Ironman Training Program

Most beginner triathletes own a bike. At a minimum, they have a mountain bike that they have taken out for short rides. While swimming is usually the area that most triathletes put the most time into, the biking portion of the race can be an area that costs athletes the most money. Bikes can be expensive, and good bikes can be really expensive. The first tip to triathlon bike training is to use the bike you already have. This might seem simple or obvious, but it is truly a good tip. Many athletes feel they have to run out and buy the best bike on the market, but what they need to focus on first is refining their technique, and building up their endurance for this portion of the race. It doesn’t really matter what type of bike a person has, pretty much anything with two wheels that will operate safely will do when starting out.

One of the best things a triathlete can do for their triathlon bike training is to simply put some miles on their bike. Getting used to sitting in the saddle for long periods of time is something that really takes getting used to. While you are out putting on those miles, make sure to mix in some different types of terrain. Take on some hill climbs and ride through some rolling territories. You will encounter different types of terrain on race day, so preparing for them all is a good tip. Because riding a bike is fairly low impact, this type of training will also help strengthen your muscles for running.

The key to building up endurance during your triathlon bike training is to ride farther than your race distances. Going at least twenty five percent farther than you will during a race will help you accomplish a few different things. It will build up your endurance for all three parts of the race, and it will give you more confidence going into the bike leg of the race. If you have consistently trained for 20 miles and the race is 15, you will feel much better about getting that portion of the race done. Having a positive mental state during the middle of the race will help you finish with a better time.

Being comfortable on the bike is another aspect that deserves some attention during the triathlon bike training. If you are feeling any discomfort during a longer bike ride, then it might be time to make some adjustments. Getting professionally fit is ideal, but it is not necessary when starting out. There are some simple things that can be tweaked, but make sure that none of these changes are too drastic. Seat height is a simple one to play with. Make sure that your leg is comfortable on the downward stroke. The seat position can also usually be moved a little forward or back, and the seat angle can be tipped slightly up or down for a different feel. The angle of the handlebars can also be adjusted slightly to get a better feel for your arms, and the position of your feet on the pedals can make your legs feel more comfortable.

As mentioned earlier, it is not necessary to go out and get a new bike for your first few races. Ride the bike you have, and know that you will not be the only person riding a mountain or hybrid bike at the race. If, however, you decide to stick with triathlon, then buying a new bike can be a great way to improve that leg of the race and make your triathlon bike training even more productive and fun. Start with your local bike shop if you decide to get a new bike because they are going to be able to answer all of your questions about which bike you should buy. Make sure to fill them in on what type of riding you will be doing and ask to see any of their triathlon specific bikes. You might be able to find bikes cheaper online, but getting the proper fit and supporting the local shops is very important. Remember that you don’t have to buy the most expensive bike, but buy one that has a quality frame. You can always upgrade the other components in the future, but the frame is the foundation.

Swimming is a difficult sport even for the most fit athletes. It is usually the leg of a triathlon that gives people the most challenges. The key to a great swim in a triathlon is having excellent form. Even if a person is the strongest and most fit in the field, a poor swim technique can guarantee that they will not finish anywhere near the top. Swimming does not come naturally for most people, and the freestyle technique is a difficult stroke to master. It requires huge amounts of practice and triathlon swimming training. It takes more time to improve than running or biking because the mechanics of the swimming stroke are much more complex. The payoff for mastering the swimming technique can be huge when it comes to triathlons. Many people never become great swimmers, so it is an area where an advantage can be gained.

Although the freestyle swimming stroke is very complex, there are a few key areas that athletes can focus on in their triathlon swimming training. The best formula for a successful swim during a race is to go as fast as possible with the least amount of energy expended. While that sounds fairly simple, it is something that many athletes never attain. Head position is typically the most common mistake that people make in their swimming. The error is usually in the breathing. Many swimmers will lift their head out of the water too much when they turn to breathe. When a swimmer lifts their head out of the water, their hips will drop. This puts their entire body out of position and creates more drag. When athletes are swimming and want to be as fast as possible, their body needs to be horizontal to minimize drag. The way to fix this problem is to keep your head pointing toward the bottom of the pool, lake or ocean. You do need to be able to see where you are swimming, so simply look with your eyes rather than moving your entire head. If you head and neck are in the same position they would be if you were standing up, then you are in good shape.

