8 WEEK BEGINNERS TRIATHLON TRAINING PROGRAMME

BY CHRIS PILONE JUST ONE OF TRIATHLON NZ INC’S TOP COACHERS
CHRIS PILONE IS COACH TO OLYMPIC CHAMPION HAMISH CARTER.

Being asked to write this programme was something of a daunting prospect for me. It’s actually
harder than planning the training for Hamish Carter or Joanne Lawn. At least with them you are
dealing with known capabilities or very close to known capabilities even if they occasionally
surprise you!

This 8 week beginners programme, has to be used carefully. Remember the words of the great
Arthur Lydiard. “A training schedule is just a guide. Don’t be a slave to it.” This programme
obviously doesn’t take into accounts peoples relative strengths and weaknesses in triathlons
three disciplines.

Also this programme is aimed at getting people to a reasonable level of fitness
so they can complete a sprint distance triathlon. Remember there is quite a difference between
completing and actually competing in an event.

Basically the programme calls for 3 sessions per week in all three disciplines of the triathlon.
i.e.: 3 swims, 3 runs, and 3 rides per week.

SWIMMING

Rather than try to guess at peoples individual strengths at swimming it would be best for people to consult with a qualified swim coach

and get advice on what sort of swim programe to join. Those who have a good swimming background or who have swum competitively have a huge advantage.

A very poor swim will handicap you in triathlon and a great swim is an advantage but it is not the whole race.

CYCLING

On race day it would be advisable to use a road bike with aero bars. If you don’t own one, try to borrow one! Also on race day use good quality

tires with no nicks or holes in them. Don’t use a pair of training tires that have done quite a few miles and are more likely to puncture.

The three rides per week are just aimed at improving ‘aerobic’ endurance.

The volume ofcycling gradually picks up for the fi rst 6 weeks and then tapers off a bit.

From week four onwards, includes a few hills on the Wednesday ride.

It is quite ok to do some if not all of the cycling training on a mountain bike.

RUNNING

Similar to the cycling, running training also gradually increases over the first 6 weeks. All running should be at a comfortable aerobic
pace. This means that while running you should be able to hold a conversation comfortably.

Don’t worry about speed or tempo work. If you decide you like the sport and want to come a bit more serious about it then you can think about
more serious training. Till then just worry aboutaerobic running at a moderate intensity. On raceday this will get you through the run section.

TRAINING SCHEDULE

All bike and run durations are in minutes.
Days to swim are depending
on swim squads and availability of a pool,
athletes may have to change the days they
swim. Try not to swim on successive days.
The same goes for biking and running.

WEEK ONE.
RUN TUE 20 THUR 20 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE MON 30 WED 30 FRI 45

WEEK TWO.

RUN TUE 25 THUR 25 SUN 40 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE MON 30 TUE 45 SAT 60

WEEK THREE All bike and run durations are in minutes.

RUN TUE 20 THUR 25 SUN 45 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE MON 30 WED 45 SAT 75

WEEK FOUR.

RUN TUE 30 THUR 30 SUN 50 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE WED 60-70 (INCL FEW HILLS) SAT 90
WEEK FIVE.

RUN TUE 30 THUR 30 SUN 55 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE MON 45 WED 60-70 (INCL FEW HILLS) SAT 1HR 45
WEEK SIX.
RUN TUE 35 THUR 35 SUN 60 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE MON 45 WED + 60-70 (INCL FEW HILLS) SAT 2HR
WEEK SEVEN.
RUN TUE 30-35 THUR 30-35 SUN 50 SWIM MON WED FRI BIKE MON + 45 WED + 60-70(INCL FEW HILLS) SAT 90

WEEK EIGHT.

RUN TUE 30 THUR 30 SWIM MON WED BIKE MON 45 WED + 60 (INCL 4X3MIN 100RPM+) SAT VERY EASY SPIN EASY 20-30

FRI REST REST REST

SUNDAY RACE!!

RACE DAY

Basically if you haven’t tried it in training,
don’t try it in a race. This means nutrition and
equipment. Even top athletes have been known
to ‘stuff up’ because they tried something new
and something they hadn’t trialed in training.

Image via Wikipedia

How To Train For A Triathlon:

The sport of Triathlon focuses on 3 primary sporting disciplines and these are swimming, cycling, and running.

To excel at this particular sport, triathletes have to understand how to train for a triathlon properly.

You will need to focus training to improve skills for swimming, cycling, as well as running.

