I’m currently trying to organize training for my first triathlon in august. It’s been a year since i was heavily involved in sports aside from some cycling last year and this past month of this year so i’m not in my best shape but i’m picking it up quickly. I do find time somewhat hard to come by however due to school, work and other commitments. From my reading some sources seem to frown upon doing multiple workouts daily others seem to limit it, is there really any problem with this however as long as you provide sufficient rest time between workout days?
I’m likely joining the local ymca as this is the most convenient for overall training and schedule, so what I was likely planning on doing is in the morning drive to ymca do swim workout, bike to school(16km) from ymca then after school bike back (again 16km). I would also alternate that with running instead of swimming. I feel I could manage this if I kept it to about twice a week and then fit in another swim and run once more a week.
Does this seem like it would be a sustainable program? Would the back to back workouts be too much? Or do the books that suggest against it just suggest that out of preference or some other reason?
I don’t know how you could train without doing multiple workouts a day. You seem to have found a creative way to deal with your time constraints, though. Bravo!
With three sports involved, on some days you have to do multiple wokouts. Try to combine the swim with the run or bike. Combining the bike and run back to back (aka: bricks) is much tougher. Some people advocate bricks, but many do not. Do a search here for “bricks” and you will find tons of discussion on the subject.
Likes others have said, I find it better to swim AM and run/bike PM. I am not a morning runner though and will never run first thing unless it’s a race. I like to run off the bike, but typically for no more than 15 minutes.
This would destroy my body. And my savings account, due to the copious amounts of food necessary. That is awesome though! Moments like this make me understand when I get beat
To the OP, multiple workouts are fine. Just view a bike/run or a swim/bike as one extended effort (I doubt the body really cares too much).
This would destroy my body. And my savings account, due to the copious amounts of food necessary. That is awesome though! Moments like this make me understand when I get beat
To the OP, multiple workouts are fine. Just view a bike/run or a swim/bike as one extended effort (I doubt the body really cares too much).
x2 haha - I train 2x/day, 6 days a week, and I basically end up needing nearly double the calories that I would otherwise. That equates to double the grocery bill - one of the many hidden costs of triathlon. That and divorce.
I don’t know distance you are training for, your goals, background…I can tell you that if you have any kind of serious goal at any distance, 2 a days are a must, there is no way around it. Past certain number of hours a week and depending on the frequency of your workouts, that is the only way. Just check this frequency, common among many athletes:
swim 4x week
bike 4x week
run 4x week
12 workouts with 7 days in a week, you do the math.
There maybe more talented guys out there than me, do less work than that and are much faster than I am, but I can’t see myself competing with less than that. Sure, you can go and finish a race, maybe even run/walk it with less training, but what ever rocks your boat. I can’t see myself enjoying HIM in 6 hours with heat, wind, hills…with skimping on training. People do less, way less than this and finish races all the time, but as I said, not my way of having fun with it.
I schedule 12 workouts in 6 days. I usually make 11 of those.
Mon Bike AM, Swim Noon
Tues Run/Swim Brick Noon
Wed Bike AM, Run Noon - Every other week Brick
Thurs Bike AM, Swim Noon
Fri Bike (Long) AM, Run Noon
Sat Run (Long) AM, Swim Cool Down After Run
Sun Off
This allows me to work full time and be a husband and father.
Good luck. The scheduling thing is the hardest part of this sport.
Hisse, most of us here are pretty advanced triathletes. Multiple workouts per day are the least destructive way to get a high volume of training in. But high volume is not for you…yet.
I think you need to spend a month or two simply doing 1 hour per week. And when you run…not 1 hour…at least not for a while. That’s too much on the legs for a new runner and you will be injured. So mix in 10-15 minutes of running after every swim or bike and do this in one block of training each morning.
Then after a few months, seek to add to this.
But all that said, the running is the real risk. What you described with the swimming and biking sound fine since they aren’t destructive movements.
Just keep in mind that the comments you’ve received so far are not taking in to account your beginner status and therefore aren’t the best advice.
Come on Dave, give it a try mate, you only live once…
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Whatever your body and lifestyle can handle. Personally I’ve been able to handle 16 to 18 hours a week. Any more than that and I’m starting to over-reach. Others here can go well over 20 with no problems.
