zoebird
March 13th, 2006, 03:24 PM
Last week, while still recovering from the really nasty cold that i have (cold and fever and loss of voice), i was doing recumbant bike rather than my usual walk (walking made me dizzy), and i read an advertisement for the Iron Girl Triathlon in Columbia MD (http://www.tricolumbia.org/irongirl.html) on August 27. it's a 1k swim; 30k bike; 5k run.
and my brain said "oh, that would be cool!"
and then i set up a training regimen. i haven't been running or biking in a while, and because i've been focusing on rock climbing recently, even swimming has become somewhat casual. so, i'm certainly not in 'triathlon' shape. here's how i'm working it.
from today (mar 13) until May, i'm going to work intervals. Mostly, swim intervals to increase up to 500m and then to 1000m within my normal swim (surrounded by other 500s, 200s, etc). this should be relatively easy, because i already swim one 500 per swim which is 2x per week (except for menstruation week) swim. running and biking, though, will be tougher. for running, i'm already walking about 5 mi a day, so i figured that i could cut that back and add in running elements. today i ran for 5 minutes of a 30 minute work out--so i walked 25. I'd like to reverse that by May, if possible. for biking, i don't even own my own bike (i'm getting one as a birthday gift), so i'm currently using a stationary bike at the gym, doing a 'hill' or 'interval' setting and going for time (30 minutes).
Once may hits, i want to begin working on distances, so i'll just start getting a feel for distances in general, dropping the intervals once i get to the right mileage. i like to train roughly 'double' whatever distance i have to cover in a race. so, swims will likely still have some intervals, but a central workout of 2000m and a cool down. for running, i'll likely be able to do 5 k by may, but will want to work up to ten k. i may use intervals to do this, until i can run the distance consistantly, and then i'll just do the 10 k or so runs. I also hope to have my bike by then, which will make a difference for training, and i'll work on getting to the 60 km distance.
The structure of my process is this. I'm going to do the primary three activities 5 days a week, with yoga around (normal yoga hour, and then a half hour of yoga after each training session); weekends for hiking, fun rides/runs, rock climbing, and the weekly 20 minutes of weights. it looks something like this:
Monday: AM--run; PM--easy bike
Tuesday: AM--bike; PM--easy swim
Wednesday: AM--swim; PM easy run
Thursday: Am--run; PM--easy bike
Friday: Am--Bike; PM--easy swim
then monday will start the next rotation with AM--swim, PM easy run and so on. weights on saturday morning. rock climbing on saturday or sundays.
the hitch in all of this, though, is our trip to scandenavia in mid-june. this will effectively stop training, though we're doing a lot of activities while there--hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, sailing viking ships (which involves a lot of rowing too), biking, and of course walking all over the place.
when i get back, i'll get back into the training and see how i feel, and then work on two-sport trainings as 'easy day' trainings--not going all out but getting used to transitions. Then, a taper program to prepare for race day.
i haven't officially 'signed up' for the race yet because of my concerns about whatever losses may occur during the trip to scandenavia. But, i've set the date and started training. when i get back from scandenavia, i'll see how i feel once i'm back into the training, and i'll sign up about a week or two out from the race day. I'll get a hotel room for the night before, and come home after--as i don't need to do the whole 'expo' weekend.
and my brain said "oh, that would be cool!"
and then i set up a training regimen. i haven't been running or biking in a while, and because i've been focusing on rock climbing recently, even swimming has become somewhat casual. so, i'm certainly not in 'triathlon' shape. here's how i'm working it.
from today (mar 13) until May, i'm going to work intervals. Mostly, swim intervals to increase up to 500m and then to 1000m within my normal swim (surrounded by other 500s, 200s, etc). this should be relatively easy, because i already swim one 500 per swim which is 2x per week (except for menstruation week) swim. running and biking, though, will be tougher. for running, i'm already walking about 5 mi a day, so i figured that i could cut that back and add in running elements. today i ran for 5 minutes of a 30 minute work out--so i walked 25. I'd like to reverse that by May, if possible. for biking, i don't even own my own bike (i'm getting one as a birthday gift), so i'm currently using a stationary bike at the gym, doing a 'hill' or 'interval' setting and going for time (30 minutes).
Once may hits, i want to begin working on distances, so i'll just start getting a feel for distances in general, dropping the intervals once i get to the right mileage. i like to train roughly 'double' whatever distance i have to cover in a race. so, swims will likely still have some intervals, but a central workout of 2000m and a cool down. for running, i'll likely be able to do 5 k by may, but will want to work up to ten k. i may use intervals to do this, until i can run the distance consistantly, and then i'll just do the 10 k or so runs. I also hope to have my bike by then, which will make a difference for training, and i'll work on getting to the 60 km distance.
The structure of my process is this. I'm going to do the primary three activities 5 days a week, with yoga around (normal yoga hour, and then a half hour of yoga after each training session); weekends for hiking, fun rides/runs, rock climbing, and the weekly 20 minutes of weights. it looks something like this:
Monday: AM--run; PM--easy bike
Tuesday: AM--bike; PM--easy swim
Wednesday: AM--swim; PM easy run
Thursday: Am--run; PM--easy bike
Friday: Am--Bike; PM--easy swim
then monday will start the next rotation with AM--swim, PM easy run and so on. weights on saturday morning. rock climbing on saturday or sundays.
the hitch in all of this, though, is our trip to scandenavia in mid-june. this will effectively stop training, though we're doing a lot of activities while there--hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, sailing viking ships (which involves a lot of rowing too), biking, and of course walking all over the place.
when i get back, i'll get back into the training and see how i feel, and then work on two-sport trainings as 'easy day' trainings--not going all out but getting used to transitions. Then, a taper program to prepare for race day.
i haven't officially 'signed up' for the race yet because of my concerns about whatever losses may occur during the trip to scandenavia. But, i've set the date and started training. when i get back from scandenavia, i'll see how i feel once i'm back into the training, and i'll sign up about a week or two out from the race day. I'll get a hotel room for the night before, and come home after--as i don't need to do the whole 'expo' weekend.