Triathlon Training: How do you get that exta 20%?
Holty74
Posts: 50
Hi,
I'm looking for some advice on shaving some minutes off my triathlon time. I competed yesterday in the London Triathlon, Open Olympic Category and finished in 2hrs 41m 02s.
it was my 1st ever traithlon, and whilst i'm really happy to have finished it, i'm a little bit disapointed with my swim and run times. looking back i honestly think i can do it in 2hr 30min but i'm a little unsure of how of what tweaks to my training i need to do?
should i get a triathlon bike? swim longer distances? interval training etc?
any advice would be most appreciated!!
I'm looking for some advice on shaving some minutes off my triathlon time. I competed yesterday in the London Triathlon, Open Olympic Category and finished in 2hrs 41m 02s.
it was my 1st ever traithlon, and whilst i'm really happy to have finished it, i'm a little bit disapointed with my swim and run times. looking back i honestly think i can do it in 2hr 30min but i'm a little unsure of how of what tweaks to my training i need to do?
should i get a triathlon bike? swim longer distances? interval training etc?
any advice would be most appreciated!!
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Comments
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oops sorry!!!
Swim: 34:16
Bike: 01;12:14
Run: 46:450 -
Well you will get the biggest improvements by working on our weakest areas, more swimming and running...0
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I agree, it's translating it into race i suppose?
Single event I've run 10k is 37mins, so i know i can push there. The swim was horrendous. everytime i got going i either hit someone or someone hit me.
it's how i improve those weaknesses i'm a little unsure of? do i just keep pounding the miles, laps??0 -
Holty74 wrote:oops sorry!!!
Swim: 34:16
Bike: 01;12:14
Run: 46:45
Hi there.
Join your local tri club, or master's swimming club. Your swim split is comparitively poor compared to the other disciplines.
Fortunately it's the easiest one to improve just be practising good technique, even without any cardiovascular fitness gains. You can't do this without coaching - blasting up and down the pool on your own won't get you anywhere.
Swimming is like golf in that it is all about technique, and you need an experienced eye to correct your stroke.
If you don't have access to any local clubs, then maybe you could look at swim camps like Total Immersion or some such.
Cheers, Andy0 -
thanks for the replies!!
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andrewgturnbull wrote:You can't do this without coaching
Couldn't agree more.
I started doing sprints last year, my swim times were way slower than everything else. I've been having 1-2-1 coaching since December and have already knocked 2:30 off 400 m. Its not cheap but I'm having about 1 hour every two weeks, which seems enough.0 -
Holty74 wrote:thanks for the replies!!
No probs - let us know how you get on in your next tri.
Cheers, Andy0 -
Hi there. Never done a tri myself but maybe looking at the split times for people who did around 2:30 might help? There is quite a wide variation as you may expect but maybe averaging about 10 people who did around 2.30 will show what a 'typical' split should be for someone who does 2:30. Having a quick look myself suggests that they were around 5 minutes faster on both the swim and run splits from the London event and one minute on the bike. I know that you can argue about different conditions, people coming from different backgrounds, etc, but maybe this will help?0
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Hi again.
The classic breakdown for a 2 hour race would be:
-20 minute swim
-60 minute bike
-40 minute run
Comparatively your splits work out as 171%, 120%, 117% for swim, bike and run.
i.e. Work on your swimming technique!
Cheers, Andy0 -
andrewgturnbull wrote:Hi again.
The classic breakdown for a 2 hour race would be:
-20 minute swim
-60 minute bike
-40 minute run
Comparatively your splits work out as 171%, 120%, 117% for swim, bike and run.
i.e. Work on your swimming technique!
Cheers, Andy
Agree with that, the swimming will need improvement, and as others say it is the easiest to pick up without getting to fatigued. Swim open water regularly too.
However, you say you've managed a 37min 10k run before. Is that recently, are you currently running to that level?
You probably shouldn't lose that much time over your usual 10k time at the end of an Oly. This season I've managed 5k PBs at the end of a sprint tri. So you may also see a quick gain by doing more run training.
Other things to consider are the conditions. I know quite a few people who did London at the weekend and the conditions weren't great (i.e. wind and rain - if you got caught in one of the showers).
Another is food/drink, what did you take on during the race? Could you do anything better?
Finally, how much of that time was spent in transition? What could you do to improve transitions?
If you fancy another crack at an Oly, you can join me at Bedford Classic Tri next weekend. Excellent spectator friendly course, which should be quite quick.
BTW - for a first tri I think your time was excellent. Next Sunday is my first Oly, and I'm only hoping to crack 3hrs! My swimming is atrocious, but I've improved by over 10mins for a mile swim over my times in April.
I'll be going for...... Swim - 40 mins, Bike - 1h 20, Run - 50 mins. Transition - 10mins (being generous just in case but I usually manage about 3-4 mins total with wetsuit).0 -
Stick with Mr Turnbulls advice. At your level there are a million things you could do, but stick to the basics.
"Without good root - when tree grow it fall over"
Basics!! get a swim coach or join a tri club
cheers!!0
