists of a .5 mile swim, 13.7 mile bike ride, and 2.8 mile run. Should I just try all three consecutively and track my time then just focus on decreasing my overall time? I have a little over three months to train. Any advise is appreciated.

potatowhoruns

I did my first tri last year, so I am no expert, but I am signed up to 2 more this year!
I started with doing one exercise at a time, exceeding the distance I would need to do on race day, then started to double up, but decrease the distance. I only did the triple a few times but that was partly due to time constraints and I never did full race distance in training.
I would recommend you practice the transitions so you know how to dress for the bike after the swim etc. Use lots of talc!
Work out what you’ll be wearing on the day and do your training in that where possible.
One last thing - have fun! You can only do your first triathlon once, but I reckon you’ll be hooked!

Good luck

TavistockToad

how often do you currently swim? if you don't, i would start with adding in swimming, leave the running as is, and increase the cycling.

rockymir

All three consecutively is called a brick workout. In fact you don't need to do all three but you are supposed to be doing bike+run bricks. Check the race course though and make sure you are simulating its difficulties. I mean, cycling on hills has a very different impact on your run (and the adaptation your body has to go through almost immediately as you transition from one sport to the other) than racing on a completely flat course. So simulate the course, even better if it's near and you can actually test it in training.
Three months out you should be doing a brick a week, with varying difficulty, that means you could be running intervals after cycling.
What's the target exactly? If you mean to actually race. For cycling you could consider cycling three times a week around 2 hours per time (including the brick), running another three times (including the brick, again) and swimming another two times a 2k. All three should be done mostly as intervals because a sprint is toying with your lactate threshold not endurance like a long race.
If you just want to have fun and just get to the finish line you can probably do it, anyone with a reasonable level of fitness can get to the end of a sprint triathlon regardless of time. You won't die, granted.
Practice transitions until you cannot get them wrong, practice swimming in open water water if that's where the triathlon will be held, jumping in open water with zero experience isn't pretty. Practice getting out of your wetsuit (lots of vaseline, and I do mean LOTS!), take advantage of the bricks to practice nutrition, to be honest doing a sprint you won't need much other than a gel eventually but pick some and test them on bricks to make sure they don't give you an adverse reaction. Practice getting on and off the bike. Getting in your shoes. Actually the best thing you can do is observe others, attend a race as public if you can or look up one online and learn how things are done.
Did I miss? Have fun. And I hope you'll be hooked as much as I was!

_mr_b

If you don’t currently swim regularly then start getting that into your routine, while you have the fitness it’s a whole other set of muscles you don’t currently use.
The mass swim start is always a bit scary.

Sounds like you’re ok with the bike and run distances.

Transitions can have a huge impact on your time, practice them. If you’re wearing a wetsuit then practice when it’s wet as that’ll be the conditions in the race.

You can practice brick sessions without doing the distances, you can just do a short distance as it’s about training your body to go from one activity to the next. This means you can spend time doing multiple transitions and short sprints.

Make sure your helmet is on before you touch the bike and the bike is stowed before you take it off.

Keep your transition area tidy.

Have fun!!

Djproulx

Congrats on your decision to enter a triathlon! Based on your current activities, it sounds like you have a solid fitness base to build on.

A couple questions come to mind. First, do you swim? If not, most people find that to be a challenge, so I'd say get in as much pool time as you can. Second, is the race an open water swim, or pool swim? Open water swimming is a different challenge than a pool swim.

Since you run a bit and cycle a bit, I think that you can work those into your weekly training without too much trouble. There are lots of resources available, whether books or online, but a typical approach might be to build your endurance by doing 2 swims, 2 bikes and 2 runs each week. You could break the 3 months up into four week training "blocks". During weeks 1-3 of each month, you build volume each week, then in week 4, you take a recovery week with reduced volume. Weeks 5-7 build again, then week 8 is another recovery week. Finally, weeks 9-11 build to the triathlon distances, then taper off training during the last week so your legs are fresh for the race.

There are quite a few experienced triathletes on MFP, so if you have specific questions about any of the disciplines, just post them.

Look forward to following your training and reading your race report.

UmmSqueaky

I'll echo the above advice and get some swimming under your belt. What kind of swim is it - in a pool or open water swim? If it's the latter, definitely get out into a lake or ocean asap. Having read a lot a lot of advice for first timers before I did my first tri a few years ago, the overwhelming problem newbies face is panicking during the swim. Even if you can hop in the pool and bang out laps, when you're in open water surrounded by flailing people, all of your skills can fly right out of the window.

Second, again echoing above, bricks are your friend. Swim and then bike. Bike and then run. Especially bike and then run - train your muscles to transition and head out strong.

Third, get your equipment squared away and practice with what you're going to race with. If you're going to use tri shorts, practice swimming, biking and running with them. Practice riding with wet shorts. If a wet suit is necessary, definitely practice with that. You don't want to go into race day trying something new and realizing it won't work. A few weeks before my August tri last year, I dug a tri top out from the bottom of my drawer. I had purchased it awhile back but it hadn't ever fit quite right. I took it to the lake to swim, and it bunched up something fierce. So, back into the drawer it goes until I lose another 15 pounds (one of these days, one of these days).

