Training 101?

[Breezer]

I have decided to do my first Duathlon, the Camp Pendleton Devil Dog on April 22 [5K 30K 5K]. Presently, I am running 35 miles a week for 5K races. My present time is 21 and I trying to break the sub 20 mark on April 9th. I want to keep a strong focus on running. I also lift every other day and my time is limited. I am 35 and have been running for 18 months.

As I am new to cycling and my focus is on my upcoming 5Ks, I have been doing limited 12-mile flat rides, averaging about 19 mph with a 70% effort I would guestimate. I know my speed and distance through my GPS. The rides are usually after a heavy weight lifting session, averaging 2 a week for the last 3 weeks.

Based off of my times, can you offer some goal pace times for the bike and run?

At a minimum, how many weekly miles should I be logging on the bike?

[cjbruin]

Breeze, I've looked at your post several times and have not known how to answer. The number of views suggests that others are having the same problem.

I think Camp P races include some hills so your times may be a little slower than you expect. If I had to guess, I would say that you could probably do 7:15 pace for the first 5K (so about 22:25) followed by a 1:05:00 bike, and a 24:00 final 5K.

Again...this is just a guess since I don't know much about you or the course.

Good luck and post a race report when you're done.

[lemurhouse]

Difficult to predict a time if you are new to cycling and duathlon. Because you are a new cyclist you will improve your cycling times much faster than you will your runs, so be sure to put in your miles on the bike. I'd also suggest that you do some riding immed after running, and most espescially running immediately after riding, because your legs will feel much different coming off the bike and into the run than they do on a regular run. Make sure your spinning rather than mashing, or your legs will be cooked before the 2nd run.

[Breezer]

I understand it is difficult guestimate someone’s times base off of a few sentences but cjbruin gets an A for effort. Today, I ran 5 miles at an 8:00 pace, biked 15 miles at 19 mph and finished with a 3 mile run at a 9:00 pace. I ran more miles this week than I have ever done before in my life, so it felt pretty good overall. I had planned to run 8 miles today so I threw the bike in the middle to check it out. I didn’t know what to expect from the bike/run transition. To my surprise, my feet and lower legs bothered me the most; however, they came around quickly.

Cjbruin – I thought you might be a candidate for the Camp P Duathlon?

Can you define mashing?

[dorepsol2]

mashing- downward force to the pedals as oppose to a circular/smoother motion

[LBonney]

I would make sure you do bike/run workouts every week. Some would say run at least 1 mile after every bike workout to adjust to the way it feels.

Use a HRM to keep yousesf consistent, & keep pedal cadence high at least for the later portion of the bike.

Train your weakness - race your strength.

[ShawneeSpeed]

Don't sweat it, just do the race. It's impossible to guess at this point. In hindsight you will be able to tell where you messed up and can improve for next time.

[merlinextraligh]

I'd try to limit those 70% effort rides. They don't really help you improve. too fast for recovery, and too slow to raise your aerobic capability. If you have a HR monitor, follow one of the methods you can find on line to calculate your lactate threshold. Then do some intervals once or twice a week at lactate threshold (they're called steady states) In a time trial or a tri, or duathlon, you're essentially working at LT, and steadystates increase your ability to work at LT, and to raise LT.

Also, I'd consider quitting lifting for your legs, at least until after the duathlon. With the bike and run training it may be too much intensity, particularly if you add in some intervals.

[Jimmy Higgins]

I'd estimate your finish time will be between 1:55 to 2:05.

But that is an irrelevent number. I'd recommend to train for endurance to finish the race. A two hour race is a long leap from a 5k race.

Whatever you do, don't race that first run leg! Do it comfortably, don't try and set a PR for a 5k there. You do that and you'll suffer for the rest of the race. You may want an 8 minute mile first 5k. Then do the cycle. Don't race the cycle, just do it. Without the experience, if you work it too hard you may really set yourself up for a very hard second half of the race.

I would log more miles on the bike, at a harder tempo, with more hills. You need to build your core endurance up more than anything.