Thanks! Plan is keeping both transitions under a minute.
Eyes on the prize lol. Good luck!
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2nd triathlon done. This one had an extra 350m on the swim, an extra 3 miles on the bike, and an extra mile on the run and that only added on 20 minutes. Came 8th in my category, sprinted the end, drank 2 beers and on my way home now.
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Great job getting the exercising done early.
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Well done Mate, good job.
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So, final stats from the race:
9th place in my category.
5th place in the swim, 15th in the bike, 7th in the run.
I did a lot of long runs and bikes and stuff in preparation for this, but it’s time to hop on an actual triathlon peaking plan before the next meet. There are tons of plans freely available that lay out various distances and intensities of runs (usually measured in RPE or zones), swims, and bikes, and my training right now was really sporadic and not conducive to shaving time off.
The transitions were LONG - like almost a quarter mile run up a hill from the water to the bikes.
Also, I am so happy I quit cigarettes. I was talking to this guy who was on the rack next to me in the transition area and he tells me it’s his first one and he’s pretty confident, and I wish him luck. Down at the beach, I see him in the water and go in to get used to it, and he starts speaking to me again. Apparently he’s been swimming his whole life and was on a swim team, he just hasn’t swam in years, but he’s still gonna kill the swim. Also, he was a pack-a-day smoker for years and he only quit a week ago, but it’s probably been long enough for him to do a good job. Anyway, I didn’t see him the rest of the race, or afterwards. He told me his name and where he’s from and today looking up the results online there was only one person in the category with that name or location. Turns out he took dead last in our category in the swim, with a 29 minute swim for 750 meters. I swam it in 16 minutes (still have much room to improve, the #1 swim guy did 13:31), but damn dude - I’ve been swimming a lot of my life but never had any formal training in the freestyle, and was flat out unable to swim more than 200m without having to take a breather or stop choking a few months ago, and I’m already beating a lifetime swimmer with experience on a college swim team, largely because cigarettes were killing him. It took me several months after cigarettes before my body stopped pushing out the shit that was caked on my lungs. That’s why I had to stop myself laughing in the water when he said a week. A week? And a half mile swim followed by a bike and run? C’mon bro, I enjoyed your confidence but I didn’t have the heart to tell you how this was gonna go for you.
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This would be an ineffective way for me to measure running, as it’s always either RPE 0 or 10.
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Yeah quitting cigarettes gives a big boost.
Depending on how high you’ll prioritize triathlon, I wouldn’t do any specialized training.
Coming out of the water as number 5, I’ll go for two day of swimming. One day some technique drilling, a couple (2) of 100 m sprints. Finish of with a longer swim like 1000 m.
The second day swim something like 500 m and right after a short bike ride.
Two days of cycling: one day a long ride for 2 hours, and one day do 3 x 15 min at the highest possible pace.
two days of running: one day right after the long bike ride, make a transition and do a mile run, focus on short strides at the first 400 m or so.
The other maybe a longer 3 - 5 km run either on a seperate day or right after the interval bike ride.
It would be good if you could make a short bike ride right after the swim, practicing the transition here as well.
That’ll leave you with no days to lift weights 
Maybe a bit ambitious right here.
The not as ambitious would be 2 days of swimming, 1 day run and 1 day bike. Remember to practice the transitions.
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Well, I’m thinking a 3x/week full body plan with a bike, run, and 2 swims a week for the off season since I won’t be racing again until next April, and then 16 weeks out doing more like what you said and hammering my times down, varying between short and long distances. I’d love to dive in the whole off season but it’s winter soon and the bike rides and running will be hindered, plus I just enjoy lifting too much, haha.
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Forgot to add 2 days ago I did an upper workout, got a PR of 32 dips. Sick today, but still have to head to NY tomorrow for a wedding. Gonna be a miserable weekend, and I’m sure I’ll feel better in time to return to work.
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Haven’t logged in a bit, work has been nuts and last weekend was nonstop moving.
But Monday, I officially started a 3x/week routine! Gonna follow it to the T.
Heres what I did Monday. Gonna walk to the gym in a little while and do day 2, I’ll log that and then explain the whole routine, with periodization and exercise selection.
Incline Bench 3x5, dropset+5
Hack squats 3x5, dropset+5
Weighted pull-ups 3x5, dropset+5
OHP 3x5
Leg extension 3x10, dropset+10
Calf raise 3xfailure
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Weighted dips 3x8
Leg press 3x8 SS Leg ext 3x8
Chest supported rows 3x8
Lateral Raises 3xfailure
Single Leg Curl 3x8 ea
Donkey calf raise 3xfailure
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Hey Flap good to see you’ve found something you dig. Please don’t let it be another shiny object I’d like to try.
