Hello from a newcomer
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kylie posted 9 weeks ago.
Very cool that your employer has endless pools! And welcome to the trifuel family :)
As for the question, as you get started be sure you are listening to your body. It is ok to push it some, but the main thing is to build a repeatable week and consistency. Sounds like you are on the right track on the bike! But since you are feeling comfy, add in another run. And maybe start making one run a week 40 min after you get used to 3 runs. Just remember, the important thing is that it is a basic week format that you feel you could just keep doing each week.
Step 1: just do :)
Once you have that down, then you add in more speed work and get stronger that way.
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Toothless posted 9 weeks ago.
Congrats on taking the plunge and signing up for a triathlon! Sounds like you are already getting committed to a workout schedule, which is great.
I am not a coach, but here's my advice. If your race isn't until September, I would take it easy by building up the duration/frequency of your workouts without including very much intensity during this time. Get used to doing the workouts week to week and being consistent. Your body will respond to he aerobic training and increasing the length of the runs/rides. Maybe throw in some hills on the runs and bike rides, but nothing crazy. After you have 8-12 weeks of consistent aerobic training, throw in some higher intensity (intervals). One hard workout in each discipline per week is enough - make the others aerobic.
As for swimming, definitely find a coach or experienced swimmer to work with you on your stroke. You can spend 10 hours a week in the pool, but if your form is bad you will have a hard time improving.
There is a ton of advice out there on triathlon training - Joe Friel's books are great as well as others. The hard part is to find the best plan that works for you. That's why a lot of athletes hire coaches.
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chekmarks posted 9 weeks ago.
kylie hit the nail on the head...."Step 1: Just do"
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cayman posted 9 weeks ago.
Welcome new dad! All good advice above and to repeat, build the run slowly--no more than 10% increase per week and listen to your legs. Add the 3rd run per week and build from that.
Other than that, go for it and have some fun.
Uh, can your boss call my boss to maybe help convince him that installing an endless pool would be good for employee health and moral ;)
Good luck with training.
john
I don't need to get faster, I just need to get older!
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Leroy Bonkers posted 9 weeks ago.
Welcome! I'm a 30yr old new Dad also (my son is 13 months).
+2 on "just do". Then do further. Then do faster. or faster then further... whatever. Just keep pushing it a little more each week. Push it a lot more and you'll break. Don't push it and you'll never get in better shape.
Swim Lessons, running shoes from a running store, and if you stick with it for 6 months a road bike. Go get em'
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JamieM posted 9 weeks ago.
Congrats on the kid and welcome to Trifuel. As the others have said they key is a slow build up. There are quite a few people on here, including me, that can attest to the pain and frustration that building up too fast can bring on. So add volume slowly, maybe a little intensity when things get stale.
And as a new father myself, I started this whole thing 3 years ago when we had our first child and we just had our second last week, I can tell you that all this exercise will be vital in helping you keep up with an energetic toddler!
Good Luck.
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tri-ac posted 9 weeks ago.
welcome to trifuel!
with a training background, it sounds like you'll be on top of time management. this is the key for folks with families. I have a 3yo boy. i make time for him and my wife and make sure my wife has time to do things she values too. keep it fun and organize it so that everyone is happy
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ChunkyB posted 9 weeks ago.
Welcome, and congratulations on your decisions.
For the most part, you don't need to worry too much about overdoing it if you really feel like you can do more. Just don't up your volume a lot at a time. Start small, and keep going if your body is telling you to. Really listen to your body, and at the first sign of overtraining, back off a touch. I think the main times that people overtrain is when they have a training plan that is beyond their abilities, but they still want to stick with it and stuff. If you have tons of energy, and really want to do more, then I say do it. Just listen closely to your body, and don't be afraid of recovery workouts and time off and what not.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
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RV posted 9 weeks ago.
Go for it is pretty relative. As is not adding too much at a time.
I would think your best approach is to get a hold of a beginners Olympic distance training plan and follow that. There are some on this site or at numerous other places. Not having a base established can easily lead to maybe not overtraining, but potential injury. It is easy to think that you can do more - it takes time for the body to adapt to the new training regime you are introducing it to. It is better to have quality workouts than quantity. So you are already going for it - by starting. You are on the right track!
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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Captain Mal posted 9 weeks ago.
Cute kid!
I'm a 31 year old, not so new dad. (My oldest is 8)
When my wife and I did our first triathlon, the goal was just to finish and have fun with it. We had a ton of fun and didn't overtrain or burn out. Then, once we knew we liked this crazy hobby, we focused on beating a clock the next year.