The next most common mistake that swimmers make deals with body roll. This is another area that can be fixed with some intense triathlon swimming training sessions. Many people attempt to keep their chest and stomach pointed down while they are swimming, but this uses more energy than necessary and that will tire swimmers out faster during their races. The best way to think about the proper body position is to imagine a pole running from your toes out through the top of your head. While you are swimming, your body should roll on that pole. When you reach out with your right arm, your chest should be pointing to the left. The body is most hydrodynamic when on its side, so this roll will put you in a faster position. This position also allows the opposite shoulder to be out of the water and that will make the next part of the stroke easier. The other thing that this type of rotation does is utilize some of the other muscles like the lats and hips to generate more power and conserve your shoulders and legs. Finally, the rotation allows you to turn your head easier to breathe since you are already in position to do so.

Another area to focus on during triathlon swimming training is the kick. Many people feel that the kick is an essential part of the swimming stroke, but for triathletes it really isn’t. The other two legs of the race are going to demand a lot from an athletes legs, so saving them as much as possible during the swim is an excellent strategy. The kick should be mainly used to keep balance because it does not do much in the area of propelling the swimmer through the water. When kicking is used as part of the stroke, it should be short and done with just a slight knee bend. Athletes will often flail their legs and have their knees bent too much. This just wastes energy and adds more drag in the water. Ankles should be kept loose, and feet should be kept fairly close when doing the kick portion of the stroke.

The glide is an area of the freestyle stroke that often gets overlooked. The glide portion of the stroke is time that your body can be moving through the water without any energy being spent. The swim portion of a triathlon should be the most relaxed part for your body. You are going to endure a lot of pounding on the bike and the run, so try to keep this part of the race fairly calm. During triathlon swimming training, remembering to glide on each stroke can help maintain a comfortable steady pace. As you get that good rotation to the side, glide for a second before making the next stroke. Developing a good rhythm in this aspect of the stroke can pay off big time on race day.

Recognizing some of these areas during your triathlon swimming training will be a challenge, but it will be well worth it in the long term. Instead of spending hours in the pool with poor technique, really think about these areas of your stroke and work on fixing them. Having a swim coach is ideal, but many of these areas can be fixed if you focus on doing them correctly. Like anything else, it takes time to master these parts of the stroke, but with dedication you will reap the benefits.

triathlon training is a lifestyle commitment. Between running, biking, and swimming, you have got to push your body like never before. You’ve also got to teach yourself physically and mentally how to endure. A triathlon requires much more than a simple, daily exercise routine. It requires you to run like you’ve never run before, bike like you are always pushing uphill, and swim as if the current is about to carry you off. It’s easy to understand why every triathlete needs triathlon weight training. Weight training builds up your muscles. The more strength you have, the more you can get from your body.

Before you decided to become a triathlete, you most likely did not spend every day running, cycling, and swimming. You may or may not have spent a lot of time at the gym lifting weights. A triathlete must concentrate on a much bigger picture than a regular athlete. A person who is a trained runner will use different muscles when cycling or swimming, and it’s the same with someone who primarily trains for cycling or swimming alone. You cannot undertake a triathlon without triathlon weight training. You must learn to use and build up all the muscles required for all three sports.

A training program is based on a few factors. What is your body used to? How far could you run, ride, and swim at the present time if you were asked to? Where is your weight training right now? You may not be ready to take on the weight training of a triathlete until you master some of the other skills necessary for the big event. If you only rode a tricycle as a child, then you have to learn to ride without training wheels. It’s the same for a triathlon. You have to learn how to run, cycle, and swim as though you never had to train.

Of course, every athlete has to train, or practice. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t have professional teams, but each athlete had to spend some time conditioning their bodies and testing their strengths. Having strong muscles that you earn while triathlon weight training does you no good if you can’t run more than a mile. A triathlon is not a track and field competition. You have to give yourself to training by a 110% or more if you’d like to come in first. Everything is determined by the amount of time you have to train.