My fav tri puts out a training plan every year. Even if you don't follow it, it's still got plenty of great hints and tips - https://www.ywcampls.org/_asset/hzx4ng/2017-Tri-Training-Plan.pdf

But overall, for your first time, just go out there and have fun! Work to do your best, realize it probably won't go as you planned and leave any hardcore goals for your next tris.

Alidecker

Lots of good advice above, especially about the swim - open water vs pool. I have been a swimmer my whole life, when I did my first triathlon, it was open water. Luckily they had a practice swim the week before to at least let me practice it as I don't really have anywhere to train in open water. It was a huge help although the crowd on race day was much different.

JessM822

Good advice above, but considering it’s your first one just go out there and have fun. For the swim stay towards the back so you don’t get caught up in the mess with the other swimmers. You’ll learn a lot from your first one and everyone after. Brick workouts are great. Bike and run that is. It trains your legs to accept the feeling of running right after cycling. Doing all three disciplines back to back I don’t recommend. At that point you’re not focusing on technique or the quality. You’re just trying to get through it all. The harder you train the easier the race will be.

fishgutzy

During the winter months, try a pool swim (18 laps in 25 yd) followed by a spin class, them a tread mill run.
I can't run. But I've done a 4 mile swim followed by a spin class.

dmkoenig

For someone who appears to have a pretty good base level of fitness (i.e. not a complete couch potato) you are way overthinking preparing for a Sprint triathlon, assuming you have a basic comfort in the water and the idea of completing a half mile swim is not overwhelming. If not, that needs to become your immediate priority. You don't need to be fast in the water, just be able to go at a comfortably steady pace. A wet suit is probably a requirement in your climate and that added buoyancy will greatly help with confidence. Rentals or borrowing from a friend is probably the best way to go. From a performance standpoint, since the majority of the time is spent on a bike prioritizing fitness in that competency will yield the greatest results. At a 15 mph average, it will take you around 50 minutes to complete that leg so you don't need to be spending a lot of hours on the bike. You are better off doing some interval work, and if the course is hilly get some hill work in. One of the more challenging things is for your legs to transition from riding a bike to running so I would recommend adding a weekly bike-run brick workout, like a 30 minute bike ride followed immediately by a 10-15 minute run. Don't worry much about practicing transitions for speed, but going through the process in your garage a few times before the race will certainly help. Also, there are plenty of free resources on the internet to help with designing a program. Here is a 4-week program that might just work fine for you.

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/kpdocshare/Training_Plans/Absolute_Beginners_Plan.pdf

gearhead426hemi

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I plan on starting my training on Feb 1st since I have a lot of traveling and other obligations this month. I like to start fresh.

scorpio516

Bricks are pretty important. It can be pretty tough running off the bike.

Otherwise run more, bike more, swim more. If your not an ex-HS/college swimmer, find a masters club and get your form down - form = speed in the water, you can have a huge VO2Max, but if you don't have good swim form, your still slow.

IMHO for a race like that, I'd shoot for 15-20 mpw running. 4-6 hours biking, and something something swimming

jc1961AA

Is the swim on open water or a swimming pool? If it's in open water, you should definitely train in open water when you can, as it is completely different to swim in a pool. Also if you have to wear a wetsuit, train with it. In my case it almost made me give up on one of my first triathlon as I could not breath properly with the wetsuit on. And like other said, enjoy...

gearhead426hemi

The swim is in open water so I will be training in the lakes in my area. I plan on ordering a wet suit and purchasing a road bike as well. I have a full suspension mountain bike that is great single track and downhill but will hinder my road riding. I plan on keeping it cheap and trying to find a used bike for my first race. If I enjoy it as much as mountain biking I will invest in a better bike and probably better wetsuit at a later date.

JessM822

gearhead426hemi wrote: »

The swim is in open water so I will be training in the lakes in my area. I plan on ordering a wet suit and purchasing a road bike as well. I have a full suspension mountain bike that is great single track and downhill but will hinder my road riding. I plan on keeping it cheap and trying to find a used bike for my first race. If I enjoy it as much as mountain biking I will invest in a better bike and probably better wetsuit at a later date.

Definitely go cheap at first. This can be a very expensive sport. Even going cheap it is still expensive. This sport will be the reason I can’t retire. lol
Good luck with everything. It’s a wonderful sport and you’ll meet awesome people along the way. Remember to run your own race. Don’t worry about what other people are doing. It’s about challenging yourself and pushing yourself to limits you never thought you’d pass.

Djproulx

gearhead426hemi wrote: »

The swim is in open water so I will be training in the lakes in my area. I plan on ordering a wet suit and purchasing a road bike as well. I have a full suspension mountain bike that is great single track and downhill but will hinder my road riding. I plan on keeping it cheap and trying to find a used bike for my first race. If I enjoy it as much as mountain biking I will invest in a better bike and probably better wetsuit at a later date.

Good plan. I followed the same approach as you regarding a first bike. I was able to find a used Cannondale road bike (circa 1997 model) and raced for 5 years with it.

When it comes to bikes, remember Rule #36, "The engine always trumps the rig.....always." As @JessM822 mentioned, this sport can get pricey! You'll have plenty of time to move up to more expensive gear later if you get bitten by the triathlon bug.