You also need to think about everything beyond just the fundamental task of how to train for a triathlon itself.

All the other little details that are related,

1. transitions,
2. bike maintenance,
3. how to swim in open water,
4. pre/during/race nutrition,
5. pacing for racing

Each of these components are different for each type of triathlon distance ranging from short sprint races

to the 8 hour plus races such as Ironman.

Increase In Requirements

When learning about how to train for a triathlon as a person increase in their capacity to train in a multisport event the

training requirements will increase.

For example, a sprint distance triathlete will only need to swim 300mtrs bike for about 20 k and then run 3k

The training regime will be very different than what is required for an Ironman event, without knowing about how to train

for a triathlon of any distance, your triathlon running abilities,swimming and bike skills will be well beyondyour normal capabilities.

When you start getting quicker with you will probably progress from the shorter distance onto the next longer distance

and then perhaps even to the Ironman distance.

Athletes who are just beginners in terms of their triathlon experience, a few simple tips when training for triathlon

starts I beleive not only with the physical training but also the mental attitude.

All sporting activity is about getting a result be olympic gold or soscial interaction, set out your objectives look at your

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

present state of health and the allways tie to your social connection within your family structure to your time spent training.

as you will allways want to have a support team do not leave the family back at the training shed as it is not a recipy for successs.

If you have a family get them onside as obsesive compulsion is quite a real aspect of trying to achieve a result in this sport.

By taking a shot at racing the shortest triathlon distance to gauge how well your body and mind cope with the separate disciplines.

To learn how to how to train for a triathlon, you need to learn how to pace during the race, train how best to make the change or

transition from one sport to the next.

It is allways good to get to understand the finer points like how you feel after having ridden a bicycle at race pace then learning

how to make the easiest transition to running.

In Australia most swims are open water swims so training in open water really helps to find out whether or not you can swim the

entire distance knowing how to pop your head up somewhere along the way to keep direction.

One key type of training method, by implementing some ‘brick workouts’ combining two or even three of the disciplines

Image by Tugdual Grall via Flickr

together in one workout – ie. A hard bike interval immediately followed by an tempo run, or doing a long distance cycling

and then a short recovery run immediately after to work out the legs and get you used to turning your legs over.

Another useful training tip worth following in terms of the fundamentals of how to train for a triathlon is course knowledge,

train on a similar type of terrain and to not try any aspect different on the actual race day – like nutrition or shoes.

You should always wear the same type of clothes you wear for your racing on a training day , so as you know you feel comfortable

on race day. And never, never, never, try a new piece of equipment or food source on race day

Running injury recovery: a scientific approach

The top 10 benefits of running

1 Running keeps you fit and healthy

2. Running improves your mood.

* 3. Running helps reduce your blood pressure

* 4. Running increases the elasticity of your muscles and arteries

* 5. Running increases your lung capacity

* 6. Running strengthens your heart and prevents heart attack.

* 7. Running produces a feeling of euphoria

* 8. Running helps you sleep better

* 9. Running controls your appetite for food

* 10. Running decreases your stress levels.

Like any sport, running places specific demands on the body,which lead to structural and functional adaptations.
The combination of running and dieting can bring quick results, allways start off slowly you will not become a champion overnight.running is not for everyone to start with.

Something such as walking, biking or swim would be a good start if you are not generally active. Running does not have to be the first sort of exercise you get into, it is only one part of triathlon sport.

A key difference between running and many other sports is the magnitude of recycled elastic energy and the demand for eccentric muscle work In sprinting, the magnitude of this eccentric muscle demand is high. Maximum hamstring muscle force coincides with eccentric activity, and occurs as the swinging leg approaches its greatest extension,Eccentric muscle action and energy absorption within our tendons help to dampen ground reaction forces.

Eccentric muscle activity is associated with post-exercise muscle soreness.This part of the disapointment that people get by trying to much and feeling like cr#p they make the desicion to stay on the couch.

While running can be exhausting and a lonely routine, it will produce great results. As long a reasonable diet is implemented a person who runs can quickly see weight loss results. Running can make you burn around a great deal more calories per kilometre than other types of exercises, such as walking and biking,

A study of endurance athletes

found that muscle soreness after running had similar levels to an experimental group performing specific fatiguing exercises Post-exercise muscle damage can affect the way we move, including the way we run .

Activities such as cycling and swimming do not place the same high eccentric demand on key lower-limb running muscles.

