I am fairly new to triathlon - 3 seasons - and 36 years old. What I find interesting about the sport is the challenge of improving in several disciplines at the same time. But, at times, it seems like progress in one discipline is inhibited by the need to train in all three plus strength training (which helps at my age). Has anyone out there ever considered or attempted to dedicate a season to one discipline? In my particular case it would be running.

I was considering working on my running for most of next season with the normal (increased) rest or downtime associated with single-sport training. I would use cycling and swimming as cross training. I presume that I would still be able to do a couple of tris but would stick mostly to Oly and Sprint and do only road races later in the season - 15K, 1/2M - peaking for a marathon in the fall.

Is this a prudent approach to improving my running for triathlon or would I be a better triathlete by continuing to train in all three sports? Has anyone done this in the past? Since I am in the mid-Atlantic, I also have the potential for running all year. Should I, or can I, do tri during the season and then use the fall and winter months to dedicate to running? Any input would be helpful.

Steve