The biggest thing that helped me see success in running, was losing weight and eating clean. Being leaner helped me have much more endurance and run faster. You can’t out exercise bad eating habits. Having said that, this article is about training, not dieting, so defer to my other articles about weight loss if that is the issue. I will get off my soap box now.
On to training:
Other than a few classes, I have been training myself this whole time. I have learned enough to know that there is a lot more that I don’t know and that having a coach could pay for itself in terms of efficacy (time is money) and injury prevention. I would recommend seeking a full time training professional and am actually looking to hire a triathlon coach of my own very soon.
If that is out of the question, consider getting a professionally designed training program and then follow that. There are free training plans, but understand that you are your own coach and you then take responsibility for making sure you are working out correctly and in such a way as to be effective – both pushing yourself when you need to be pushed and holding yourself back when you need to rest. You should also delve into learning as much as you can about what you are doing. Look for classes and see if you can get form analysis done, even if it’s a one time thing.
Lastly, find a good local group. There are usually local running, cycling, swimming and triathlon groups that can really help you and might even have a mentor program. You can learn from them, and keep you accountable. Hopefully this interaction and involvement will also get you more connected with the community allowing additional opportunities to come your way, increasing your chances of being successful.
What I Did:
This year, I have mainly focused on running as I have identified it as the sport that I should be able to enable my biggest gains. Typically focusing on cycling yields the best results as it is low impact and can help you develop a great aerobic threshold without injury. It is the sport that you spend the greatest amount of time on during a triathlon raceday and therefore there is more time available to compress. Having said that – I literally have just never ran. If you looked at my previous triathlon times I was horrible in the swim, slow on the bike, and basically walked the run.
In January, I literally could not jog a mile – at any pace. My walk-jog mile time was about 17 minutes. I went from that to jogging an entire 15k in March. The secret? Well, the best advice I can give you is to ease into it and workout regularly according to a plan. A lot of people jump into something with both feet (I am the world’s worst at this) and try to do too much too soon. Training consistently with a manageable training plan is important to make sure you don’t get injured or burnt out. This will see you through to your goal. Just keep going.
If you get a little pain somewhere, address it. I recommend going to a sports therapist. Some chiropractors specialize in athletic injuries. I have a local guy that’s amazing – Dr. Flynn. I also treat myself regularly with a cheap tens machine and I use gua sha blades (buy on ebay or Amazon – Youtube to see how to use them). I use Bio Freeze and Penetrex. I don’t get any benefit or kick back from any of these brands, just trying to help.
Start small, and decide what you want to do. Are you wanting to do a triathlon? Start out with a sprint. Pick a race with plenty of time to train (add a couple weeks for unexpected stuff) and get a sprint training program that you can follow that is the length of time you have before the race. Just google – X (insert training time here) week Sprint Triathlon plan. Get something close to that. You may have to adjust it accordingly. Make sure you can do the starting level of the training plan comfortably, otherwise you need to just start being more active. Walk and maybe jog a little, go do some laps in a pool, and try to cycle around the block until you can build up some miles. Triathon schedules usually train 6 days a week doing a training session for each sport at least twice a week. Every third week of training should be a bit lighter to let your body catch up with training. Generally my week would look something like:
- Sunday – Long Open Water Swim
- Monday -Rest Day /Yoga
- Tuesday – Short Bike Ride with Speed Work
- Wednesday – Long slow run
- Thursday -Swim with drills in the pool. Ladders and or SKPS
- Friday – Long Bike Ride
- Saturday – run with speed work or hill repeats
If you want to do a run, pick out a 5k coming up with plenty of time to train and start a couch to 5k- or other distance app. Those are great. Cross training is really good if you have a bike. Look up stretches to do after your workouts. You need to be running a minimum of 3x a week to develop endurance. I have been running 5-6 days per week. Once you have a base aerobic threshold, which means you can jog for a while and not feel like you are dying, start structuring your week with a longer run (usually the day before your rest day), a day with some speed work (sprints, strides, lines etc) or hill repeats and a leg day (strength training). My rest day is Monday. This is how my schedule looks like:
- Sunday – long run (slow and long meditational run)
- Monday – rest day! Keep your feet up, maybe do some yoga, lots of deep nasal breathing, take a nap, drink water, tens and gua sha treatments.
- Tuesday – Hill repeats and or speed work followed by a longer stretch session/yoga
- Wednesday – normal run – nothing crazy (I run a 5k with Raquet and Jog)
- Thursday – normal run – nothing crazy
- Friday – Leg day followed by a longer stretch session/yoga
- Saturday – normal run – nothing crazy
One important thing that I learned the hard way is that rest days are just as important as training days. My fastest times were all after I was actually rested. My best training days, with my biggest gains, that helped me along the way, were days where I had ample rest.
I could probably talk about this stuff all day, but hopefully this will get you started. You got this!
All the best,
Nathan (UnAthlete)