Sharing Workouts and Nutrition Tips

Leesseebee

Hey Triathletes of Tomorrow!

I hope this note finds you all well and gearing up for another excellent week of getting closer to your goals!

I was wracking my brain a bit to try and figure out some helpful triathlon tips and I thought sharing some workouts and nutrition might be helpful.

So, 1. What do you do for your workouts...and I don't mean just swim run bike, I mean, what does your swim look like, what does your bike ride consist of and what are your runs like?
Please let us know what you are training for (distance) and, if you are so inclined, tell us some of your tips for different levels.

2. Nutrition. What are you eating-broadly and specifically; How does your food intake change when you do brick workouts? Do you spcifically follow mfp guidelines or do you have other tips? Recipes welcome

Hope we can help eachother out and that you all have a great week!

Alyssa

ironholgs

At the moment I'm doing two swim workouts a week - the first is purely for endurance.
Warm up with 400m split into easy 100m, 100m kick, 100m pull, 100m easy.
Then the main set with be steady 3000 - 3800m swim.
50m easy warm down.
The second is a coached swim of an hour but last week the main set was 11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 x25m lengths with 15 seconds recovery in between each set, also lots of leg and position drills.

Bike - long ride at the weekend of approx 4 hours. One ride during the week incorporating hill reps, 10x seated climb and 10 x out of the saddle climb. Turbo sessions to heart rate : 10 min warm up in zone 1, 10 min Z2, 10 min Z3, 8 min Z4, 8 min Z3, 4 Min Zone 4, 10 Min warming down.

Running - Long run of 1hr 40, several shorter interval runs, and a speed/hill session.

Obviously I'm training for an Ironman so my distances are going to look a tad extreme to those of you looking at sprint and olympic races.

In terms of tips, where to start.

1. Research the course you'll be racing on and incorporate that terrain into your training. It's no good if the race is hilly and you do all your training on the flat, be prepared, run and bike hills.
2. At least once in your training "Go over-distance" - if it's say a 10k run, run further in training - this is a massive psychological boost on race day when you start to suffer "Come on I did 10 miles the other week, this is only 6!!" - that kind of thing.
3. Practice changing a tyre, then practice again, and again.
4. Regularly check your equipment, make sure it's fit for purpose.
5. Find out what nutrition your race gives out and train with it. It's no good training with Lucozade sport gels and come race day you are given a SIS gel - your stomach might react badly and your race could be over.
6. Mostly overlooked by triathletes, practice transition - lay out your gear in the garage - work out what order works best for you.
7. If you have a nutrition race plan practice it - for Ironman it might be eat/drink or gel every 15 minues on the bike, practive this on long rides, can your body cope with it? Too little too much?
8. If it's hot increase your fluid intake.
9. Don't forget sunscreen in your race kit.
10. Get a number belt and elastic laces - great kit that can save you time.
11. If you can practice on the race course, do so. You'll learn where you can push it and where you need to ease back - this could be invaluable on race day.

There are lots more I'm sure.

My food intake doesn't change if I'm doing brick sessions - I'll eat and drink on the bike and if it's a long run of more than 90 minutes I'll have a couple of gels with me. Basically any session below 90 minutes you shouldn't need a gel, your body should have enough energy to cope without you "bonking".

I'll carbo load in the days before a race, and make sure I'm fully hydrated by uping my fluid intake. I'll stop drinking coffee as well as it can strip the body of nutrients. On Race day I'll have porridge for breakfast as it's slow release energy.

Hope that helps.
Andy

Leesseebee

Awesome tips, Andy! Thanks!
A few questions:
For the coached swim, were you sprinting the 11, 10...?
And each is 25 m? So, 11*25, with a stop between each 25?
Also, I know you did coach to tri-do you have any tips of how you built up to these distances?
For me, when I have access to the outdoors, biking for hours is no problem, as I love it (although fast is a different story...tips for that would be good), but the running is my worst-how did you build? Or were you already a runner?
Thanks for sharing your expertise!

ironholgs

Yes I was sprinting ( well race pace ) during the coached swim, no it's 11x25m then rest for 15 seconds, then 10x25m and rest for 15 seconds, then 9x.......so you only rest when you've done the 11 laps, 10 laps etc..
It's a tough workout, as you have 3 or 4 others in your lane and you are trying not get caught.

Do you mean couch to tri? Basically I built up the distances by just doing them, adding more on each week - I'm of the opinion that if you can run a 5k you can run a marathon - you just have to train longer and be event specific.
I didn't have a programmme for my first Ironman so I just made it up as I went, I knew I'd have to get at least 2 or 3 one hundred mile rides in so that's what I built up to.
The swimming I had lots of help with - I took adult swimming lessons as I couldn't swim properly ( some would argue I still can't ).

I'd run a bit in my younger days and had completed a half marathon before life caught up with me and the weight piled on and the activities stopped due, so I guess deep inside I knew what to do with the running. And even to this day I don't think there is a lot of difference between say running a 10k and running a half, you just have to pace it differently and be smart.

I started running again by aiming to run to the next lampost each time, then 5 minutes more, 10 minutes more.....it's amazing how quickly it builds up. And psychologically when you are tired, I find, 10 minutes more sounds much more appealing than 1 more mile.
If you can find a running buddy it helps as well, it becomes social then and you'll run further as you chat and your mind is taken off the suffering ;-)

Speed on the bike? When out again throw in some speedwork. If you have a bike computer try and do 20mph for 30 seconds and then repeat so it's almost like interval training when running. Or on a more basic level pick an object in the distance and ride uncomfortably faster towards it.
If you have a turbo trainer - download some free programs from the tacx website.

Hope that helps.

swimbikerun2006

I am training for a 1/2 marathon in May and an Olympic distance Triathlon in June. An Olympic distance Triathlon in September and a half marathon in October. There will be several long distance bike rides in between those with a century in August.

Running is my weakest discipline...and my hinderence to 70.3. So that is my main focus this year. I have been using Jeff Galloway's method to get to 13.1 without injury this year and so far so good!! I did two half marathons in 2010 and tried for one in 2011 and ended up with some sort of injury each time. Did 11 miles yesterday...and NO PAIN! Well...just the typical soreness & tightness from pounding 11 miles on the road.

I just got back in the pool last month and love swimming. I am just now starting to structure my workouts and putting some "umph" into them. I try to focus each workout on specific areas....stroke, speed, endurance....as opposed to trying to do all three in the same workout.

It's wintertime and I should have the bike trainer out..but I don't. Cycling is my passion....though I am not very fast, I do love it. I am hoping that a winter full of running will show up on the bike. Also hoping that dropping some pounds will also show up! My biking is not a structured workout....but I have learned through running that going all out on every bike ride isn't necessary. And historically, my legs would be too sore to run the day after a ride and vice versa. So, my plan is to be more intentional with my hard workouts and plan them a bit better.

That's about as structured as I get!! LOL. I am out to enjoy this journey