Hi guys

I'm doing my first Olympic distance triathlon at Noosa (sorry for those who didn't get a place) and as the 20 week mark hits next week I was looking for a good program to follow.

I'm from a running background however continually get injured because of over training. Looking at all the programs it seems that they all agree that you need to do 3 x each discipline plus weights. I just know that much training is going to see me injured before I hit the start line.

Has anyone successfully completed an Olympic distance only doing 2 x each plus weights? I'm aiming to get under 3 hours and to the start line uninjured. Fairly modest goals but not something I'm often able to achieve in running.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

I don't know where you are looking but that is rubbish.

For a beginner such as yourself the key is getting the fundamentals of each discipline right and building into the program slowly. Flick the weights altogether, there will be too many other things for you to concentrate on. I would keep a good core stability program in there somewhere thought that you can do on your day off.

A nice place to start your research is www.beginnertriathlete.com

A very informative site that I think has free programs that you can use. Start cautiously and aim to build to 3 a week of each discipline over 10 weeks. You have got a mile of time so if you are from a running background that generally can be interpreted that you cannot swim at all so your first stop should be to find a good squad in your local area that takes beginners. It may even be worth your while to hire a coach for a couple of private lessons to fast track your progress. Swimming fundamentals at this early stage are crucial and will keep you injury free. You will find that it will complement your running very nicely as well.

Joining a triathlon club in your area will also be a wonderful way to meet like minded people and get some free advice.

Enjoy. Noosa is a ball

it can looked at differently :
since the swim part is the shortest time wise, it does not matter if You come out of teh water 5 minutes earlier or not, so for noncompetitive short tri, just the ability to swimm safelly could be enough.
For the begginer the time will be made or lost on bicycle, there would be not many opportunities to use drafting behind experienced cyclist and certainly You do not wanna be behind unexperienced one
so this will be solo ITT on bike and how long it takes and how tired You are after it is the crucial issue here.

so in my view some swimming could be good, but just as an easy recovery stuff,

it is all to bike, the very long bike session, the bike interval session and the bike hard pace session
and some short run off the bike each time,
occasional running fun run race could be good.

Thanks BCJ. I'm in the process of looking through the programs now.

For the record (one has to defent one's self!) I usually do the swim leg in a team each year at Noosa and swim 2ks 2 - 3 times per week (so ner ). We runners aren't so useless!!! Sadly the running is my weakest leg thanks to the ITBS / groin strain / rib break.... blah blah blah.

Ah, well that is good news (and I stand humbly corrected although you would be in the minority). Being able to swim comfortably at Noosa is a nice thing to have as it can be a tough swim being hard to navigate and the early crush of bodies can get the inexperienced swimmer in some panic.

If you have that sorted then as Walker suggests getting cracking on the bike is the way to go and practicing your running off the bike will be crucial. The non impact nature of the bike means that you can significantly make gains in your aerobic training without injuring yourself and it is where you spend the longest time in any tri, so there are advantages to becoming competent.

Again, hooking up with a small club that has group rides will speed up your training and teach you some bike skills so that you can handle the carnage that is 3000 riders on a 40k bike course. Small runs off the bike will pay big dividends also and you might find that your legs feel better when running off the bike (after the initial shock) as they will be quite warmed up.

3 rides a week will serve you well. One long slow distance, one harder high aerobic session (perhaps some climbing) and one session working on improving your TT work. Graduating to aerobars would be something to look at. the off the TT ride you would build in small runs and add 10% to those ones each week trying to roughly hold your goal pace.

You'll be fine mandaG, most people do HIMs on 3 sessions each per week If you are worried, swap a swim for another bike session. I can swim ok and I found extra squads didn't help me all that much in the end - maybe only gained a minute or two? Would have been better off with more bike sessions

+1
provided u can do the swim leg okay you will be fine... however dont go in expecting to do an amazing time.

Dont forget to enjoy the race!

Hi mandaG, really looking forward to hearing how you get on at Noosa. I am planning to do it next year for the first time. I have a few running goals I want to achieve first. Having said that, I do have a few questions about this topic that I hope some people may be able to provide some insight into and maybe the answers may be of benefit to you as well.

I am planning on doing a shorter sprint season at the end of the year in Melb. Are the Gatorade one's still going and are they a good place to start? I did the Brooks fun tri's a years ago and enjoyed them. Are there any other races that are good for beginners?

With regards to the swim are there any drills that you can do in the pool to help prepare for the open water? I am a confident, although not that efficient swimmer, currently doing 3 x 1.5 - 2k per week. I live no where near a beach.

My third question is with regards to bike training. At the moment I do all my riding on a spin bike at home as I find it hard to get everything in time wise with 2 small kids. Fitness wise is it much different? Is there any main differences I need to be aware of? - other than I don't fall off! I need to build my confidence on my actual bike but plan to focus that after October.

My final question has to do with recovery. As all 3 disciplines are different, is it as important to have full rest days as if you were only running? At the moment I am doing 4 runs - 8-14 plus k's, 3-4 rides 40 - 50 mins, 3 swims per week and 1 deep water running class, so 2 sessions most days, sometimes back to back in the AM and others AM/PM. I find the swimming helps me recover from the running. Am I doing too much?

Will have a look at the website mentioned previously, thanks in advance for any help and sorry mandaG for hijaking your thread, I just didn't see the point in starting another one. All the best, K

you should train for all three disciplines and it is worth adding transition to that,run off the bike until you stretch out and get up to speed,it only takes a few minutes extra,put your shoes where you are going to park your bike at home and run round the block,if you are only starting you need good stroke technique or a good wetty and practise getting it off in a hurry,you will find that it comes off much more easily if it is still wet so start taking it off while you are running to your bike and kick it off at your bike,
take your time over the training and progress by degrees,you'll have more fun and get the best out of yourself on the day,the first few races are training and you will learn heaps just doing them

im no expert, but depending on how u are training on the indoor - this can work pretty well.
However id still recommend getting out on the road at least once a week doing a decent ride..

Did Noosa the last two years plus Mooloolaba in '08 with a usual week of 3-4 run sessions, 1-3 bike, and swim 10-12 times in the last 3 weeks and nothing before that. I've put more emphasis on the run leg before but the next one i do, will focus more on the bike. The 2-3 minutes gained form swimming a lot (in my case) would be more than lost on the bike and run.

For OLY tri, even though 3x3 per week is ideal, 5-7 sessions a week has seen me through in just over 2.5 hours.

Good luck - go for it!!