For Kirkby - Triathlon Week

Smartt/RST · 01-19-2005, 05:28 PM

KK,
I'm going public as this format allows me much more room to type...
First off, no worries, glad to help. As to your questions....
1. Is running the sport you have the most background in? And how long is the tri you are training for?
2. If swimming is your weakness, you should spend your "off season" focusing on it. If you are the kind of triathlete that never swam competitively as a teenager, then technique is probably the one area you could really improve on the most. The best way to do that is invest a little into some time with a swim coach (doesn't have to be a "tri swim coach" either). Don't worry so much about the how's and why's of speed work in the pool (I say this because pure swimmers and tri swimmers should not train the same); get someone who can just work with you on technique. Swimming is such a finese sport that the real goal is to work as little and "direction specific" as possible. IOW, simply working harder will often lead to going slower (or the same speed while using more energy).
So, now is a great time to do this, as you have lots of time before your first tri. Spend a couple of months just working on technique if that's what it takes to get it down...save the speed work for closer to 2 months out.

ken kirkby · 01-19-2005, 06:11 PM

thanks for your reply. i have ran all through junior high, high schooland i was on the cross country team in the canadian armed forces. as for the tri. it is a 1500m swim,40k bike and a 10k run. thanks for your time

Smartt/RST · 01-19-2005, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken kirkby

thanks for your reply. i have ran all through junior high, high schooland i was on the cross country team in the canadian armed forces. as for the tri. it is a 1500m swim,40k bike and a 10k run. thanks for your time

Cool. The reason I ask is that if you have always been a runner, typically you can recover from a marathon fairly well. And being a tri, you could spend the first couple of weeks after the marathon focusing on swimming, then bring on the cycling and finally the running.
Training for a marathon can provide a good final goal to your running base/build training if the longer distances are your goal, but if you are only training for an oly, this rational doesn't really apply, as you obviously don't need to be able to run that long.
So, if tri is your primary focus, then I recommend training specifically for that event first. Then take at least 6-8 weeks to focus on building your run volume for a marathon.