First Tri- training advice

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.