Triathlon - Longterm Preparation

I'm very intrested in doing distance rides and espcially triathalons. Currently, I dont have what it takes, But realizing that has lead to the first step in doing something about it. I was never an endurance type of guy. (played football in high school, and swam... never good at it though) Anyways, Ive been working on running and biking espcially. I will start hitting the pool very soon too. I'm not planning on doing any actual competitions for a long time. I'm 19 though, and I'm pretty serious about starting now and making it sort of a life goal to get to an Ironman... one day. What can I do now to start preparing for events? I push myself pretty hard to begin with. I'm keep track of my diet, I bike about 8.5 miles a day, I try to run a mile 3 times a week, I lift, although I'd like to get better at doing that. Are there books that anyone can reccomend... I'm pretty strong willed and usually dont have a problem with motavation.. however I lack alot of knowledge on how to train properly. Anyone looking for a padiwan ?? lol.... j/k Anything anyone can offer would be extreamly helpful... thanks :)

Including advice on a cheap bike idea..... lol what I have now is a hunk of metal that Im starting to hate... :)

there are other users on the board that have better tips as far as books and resources go...

one thing would strongly recommend, since you are indeed taking your time and your swimming is "not good", is to train with a trainer or in a swim club. especially with swimming a lot is dependant on good form. if you teach yourself bad form it will be much more of an effort to lose that bad form later on.

An overall book in which I found a lot of great advice is Eric Harr's "Personal Portable Traininer".
With respect to swimming, try any of the total immersion books by Terry Laughlin (www.totalimmersion.net). I found it worthwhile to get the dvd also.
Running - I really like ChiRunning by Danny Dryer
Biking: Chris Carmichael's "The Lance Armstrong Training Plan"

Cheap bike? How cheap is cheap? If cheap is $300-$400, I'd save your money and wait and spend $600+. You can get the intro road bikes from Specialized, Trek, Raleigh and Giant for about $600 (maybe a bit less).

Triathlon 101 is a great intro book. It will cover the basics
Get a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). Basic models are under < $75 and some on sale below $50.
I agree with a few swim lessons. Cheap and will save you a lot of aggrevation.
Bike: save until the fall and see if you can get a deal on an '05 model when the '06 come out. Used is another option; but, know what your are getting. Some shops sell stuff on consignment.

Hey, thanks for the advice. I convinced a swim coach to let me swim with his team everyonce and a while. I'm also going to go ahead and purchase a decent bike with my limited budget, I want to get out and start riding. The gym I go to has Spinning classes... would those be a good investment? Also, I found This while I was searching on the internet...


Is this a good rotine? When I was lifting in high school I never incuded endurance running with lifting, less it was really light lifting. Thanks for your input.

www.trinewbies.com

www.beginnertriathlete.com

Triathlon 101 is a good book as is Eric Haar's book about training for your first tri in six weeks.

that plan you have look pretty decent!
but, as you can it is designed to get you ready for a race. i'm not sure if you have that planned for a while or not.
the point i'm trying to make is this: there are a lot of double days in there. and i know from experience, that often enough you can't fit two training sessions in one day. so don't worry too much if that happens...

as to weight training:
as you can see they're only 20 min sessions. i'm sure when you were weight training you would stay in the gym for 1,5-2 hours or even longer.
so weight training for triathlons is (usually) very tri specific. basically it's there to get your core stabilized. there's nothing more important on all three disciplines than having a strong core.
one thing i do find odd though is that they have it scheduled after running. usually it's always "first strength, then endurance".
but then again: i don't know the weight training routine of this training plan. if it's only core training (lower back and abs), then that's fine after aerobic training too i guess...

Luckily, I do have alot of time currently to devote to training. I advise for high school students and teach 2 classes a day, so it doesnt take up too much time, right now. When the school year hits, it will be ruff to get two in, but not impossible. This is the reason I want to train hard now, I have the time, energy and ability. Im setting up a circuit in the gym right now... Today I came in Ran half a mile for warm up at a moderate pace, did mostly body wheight workouts, push ups, dips, and some light barbell work. Also did some lat raises. But the main thing I tried to keep in mind was to do it light, like a circuit. In between I hopped on a quite uncomfortable spinning cycle and road 3 1/2 sessions at moderate resistance. (moderate for me at least) I lifted a little inbetween each session of riding, doing each circuit again. I kept the pace up for about 2 hours including a finishing half mile. Over all, I felt it was pretty preducitve... What do you think? ... Ill have about 2 - 3 hours a day to work out, plus im teaching a gym class... so there may be more than just monatary benefits to that ;)

jeez...i should proof-read my postings...

anyway: since you seem to have a healthy, athletic background with plenty of work on weights, i would recommend to you, to focus more on the aerobic side of your training: i.e. running, swimming, cycling.
it's particularly prudent to take your time building up on quantity with running very slowly.
and as i have already mentioned: work on your swimming technique.

i would assume that with your background you will automatically do enough of weight exercises and calisthenics.