Repair following injury and the relevance to recovery

Our body adapts to traumatic events, such as running, by focusing tension, compression and sheer forces on specific molecules, which convert mechanical stresses into biological events adaptation to impact clearly noticeable in other tissues.

In a study of bone density in recreational athletes, the total body bone density was significantly greater in runners than cyclists.

A reasearch team, by investigating bone density among national and international standard runners and swimmers found that the intensity, as well as type, of activity was important. This something thast should not be taken lightly I see so many people just do trash K’S or miles and cause more damage than positive adaptation’

This specificity is also seen in the inherent stiffness of the Achilles tendon, which is greater in sprinters than non-athletes.This is the balance you try and strike as for swimming you do not want inflexability
during recovery from injury bone mass can reduce by 50%, or more, in 12 weeks without weight bearing activity, while other soft tissues show signs of degradation much earlier.

Significantly, if we do not maintain a minimal threshold of loading,our tissues decondition.

In a study on rats, muscle function returned more quickly than bone density following
a period of inactivity, but clearly reduced loading or immobilization during times of injury has
consequences for healthy, as well as injured tissue.

Injury

In simple terms, disease, and by extension injury, reflect the consequence of defects in our

Repetitive mechanical loading (running)

Inadequate adaptation needs adequate adaptation for Mechanotransduction and tissue adaptation
to accommodate environmental stresses and demands.

An increased injury risk may reflect inadequate adaptation of our tissues to the repetitive mechanical loading imposed by running.. Failure of tissues to adapt may also involve general health, nutrition and medical issues.
Genetic Risk

It is probably not surprising that evidence is emerging that some individuals have an increased genetic risk of soft tissue injury, and that the genes involved are associated with the chemicals and mechanisms we see in mechanotransduction. But, although injuries remain complex and multifactorial, there is certainly no suggestion that people with certain genes will develop a particular musculoskeletal injury.

Connective tissue injury triggers a cascade of events that promote tissue repair. Acute inflammation sensitises pain receptors, encouraging us to protect the injured site and avoid further damage.

A proliferation of new cells and building materials form a scar at the site of injury, which initially is weaker than the original tissue under the correct conditions, the scar enters a remodeling phase to maximize its structure and function, which may continue for a year or more

Injured muscle tissue undergoes this same connective tissue scar formation, in addition to regeneration of muscle fibres and nerves. The process in tendons is somewhat different and will be considered in a later article. Time scales for healing are determined by the specific tissue injured and the degree of damage

Loading healing tissues

The balance between rest and activity is often the most crucial decision in managing the successful return from injury to training, and largely depends on the tissue damaged and severity of injury.

Phases of connective tissue healing

Healing Phase Approxtime

Acute inflammation 0-7 days

Proliferative phase 7-21 days

Remodelling phase 21days-lyear

So where does that leave you in your quest for athletic exellence I have outlined that you are to be aware of what condition you are in at the start,use progressive aptapttation based on your genetic ability not the no pain no gain thinking. learn how to run efficiantly and with correct form this I will go into more detail in with another article

Ten Tips for Optimum
Athletic Recovery

1. Drink water,
all you care for, before during and after engaging in

strenuous activity

2. Eat fruit
upon completion of activity to
bring blood sugar back

to normal levels and provide sugar for
conversion to muscle glycogen.

3. Consume
celery and/or tomatoes

to provide necessary

sodium at least several times per week or as
often as you participate

in strenuous activity.

4. When possible,
rest after meals to foster optimum
digestion.
5. Remember, exercise does not provide energy, it requires energy.

size=4>Sleep
as much as you desire.

6. During long
duration activities, drink sports drinks of
fruit blended

with water. This works very well. For
“ultra” events, add celery to the mixture.

7. Monitor your
water losses
by using a scale to measure your weight before

and after workouts.

8. Raw foods
provide the maximum nutrients for the minimal
calories

encouraging the most rapid recovery. Gradually raise the raw
percentage

of your diet until you approach or reach
100%.

9. Develop the habit of going to bed
earlier to obtain a good night’s sleep.

10. Keep meals simple for optimum digestion,
and varied to insure optimum nutrition.

Half Ironman

What is a Half Ironman

Just in case you have progressed beyond the world of short course triathlon, you may be interested in stepping up your race resume and competition past the Sprint and Olympic distances to the Half Ironman distance. What exactly does this require and how should you train for it?

