You don't. You cut back.

I'm a marathoner by trade and a triathlete by...um...I don't know, i'm not a triathlete, i'm a runner who pretends to be a triathlete.

When I'm training for marathons...i've run upwards of 100+ miles a week. When Im' training for Ironman, a good week of running is 45ish mile. It's just the nature of the beast when you also have to swim and bike.

You learn to pepper in the bike and swim without sacrificing any of the disciplines. A good week for me is 25% swimming, 30% running, 45% biking. But i'm a bitch and will find any reason to not swim/bike and usually see mixes more like 25% swim, 45% running, 30% biking.

If you want to be a good triathlete though, keep on running. Triathletes as a whole are just awful runners. They mostly come from swim/bike backgrounds so if you can become a strong runner, it'll carry you. I do something that resembles drowning and then somehow move along on two wheels from A to B and then can close serious ground on people who put major time on me in the first two events. Running is the key to success with triathlon! But still, you have go get in the other events, sucking at just any one event can cost you if you're competitive.

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LOL thanks :)
Yes, the idea of only running 3 times a week does not appeal to me. But then again one does have to put in the house on the bike. And swim, well, I have never swam in my life and just started, at the moment I can do 500 meters, with 30 second breaks every two pool lengths... (25m). And my left arm is weak, I can see/feel it.
And I also want to get in strength training and Yoga. Yah, right. That's like training almost every day both morning and evening.
Not to mention work and being a divorced co-parenting dad. OK this is not a rant about life :)
Anyway, I thought perhaps double up the swimming with run/bike.
Hope I can do that sub 4 marathon in February.... that means 15 minutes off the first one.
Then half IM in 2016.... and then.....
:)

Get really strong on the bike and spend a lot of time on it and get some instruction on your swim stroke and preferably work with a swim/tri coach.
You'll cut your running ks back but won't lose much aerobic fitness.

What would be a rule of thumb for bike? In running, for a marathon for example, I would do about 60km on a regular week (10-15 per day), building up to 90km when the long runs are added. What might be the equivalent on bike? (so to speak).

As much as you can fit in. You can trade of some time for intensity but if your just starting out then the more the better. 250 to 300km for Ironman training.
More if you're at the pointy end of the field.
If you're starting out and aiming for Ironman distance I'd be trying to get a minimum of 2 to 3 1 hr rides with some intensity and a long ride every week of 3.5 to 5 hrs

It depends how much time you have to train. Your running mileage seems to be about what I do with build up to 100k/week and about 60k on average. When I am doing this I am training about 20-24 hours/week.

You may want limit your running to 5x per week while keep up the mileage. You may have to forego a hard run workout. I seem to be able to handle about 1x hard workout, 1x 2-hour run at -10sec/km IM pace, 1x 50-min tempo run and 2x moderate 50-60 minute runs. In total about 6-8 hours/week.

I do about the same for the bike but longer volumes with a max long ride of 4-hours at 105% of IM pace for a total of about 10-13 hours/week.

You want to start off swimming on the right step with some coaching. I am not a strong swimmer but found this year that using fins has improved my technique and quality tremendously especially in keeping you high and flat in the water. I swim about 9-14k/week which is about 3-4.5 hours/week.

Scale back accordingly. You will find that the bike and swim training will help your running so you may want to scale back your running to get going with the bike and swim.

Triathlon is a great sport and if you love training, you can do as much as you like when doing all three!!!! In moderation of course;)

Good luck and welcome to Triathlon.

I was a runner before triathlon and had to cut back on my running to train for a HIM. Even though I ran less times and miles per week, my race times didn't suffer at all--infact, I've gotten faster. I am now done with my HIM and will be training for NYC Marathon. I will replace 2 days a week of biking with runs.

I depends on what your goals are, and as mentioned, how much time you have to train. Unless your a poor swimmer (relative to bike & run), a good ratio is around 50%,30%, 20% (Bike, Run, Swim).

Lately on my higher volume weeks, I'm around 52%, 31%, 17%.

You also have to consider 1) What you can recover from in terms of swim & bike volume. These both can take years to develop the skills and specific fitness. 2) how bad you are at swimming or cycling.

I personally think it's best to run 5-6 days a week and keep the longest run <1/3 of the weekly volume with exception to a race specific build for long course.


Triathlon should be an eye opener. If you get serious, you'll realize that run only training is easy in that you realistically can only put in maybe 8-10 hours per week at most. While triathlon, you can work up to over 20 hours per week that might still include 6+ hours of running. But it takes time and hard work to get there.

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Ruh roh . . .

My opinion is that you are asking what you need to do to train for a long tri like a half or full iron. That's the wrong question right now. Look, it's still July. Here's what you do. Sign up now for a sprint tri in early September while the season is still going (assuming you're US/Northern Hemisphere). A sprint will be 400-750 meters swimming, 10-16 miles biking, and usually a 5k. Six weeks is plenty of time to train for a sprint tri if you can run a marathon already. Pick a local sprint with a short swim, something like 400-500 meters. You've done marathon training, so running a 5k is going to be nothing, and you can put run on maintenance mode for a month or 6 weeks (2-3x a week, nothing too crazy long, some good tempo work). Swim a lot, until you are comfortable doing 1000 meters without stopping or hanging on the walls...believe me, this will come easier than you think if you get in the pool every other day. You already have some aerobic conditioning, it's just adapting to the muscle memory of breathing properly while you swim that's causing you to need to rest. Swim at least once or twice in open water with someone else. Bike a few times a week, pushing hard sometimes and going a little longer and easier other times. If you don't have a road bike, borrow one or buy a used one. Then just do the race. Don't worry about where you place, this is just a trial. IF YOU LIKE IT, then get serious over the offseason with a training schedule like you are asking about. But have fun with the first one, it's the best way to get hooked. Then you can dream about how much better you'll get with proper training and equipment. There are only two things that you have to have for the first race: (a) the ability to swim safely; (b) knowledge of the rules and a defensive biking mindset so you don't hurt yourself or anyone else on the bike course. Trust me, you'll enjoy it jumping in like this and you won't come in last.

This. A sprint will let you get a taste of triathlon without putting it all on the line.

the caveat to this, as you may know, is that your run will suffer off the bike if you are a weak biker....i know....this is how i started too. i was a strong runner but a weak biker (and still am comparatively). if your legs are cooked from the bike, you can't take advantage of your running strength.

+1

With all the running I did I still was just OK. When I started biking, swimming, yoga, weights- I was running less and cut my marathon time from about 3:15 to nearly 3 flat and my 5K from 20:00 to 17:55. Crosstraining keeps you from overworking the same muscle fibers and to some extent entire muscle groups. You just don't have the time to destroy just one set of muscles!

 
Thanks all for the great responses till now. Yes indeed, a Sprint in 2015 sounds like a nice idea. Till then just need to log a lot on the bike, keep running and also add 2-3 swims a week. Definitely a time management challenge. Fortunately my kids (6 and 8) are now OK with my not being there in the morning in case I didn't get back yet and they wake up :)
Adding the evening yoga/strength sessions will be a challenge I think...

Add too that some runners adapt well to running off the bike, while for others, their run economy really suffers. Especially long course. Look at the top 3 Kona male finishers last year, I think they look pretty mechanical in their stride. It's still a high cadence and smooth overall, but nothing like Rinny for example. But it works and they hold a solid pace.

Some runners just slow down less running off the bike compared to their open times.

Since you a strong runner, consider a duathlon as well to get your feet "wet" without getting them wet, in multisport.

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