I’m using The Triathlete’s Training Bible as a guide and I set everything up according to my weekly workout time.
I feel like I’m in decent off-season shape but every time I lift weights my hamstrings get wicked sore. Granted, I have only been hitting the weight room occasionally (like 3-4x/mo.).
Just the prep phase of my plan has me lifting 3x 45’ a week and running, swimming, biking daily on top of that. I do not want this to be a strength & conditioning vs. pure swim, bike, run thread since we have enough of those here.
What I’m wondering is will this get easier? Is it really possible to do 45 minutes in the gym of heavy lifting and run the next day?
If the lifting is 45 minutes of legs then the answer is no. Jogging maybe. I found that heavy lifting (used term loosely) and running are not compatible events. If you mean do 2-3 different excercises with 2 or 3 sets of each, and build the weight up over time, then yes you can do it. Initially you will have too much soreness if you jump in with real weight. Start out lighter and a minimum of 15-20 reps per set. Slowly decrease the reps and up the weight. This will help prevent some of the worse soreness that would compromise your SBR workouts
You lifted incorrectly. Probably too much weight. TTB recommends you start out at 20-30 reps and it’s NOT… I repeat NOT to failure. It’s relatively light.
Check your ego in at the door and ignore what all the fast twitch muscle heads are doing. Most can’t run 3 miles straight at even a 9:00 pace without puking.
I did 3 sets of low rep, high weight this morning. My legs are fatigud but not sore. I’ll have no problem running tomorrow.
Also, are you doing your runs at the correct intensity? Zone 1, means zone 1. It’s easy. You could carry on a full conversation with ease.
You also might try going to just 2x per week or do only 2 sets instead of 3 each time. I didnt regularly lift previously, so I only do 2x per week. Honestly, it took me 60-70 minutes to get through 3 sets using mostly freeweights in the “AA” strength training phase. 45 minutes?.. maybe with a home gym.
If your time crunched, I do one of my shorter runs (4-5 miles) as a warm-up before lifting. I run 6 times a week, so it’s a good time saver to just do it indoors on the treadmill while I’m already at the gym.
I’m not 100% sold on the benefits of strength training, but I do feel a little stronger running and cycling FWIM.
If the lifting is 45 minutes of legs then the answer is no. Jogging maybe. I found that heavy lifting (used term loosely) and running are not compatible events. If you mean do 2-3 different excercises with 2 or 3 sets of each, and build the weight up over time, then yes you can do it. Initially you will have too much soreness if you jump in with real weight. Start out lighter and a minimum of 15-20 reps per set. Slowly decrease the reps and up the weight. This will help prevent some of the worse soreness that would compromise your SBR workouts
Mike is on the right track. If you choose to not drop to the lower weight and higher rep sets (2 x 12 - 20 is a good starter), then you’ll want to keep your weights static, and the DOMS should subside within a few weeks. Once the DOMS subsides you should be able to run as normal or at slightly slower paces (10 - 30 s/mile ime). The harsh reality is that when you incorporate weight training you’ll be sore during the initial adaptation period, it’ll start to level off unless you continue to increase weight.
If I recall correctly from the training bible, if you’re in your 20’s to mid 30’s you can drop your weight training entirely around March/April. Over mid 30’s you are encouraged to drop to one workout a week for strength maintenance purposes. I also remember that some of the exercises seemed a bit old school. Like doing deadlifts or lunges instead of the one legged variants. Not including an extra focus on shoulders/swimming muscles in the suggested exercises for the upper body etc.
Out of curiousity, would you mind posting your strength training workouts or a typical one?
The ATP for a triathlete should have him doing leg press, dead lifts or squats, then seated row, sit-ups or core work, either leg extension or curls, then straight arm or bent are lat pull down. In the earlier phases, they add bench press and a 2nd leg exercise (lunges, dead lifts, or squats) as well. Those get dropped later as you increse weight and drop reps.
Honestly I was impressed at how quickly I adapted by using very high reps and low weight. It worked. My back however is too weak for squats, so I’m just doing leg press only.
Heavy weightlifting has always seemed counterproductive to long term triathlon training. I think there can be a significant benefit with little compromise to run training if strength training is incredibly light, like the kind of lifting petite girls do. Really do have to check the ego at the door and not overdo it. I like doing single leg stuff, because it can improve balance as well as keep my weight in check, simply because I can’t handle a huge weight load with them. Body weight exercises are generally sufficient in my opinion.
My ATP starts next Monday and I’ll feel the pain. For the first month I’ll be 2x/wk in the gym and as others have recommended as well, I’ll be using low weights/high reps and Proper Form during my Functional Strength routine. Since I haven’t been in the gym in For-Ev-Er and I’m a Fatty McButterpants tub of goo from the offseason, I’m looking forward to it ( I feel like Fatty, but I’m only 7 lbs over desired race weight…).
