Have the TNT'ers ever done a Tri before? You may have your work cut out for you. The first step is to set them up on very expensive bikes. This will help cover the cost of your trip to Thailand.

Drop me an email offline. I've been coaching for 3 years with TNT and can possibly give you some ideas of what to expect.

steve_hightower@vanguard.com.nospam (remove the nospam)

I'm told their expereince level will run the gamut but be very largely oriented toward the entry level. Have you ever tried to put together a training program for 30 people you've never met and all have varying levels of expereince/fitness? Realistically- this is an illustration of what is weak about the TNT system, but also what is strong about it- bringing people into the sport. I have been working ontheir training program leading up to St. Anthony's for 3 days now. It is a huge project. Thanks to the guys at Steven's creek Software who make The Athlete's Diary (which is what I use). My trip to Thailand and New Zealand is already paid for. Last year, despite the crappy economy, I squirreled away $10K for an engagement ring. That turned out to be a huge waste of time and money and never panned out. So now, the cash goes to Thailand and New Zealand. In retrospect, that is what I should have done with it all along...

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom-

My girlfriend was a TNT participant and mentor when I met her- A couple of things I noted about the program from her experience:

1. Don't let people run too hard/fast too soon. A significant number of people on the team with my girlfriend (including her) messed themselves up pretty badly with running injuries. The TNT coaches had them doing intervals on a track with less than a month of running experience. People saw huge improvements in their speed and fitness for another month, then their lack of base miles caught up with them in the form of achilles, hip, knee, foot, etc. problems. Inexperienced athletes (stereotypically, the majority of TNT participants) must be patient with the base miles. They're setting themselves up for years of chronic injuries otherwise.

2. Try to encourage group cycling skills. The TNT program here discouraged pack riding and drafting- most likely because of safety/liability concerns during training and because it's not allowed in races. My personal feeling is that learning to be comfortable in a group of people makes you a more safe, and better rider. The few TNT rides I went on tended towards a road cyclist's worst nightmare of a stereotypical triathlete's ride; a group of people all riding from point A to point B at their own pace and totally alone. Riding as an orderly group minimizes waiting at the gathering points, helps promote friendships, etc. and makes the group much more safe as a whole (It's easier for cars to see and pass a cohesive group then a line of cyclists strung out over several miles). Plus, it helps new athletes appreciate and enjoy part of what makes cycling such a wonderful sport.

3. The rules and etiquette of racing in triathlons. The impact of inexperienced TNT participants in large races has been beaten to death on the message boards/forums. Teach them how to interact and coexist with their fellow athletes on the race course.

I hope you enjoy yourself - working with new athletes can be tremendously rewarding. I'm sure you'll notice that the TNT program is a great way to meet active women as well... too bad it's unethical to date the women you're coaching :) Let us know how things go.

-J

Thanks jeffm! This is exactly what I was looking for. In the first four weeks of the training program I have them doing "hard walks" instead of running. I know some of these guys are going to look at this program and say "This is stupid, walk an hour fast?" but it is to avoid exactly what you pointed out. Also, given the varying level of fitness and expereince the program will have to me heavily individuallized. I also agree with you on the etiquette and group riding skills. One of the big obstacles we face is training during the winter. That puts a cramp on the group riding thing a little. Now, if we could just do something about those awful purple uniforms...

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

If your looking for advice, I'd start them off in a pool. Maybe also try and find a dedicated swim coach to come in and help everyone from time to time. Swimming is going to take the most work for most new triathletes. Six weeks of new biking, your okay. Six weeks of new running, you can finish a 5K. Six weeks of swiming, not much.

I'd strongly recomend starting the first week with a couple of dedicated swim technique, critique sessions. Make sure everyone can freestyle, and have a back up stroke to survive with (i.e. breast stroke, backstroke, dogpaddle....)

Good luck, and I feel for you on those whole purple jersyes, what they need all need is a nice new purple Cannondale MS5000.

We actually have a dedicated swim coach (thankfully). I am not a good swimmer so that was mandatory. It will be interesting. And those purple uniforms: It is my mission to make those go away. That is a big reason why some people won't have anything to with TNT.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom,

This is not a rant aginst TNT, just an attempt to understand the facts. I was asked to donate to a TNT athlete who stated that "75% of my donation would go to treatment and research for leukemia and lymphoma." I declined because I felt certain that TNT could not afford to hire coaches and fly people all over the world to do triathlons on the remaining 25%. I looked on both the TNT and Leukemia and Lymphoma websites and they both make the 25% expense/75% treatment and research claim. My guess is that TNT is a subsidiary of L&LS, and that 75% of what TNT takes in goes to L&LS and then L&LS takes another 25% off the top for administrative expenses, advertising, etc. Therefore, only 56.25% of what I give a TNT athlete actually gets to treatment and research. Am I on the right track or off base? I have asked other TNTers about this, but got the Mormon missionary treatment (party line) from them. BTW, to assuage my guilt feelings about not chipping in, I went to the L&LS website and made a direct donation.

