Triathlon Training

One of the first lessons I learned was to not over train, to not exert yourself more than what your abilities will allow. I have continually ignored this small bit of wisdom for some reason, but I never felt hampered in my training. Until now that is, and more so because of the amount of training capped off by an event filled weekend.

I felt pretty tired with very tight muscles after playing 6.5 hours of tennis last Saturday and then setting a PR at a 10k on Sunday. After trying to run on Monday I knew I had to stop and do no running for a few days or I would pull a muscle, something I hadn't done since playing soccer in junior high. So I didn't run on Monday and did some weight training instead. Which leads me to today, the first day that I felt halfway decent. This coming weekend I have a triathlon and another 10k, another action packed weekend that will stress my body yet again, and wanted to get in one last day of training before resting.

Today I wanted to do a mini triathlon to mimic what I will go through on Saturday. My breathing is very inconsistent doing freestyle so I can only go a short distance before resorting to breaststroke, which allows me to continue moving at a decent pace and still breathe correctly. I started by swimming .6 of a mile (my tri is only 500 yards, or about .3 of a mile), which took about 22 minutes. My transition was long as I had to drive to my bike location, which turned out to be about 30 minutes. After that I jumped on my mountain bike (the upcoming triathlon is a Mtn. Bike Triathlon) and biked 10 miles at a very fast pace, which took 38 minutes. My transition was a couple of minutes, enough time to remove the tire and put it in the back of the car, and then headed out on my run. I was told once by another triathlete during the bike leg to increase my RPMs and pedal more rather than use more energy and pedal in a lower gear. I definitely noticed why today as I went out so fast and hard that by the time I got to the run portion my legs were so tight that I couldn't do the complete 4 miles that I had set out to run, and instead ran only 2 in a much slower time of 17 minutes.

At that pace I know I will do well, I can only hope that my run portion is stronger. Two lessons I learned today. One, don't train more than your body can handle. Two, eat and drink properly before training and events. I had last eaten 6 hours before and the only fluids I had was a 40 oz. of coke at noon. Change both and I know I will begin to see much better and consistent results. Other than that, my week is done as I rest for the upcoming weekend.