Advice on switching from being a competitive runner to being a competitive triathlete

Forget about that 8-10 mile run for now. First get in the pool and see what your times are. Can you minimally do 10x100 yds on the 1:30? If not, you have some catching up to do. You cannot win a triathlon off a fast swim, but you can lose one with a slow swim. Also you need to see how well you run after hammering a 40K on the bike. Try entering some duathlons to see how well you can adjust to running off the bike. A workout I like for the Oly. tri distance is 3 x (5-7 miles hard on the bike followed with a 2 mile tempo run). Not sure where you are located, but

http://www.trifind.com/

is good web site to find tri's in your region.

Good luck!

I was a competitive swimmer and runner. I did triathlons in my 20s (about 25 years ago) and cringe thinking about the 4- and 5-hour bike rides. I enjoyed my 20s a lot but training for the triathlon is such a consuming adventure. Now I mainly just ride indoors on a recumbent bike so that I can read books and magazines so my boredom level does not go off the charts. I still enjoy running a lot and probably will always enjoy. Best of luck but you will be wasting a lot of time on the bike!

Step one is to purchase your super hero costume gear. The more garish and tight fitting the better.

As mentioned above try a few brick workouts to get your legs accustomed to running off the bike. I like the brick the poster above mentioned. If you want to start smaller my rust busting brick w/o was an hour bike (easy), 3 mile run (easy), 45 minute bike (hard) 1.5 mile run (race pace).

Don't worry about times in swimming yet either, learn how to swim a good freestyle stroke first. Technique in swimming will be the biggest hurdle to overcome if you have never swam competitively or in a masters program before.

I came from a mostly swimming background to triathlon and then running. I think the answer really depends on your goal....do you want to finish or do you want to win? If the latter, you are not even in the ballpark of adequate training. I was decent 25 years ago ( cue old guy joke now) and training for cycling and running were pretty similar...each with a long day, tempo day and interval day each week...swimming was all intervals all the time. Back before family kids job this was roughly 60 mpw running, 350 to 400 mpw on the bike.....I cut my swimming way back to roughly 20k per week.

marksch wrote:

I came from a mostly swimming background to triathlon and then running. I think the answer really depends on your goal....do you want to finish or do you want to win? If the latter, you are not even in the ballpark of adequate training. I was decent 25 years ago ( cue old guy joke now) and training for cycling and running were pretty similar...each with a long day, tempo day and interval day each week...swimming was all intervals all the time. Back before family kids job this was roughly 60 mpw running, 350 to 400 mpw on the bike.....I cut my swimming way back to roughly 20k per week.

Eventually, I want to win. I am going to a (very) academically demanding school next year, so I cant imagine having enough time to do that type of training, but I will definitely be training as much as my schedule allows.

I hear you....I dropped out of college...quite academic, not much sports, though historically an excellent track program....to race for a few years. When I went back, as a more mature and efficient student, I could manage a good chunk of that....big cuts in the cycling.

Given that many Olympic distance races are draft legal, good running speed will win the race, provided you are in it post swim and bike. Technique is important for swimming.

Best of luck

Don't.

Take swim lessons! You do not mention a swimming background. While the triathlon is not won in the swim you still need to 1) close enough to the front to be withing striking distance and 2) need to learn to conserve energy on the swimming.

Learn how to handle a bike.

I'm no expert but I think you'll need to incorporate 2 new things to your training: swimming and cycling.

Good luck!

Don't forget to start a blog and call yourself an ironman.

I'd say forget about the triathlon and run road races for money.