Questions for any posters who have run under 2 hours flat for the olympic distance triathlon (or come close):
What training got you there (mileage, structure of workouts, duration, periodization, etc…)
What were your splits during the race(s) you went sub 2?
What else was important for getting you there (hiring a coach, improved equipment, nutrition)?
What type of race did you do it in (a small one where you were up front, a huge one where you were lost in the pack, something in the middle)?
I have set my 2:00 as my goal for this summer, and have been building toward it since January. I am however new to the sport (first full year in June) and have never even actually done an olympic distance race. However, I believe my performances at shorter distances last summer when I started, and in recent training suggest it is possible. I am looking to cover all my bases and really focus my efforts on this for the next few months and am hoping there might be some good advice out there.
The round numbers that you need to be shooting for depending on your individual strengths are 20 - 22 min on the swim, 1:00 give or take a few minutes on the bike and then about a 35 minute run, again give a take a few minutes on either side of this.
The first thing you have to determine is, can you do those times as stand-alones now? If you can then you are in good shape. If not, then that’s where you will need to put in the most work. Your history and your strengths will factor in as well where you should be spending the most time.
Volume is important, if for no other reason, than this is almost a totally aerobic event. So a moderate volume in all three sports in the early season will not hurt you at all. Then as race season approaches you need to start to zero in on the paces, that you need to be at, to achieve those time goals in each of the sports, and spend more and more time at, or under those paces.
I am not too sure I ever broke 2hr, as when I did, I was suspect of the courses. Here is the way I looked at it. My goal was always 2hr. Ave 2min in transitions. You have to be quick in and out. Then I needed.
Break an hour on the bike. That is pretty flying on the ride.
Swim low 20s. I swam in college so 21-23 wasn’t too much a stretch.
Run sub 38. I always sucked at running and my flat out 10 k was low
35 min. That was always the tough one since I hammered so much on
the bike.
Don’t know you from the man on the moon, but either have to run faster than me or swim like a fish, cause it is pretty hard to split under an hour and have much left.
The real tough guys laugh at my 37 min 10k split, as there are a ton of folks that can get off and run a 34-35 min 10k and whip my ass. Now I am old and I am not too sure I will ever see 2:20 again. G
At the moment I am hitting the following times in each individual event in training (ie. none are race efforts, but are hard):
24 min 1500m swim
1:04 min 40K bike
33high for the run
I realize this works out to about a 2:07 at the moment, and I definetly see 2hr as a ambitious (but realistic) goal. I come from a running backround (31:26 10K on the track) and am not really banking on improving the run beyond maybe 33 mid as I am not putting any time into it (30 mpw max). I am brand new to both biking and swimming (particularly swimming) though and think I have a lot of room to improve. I am putting in about 3500m in the pool and 4-5hr on the bike a week, all aerobic pace steady work. I have about 10hr per week for training. I am looking for input to help me focus those hours and the limited money I have for the best results.
One of my big questions is what would be a bigger help, buying a wetsuit or paying for some coaching (I can only afford one)? I already have a good road bike with aerobars.
This is how I see it based on your performances… Your running is obviously strong but you really need to work on that bike and be able to bike a 58 min 40k standalone in order to have enough reserves after a 1 hour bike to have a solid run. I think the bike is extremely important in Oly races. Many great runners have come in staggering to the finish line because they left their running legs on the bike. Your swimming needs to come down to 21 minutes in my opinion. You will be well back of the sub 2 hour competitors if you have a 24 minute 1500m standalone swim performance. You need to be able to knock off 21 minutes in the race. Running after a hard bike session is vital to improve performance and accustomize yourself to feeling like sh1t. You can easily improve your triathlon run leg by working on this. Even if the run is 10 minutes. Get your transitions down to seconds. Practice doing them. Any extra time spent in transition is naturally wasted.
I cannot remember the actual numbers, but for weak swimmers like yourself, a wetsuit will save you a couple of minutes easy. If you have the money, get a wetsuit. Skip the coach - just keep posting questions for advice from knowledgable forum members. That’s my take on it.
That’s important background Info. I would suggest that you have the most to gain then from the swim and more importantly the bike. You might want to think about doing a bike focus or camp for 2 - 3 weeks and or the same for the swim during another 2 - 3 week stretch. Perhaps doing a couple of cycles of this. You will find that your run will stay remarkably the same if you cut out the junk and just focus on quality running( I had a similar run back ground). Three key run sessions a week are all some one like you needs - even less to just maintain.
If new to triathlon, you need to get used to running off the bike. You can get this from racing frequently or going for short 15 - 20 minute runs after your rides( I know I said cut out the junk running, but this is more functional training than building real run fitness).
Not sure what to say about the Wetsuit vs. the coach. Both are important. The wetsuite is worth a minute or two in the swim and the coach - well that’s more difficult to quantify.