Thanks for the comments so far everyone. I will read everything and tweak my plan as needed. If nothing else I’ll lower the strength and conditioning so I’m not crippled by the training.
I’m 42-years-old and 140 lb. When I squat (4) 10x with 130 lb. it’s enough to make my hammies darn sore the next day. That’s not even the minimum amount I’m supposed to be lifting by most standards. That said, I think with more consistency in the weight room I’d like to get to where I’m doing (3-4) 10x @ 185 lb.+
My LSD/recovery run pace of 9:13 (treadmill) puts me at about 140bpm which is 76% of my heart rate max. My zone calculator puts that in Z2. I’m a short course athlete and I’m not really willing to go any slower than that even for recovery runs. Maybe I’m being a knucklehead for that?
You could be in the best triathlon shape of your life and feel like you are going to die if you do something that you don’t normally do,so don’t listen to those who are telling you to give it up.Hell I remember going bowling one time mid geek-season and my right arm and glutes were trashed from holding the ball and lunging for 20 or so frames.
I often wonder what the gurus here think about those triathletes with very physical jobs when they try to treat all of us like precious little flowers.Like with almost anything you do, your body will adapt.
I am one of the biggest believers in strength training for an endurance athlete granted I am not a triathlete rather a cyclist. In 2011 I ran for the first time in my life after coming off a season of not racing. Even though I trained heavy I was still able to run a sub 8 minute mile for ~10 miles once a week (at a bodyweight of 220+), and ran three other 3-7 mile runs during the week. The legs were sore but manageable. Then I went back to cycling fulltime (Cat 1). I have often said that on some days I would ride 80 miles in the morning and squat 500 in the afternoon (at a weight of 180). Point being it can be done.
Give yourself some time to adapt, it will get better.
Consider your post training nutrition, within 30 minutes have a protein shake with some ground flaxseed and glutamine.
I have 1 low body workout a week, where I squat “heavy” low reps. (1.5x body weight for a few reps, working to get to 2x body weight). What I do to help be able to still run?
I have been squatting for the last year, so it is not a new activity to me.
I am a big fan of the 1 day a week do nothing plan. This day of nothing is the day after my leg day
May have to kill it sometime in my training, but want to keep it around if I can. High reps of low weights have historical been useless wastes of times for me. I might die though. Oh well
Edit - Your main squat is 4 sets of 10? Squat less squats but more weight for IMHO better results. Looking into SS or such, you will usually do something closer to 3 sets of 5. SS would have you squat 2-3x a week though, I would dial that one back. In season I am just trying 1 squat a week to grow a little…
This is the problem with the misconception on strength training. It’s not just lifting weights, in fact, you can do a 30 minute circuit that is more effective then lifting weights using purely your own body weight.
Intensity is the biggest variable when it comes to strength training, and you can change that in several ways.
What is your strength session looking like? What are they specifically targeting? What are your personal weaknesses? What are you trying to improve with these strength sessions? Are you designing your strength sessions to accomplish this?
As above, lifting HEAVY weights isn’t the goal here. That’ll make you too sore to train and will give you minimal benefit.
Moderate weights with higher reps (15-25ish) is your best bet. It’s really an adjunct to your training. You will lose minimal speed if you skip it entirely.
I could kind of move about today so I did 45’ of walk, jog intervals on the treadmill today. I’m looking forward to tomorrow where I’m actually functional.
I’m confident that if stay on course with either less weight, fewer reps or fewer sets, I’ll be doing myself some good. Last season I had good run legs, but weak bike legs.
No way should you jump into 3 X per week, especially for a 42 y/o that used it sparingly prior. Honestly unless your a professional/full-time triathlete I see no need whatsoever to hit the gym 3 X per week. And I’'m a strength and conditioning coach. If your doing any sort of significant tri volume, 10+ hours, it would be hard to fit in the workouts around your long and or hard stuff.
For example, I really try to avoid lifting the day before on and after a long run, unless I have at least 36 hours of recovery. So if I do a Sunday AM long run maybeeee I’ll lift Monday PM.
And as another poster already said. Most of these should not be until failure.
No way should you jump into 3 X per week, especially for a 42 y/o that used it sparingly prior. Honestly unless your a professional/full-time triathlete I see no need whatsoever to hit the gym 3 X per week. And I’'m a strength and conditioning coach. If your doing any sort of significant tri volume, 10+ hours, it would be hard to fit in the workouts around your long and or hard stuff.
For example, I really try to avoid lifting the day before on and after a long run, unless I have at least 36 hours of recovery. So if I do a Sunday AM long run maybeeee I’ll lift Monday PM.
And as another poster already said. Most of these should not be until failure.
Thanks for the response. 2x/wk. sounds more reasonable to me as well. I’m capping my week at 10 hr. which is up from 8 hr. last season.
Rhabdo is not fun!