Thanks,

Brian

Tom - I'm a coach for TNT and have been involved with a number of different chapters. All of the programs I've seen have had different workout options for each session based on skill level (ez, med, hard). You can break them down however you like, but a logical way might be to group your participants into two or three categories: Beginner, Basic, Experienced or whatever you want to call them (examples: Age Group, Elite, Pro OR Basic, Advanced, SUPER STUDS etc. most people will gravitate towards the easier end...). The participants can then choose the workout that is appropriate for their skill level - and at the beginning you can instill the fear of God in them that the hard one is for experienced athletes only and they will get injured if they go too hard - by the end as people get fitter they can move up in difficulty level. The main goal of your program is to have EVERYONE want to keep going until the end of the program and be able to FINISH the triathlon - this means it needs to be challenging for the experienced people that want to feel like they're doing something special and FUN enough for the beginners to make them enjoy coming to practice and working their butts off. This can create logistical problems, but there are ways around it. I'd say skill oriented drills and a mandated stretching program are the two essentials. Other than that, keep it fun and challenging for all. I'm sure, with your experience in the sport you'll do a great job. There will be A LOT of questions, but you'll get a lot of bike biz out of it for sure. There are a lot of people without bikes that sign up for these things. It's a kick - you're going to love it.

Yeah, I wondered about the morality of leading a band of mercenaries. Basically, I am just a soldier in this. I don't know too much about the inner workings (yet). But you better believe, I will find out. If I find a rat, I will blow the whistle. My slant on it right now is that if it benefits leukimia victims it is a good cause. I am interested to learn the nuts and bolts of it though. It will be interesting.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Tom,

For ideas for training programs for novices, check out the plans at http://www.trinewbies.com/1TP.htm

I used one of their plans for my first race and felt I was fairly well prepared. I modified the plan, but used it for a foundation to work off of.

Good luck!

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Andy

'You'd be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Thinsg Are As They Are.'

To expand on jeffm's excellent contribution: Please keep them off the track! First-timers who are mostly inexperienced runners have no business doing speedwork -- MAYbe an occasional pace or tempo run for a longtime runner.

My local public track is deluged with a different TNT group every single weeknight (marathoners as well as triathletes). It's hard to get in a good workout when 60 people take off on a 20-minute tempo run on the track all at the same time.

The TNT groups use our track as a meeting place and for clinics, stretching, etc., because it is a big open place with lighting at night. The meetings are fine, but I think it's totally inappropriate for them to take over the track (all lanes!) with a huge group oblivious to what other people are doing and clueless about track etiquette. The track is very popular and very crowded already.

You have a great opportunity to create some good citizens of the endurace-sport community. Teach them well. I wish you good luck. And I hope to meet you in NZ!

I got some information on that yesterday and was seriously considering it. I allready have a coach and was going to talk it over with him. I would like to train under him but still raise the money for the chairity. I believe that tri is in late April which will be about 6 weeks before Eagleman, and I have allready signed up for that one so I don't want to do the speed training for an olympic.

So many questions I still have.

jaretj

Tom,

I coached the St.Louis Chapter for St.Anthony's last spring. I had a great time and everyone finished. Honestly, I thought a couple people wouldn't finish, but they pulled through. Times ranged from 2:30 to 4:00.

The one thing they all pointed too as helping greatly was the individual swimming work I did with them. We had very little outdoor training due to the harsh winter we had here. So we swam every Sunday evening, lots of drills in the frist couple of months, moving into more swimming specific workouts and intervals. We did a 10X100 workout every 4 weeks so they could gauge their improvement.

My group never did large volume, long rides in the 40 mile range, a long run of 12 miles, and long swims around 3000 meters for experienced swimmers, 1500-2000 for beginners. I preached consistency in training, not relying on several super or special sessions. This helped them see more progress, along with weight loss, which seemed to be the greatest motivator of all.

Most people thought the fundraising was harder than the race, others thought it was assembling their bikes in the hotel. Either was they all had a good time, and all made it to the post-race party for some beverages.

I'm a USAT Level 1 coach, and most people thought it was below me to coach TNT, but I got alot out of it. Regardless of who you coach, you always learn something. Plus it was relaxing to work with people not obsessed with their split times and gear.

Ariel:

If you haven't done so already, I'd suggest you (or better yet, you and your training partners, if you have them) talk to the TNT coaches some night when they're out there, and let them know that their TNTers are not following track ettiquette. I'm sure the coaches would be more than happy to instruct their teams on proper track ettiquette and try to enforce it so as to make training a fun experience for everyone there (not just the TNTers).

I got into this sport through TNT, and to be honest with you, until your post, I'd never even heard of "track ettiquette." Those of you with experience can help those of us without it to be more courteous athletes. However, if we don't know what the ettiquette is... we can't conform to it.