Well, I bit the bullet...my first Tri (Sprint) is in August.

[CarterUSM]

In a bid to help motivate me to work out more, I, in a fit of Mr. Hyde-esque madness and impusliveness, just signed up for the Mid-August Meltdown Sprint Triathlon in Effingham, Illinois.

Alright, so it wasn't total insanity...I decided that with some workouts and some personal training sessions under my belt, the time had come to commit to a future goal, and one that wasn't just linked with hitting some weight milestone (I'm 225, looking to eventually get down to 180 or so), but which would actually have me doing something that I'd never done before...and since I just turned 30 (gasp!), I figured it was a good time to jump in.

I'm not terribly worried. It's .25 mile swim, 20K bike and 5K run, and I feel confident that with three months training, I can finish with a minimum of strife and heartache. I was a competitive swimmer in high school, so I at least have training in stroke technique...and I played soccer for 15 years, so while I don't run fast, my legs "remember" running quickly and I can emulate Aesop's tortoise pretty well. The only thing I'm having to pick up on the fly is biking at this point, and I just got myself a spanking-new Trek 1000 at my LBS, since my ol' Gary Fisher Tassajara is a wonderful bike, but not precisely built for speed.

At any rate, I have a coworker that competes in running, biking, and duathlons, so he's giving me some advice, and I thought I'd tossit out here for thoughts and clarifications. He's suggesting that I use biking as a means to build my aerobic base, and do track sessions with hard interval 400s and 800s for running, with a single longer-distance constant run once a week. Swimming, he said, is up to me...he's not a fish. :)

Also, I have a cyclometer with a cadence sensor and a heart-rate monitor, and I have to say, it's been phenomenally helpful for me, as I haven't yet learned the trick of accurately perceiving my exertion. I quickly realized that I'd been pushing myself too hard when I biked, and burning myself out, rather than 9at least at the beginning), going for a nice steady-state ride. Right now I'm doing 10-15 mile rides at ~70rpm and 145-160 bpm, and usually an average speed of ~16mph...which I'm sure is ridiculously low, but hell, I'm a newb. *grin* I'm just glad I have some kind of quantitative feedback until I get more used to listening to my body.

Anyway, enough of this introduction...I didn't intend to write a dissertation, but that seem to be what it evolved into. I'm sure I'll be here a lot, asking dumb questions and generally lowering the level of dicourse, but I'll try to learn quickly. ;)

[TriBob]

I lost 45#'s getting ready for my first sprint (225 to 180) so sounds like a good target to me. :)

Some comments:

Yes, biking is excellent at building aerobic capacity.

70 rpms is low. Try and get it up to min of 80. Use a lower gear and you will probably go the same speed but your legs will be fresher. eventually you should work up to 90+.

I would get some aerobic runs in for at least a month before you hit intervals. They are very hard on the body and proper rest must be taken afterwards to avoid injury.

[lilscotboy]

great news, where are you based? i'v not heard of the effingham? what date is it.

so far this year i have galena (spring) harbor lights (sprint) and accenture (olympic) lined up, this might be a nice add on before the accenture.

as for the training the interval track traingin sounds right on, hard 800 followed by slow 400 to recover. maybe do 4 repeats and then build from there with a warm up and warm dow run (i'm just repeating MHR our resident guru on this forum).

add a nice long run and some brick training (bike - run) maybe like 7 miles bike, 3 miles run twice. go steady on the bike and then push yourself on the run to try and get your legs to feel what fast is like when your transitioning.

as for the swim, i'm the last person to talk to. I've done a total immersion course and it helped immensly, can swim 2k easily now, but try as i may i can't get under 30 minute pool 1500

good luck

[ZackJones]

Congrats on deciding to do a triathlon! I'm with TriBob, your cadence is low, try spinning a little easier gear and see if that helps get the cadence up - 85 - 100 is a good ballpark figure to shoot for.

[EarlT]

Congrats on deciding to do a triathlon! I'm with TriBob, your cadence is low, try spinning a little easier gear and see if that helps get the cadence up - 85 - 100 is a good ballpark figure to shoot for.

Also, the closer you can match your run cadence to your cycle cadence (85-100 as stated above), the better. Gets your muscles used to a certain tempo of contractions and such.
Good luck with your training and racing.
Don't worry about loosing the weight, that will definitely happen if you keep training. It can be counterproductive to focus on weight loss at the expense of form and efficiency in your workouts.

[cjbruin]

I'll throw my hat into the ring on the cadence thing. Couldn't agree more. Spin, spin, spin and then spin some more. Your legs will get used to going fast and as you get stronger you will spin bigger gears faster. My opinion is that you should try to stay between 85-95 (this assumes that you are on the flats). Of course steep hills will bring your cadence down but spin up those as much as you can too.

I'm not sure about the interval work on the runs. I think once per week might be enough for someone starting out. If I were you I would work on endurance instead of speed in this case. You should also do two bricks per week. I usually ride for 45-60 min and run for 30. You don't need to set up a transition and start your run 2 min after you're off the bike but try not to have too much downtime. The first couple of times you'll feel like crap for the first mile or so but eventually your body will get used to it.

Congrats on taking up the sport. Warning -- It's more addictive than crack :)

[Panoramic]

I'll just say... you're in a very good position to destroy this sprint triathlon given you have muscle memory in swimming and running. As people have mentionned, a good base in cycling will help you out most b/c you'll find swimming and running come with more ease.

[CarterUSM]

Well, my prioroty is upping the cadence, but the reason that I'm not so worried about the low cadence right now is that my heart-rate is right where I want it to be for my "beginning" training sessions. I'll begin to ramp up the cadence as my training goes, but I've tried to bump it up to 80-85, and my heart rate pops out of the training zone I'm shooting for.

I'll get there, but right now I'm concentrating on building that aerobic base...:)

[EarlT]

Good idea.

[ZackJones]

I'll get there, but right now I'm concentrating on building that aerobic base...:)

Wise decision. What gear do you mostly ride in?

[bigdaddyk]

Yes,this sport is as addictive as crack. Did a sprint last year as a my first (Chicago Tri) and fell in love. This year it's Xterra Midwest and Chicago Tri again, maybe one smaller one if I can find it in September. Listen to what these guys are saying. Thier experience speaks volumes. But most importantly, have fun. The tri community is so welcoming and willing to share volumes of wealth. Crossing the finish line will be your reward and you'll know what I mean when you get there. I am the same size as you, but a little older. Keep in mind that 98% of the rest of the pop. in USA can't do this stuff, so you're doing great. Listen to your body, learn on your own and from what is available and it will be the most fun getting in shape you've ever had.