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Week 1
Monday
Incline Bench 3x5+5
Hack Squat 3x5+5
Pullups 3x5+5
OHP 3x5+5
Leg Ext 3x10+10
Calf Raise 3xfailure
Wednesday
Dips 3x8
Leg Press 3x8
Chest Supported Rows 3x8
Lateral Raise 3xfailure
Leg Curl 3x8+8
Seated Calf Raise 3xfailure
Friday
Crossovers 2x15
Trap Bar Deads 2x15
Push Press 2x15
CGBP 2x15
Chins 2x15
Donkey Calf Raise 3xfailure
Week 2
Monday
Incline Bench + Pullups 3x5 ea
Hack Squat + Leg Ext 3x5/10 ea
OHP + Calf Raise 3x5/failure ea
Wednesday
Dips + Rows 3x8 ea
Leg Press + Leg Curl 3x8 ea
Lateral Raise + Seated Calf Raise 3xfailure ea
Friday
Crossovers + Pulldowns 2x15 ea
Trap Deads + Push Press 2x15 ea
CGBP + Chins 2x15 ea
Donkey Calf Raise 3xfailure
Week 3
Monday
Incline Bench 4x5
Hack Squat 4x5
Pullups 4x5
OHP 4x5
Leg Ext 4x10
Calf Raise 3xfailure
Wednesday
Dips 4x8
Leg Press 4x8
Chest Supported Rows 4x8
Lateral Raises 3xfailure
Leg Curl 4x8
Seated calf raise 3xfailure
Friday
Crossovers 3x15
Trap Bar Deads 3x15
Push Press 3x15
CGBP 3x15
Chins 3x15
Donkey Calf Raise 3xfailure
Week 4
Same exercise pairing as week 2, same sets/rep schemes as week 3
Week 5
Monday 2x18
Wed 2x8
Fri 2x12
Week 6
antagonist training, same rep/set schemes as week 5
Week 7
Monday 3x18
Wed 3x8
Fri 3x12
Week 8
antagonist training, same rep/set schemes as week 7
Here’s the program. 4 compounds and 2 isolations (ish), 3 days a week, rep schemes rotating, and Im also advised to switch up the order in which I start the exercises (so I start with chest now, but I should do days where i start with legs, with back, etc). Every other week is done with the same rep schemes as the last week, but takes the 6 individual exercises and turns them into 3 supersets, doing as close of antagonist pairing as you can. The aim is to pretty much hit failure for the last rep of the last exercise. I am REALLY enjoying it after the first two workouts. I don’t get to smash a muscle like I’m used to, but it’s challenging and interesting - exercises and order and reps switching constantly.
@Frank_C unfortunately I’m late for the committed thread, haha, otherwise I’d put this as part of it - just had my last triathlon (and now I have a swim-run race that I signed up for on a whim this sunday) last weekend and I couldn’t be going hard on full-body training two weeks out from a race.
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By the way, supersetting push press and trap bar deads for sets of 15 is going to suck ass.
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Yeah, you enjoy that.
I’m doing sets of 8 for upper and 5 for lower. I’m not going any higher than that until I stall. And I don’t think I’ll stall.
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Did some light stuff Friday, A 400m swim, pullups, push-ups, light squats. Had my race today so didn’t want to be fatigued for it.
I just did the swim-run category, there was a full triathlon but I really didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle that is biking during a tri, since my last race was supposed to be the last of the year. I was FAST in the pool. Would have been faster if I’d not had to pass 100 people because the biathlon people started last. Pool swimming is definitely easier as expected but passing sucks. They tried to tell us to avoid passing in the lanes and wait til we hit the end to pass. Yeah fuckin right. I was starting behind literally the slowest swimmers in the oldest category. I was passing 10+ people every length (50m pool). Got out and ran my ass off. Passed one lady who didn’t get the memo about swim-run and started with the regular swimmers, so I was like 10 minutes faster than the next closest person. Won my category solidly.
Only annoying thing was they told me awards were at 10, and I came at 945 and they had ALREADY DONE MINE, so I got the photographer to snap a picture of me on the podium for first place, haha.
Anyway, first race won!
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Congrats on the win! Hell yeah, winning feels GOOD!
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Haha all the people in my category were standing around being super nice and just saying stuff like “we’re just out here to challenge ourselves!” and I was nodding and smiling, all the while sizing everyone up and saying in my head, “you fuckers are going DOWN!” I was ruthless, haha. You’re right - winning feels awesome every time.
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That’s awesome Flap, congratulations.
If that’s the last race of the year, then you’re ending on a high note.
And you program looks pretty exciting.
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