Sprint -

I'm no expert, but if you want serious ADVICE to place high, here it is....

Swim - 5 Days a week with a master's group, AM/or PM, whenever it works for you, atleast 1hour per day , no exceptions. This should make you top 1-2 out of the water.

Bike - Do 3 Rides during the Ride, including 1 tempo, On the weekend do a distance ride no longer then 30 miles, in high intensity.

Run - Log atleast 35 Miles a week. It's so important in sprint's to have a fast run split to take a high position.

I don't log much more than 35 miles running for IM training, I cannot imagine that much running is necessairy. Also, I don't know that 5 days a week of swimming is needed. If you are a strong swimmer 2-3 is plenty. I log 2-3 one to two months out of an IM and still come out of the water around a 1:10 not spectacular but really little time put in. On a sprint I will be out in the top 5 with little effort. Someone with limited time is not going to be able to invest 5 hrs a week swimming (probably close to half of the weekly average total).

There are some good training plans out on this site that will give you an idea of what you should do. Looks like 2 days a week with one day off in each leg.
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon-training/Sprint-Triathlon-Training.php

I gave him the advice that would give him first place wins. And that running isn't for IM as you are training, those miles are to make him extremely fast on the run.

And that may be--I am merely going off training plans like the one above. If for example the OP runs 5 min miles-- in a 40 min session they would only be putting in 8 miles done say 3 x a week is only 24 miles give or take -- including a "long" run in on the weekend. If they are MOP now, chances are they aren't running 5 min miles , which is perfectly fine. Was trying to give a realistic idea of what training could/should be done given that they said "My business and family time commitments will not allow for that level of training at this time, so I decided to train for a sprint last year" (in reference to an IM/HIM).

[quote=Kwschs]Sprint -

I'm no expert, but if you want serious ADVICE to place high, here it is....

Swim - 5 Days a week with a master's group, AM/or PM, whenever it works for you, atleast 1hour per day , no exceptions. This should make you top 1-2 out of the water.

Bike - Do 3 Rides during the Ride, including 1 tempo, On the weekend do a distance ride no longer then 30 miles, in high intensity.

Run - Log atleast 35 Miles a week. It's so important in sprint's to have a fast run split to take a high position.

[/quote]
[quote=Kwschs]I gave him the advice that would give him first place wins. And that running isn't for IM as you are training, those miles are to make him extremely fast on the run.[/quote]

I don't really agree with the above advice. Swimming 5 days a week won't get you out of the water fast if you are not fast to begin with - same with biking, same with running. I do agree with you, Kevin, that you are going to have to put the time in to get faster.

I think the most important thing to remember is that if you want to race fast, you have to train fast. Running 35 mi/week at 8 min/mile pace isn't going to allow you to run a sub-20 or sub-18 5k off the bike. You will need to do more intense training. Get on the track and do interval work. You need to learn to train fast to race fast. And pushing yourself to train fast hurts, and can be hard.

Same thing goes on the bike, and on the swim. Train fast, race fast.

I'm not saying that you go really hard day in and day out, that is a recipe for injury. But I do think that the intensity of workouts is the main difference between sprint training and longer distance training.

There are many training plans available that can help you organize your race year to focus on specific races and whatnot. Joe Friel's Training Bible comes to mind - it also has swim drills, bike drills, and maybe even some run workout suggestions (I don't remember at the moment).

I'm not the fastest athlete, nor do I aspire to be, so take these words with a grain of salt.

Agree with the majority here. You don't need to swim 5 days per week. You're probably risking injury if you do. For sprint distance, 3 hours of swimming (quality workouts, though) would suffice. I've followed the olympic plan on opentri.com for several sprints. Just modify some of the longer stuff and you'll notice results. Quality work, not quantity, is the way to go here.

For a psrint, I would ride more than run. Get your technique down for sure, but logging crazy time in the pool is not necessary for a short distance. The formulas are out there, think specifity. You dont need to go crazy long distances for a sprint, but you do need to be very fast. Half your workouts should be speed centered. Intervals and and farklets. Descending sets on the swim.

Recover with form or easy distance day between each hard workout. Bricks are very important at short distances. You need to be able to hit the ground running fast off the bike. So maybe once a week during your build period, do a interval ride followed by an interval run, with th first run interval starting as soon as you get off the bike, no warm up required.

I wouldnt worry about distance too much. Your long run can be 60- 90 minutes. Long ride 2- 2.5 hours. A huge base is not necessary to win. My buddy went to nationals with a long run of an hour.

To race fast you must train fast. MOST effective fast training is VO2 max intervals: 3 minutes ALMOST as hard as you can go followed by 3 minutes easy pace. Repeat for a total of four. Total workout 45-60 minutes. Follow with threshold: 3-8 minutes at 10k/40k pace with 30sec rest. Repeat four to six times. Once per week do run VO2 max followed by bike threshold then once per week bike VO2 max followed by run threshold. For extra boost. do bike sprints, 10 sec ALL OUT with 5 minute rest four times the day before the bikeVO2/run threshold workout. ALWAYS do a run of some sort after riding. Build into this and then do for 6-8 weeks. Mega speed!

Also see my article, " Getting faster for newbies".

I think i would rather stare at you then read your article that is if thats actually you!;)

I'm a sprint triathlete. But I'm a slowpoke, so I'm afraid I'm no help there. Just didn't want you to think you were the only one.

[quote=brittda]I don't log much more than 35 miles running for IM training, I cannot imagine that much running is necessairy. Also, I don't know that 5 days a week of swimming is needed. ......

There are some good training plans out on this site that will give you an idea of what you should do. Looks like 2 days a week with one day off in each leg.
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon-training/Sprint-Triathlon-Training.php [/quote]

+1, and there is no formula for success. Training is subjective and depends greatly on the athlete, their abilities, and their desires. Find what works for you. if you go out and log 35 miles a week it might not help your run one bit. My advice is if you're looking to seriously train sprints then find a coach who can help you build a training plan based on your strengths and weaknesses. Training for an IM and a sprint are totally different so we should all take a deep breath and go back to our training. Make sure you're getting what you want out of your workouts.

[quote=kimluciano]You've got 26 miles to loosen up your muscles on an IM but only 3-4 on a sprint and that is alot of time lost.[/quote]

Do runs off the bike relatively often. I was doing them like 1-2 times/week last season, just started with like 20 mile moderate ride and then 1 mile run off. I started extending my run off along with increasing the distance and intensity of the bike beforehand. It got to the point where I didn't feel the "rubbery-ness" of my legs like I used to coming out of T2 and could hit my planned run split by .5 mile in (worst case). GL