Question:
I have been very interested in doing
a triathlon for the past 3 years.
I have finally decided this is the
year and I am looking for some training
tips. I am an avid runner and mountain
biker, however I lack extremely
in the swimming area. Does anyone
have good training advice, tips,
anything? that could help me. I
currently run 5 days a week, and
bike 4 days a week. I also lift
weights 5 days a week. Anything
would be helpful
Answer:
TRIALTHON TRAINING LESSONS:
About a year ago, I couldn't even
call myself a swimmer. I could do
the elementary backstroke and an
improvised sidestroke that was it!
but what I did was sign up at a
community pool for private lessons.
by doing them privately, I could
tell and show the instructor what
I could do, and ask for help in
certain areas. and of course, I
was taught stuff that helped even
more, which I wasn't even aware
of.
I got nine
half hour sessions of instruction,
one session per week. this got me
doing front crawl (with room for
improvement through practise), back
crawl and breast stroke. I fought
and fought to learn front crawl.
it has taken me months to get it,
but I now feel I have it all worked
out. I won't break any world records,
but I am amazed that I can now swim
100m non-stop sometimes more.
that half
hour cl, plus two other swims, per
week, got me results. i'm sure that
further instruction or more swimming
would have seen me advance faster,
but i wasn't in a huge hurry.
BUY the Total
Immersion book by Terry Laughlin.
I read it cover to cover, then I
did SOME of the stuff in it. I refer
to the book constantly. this is
amazing stuff. you can really learn
to swim better and easier from a
book. the cles got me going, but
the book helped with the finer points
of swimming.
ADJUST your
training schedule to allow for a
few swims per week. You don't really
need 5 runs or 4 bikes per week
if you are going to concentrate
on tri. at least in the beginning.
I am not sure about all of the weights
too. Lots of swimming will add upper
body strength.
I am currently
doing a schedule like this:
sunday-swim, weights, maybe bike
m-run
t-maybe weights, swim
w-run
t-swim
f-run
sat-total rest
I'm not a
bike fiend like you, so my bike
mileage is low. mind you, I'll ramp
up to more miles shortly as i prepare
for my May triathlon. This is easy
training for me right now.
