TRIATHOLON TRAINING PLANS
The time just seems to get away from me…I meant to post on this over the weekend but couldn’t find the time!
Better late than never, right?
I have a couple of sites to check out for those who are going to start training with me for the Blue Lake Triatholon. One was given to me by my friend Matt, who I assume has done this before (right, Matt? 
).
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com
http://www.trinewbies.com/index.asp
The Tri-newbies has a 10 week training program for the sprint distance (what we’re training for) and we have 11 weeks before the race. It includes a monthly calendar so your training schedule is all laid out for you day by day. You get 2 days off a week and the training sessions are moderate and beginner level. If you are more advanced and want to improve your time, you can always add minutes or intensity to the scheduled workout for the day.
Here’s another calendar I found online that includes strength training (which I am a huge advocate of) for an 8 week training session. It means 1 day less of rest but strength training will help your endurance, speed and overall athletic ability.
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| 1 | Strength | Run 30 min |
Bike 45 Strength |
Swim 20 Run 25 |
Rest | Run 30 min |
Swim 30 Run 30 |
| 2 | Strength | Bike 30 Run 15 |
Swim 15 Run 30 |
Run 30 Strength |
Rest | Run 35 min |
Swim 30 Bike 30 |
| 3 | Strength | Run 35 min |
Bike 50 Strength |
Swim 30 Run 20 |
Rest | Run 40 min |
Swim 30 Run 45 |
| 4 | Strength | Bike 40 Run 10 |
Swim 30 Run 15 |
Run 30 Strength |
Rest | Run 45 min |
All 3 90 min |
| 5 | Strength | Run 40 min |
Bike 30 Strength |
Swim 30 Run 25 |
Rest | Run 50 min |
Swim 30 Run 45 |
| 6 | Strength | Bike 40 Run 15 |
Swim 15 Run 40 |
Run 40 Strength |
Rest | Run 55 min |
Swim 30 Bike 60 |
| 7 | Strength | Run 45 min |
Bike 40 Strength |
Swim 30 Run 30 |
Rest | Run 60 min |
Swim 30 Run 60 |
| 8 | Strength | Bike 30 Run 30 |
Swim 30 Run 30 |
Run 30 | Rest | Rest | Triathlon |
In addition to these overall training plans, I have found the following training plan for running is especially helpful. It’s what I used to train for my 1/2 marathon (with more miles of course) and found that changing it up helped me get through logging some of those miles.
Let’s use the above training plan as the example:
Tuesday run: 30 minutes at race pace
Thursday run: 25 minutes of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
Warm up-5 minutes
1 minute at high intensity (breathing hard-a quick sprint)
1 minute at medium-low intensity (recovery-slow jog)
Repeat 2 minute round 6-8 times: 12-16 minutes
Cool-down-5 minutes
24-26 minutes total
Saturday run: 60 minutes at “threshold” or a comfortable pace
I would run a mile or at least 10 minutes in the middle of the workout at race pace. Or, run up a hill at one point in the workout to add intensity.
There are many training plans out there but especially if this is our first triathlon as long as we’re doing something of the 3 sports consistently throughout the week, we’ll be ready for the race.
More postings about each individual sport to come!
Shanna