Triathlete Dad

It’s spring, and it’s right before race season. Right now, you’re goal is to build fitness and endurance for the upcoming races. I’ll post a sample triathlon training schedule here that covers swimming, cycling, running, transition and core strength. Follow this schedule at least 8-10 weeks before your first race.

Let’s say you’re signed up for 2 triathlons this summer. Your triathlon training schedule should run 5 - 6 days per week, with one - two days off for rest – Friday is the best rest day, because if you race on Sunday, you’ve got a built-in day of rest already in your schedule. Here’s one way your triathlon-training schedule could look:

• Swim: 30 min 2 xs per week Mon/Wed: Focus on drills and stroke.
• Core: 2x per week, Mon/Wed: 15 reps lighter weight.
• Bike: Tues/Thurs/Sat: Single leg drills during warm up. Save one day per week for your longer ride of say 90 -120 min. The other two days are 45 min. spinning sessions or 60 mins if on the road.
• Transition: This is important: Add a 15 minute transition run, right after you bike, on Tues. or Thurs.
• Run: Mon/Wed/Sun (with the additional transition run above) Your Mon/Wed runs should be 20-30 minutes. Sunday is your longer run day – 30 minutes, gradually building to an hour. Increase your distance by 10% each week.

If you need to cut time out of this schedule, cut out 1 of the bikes and one of the runs, but keep your transitions so you don’t have “jelly legs” the day of the race.

More things to consider when training for a triathlon:

1. Taper your training schedule down 75% and 50% of your training 2 weeks before the race.
2. Speed work should only begin 4-6 weeks into your training once you have started building some fitness.
3. Your goal is to save the long and fast stuff for your race.

If you have questions, please post them in the comment section below.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Tags: bikes, cycling, running, swim, training, triathlon //