Thanks for the great responces. I had been toying with the idea of dropping all running save for my long run, a track session, and maybe one easy day, and now I think thats what I’l do for the next few weeks so I can add more swimming and biking.
So far I’ve had no real structure in my training for all three displines and have just been putting in the miles with one lond interval day a week in each.
I plan to keep this up for another month or so and then start something more focused. What should a post base period swim or bike week look like?
Again thank you for the help,
Craig
PS - I think I’ll be going for the wetsuit - sounds like short of EPO it will make the biggest difference.
Oh, man, I’ve been under 2 hours in every Olympic distance I’ve ever done (10?). I’m not going to waste my time telling how my training was done…because while I was under 2 hours in every Olympic I’ve ever done, I had not yet crossed the finish line at the 2 hour mark. Sort of like how I play golf: always in the 70’s…any cooler than that and it’s too cold, any warmer and it’s two hot
Wetsuit helps…the worse you are at swimming, the more it helps…just be sure to practice in it first! Biking should set up your strength on the run. How fast can you run a 10K when you are tired? Balance that ability with how tired you let yourself get on the bike. Unlike many people here, I say don’t worry about your HR getting high on the swim. Anytime I try and keep my HR down on the swim (like this AM), I don’t swim nearly as fast as my potential…and I NEVER seem to be adversely affected on the bike or run after a high HR swim. I have to bust a lung on the swim to get through it as fast as I can in order to have a good day, because I don’t bike faster nor run faster after taking it smooth and easy on the swim. I’m talking Olympic and sprint races now…half-iron and iron-distances are another animal.
Anyway, see if that helps you like it helps me…go ahead and swim hard (not wildly, not ineffectively, I just mean go ahead and redline it) and compare your overall times with races when you keep it subdued on the swim.
You are off to a good start, but be patient. If you are for real, and you have just been at it a year, you should get better and faster for 5-10 seasons before you plateau (just like marathon runners).
Definitely work on swimming and especially biking, no reason to work a lot on your run if you know you can 33 10K when in top form so probably a 35 10K with minimal running … Think how many years it took you to get fast at running, it will take you just as long to get fast at biking and swimming … Honestly, I would worry less about time and more about learning and placing. I’m starting my third serious season and went from 2:30 (hilly course) to 2:11 (flat bike but hilly run) … Time is relative to the course. I was at 2 races this year won by the same pro (strong cyclist, top 3-5 in lots of Iron mans). He went like 1:54 in one, but went 2:05 or so in the other, because of the hilly and longish bike course. Good luck!
That’s a great point. Focus on being competitive with the people, age-group or overall, that you want to be compatitive with. Times are all over the map in this sport, due to courses and weather. Also, tri courses are notorious for being not properly measured. If you are competitive the times will come. Better, to focus on times in the seperate events 1500m swim, a 40K ITT, 10K road race etc., those are good benchmarks to work from. You still have to put it all together on race day, though.
Seek out the best people in your area to train with, either triathletes or single sport people. They will help you.
Like Fleck said, definitely get with people strong in each sport: Last season I went on 5-6 punishing group rides with roadies and that helped. If I go a dozen times this summer, I’m sure it will help more. I also hooked up with an older guy who rides a lot and has for 20 years … and my dad who is an animal (roadie) … Just in Feb. and March I have been getting tips from a woman who swam in the 2000 olympic trials, and just working on the 3 or 4 things she said to work on is helping my swim training.
I can’t help but compare myself to the pros and elite guys ahead of me, and their splits: Sure, I could shave a minute or 2 off my swim; running too; but all signs say I have yet to really learn to ride my bike!
I have never broken two hours but I’ve been below 2:05 multiple times on hilly/rolling courses.
Besides the bust your ass to get faster part, work on little things because it takes little things to get faster when you are going that fast. Especially transitions. If you have GREAT transitions, it can literally shave off about a minute maybe a minute and a half off your total time. That is huge when you’re right on that barrier line. It definitely made the difference for me. I won an Oly this summer by only two seconds simply due to my transitions were a lot faster than the guy who took second.
Also, train with sport specific people that are wicked fast. The best help you’re going to get with each individual sport is the people who are constantly doing it.
BEST OF LUCK! Hopefully you and I will be under it this summer.
If you are able to swim that well on only 3500m per week, I would say you should focus on the bike for a couple of months. Biking and running rely on a similar physiological profile, so I think you will see some pretty decent returns there in a hurry. Not that 1:04 sucks, but you have several minutes to improve there. By way of reference, I can only do a standalone 10k in about 40 minutes, and I regularly do better than 1:04 for a 40k bike split on flat to rolling courses.
