Going to try a Tri

jheller

My husband and I decided that we will do our local city's triathlon next summer. We both need to work on swimming and he needs to work on running as well. I can run 2 miles (the Tri is a 5k) and the biking is no issue -I'm worried about swimming.

Has anyone done one of these? How did you mix up the training? Do you spend more time on your weak areas or do things equally? I'm also worried about just having to do each event back to back. I suppose in years time I'll be prepared but it seems a bit overwhelming at the moment.

Jessica H

dragonfly__

The latest issue of Shape Magazine had an article on training for a Tri. Had information on how to mix up the training, intervals, and, cross training. They also have informaion on line. Sounds like fun.... good luck!

questionablemethods

Oh you have PLENTY of time! I did a couple sprint triathlons a few summers ago and I have just registered to do one this August 1st. When I started training for my first one, I had basically no base in any of the three areas except a bit of biking. I hadn't run more than a mile since elementary school and I was pretty terrible at swimming. I used the 10 week training plan on http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms.asp and I was just fine. Luckily, the friend I was training with was a swim instructor, though, so she helped me with my form quite a bit. I did spend extra time in the pool really forcing myself to get comfortable with it. You could even do one THIS summer! But definitely by next year you will be great. You can find loads of training programs online. I'm not sure how best to stretch it out over the whole year, but start by building a good base and doing some "brick" workouts (back-to-back sports) and that will help you build the volume and get the feel for what it is like to move quickly from one event to the other. Once you have the base, it is all about maintaining and getting stronger/faster in the three.

Vallandingham

My buddy just got into this about 18 months ago. He has already done 8 or 9 Trathlons. He was never out of shape, but the transformation is still amazing.

I haven't seen him in a year and his body looks 20 yrs younger. He's 52 and looks about 30 now. He tells me that when he started the swimming was the hardest for him but now it is his favorite.

Good Luck