A Half Iron is simply just another type of multisports racing – it’s not really a Herculean feat just because it has the word “Ironman” contained in its name so don’t let that scare you. In the Sprint Tri, you swim for 1.5km, ride for 20km, and run for 5km – Something a beginner triathlete should attempt first. In the Olympic version, you swim just shy of a mile (.93 miles), bike for 24.8 miles, and then you’re on your feet. If that wasn’t grueling enough, the Half Ironman means swimming for 1.two miles, cycling for fifty-six miles, and running for thirteen.1 miles (a half marathon). The next mainstream event that’s harder than this is the “full” Ironman, which is swimming for 2.4 miles, cycling for 112 miles, and running for 26.2 miles. (I call this “main stream” since there are other even longer distance triathlons known as “ultra-triathlons”.

Anyone serious about racing in a multisports race or someone that truly wants to test their endurance and skill should think about working their way up to the Half Ironman event. While competing and finishing a Sprint or Olympic event is definitely accomplishment enough, few triathletes seriously consider the Ironman distance – it is definitely a large commitment in time and effort! So, planning for the Half Ironman means really pushing yourself to the limit of endurance without sacrificing too much of your time and other life commitments

If you’re serious about the training for a Half Ironman, it’s good to first of all pace yourself in terms of your training schedule.

Many triathletes simply double their existing training regime which is not advisable.

Any experienced triathlete can tell you that for any race – regardless of distance – you need to work on your strength and speed as well as your endurance. Depending on your individual strengths and weaknesses you might need to either work on core and overall strength specific to the swim, bike and run or even slim down so that you can cover the distance without carrying any unnecessary weight.

Strength training specific to the triathlon disciplines is also important, but obviously not pushing huge weight in the gym that isn’t functionally beneficial for swimming, cycling or running is not efficient use of your training hours – triathletes are not bodybuilders! To maximize training time, many athletes utilize training tools such as heart rate monitors, running pace monitors, cycling power meters, and even swim “ergometers” so they can monitor their individual output over certain distances under different types of training load and guage any fitness gains (or even losses suffering from overtraining or fatigue!). It’s also beneficial to train with a swimming coach or masters swim group to help improve your stroke in the water or a run group to keep you on track and motivated.

A personal trainer that specializes in triathlon can also determine if you need to focus on anything specific that will help your performance on race day – which could also include mental blocks and not only the physical skills (ie, sometimes people have all the proper skills and have done the proper training, but the event itself is so overwhelming when they arrive at the start line, panic and fear sometimes set in!)

Training for and racing in a Half Ironman Triathlon

could possibly be one of the most challenging things you’ll ever do, but when you actually cross that finish line you’ll see it’s likely one of the most rewarding.

Top 5 Training Tips

Behind every good athelete there must be a good training method and practice. Training practices are more than just what you do on the track; they involve how you live your day to day life.

Coaching – Seeking out someone with more experience then you is always a good idea. Why try and dream up your own training schedule with trial and painful error, follow an already tried and tested training method and schedule.

Be Open – A huge part to becoming an experienced athlete is to keep your mind open, both to new ideas and to feedback. Get feedback from more experienced people on your performance and technique. You can learn a lot by following the advise of those more experienced and normally they are more than willing to pass on tips and recommendations.

Take it slow – Set reasonable goals. If you are a 2 times a week recreational runner do not expect to do a 4 minute mile. Reasonable goals will keep you mentally fit and motivated to keep training. If you try to take things too quickly chances are you will get burnt out both mentally and physically.

Injury Prevention – I don’t know of any great athlete that hasn’t suffered a injury at one point in their career, and knows how devastating it can be. All you need to end a season or even a career is an injury. Be careful in your training to prevent injury.

Use the right equipment – Why take the risk of training in year old running shoes when it’s recommended to buy new ones every 6 months? Also consider a HRM or a running watch, such as the garmin forerunner 405cx . The garmin 405cx not only records your training session but with its inbuilt GPS can map your exact route.

Proper warm up and cool downs – can greatly decrease your risk of injury. If you do not warm up before training it is ilke driving a car that has not any oil. Your playing with fireworks. This can involve jogging to warm your muscles up, stretching and other mobility drills to make sure you are ready to begin your training session.

If you take these things into consideration I have no doubt that you will have success in for what ever it is you are training and if you invest in the 405cx you can record your progress and save and analyse it all on your PC to map your progress.

Wish you all the best in your next event and remember to enjoy yourself!