Sprint Distance Training

Triathlon Forum
1

I have been competing in sprint distance events for the past two years after several years of racing mountain bikes. As I finish out this year and begin piecing together next years training plan, I am curious about how others are training for sprint distance events.

This year my average week consisted of 2 swims (1 hr masters w/out), 2 rides (1 trainer w/out, 1 day on the road for up to 2.5 hrs), 2-3 runs (30 minutes to an hour), and 2 days in the weight room. Between family, work, and other commitments I have difficulty fitting in more. What do your weeks look like and where do you finish? Also, most of the literature I have read regarding heart rates/RPE are based upon IM events. What intensity is your training in preparation for sprint events.

2

By Sprint I hope you mean .75-20-5 and not the american short stuff.

Lets see…

4 times swim (2 ‘big seasons’ of around 5+k), then once a week I’ll swim morning+afternoon). Totals around 10-20k depending on how far along we’re into the season.

1 Long ride on Saturday (distances varies, 60-70k is the usual ride, with maybe one or two 100k rides every few months). Usually a good 10-20k TT in the middle, or a nice hilly course.

1 Trainer season of around 30-45 minutes, but I usually skip it =\

3 run practices. 1 long run of around 10-15k, 1 short run of around 5-10k with intervals and farleks, and then one run after the big ride (like 3-5k just to shock the legs a bit).

Sometimes I’ll do some weight training, but I try to stay away from it cuz I’m stil growing.

When we’re nearing a big race we’ll do some combos (maybe swim-bike-run-bike-run) and stuff like that on fridays, and cut the big ride on saturday to like 50k.

Friday is total day off.

If you’re just starting, take it slow and have fun, and don’t get injured.

I usually place top-5 in AG, with around 1:00-1:10 depending on course (I went 59:58 on Saturday, but we had sooooo much tailwind on the bike - 28:30). 16-17 ag is tough =\

I’ve been training for a little more than 2 years, and this year was when I finally began to see some real improvements (from 1:35 two years ago, to 1:20 in the beginning of this year, and since the summer my times have dropped even more).

3

focus of the year was the gulf coast half in may, then local 9-stop sprint series (typically .25 mile, 10-12 mile, 5k). been competing in sprints fairly regularly since 91.

the training distances and intensity varied throughout the summer as at the beginning i was building my bike base and coming off a few months of run focus, and then alternated the focus during the summer trying different things out (LT/V02 run work, big bike weeks, try to swim a lot weeks ;-), and max steady state (AeT) work).

swim is my strength, run is the weakness, usual top five OA

a typical week this season has been about 15 hrs, including 6 runs (1 tempo or interval sess, 1 longish, 1 short brick, 3 general aerobic (easy to AeT)), 3-4 rides (1 interval or tempo, 1 longer group, 1 spin), 3 swims (1-2 masters, 1 easy solo), 1 weight sess (maintenance).

approx HR/RPE for this has been:

swim - 20% Z1, 60% Z2, 20% Z4

bike - 20% Z1, 55% Z2, 15% Z3, 10% Z4-5b

run - 30% Z1, 60% Z2, 10% Z4-5b

key workouts for me for sprints are a) fast group ride, usually w/ solid rotation, followed by 10-20minute run of varying intensity, b) tempo or interval run session.

biggest week was ~22 hrs, smallest was 7 hrs.

4

This season, I went thru several set backs. I tried to stick to a schedule, but caught the overtrain. Then switching to a new new job…lyme disease…ankle injury…grad school, so in lew of all this, I was only able to train on average 3x per week. 1 swim, 1 run and 1 brick. I also limited my races to only sprints and OLY’s. Last season, was different as I had logged in consistant 15+ hour training weeks and did longer events. No doubt I carried over that base.

Typically, I would swim on Monday 2500 yards. Mostly longer interval sets. 200’s 300’s and 500’s. Nothing longer.

On wednesday, I would do a fartlek type workout, running about 5-6 miles inserting several 2 minute pick-ups and recovery’s after work.

Saturday was my longest day. I would do a broken brick. Typically run 30 minutes, bike 2 hours then run 30 minutes. That was it. I was just as fast if not faster this season. Even on limited training at maybe 5-6 hours/week, I was able place top 1 or 2 in my age group (male 25-29) for all my races. I was shocked to learn that I really didn’t need to put in nearly as much training to keep my fitness.

Next season will be different. I hope to eliminate set backs and hit the training much harder. But for Sprint training, I personally see no point in putting more than 10 hours/week. Anything more and you should switch your goals to doing OLY’s or half IM’s. But that’s just my opinion.

5

(and now for something completely different…)

I’m 45, and I’ve had the following results this year:

3mi/16mi/3mi duathlon: 9th overall, 2nd 40-49

2mi/300yd (run/swim): 9th overall, 1st 40-49

3mi/20mi/2mi duathlon: 19th overall, 1st 45-49

500yd/12mi/4mi (triathlon): 9th overall (top 10 got overall awards)

.5mi/14mi/5K (triathlon): 26th overall, 5th 45-49

This was after 6 years out of multi-sport racing, having done mainly bike racing (and lots of hill riding). I started running again last fall, and never put in more than about 18 miles/week running, with the “long” run about 5 miles. Started swimming again (my former strength) this winter, and usually did about 1600yds, 2-3 times per week (longest pool swim in 7 years was this morning with 2600yds!). Max bike mileage was under 150mi/week.

When I trained this year, it was usually pretty hard. I might do 4 miles on a treadmill, and descend the miles from 6:30/mile to under 5:30/mile for the last mile. Did a few track workouts, doing 1/2 mile repeats at 2:45 or so. Most runs were on hilly terrain. Swimming was sets of 100yds on 1:30 or 1:20, or 200s on 3:00 or 2:50 (I used to do 10x200 on 2:30, ten years ago), never more than about 1000yds of intervals. Biking was usually a hilly 23-30 mile loop, done as a TT, solo, with occasional longer (usually hilly) solo or group rides thrown in. I think I did three run/bike workouts, and one swim/bike workout this year.

All the hill riding over the past three years (and dropping 30 lbs) gave me a pretty good CV system, and pretty good leg turnover. This showed in my nearing lifetime PRs in some runs (albeit on the treadmill). What I lacked (and it showed as the summer wore on) was maintainable bike power; I attribute this to not doing nearly enough training for my LT (20-40 minute intervals at 90-95% of LT), nor enough long rides.

I’d skip the weights, unless you are already a good technical swimmer and you want to improve that aspect. Use that time to improve your power at LT with a couple of bike workouts. That’s what I am going to focus on this winter. 2x20 minute intervals on the trainer, twice a week, increasing the power every week or two.

Good luck.

Ken Lehner