Derny Driver wrote:hey Ash, you haven't really given us much to go on, no age or gender. I'd like to know exactly what you do for training each week, how much swimming, biking and running you do. I did 3 years of triathlon and loved it before switching to cycling.
The hamstring problem could be a number of things, Seat too high or too far back, not stretching enough or pushing too hard a gear at too low a cadence. It could possibly be related to / aggravated by your running as well. Get a shop or and experienced cyclist with a good eye to have a look at your set up.
A half ironman may be possible with a proper training program but by the look of things, I would concentrate on getting the shorter distances right before stepping up to the Half. 2:50 is reasonably slow for an OD and Im sure there is plenty of room for improved times at the shorter distances first. (I did 2:16 in my first OD)
Yes get some clip ons and slide your seat forward a bit so you are comfy when you are on the wally bars.
As a beginner can I suggest you prioritise swimming first, getting good technique and some stroke correction with a squad .. 4 sessions a week. This will give you good base fitness for the other legs. Second priority is your cycling, getting good cadence of around 90 rpm, skill practice around corners and cones, keep the upper body, shoulders and head perfectly still ... don't worry too much about speed, just good cadence and technique. Speed will happen naturally as you build experience and fitness. 3 - 4 rides per week of 50-60km, you can include 1 or 2 indoor trainer sessions if you want but make sure you get out on the road a bit as well. Running - don't do long kilometres as you will be risking injury. Start with 4 or 5 k runs at good speed. Learn to run 2km nice and fast then build up from there, to 3, 4, 5, 10. No point in being able to jog 20k at snails pace. I'd run 3 times a week and keep them short to begin with.
Hey Derny, thanks heaps for the in depth reply! I will tackle it as best I can!
I am 23 and male. 23 you might assume young and fit, whilst I am young at the start of this year I was not at all in any sense of the word, fit. Sorry I did not add more info in, usually I am a culprit of waffling on far to much!
My training so far has been roughly following 'The Time crunched triathlete'. Although it is aimed at the titles namesake achieving wining performances, I used it as a guide to build up for my first few. It went from about 5 hours a week up to about 8. Roughly, I was doing each sport twice a week. One of a more high intensity workout, and the other has more of an endurance one. But my weekend cycle was always doing Mt Dandenong with dad. I wasn't aiming for amazing performances, I set modest goals and was aiming to have some fun, try triathlon and build some base fitness, which I think I have. I knew my Olympic distance time was pretty slow, but I had an absolute ball. I was aiming for under 3 hours with my level of fitness, and it was a great challenge!
As a rough guide, my 'bigger' weeks were probably a 2000m swim (with warm up, technique drills, then endurance sets), an hours cycling, 45mins running, 1600m swim (warm up, technique, speed drill), 2 hour cycle, 45-1hour run. All this was over 4 or 5 days usually. As it got closer to the last sprint event and the Olympic, work was pretty busy and physically intense as well, so some weeks was a bit less!
Thanks for all the training advice as well! I was planning to use the winter to build up even more, both speed and endurance wise, but I can see why focusing on speed first is a good idea!
Any recommendations for good swim squads around Melbourne? Same goes for shops to do a bike fit! I have a seen a few that do a 'retul' fit, is this worth doing? I am very keen to get my fit sorted out!
Thanks again!
), I think building up distance at full pace is going to be easier than running 20kms at 5:30. Getting the proper running form is going to be harder than getting the heart going.