2x20 minutes are key workouts for 40k type efforts. You go HARD for 20 minutes, take no more than 2 minutes easy and then nail it again. You should be going at your Bike Lactic Threshold Heart Rate, which will be several beats per minutes lower for you than running with your running background. You probably aren’t doing hard enough biking workouts. For some reason, suffering on the run comes naturally, but if you don’t have experience cycling, it’s easy to get into the “I’ll just go for a fun bike ride” mode when you begin cycling. You are alot less likely to get an injury biking than running, and it sounds like you are a youngster anyway, so get out there and get some suffering in on the bike. Just like running, not every workout should be a sufferfest, but you can do more intensity work on the bike than the run.
Ok, I have raced sub 2 hours(1:51 on a short course, 1:54, 1:56, 1:57).I think the swim is really important. If you swim faster, at least 20 minutes, hopefully faster, you get out with better athletes most of the time. You’re doing non drafting events, but competing a legal distance w/ better athletes will raise the level. Don’t make the mistake I did early (I am a runner as well, similar times) . Keep your running strong. Even though you’re a pretty good runner (guys with our speed aren’t great) you will lose it if you back off running too much. Don’t ignore your strength, b/c you have to have something you’re really strong at to fall back on during tough races, and will be key to racing at the level you want.
Advice: Join a swim club, pick up the bike mileage w/ some decent intensity, and keep your running strong. Don’t forget core work.
Sub 2 hours isn’t amazing, but you’ve got to train pretty seriously to do it. Good luck man.
If your in the 40-45 age group like I was when I could get under 2 most of the time, it was 22/62/33. Typical weekage mileage was 10-12k yds swim, 150 mile bike and 35 miles run. Intervals once a week for both bike and run, twice for swim.
Now 15 years later with the same mileage and severity… I’ve found my swim is almost the same, the bike is only a little slower (+3-4 min) due to the technical improvements since 1990, but the real downer is the run…+8-10 min. You just can’t keep that leg speed as you get older. If someone has some suggestions on how to please help me.
I’m probaly pushing my luck with how long people are willing to answer my questions, but here goes:
My typical week looks like this -
Mon: Run 30min AM, Swim 1500m (approx. 25-26min) PM
Tues: Bike 30min AM (indoors aerobic effort), Run workout 4 miles on track @ 5:10 - 5:20 per mile (usually some combo of 800s-1200s&1600s), 20min warmup, 15min cool down
Wed: Run 30min AM, Swim 1200m (400m warm-up, 4X100m in 1:20-1:23 on 2min, 400m cool down)
Thursday: Run 30min AM, Bike 1hr 15min (indoors aerobic effort w/ 5 X 3min pickups)
Fri: Bike 30 AM, PM Off (ballroom dance class with g.f.)
Sat: Swim 1200m (3 X 400m in 6:10 - 6:25 on 7min) AM, Bike 2hr rolling hills (hard aerobic effort) w/ 2mile run directly after @ 6 per mile.
Sun: Run 1hr - 1.5hr AM, PM easy mtb with g.f. (about an hour) or off
Great input so far. Now if anyone would like to tell me what they think of that schedule I would be stoked - I won’t ask anything else today (promise).
I would be suprised if you go sub 2 with that training. Not an insult at all, but I don’t think that’s near enough swimming and biking. I think you should be swimming at least 20k a week in the pool. About the minimum since you aren’t a swimmer. And you’re only doing a few rides, nothing with any sustained intensity or enough base to get real strong.
Please don’t take it as a knock on you, but you say you want to go sub 2, I personally think that takes a fair bit of training. I’ll give you one of my weeks. Also, I don’t want you to think I’m trying to impress you or anything. I didn’t read marty’s article, but he’s a really good triathlete, I would contact him about advice for training. I’m not coached by him, but I think he really knows his stuff.
For me:
mond: swim 6000m w/ swim team
90 min ride w/ things single leg drills, fast spin etc
tues: Interval bike, around 90 minutes
60 min run
swim 3k
Wed 3 hour ride
70 min run
Thurs 2hr bike w/hard efforts
5500-6000m swim
Fri 45 min run
Sat 3-5 hour ride
steady or tempo run, total 60-70 min, including warm up
Sun Long run, 90 min to 2hrs
3000m swim
Also core and lifting 2-3 x’s per week, but I think specific swim bike or run training should be priority over any supplementary stuff. Just my personal advice, I’m not an expert by any means, just my own opinion. I do think a coach is a good idea, but you need a competitive coach that will push you, b/c your training is on the low side of what it takes to be fast, it helps to have someone kick your ass a bit. Training partners is also really helpful. Where are you living/training?
20k of swimming!? I pleasantly disagree. Do about 10k of quality and spend the the time you are suggesting for the other 10k of swimming on the bike instead. I believe that will lower the overall time more.