Yes, you do want to push yourself, but you want to do so without provoking some sort of injury. You may not have time to deal with an injury. You may not have the time to devote your whole self to triathlon weight training. Weight training can be a very delicate thing and there can be a lot of risks involved. If you do begin a weight training routine, you need to treat it the same as you do running, cycling, and swimming. Everything you do to get ready for the big competition needs to be done as though your life depends on it because the event does depend on it.

If you want to be a successful triathlete, then it is of the utmost importance that you stick to a triathlon training schedule. Triathlons are extremely challenging and training for them takes a serious individual. The triathlete must give all to her training. There is never a day when she can wake up and contemplate if she feels like training or not.

There is no room in a triathlon training schedule to become lazy. The triathlete is not a typical athlete. They do not become lazy so much as weary and sore because they demand so much from their bodies. Many triathletes are on the verge of being mentally depleted as well as physically. You must understand that triathlon training is not like any other sport you have attempted before. Your have to cultivate an attitude within yourself that upholds you mentally as well as physically. You must be strong in so many ways.

It is easy to become stressed and the need to skip a day of training may signify stress. (This is not to be confused with a physical type stress that causes pain in certain areas of your body. It is, in fact, a mental stress that causes you to feel pressure about how well you perform and if that performance will cause you to be #1 or close to it.) It’s in these moments that the triathlon training schedule you have set will bring a relief. Stick to your schedule no matter what you feel. You may not like what is on the schedule on any certain day, but you are committed to do exactly what it says.

On the other hand, training too hard is as risky as not following a triathlon training schedule. If you are body becomes useless because of over training, then it cannot perform. A schedule must be maintained at all times. A triathlete must not take days off and must not take it easy on the days she feels weary or discouraged. The triathlon training schedule becomes your guiding light on days like that.

True triathlon training takes a large amount of discipline. It is the discipline that empowers your determination and enables you to make progress. It is also very important to follow a schedule so that it prepares you for being in the best condition possible on the most important day – the day you compete. Triathletes have been known to map out their triathlon training schedule a year in advance of the competition.

Behind every schedule is the idea of working yourself up to optimal performance step by step. As stated, you do not want to train too much and cause yourself to feel burnt out or risk becoming injured. You do want to be at the top of your game for the actual race. After your big race, you need an acceptable amount of rest to prepare for the next one.

If triathlon training is new concept for you, work with a coach that can set up a schedule that will bring out the best in you come competition time.

In order to be considered a great athlete, both amateurs and semi-professionals alike feel that participation in triathlons are the key to that distinction.

For the average person, a person who can run, swim and cycle great distances is pretty remarkable; when an individual can do each of these things on a single sporting event, one right after another, the level of impressiveness increases. The truth is, however, that the real impressive nature of a triathlete is not that they can do these things, but the level of fitness that they maintain. Most people never experience the real joy that a triathlete feels because they feel and look better than other people. What’s more, their training has led them to a place where they can focus like no one else, are more self aware, exude confidence that translates sexually and emotionally and are more creative and simply take great joy in life overall.

There is a wrong way and a right way to manage triathlon training. The wrong way many not only injure you and make you feel like a failure, but you will not benefit from the advantages mentioned above. To train the right way, here are some dos and don’ts that you need to keep in mind for beginner triathlon training.

DO: Make sure that you spend extra time training any sport that you are aren’t good at. This applies to your muscles too. If you have a muscle group that is weaker than others (for example, weak arms and strong legs), then you need to work harder and longer on that muscle group until a balance is created.

DON’T: Think that you don’t have to train a sport that you already excel in. While you will want to put more focus on any areas you are weak in, if you don’t continue to train the other sports, then you will find that they become your weakest link when you compete.

DO: Allow your endurance to increase by pushing yourself to your maximum boundaries. Everyone fears injuries, but if you let that stop you from pushing hard, you won’t reach your goals. Get on your best gear and get to work on achieving your goals without fear.

