Tri Tuesday! 11 Weeks Until MTWomensTri!

Well, here I am at about eleven weeks from MTWomensTri!

www.mtwomenstri.com

Specific goals that I had for today were as follows:

1) Identify/create a training plan.

2) Buy a swimsuit.

Starting with Goal Number 1- Identifying a Training Plan.
I did a bunch of research on beginner, Sprint Triathlon training plans. One observation about tri training plans is that there are A LOT to choose from. Training plans vary greatly, as do the types of triathlons people train for. The most basic tris seem to be similar to what I'm doing- beginner-friendly, pool swim, sprint tris. Mine is 500 meter swim, 12 mile ride, 5K run. They range all the way up to Ironman distance, which is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a full marathon (26.2 mile) run! Holy cow.

In the end, I created my own training plan after looking through a lot of other sprint-tri plans. One good thing is that I already feel like I'm in really good shape for bike and run, as I can cover both of those distances without any problems. So, the biggest opportunities for me are in swim training and transition training.

With the swim, I do have a solid background in swimming, but I just haven't done much of it in recent years. I think swim conditioning will come quickly once I get into the pool. I found a lot of training plans that are geared toward beginners for sprint distance, but the biggest challenge was finding one that worked for my unique situation, specifically regarding swim training. The vast majority of plans had 2-3 days of pool workouts listed per week. Given my distance from the pool, realistically, I think I can plan on one pool workout each week and a second pool swim would be a bonus most weeks. Right now with track season, it would be a long shot for me to make it to the pool at all, so my swim workouts won't pick up until June, most likely.

Transitions are the term for when you transition from swim to bike, and then from bike to run. They're referred to as T1 and T2. Based on the research I've done, one of the best ways to train for transitions and also to work on overall conditioning are through what's called "Brick Workouts," or just "Bricks." Since I already feel comfortable in the run and bike distances, I'm not needing to build mileage at this time, like a lot of training plans do in the early stages, so I'm already going to add in bricks early on, specifically bike/run bricks.

Here's an outline of my training plan:
Week 1 (This week!) 3 runs, 1 bike workout
optional brick: 3x(4 mile bike, 1mile run)
swim if possible
**So far, I've done two runs this week. I just need one more run and a bike, or a brick, and I'll have this week accomplished!

Week 2 3 runs, 1 bike workout
optional brick: 5 mile bike at moderate effort and 3 mile run at 10 min/mile pace
swim if possible

Week 3 3 runs, 1 bike workout
optional brick: Ride 30-45 minutes, run 15 minutes
swim if possible

Week 4 3 runs, 1 bike
optional brick: 2x(6 mile bike, 1.5 mile run)
Swim if possible

Week 5 3 runs, 1 bike, 1 swim (no longer optional!)
brick: Ride 45 minutes, run 20 minutes

Week 6 3 runs, 1 bike, 1 swim
brick: 6 mile ride at moderate effort, 3 mile run at 10 min/mile pace

Week 7 3 runs, 1 bike, 1 swim
brick 1: 12 mile bike, 2 mile run
brick 2: 500 swim, 30-40 minute bike

Week 8 3 runs, 1-2 bike workouts, 1-2 swim workouts
brick 1: 3x(4 mile bike, 1 mile run)
brick 2: TIMED 500 swim, 45 minute ride

Week 9 3 runs, 1-2 bikes, 1-2 swims
brick 1: 12 mile bike, 5k run- practice T2
brick 2: TIMED 500 swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run
~or~
break it up as TIMED 500 swim, 6 mile bike - Practice T1 - (in morning) and 6 mile bike, 5K run in evening - Practice T2.

Week 10 3 runs, 1-2 bikes, 1-2 swims
brick 1: TIMED 500 swim, 8 mile bike - practice T1
brick 2: 8 mile bike, 2 mile run - practice T2

Week 11 3 runs, 1-2 bikes, 1-2 swims
brick 1: 500 swim, 6 mile bike - practice T1
brick 2: 30 minute bike, 15-20 min easy run - practice T2

July 17- RACE DAY!

Whew. Seems kinda crazy after typing it all out like that. With the "3 runs," I'm thinking that at least one of them will be a long run of distance 5-8 miles. Even throughout the tri training, I'd like to stay in shape to be able to complete a 10K race, and have a few planned in the interim anyway. Also, the brick workouts are not necessarily meant to be separate from the outline of "3 runs, 1-2 bike, 1-2 swim," but could replace those workouts. I'm not super rigid when it comes to training plans. I also find that I can't plan in advance that a certain day of the week is my "swim day," or "run day," as each week varies soooooo much on the farm. I'll just plan on a week by week basis, or try to, and figure out which day I'll do which activity as I go along.

Now, addressing Goal #2- find a swimsuit!
There are no stores within a two-hour drive of my house that sell competition or lap swimming swimsuits, so to the internet I go! I still haven't ordered a suit, but I plan to do that today. I'll probably pick a basic Speedo or TYR on sale from www.swimoutlet.com for my lap swimming workouts. I'm still deciding if I will want to race in my workout suit, or if I want to try something different. I'm sure I'll post more on that later! So, obviously no pool workout this week until my lap suit comes in. :)

Also, just for fun--  Here's a hilarious blog post for people who like to laugh and know very little about triathlons: http://www.oiselle.com/blog/fan-girls-guide-triathlon. I highly recommend reading this one!

Next week on Tri Tuesday, I'll hopefully be reporting about how the first week of training went, and all about my new swimsuit! See you next week!