Training for a shorter Tri

Hi

Thanks ST. I guess it is doable- as I mentioned it is getting my head round it that is the difficult bit. As I am typing this I can hear her in the bath singing and talking to herself and practising going under water for when she does her triathlon! LOL. My 3yr old Smidge has just gone in and announced that the bath doesn't look like a swimming pool and so she can't be swimming. LOL Oh this is so funny...

I shall see if I can find to local kids races.

Steady - hope your wrist heals up fast.

Another terrible night with a feverish Smidge. Am so tired I could cry but didn't want to miss another day of training so have just done 10miles of hills on the bike. First ride in the dark. I have lights and high vis vest but still found it scary.

Gingergav .................which half marathon are you doing and which Sprint is that in March?

44min for 10k when your feeling crap.... not bad in my books mate, well done.

You're all so nice to me! I'm filling up!

I have had my comeuppance though - paying for running with a cold - the cold weather on Sunday has shifted my cold onto my chest. Feels like i'm being sat on. No training for me tonight.

The Sprint i'm looking at is at Ribby Hall, Wrea Green, nr Kirkham, Lancs in March - date yet to be set, but its run by Tim Armit in association with Fylde Tri Club. He runs 3 events a year - Ribby Hall in March, St Annes Tri in April, then Fleetwood Tri in September. He is calling them Fylde Tri-logy, I think. All sprints with pool swims.

The Gt North West half marathon in Blackpool is a good one, on Sun 27th FEb. I'm fancying that one but only coming back from holiday the day before, so might go for the St Annes Twin Pier half on 13th March. There is also the St Annes Ultrafit Fire Station 10  miler on 20th March. I'll definitely do one of these! Blackpool half has good PB potential - very flat but often windy.

JEvaNs - you are very organised! My weekly goal is often "do something", which usually equates in a perfect week to a club run on Tuesday nights (6-8km), swiss ball work on a wednesday at home (even 10mins kills me), run on own on a thursday (6-8km again), swim friday (pool, up to 1.5km if feeling tip top), club bike ride saturday morning (50-80km), run sunday afternoon (5-8km), rest monday. More usually it ends up as 2 runs only, short swim or no swim (oops), and bike ride if its dry (turbo for an hour if not). Very rare that each week goes to plan! 

Bootsie - Sorry to hear that you are bed-bound - hope you're feeling better soon.

Gingergav - i think I was typing last night when you filed your post so missed it. Congratulations on a great run.

Jevans - that sounds very impressive. Am very interested to hear how you feel it helps. I looked up some different training programmes and found many of them too complicated to even finish reading through! Then I found one that suggested running 3 times and week, cycling 3 times a week and swimming 2 times a week. Make at least one day a brick session. Have one day off. I can cope with that simplicity so that's what I'm doing - roughly.

The good news is that Smidge slept last night and so did I. Just as good is the fact that I didn't wake up sore this week from my 10miles hilly bike ride.

Today being Tuesday meant a swim at lunchtime (46 lengths) and a 4 mile run this evening because I still can't quite fit in 5 miles before taking daughter No.2 to Brownies. Because I have introduced bike training over the past few weeks I have dropped my overall running mileage just slightly. However, the cross training is deffinitely making me stronger. My time for the hilly 4 miles has gone down from 42:35 to 38:40.

Ooo, Bootsie - hope you start feeling better soon. I'm back in work today but still feel a bit giddy. Not sure going to the gym would be a good idea, but really want to get back into a normal routine! SteadyCj... Wondering if I should take the advice you have given to Bootsie....

I'm supposed to be going to Zumba tomorrow... Has anyone tried it? I'm not approaching it as a fitness thing as I know I will find it hugely frustrating and unstructured (apparently as many as 75 people gather in a massive gym hall to do it!). But my friend is adamant that I will love it. Hmm...

On my three week rotating training, I think I am generally doing 2-3 sessions on the bike (which may include spinning if that is more accomodatable!), 2-3 runs a week and 2 swim sessions, but I shift my focus each week to make sure I am increasing my endurance in all three. It just gives me confidence that I am improving in all three things and not just drifting, which I think I could do otherwise. E.g. I might have 4-6 weeks where my training has had to accomodate other things and potentially my running may not go over 10 miles a week and my longest run isn't more than 5 miles and that worries me as I know I need to increase my running mileage. So at least with a weekly focus, even if everything else goes out the window I know I have done my 8 miles running or 20 miles on the bike or very long swim each week.

So, even though this is my fourth day when I probably won't be able to exercise, I know that I need to run, if nothing else, on any of the other days I am able to train. I think it's probably just psychological!!

I quite like the idea of your three week rotation, or a variation thereon, JEvans.

I kind of suspect that I'm not going to manage multiple sessions of all three disciplines every week. Especially the swimming - not that I find the swim especially hard, but the timing of lane sessions and the getting to and fro put more constraints on it. Maybe if I make one week in three a swim focus week it'd help.

lol its easy to dish out advice.. much harder to follow it.. doing better today.. managed a short trip in the car.. and been awake all day so far!

going to do a bit of piltaes today because my back is really suffering from being in bed and sitting all day.. didn't sleep much at all last night iwth th epain.. can't wait to get back to training!!! not rushing it because its only 3 1/2 weeks to brighton half marathon.. tihnk i have enough trianing in the bank for it so just need to get to it fit and healthy now!

Bootsie - glad to hear you're on the mend and being rational. Better to go into a race undertrained than overtrained.

My training plan goes in a 4 week rotation, with the 4th week easing off a bit to recover for the next 4 which are slightly harder and so on.

Today being week 2 on plan a 35 min run, reality 35 mins on treadie which consisted of run 4 mins walk 1 min, with 5 mins w/u and c/d on bike. Managed to keep the speed consistent at 5mph for the run sections.

JEvans- have heard Zumba is good but as it is dance based and i have 2 left feet, would make a good comedy if i gave it a go, thats why i do running.

JEvans, you're on the right lines with your 3-week rotations, but work also on periodization - build for 3 weeks then drop back and do less on week 4, then start your next cycle of building at a bit higher level than before. If you want more information on this type of training, search on  macro, micro and mini-cycles.