So i am wondering how can i manage to do 65 consitant miles a week of running ontop of biking and swimming? How will my body react? Is it worth going for and seeing if i fail? The reason i wanna do a lot of miles is because i want to build up a base to drop a 15:30 5k but also wanna start training for tri’s.
Background of me:
I am currently a division one cross country runner who is trying to make a big impact in this coming season in triathlons. I had an amazing past season since i took it a lot more serious. I had several 1st in my AG and one 2nd overall. sorrry if this is very brief.
If you’re that good a runner you should focus on the other two disciplines. My guess is 35-40 miles a week would be sufficient for you to stay faster than most of the competition.
It depends how much you’re already running. If you’re doing 70-80+, then 65 plus swimming and riding won’t kill you. If you have time to do an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, you could easily hit 3 swims, 3-4 bikes, and 7-8 runs every week. Make your easy runs are easy though.
Have you already run 15:30? I will say, from personal experience, it’s very difficult to get better at running and at triathlon at the same time. You have to make certain sacrifices w/ your run training, and training for the 10k in an olympic is a lot closer to training for a half marathon than it is an open 10k (more tempo/steady/strength stuff than track work) - so going out and running 4:57’s is pretty hard off of that kind of training, unless you’re already speedy miler or already a sub 15 guy.
If you’re still in college, I would just focus on running. You can never be ‘too good’ at running, and you have all the time in the world after college to do triathlons. Once you turn to the dark side, you can kiss any shot at pr-ing at stuff 3k and down away, and even the 5k will be tough (at least in my experience).
So i am wondering how can i manage to do 65 consitant miles a week of running ontop of biking and swimming? How will my body react? Is it worth going for and seeing if i fail? The reason i wanna do a lot of miles is because i want to build up a base to drop a 15:30 5k but also wanna start training for tri’s.
Background of me:
I am currently a division one cross country runner who is trying to make a big impact in this coming season in triathlons. I had an amazing past season since i took it a lot more serious. I had several 1st in my AG and one 2nd overall. sorrry if this is very brief.
It all depends on how fast you do those 65 miles.
But more seriously, you need to define your #1 priority. Everything would just revolve around that. If the priority is triathlon, like folks here say, you need to work on your weaker disciplines. Bike is obviously more important than swim because you spend more time on the bike. Either way you will get more value of a marginal hour swimming or biking than a marginal hour of running.
It’s hard to do both. I ran track and cross in college ( just finished last May). But I only swam and biked (and competed) during the summer. I also had a fair amount of success on both ends too. I pulled out a few fast tri’s and some fast times on the track. But never at the same time. I told myself that I would wait until i finished my college career then I would hit the tri’s hard. That turned out to be an epic fail. I took a solid 6 months off of mental down time. After racing in college I was super stressed and never happy with how I performed. I’m back at it now, but I’m in the same boat as you right now, just a different race. My goal is to run a sub 4:05 mile this indoor season while getting an awesome tri base in.
I believe it can be done, but if I were you, focus on track during the winter and spring and when your done, use the summer as your tri season. It’s more like cross training and easier on your body.
There are a few threads on this, one fairly recently.
No one ever said at the finish of a triathlon “Gee I ran too fast out there today.”
As a former D1 xc runner, triathlete and coach I will tell you to forget about training for triathlon during your xc season. Become the best runner you can be in college. If you aren’t getting a sub 15:30 done on 65 you should try 75 or 85 or have your coach restructure your training to get it done. Sure you can swim 1-2 days per week to keep your feel of the water then buy a beater bike and ride to class.
The best weapon you can possess in a triathlon is a very fast run split. The bike will come to you, the swim you might need help with depending upon technique.
Let me remind you about one fact.
It’s all about the run. Run like shit, place like shit both in D1 xc and triathlon.
Mackenzie Madison did both while she was at Iowa State and its working out pretty well so far. But she could run forever without thinking about it so that helped a lot.
As a former D1 xc runner, triathlete and coach I will tell you to forget about training for triathlon during your xc season. Become the best runner you can be in college. If you aren’t getting a sub 15:30 done on 65 you should try 75 or 85 or have your coach restructure your training to get it done. Sure you can .
You may agree with me here, but I think I was too tired during xc season to even touch swimming or biking. I tried for a week but after that I realized it was impossible.
If I were you, I would worry just about running. Do tri-training in your off season if you feel like it but don’t go overboard. Treat it as a break. Don’t worry about “Making an impact” in triathlon until you are out of college. Running on a D1 college team is a rare opportunity that will never come again. Make it your athletic priority. It will teach you a discipline and pain threshold and sheer toughness that will serve you very well in later years of triathlon.
As mentioned, it’s hard to get better at running and tris at the same time (you can put in the same running mileage, but it won’t be the same quality). Stick with running during the XC/Indoor/Outdoor seasons with maybe 1 bike and 1 swim per week to keep in practice. After outdoor start hitting the bike and swim hard and race tris in the summer.
If you do serious tri training during the season prepare for both your coach and teammates to disapprove (highly). They will see it as harming your running, a lack of “all in” commitment, and harmful to the team’s chances.
Get your running PRs now and enjoy NCAA, peak age for traithlons is 27-32 so you have lots of time to develop.
FWIW I’m a former D1 Track/XC guy (~65mpw), so I speak from some experience.
Agreed, the level of pain in college running is absolutely amazing. I had a teammate use triathlon to stay in shape over the summer, and he’s leading his team to nationals this year. Triathlon can help. But I wouldn’t do them both at the same time. Tony and Lukas, both amazing junior level triathletes don’t really start their triathlon training until after track season over their summer. 1st and 3rd at Junior Elite worlds is hard to argue with. I also agree with you saying that the d1 athletics scene teaches you a ton of discipline. I only ran one semester of college xc, before I transferred but now I treat triathlon like a d1 sport. Which I hear will help my success later on down the road.
Keep running as much and as fast as you can, as college running is really special and when you are done you are done.
If I was young and had the chance to run D1 and run 15 flat, I would put tri on the back burner, no question.
Tri will always be there. Tri is for old people. The youth window is longer for tris, even if you think you are fast enough to be an excellent short course racer.
Anecdotes: This one dude swam D1, swam oly trials, finished 4th, started tris and was in the Olympics two years later (Potts); This other chick was doing community service in Nepal and just hiking a lot, two years later she won Kona (Chrissy). They both waited to age 25 to get serious about tris and both are doing pretty well now in their 30s.
Agreed, the level of pain in college running is absolutely amazing. I had a teammate use triathlon to stay in shape over the summer, and he’s leading his team to nationals this year. Triathlon can help. But I wouldn’t do them both at the same time. Tony and Lukas, both amazing junior level triathletes don’t really start their triathlon training until after track season over their summer. 1st and 3rd at Junior Elite worlds is hard to argue with. I also agree with you saying that the d1 athletics scene teaches you a ton of discipline. I only ran one semester of college xc, before I transferred but now I treat triathlon like a d1 sport. Which I hear will help my success later on down the road.
what school does he run for? I talked it over with a couple runner and it basically going to be a trial run for if i can hold it during the summer. I just need to find the right level of biking and swimming with running.
As a former D1 xc runner, triathlete and coach I will tell you to forget about training for triathlon during your xc season. Become the best runner you can be in college. If you aren’t getting a sub 15:30 done on 65 you should try 75 or 85 or have your coach restructure your training to get it done. Sure you can .
yeah 65 is pretty low for a 5k
For a sub 14, sure. But to go 15:30? Should be able to do that on 40/week if you train right and have the talent to run D1. That leaves plenty of time to swim and ride.