DON’T: Be unrealistic. You aren’t going to achieve your speed goals one week into training. If you want to run a five minute mile, but your current speed is a 7 minute mile, with beginner triathlon training you need to be aware that this increase will take time. If you try to achieve your goals too soon, you will get discouraged, you may give up in frustration and you may end up injuring yourself. There is a difference between pushing yourself and being unrealistic; learn the difference and apply it.

DO: Plan, plan, plan. Not only should you set goals for yourself, but you should also establish a schedule and stick to it. Improvising is not beneficial in triathlon training, you need to know what to expect each and every day. Once you develop a schedule, stick to it, it will help you to prepare yourself for what the next day is going to bring (a mental preparation will be needed as well as a physical one).

DON’T: Get so stuck on your schedule that you allow an injury to occur or your feel burned out. While planning is essential, there needs to be some flexibility if something comes up that needs to be addressed. It can take months or even years to recover from an injury; it is better to change things up for a couple of days than to suffer an injury that will prevent training at all.

For a beginner to the world of triathlon competition, all the ins and outs of everything that is needed as far as equipment, training, and learning the right techniques can be quite overwhelming. Hopefully this won’t stop you from triathlon training part of your life. Triathlon is a cardiovascular sport and as such offers excellent benefits for your health. Not only will you have increased energy, but you will look and feel better as well. As a result, you will have more confidence and others will notice a difference in you. That should be reason enough for you to train for a triathlon.

For beginners, sprint triathlon training should be your first type of triathlon race. This type of race usually has a .47 mile swim, 1.4 mile bike leg and a 3.1 mile run. For a first time race, these distances are reasonable, especially if you are training correctly. Endurance training is key for sprint triathlon training. For a beginner, the best way to accomplish your goals is to train one sport at a time. Four days a week of training is the best starting point. You should also increase your distance 10% every week.

You need to know that initially your training is going to be difficult. Building up your cardiovascular endurance will take a couple of weeks. Once you achieve some endurance, however, you will start seeing positive physical changes and your health will be better as well. One thing to avoid, however, is overtraining. This can be more harmful than if you choose not to train at all. Many people don’t realize that their bodies need time to recoup after a workout. Rest actually makes your body stronger after a training session. You should include one week of a 40% reduced training session to allow your body the rest it needs. You will discover that you have more energy for your more intense training once give your body a bit of a break. This leads to workouts that are more effective too.

After 3-5 months of building your endurance, you can add the other two sports to your training schedule. So, if you trained running for the first 3-5 months then you will now add cycling and swimming to your routine. At this point, you should train each sport twice a week. This will be the time for you to work out a schedule as well. If you like to train for six days and then take a day off, then that is the schedule you should follow. You can also choose to train longer in a day, rotating sports so that you can have several days off consecutively. You may have to experiment to see which option best suits your energy levels. You will need to change things up every once in a while to create muscle confusion, this ensures that your training continues to increase your strength and endurance. Remember, everyone has bad days where they would rather stay in bed, but keeping the pay off in mind will help you to stay on track.

For a beginner, sprint triathlon training shouldn’t be an obsession. Don’t stress too much about your swimming, cycling or running speeds; instead, focus on endurance. You want to be able to finish a race; it won’t do you any good to be fast if you can’t last for the duration. Swimming is one sport that you should focus on when it comes to endurance. You should be able to swim for a half a mile without stopping; but you should shoot for a whole mile. In fact, training yourself to the point where you can complete distances further than the race you are about to compete in will put you into a very comfortable position for your race. Your speed will increase over time, so don’t stress too much about it at first.

On race day, don’t get too worked up. Relax and enjoy it, you’ve worked hard over the past year getting into good enough shape to actually compete, that is something to be proud of. A fun mentality is important. Do what you need to in order to relax and enjoy yourself. Don’t forget, this, much like anything worth doing, requires baby steps to do it right. A good training program to get you in competition shape will benefit you for all future races as well. When you are ready, you can increase your goals and take bigger steps until you are running towards your goal!