So, I guess I would echo the advice from above, listen to your body and enjoy the ride.
"Faster would be better!" -Captain Mal, Serenity-
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escapethematrix posted 9 weeks ago.
I started when I was 40, so you got a 10 year jump on me! I second all the good advice you got so far, also I wrote an article at hubpages about doing a first triathlon, got lots of good feed-back on it, hopefully you'll pick up a tip or two there:
http://hubpages.com/hub/First-Triathlon
And personally, I think there's a lot of time between now and September, I think you can not only do it, I think you can do well!
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tresvite posted 9 weeks ago.
Thanks to all who responded, I knew this was a place with lots of good people :-).
I am definitely getting into a swimming program, once I find one that is convenient and good, which shouldn't be too hard around here.
Funnily enough, right after I wrote my first message ever on trifuel, I went for a short run, and now I am starting to feel some soreness and a pull on my calves, so I guess I am starting slowly to reach the "barely can do it" limit, which is good. I was afraid it would never happen :-).
You know, it's funny, I never thought that triathlon would be such a cool sport, with all kinds of people of all shapes and sizes. I just kind of assumed it was just for really buff and strong people, who had lots of free time to practice the three sports. I guess I was wrong.
Looking forward to the coming months where I will learn a lot, I am sure!
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kylie posted 9 weeks ago.
Yeah one of the great things about tris is the diversity in participants! I love it :)
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RV posted 9 weeks ago.
tresvite wrote:
... I just kind of assumed it was just for really buff and strong people, who had lots of free time to practice the three sports. I guess I was wrong.
I think he just called us out as fat and weak! ;)
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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Tribro posted 9 weeks ago.
RV wrote:
tresvite wrote:... I just kind of assumed it was just for really buff and strong people, who had lots of free time to practice the three sports. I guess I was wrong.I think he just called us out as fat and weak! ;)
HA! :)
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Socket posted 9 weeks ago.
Wow. The lyrics to "Rye or the Kaiser" by Weird Al just popped into my head. :-P
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tresvite posted 9 weeks ago.
Nah, I guess what I meant to say is that there wasn't anything such as "Age Group" in Triathlon in my mind, and definitely no 81 year olds competing in Ironman events :-).
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Tribro posted 9 weeks ago.
tresvite wrote:
Nah, I guess what I meant to say is that there wasn't anything such as "Age Group" in Triathlon in my mind, and definitely no 81 year olds competing in Ironman events :-).
No worries, we like to tease and are kinda sarcastic at times here. All in good fun. :)
And no 81 yet but the Nun is getting close:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Buder
Jim Ward did it at age 77 and is currently the oldest to have completed an Ironman.
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Anton posted 9 weeks ago.
Wow! Competitive fencing! Chain link or picket? ;)
Sorry...had to do it. But you get the point.
Welcome to Trifuel... Too cool that you have wet treadmill at work.
Sounds like you're well on the way...
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"
- Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
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tresvite posted 8 weeks ago.
Tribro wrote:
And no 81 yet but the Nun is getting close:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Buder
Wow, that is an inspirational story. Who knows how well she would have done, had there been more opportunities for young women to compete when she was young...
About the endless pools, yes, they are very cool, and close to an even cooler gym stuffed with tons of equipment. Best. Place. To Work. Ever.
Hi there,
I just wanted to introduce myself, I am a 30 year old new dad who basically decided on a whim to see what a triathlon was all about. I've been lurking around here for a while now (a little over a month), and I've found tons of great advice, tips and information to structure my workouts, which is great!
Never competed in any kind of running, cycling, or swimming event, so there is a lot of work and training to be done on my end. On the plus side, I have been a competitive fencer for over 15 years, practicing around 4 hours each week.
I recently signed up for an Olympic distance race, at Pacific Grove, which will be in September. So I have a lot of time to get ready.
I started biking to work, around 11 miles each way, once a week, then twice a week, and moved up to three times a week last week. Right now it's taking me around 50 minutes each time, on a cheap commuter bike that is far from being "aero". Lots of fenders, panniers, and baggage racks. In addition to that, I've been running twice a week for about 1/2 an hour, which at my pace is about a 4-5k depending on how hard I go. In addition to that, I'm lucky enough that my employer has endless pools available for swimming, so I started taking advantage of those this week.
I feel like swimming is probably where I need to improve the most, a 1/2 swim is still difficult for me, unless I resort to breaststroke.
So here is my first question: I know all of this is a slow pace, but I'm really afraid of overdoing it, and overtraining and getting injured. I feel I can do more, run faster, and cycle faster and longer. Do you think I should go for it?