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This year I have just got into the multi-sport scene. Two years ago I was 230 lbs (I am 5'8") and was headed in totally the wrong direction. Some things happened in my life and I ended up losing 60 lbs. (I currently stay between 145 and 150 lbs.) So I felt good about myself and decided to get in shape like I was in the Army. I knew mountain biking and with the thought of my ACL issues decided to start riding. This led to experimenting with running later that year and this spring I was struggling to run 9 min miles. Over the summer I busted my butt and am currently running sub 6 min miles.
My question after all of that is this: I followed no training plan just put in about 30-40 miles a week of varying distances and speeds. Is the huge jump in performance due to having previous potential or the amount of work put in? I guess what I am am asking is the way I am training OK? Should I look into some training plans now that I am more advanced?
This winter I am mainly focusing on long rides on the trainer but plan to hit the running hard in the spring.
What are you goals? Do you want to race triathlons competitively? Which distances?
You can search these forums for workouts that would match those goals. If you're interested in long distance triathlons (half to full Ironmans), Don Fink's 'Be Iron Fit' was a perfect set up.
Most will recommend something on the order of three workouts each week for each discipline. I tend to measure workouts in hours instead of miles.
Good luck, you've already accomplished a lot.
I certainly want to be competitive. Mostly Duathlon because with 2 small kids. Its hard enough to fit in both running and cycling. I guess I failed to mention that I am really only interested in short course stuff. Possibly a 70.3 at some point but that would be just to say I did it, not competitive.
The mantra I've followed is train for your weakness, race for your strength. For me, the bike is my strength, so I spend more time running to compensate. I think in part it depends on how much time you've spent being an athlete. I've been in sports my whole life so I tend to let my body and fitness level tell me where to spend my focus, but still use a training plan as a guide. If you're just getting into a regular training regimen, I think there's real value in trying to follow a balanced plan, as training in one discipline will help you in others and work in some rest time in other phases.
I'd also recommend using something to track what you've done (training log) as it can be really helpful to see the correlation between training and results. Trinewbies has a decent intro log that is pretty easy to use.
Im definitely no new to athletics as I wrestled in high school and spent plenty of time playing basketball, football and baseball in the Army. I had just not participated in much since I tore my ACL in 03. I figure you are right as at this point my weakness is the bike so I should really spend more time on that and work in my runs too. I really like doing bricks because it helps me get used to that feeling of lead legs and how to run through it. Like you said for me as an amatuer trying to track my workouts and gauge them with results will probably help me be able to fine tune my training.
I tore my ACL in that same timeframe. Not much fun. Main thing I found when I got committed to tris was just how much dividend a regular, regimented, logical training plan paid. Don't have to follow any plan to the letter, but have goals of weekly mileage, make a commitment to time slots, and then adjust around your schedule. You're at the fun part where you'll see benefits quickly. And the good news is that the bike is one part where just time in the saddle will make a huge difference.
If you don't do it already, Garmin, or any other GPS enabled devices including your phone, combined with Strava.com (or other sites) are a great way to track your training. You can write it down, or have the computer record it and analyze it for you.