My question is what it the general consensus on how to train for a series of races like this? Is training as if it were a half IM enough? Or, does one train over the half distance given the cumulative distance in such a short period?
I’m a 4 time finisher, maybe this year I’ll taper right for this race 
Train you max time available as if you were training for a HIM.
In addition to your long stuff and LT stuff, add a lot of hard 3 to 5 min intervals on the bike and run during the last 6 weeks before the race.
Pace the races out…you should not go as fast as you normally would. Expect to go 20 to 25 min slower for the Oly’s and an hour slower on the Half.
Race execution is key to this event, you need to be able to ride and run fairly strong on sunday.
jaretj
oh dammit. Don’t get me thinking about the TTT already!
Train like HIM but be ready for an IM effort. Pacing to have legs on Sunday is critical. Hills, hills, hills…
I think it depends on your goals for the race. If you’re using it as a training weekend, you can go a little lighter on the training. If you’re looking for peak performance on a stage race, you need to 1) train longer than you would for HIM and 2) work on your recovery, bricks, bike/swim combo, etc.
BTW, I’m looking to do another TTT tune up camp in late April or early May. Getting familiar with the terrain will help too.
I had success approaching it a little more volume than HIM but with more shorter intense/interval sessions thrown in. I did 1 and usually 2 pretty tough hill runs per week and long bike rides were between 3-4 hours but these were also done on the computrainer since weather was cold in Chicago leading into TTT. Also, I did some obscure bricks just to simulate the obscurity of the race- r/b/r, r/b, s/b/s, etc. 2 week taper similar to IM.
Like others said - it definitely depends on your goals for the race. Train for a half, or like me, a little less than a half, if you are looking to finish a great training weekend (I actually went into TTT thinking I might not finish, but I did solidly in the MOP for my gender on something less than what I consider appropriate half training).
If you want to be one of those folks in front though, you will need to train for something longer than a half but with more intensity / quality workouts … It would also not hurt if you were a rock solid cross country runner at some point in your life
Looking forward to some of the suggestions on this thread and am very exited about doing this race for the first time!
Gosh, I’d say that I don’t train for the race. For me, it’s just a long training weekend that requires a few off days afterwards.
Given that its May I’d show up with at least Base 1 or maybe coordinate it so that your starting Base 2 of HIM work.
If people are training to be their best then I don’t understand why anyone would train less for a HIM than a full IM. That sounds like sub-optimal training.
The training would be different but not less.
jaretj
Last year was my first Triple T. Although I did it as a team, and didn’t have to go too hard on the last two races, I was definitely in the running for the over-40 crowd through the first 2 races.
Triple T was a “B” race for me, coming 4 weeks after a peak for Duathlon Short Course Nationals.
I did some 60+ running weeks over the winter, and then ramped up the cycling in late January into March. I did mostly shorter, harder cycling indoors on the trainer. Very few rides over 2.5 hours. I didn’t swim much until after Du Nats in April, after which I swam every day up to TTT.
I was VERY comfortable in TTT, and felt like I could have contended for podium in my division if I’d raced solo.
I’ll be using a similar approach this year, but with more volume, and will be racing solo. I’ll have some 80-100 mile running weeks through January. I’ll then have a couple of months with 10+ hours/week on the bike. I’ll swim a lot in November and December, but then back off Jan-Apr while I peak for Duathlon Nationals. I’ll swim every day up to TTT after that again. Oh…and I’m probably going to do Tetsuoni’s American Zofingen 104 mile sufferfest a week or two (whichever date that is) before AmZof. Yeah…I know…I’m a masochist.
My goal is podium Male Masters Solo.
If I had to guess, I’d say the speedwork and faster stuff I did for the Du Nats helped tremendously in my ability to recover from the different race efforts. I was able to bounce back really well for the third stage, and felt really strong on Sunday. I think if you do a typical AGer IM-type training, focusing on endurance to go the distance…you’ll suffer from the repeated stages. Its one thing to do all that mileage in one day. Its another thing entirely doing 4 distinct race efforts over 3 days.
I have trained like this and done just fine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIUCWuoJV60
Ok, for real like JamieJ said train for the HIM sunday with the expectation that the whole weekend is an IM effort.
If you train to run a l lot of hills when you are tired off the bike you will do fine…and Triple T is the greatest race weekend ever!
Andrew
The results show that you did it solo. You should contact them to fix the results.
jaretj
He didn’t do it solo! he took some long rests waiting for me. including about an hour nap in a field waiting for me to finish the last run. that’ll teach the masochist to bring along company to the party. Great weekend though. Due to a lot of commitments raced on training from about 10 years ago. Still managed to have a blast and enjoy a great race.
Is the bike course hilly enough that a road bike is better than a tri bike?
If T1 and T2 are in the same location or at the approximate same elevation, a tri bike is better. With maybe one or two exceptions. (Triple T is not one of those exceptions.)
you can do a search for several threads on this topic on the forum. for my $.02-
if you are racing - ride a tri bike as you would for an IM - set up for comfort and speed with some little gears. if you are just training - a road bike is fine and probably not much slower overall. most people ride tri bikes.
Many thanks for the input.