Triathlon - New

Hi I'm new here so hello all!

My question is that I'm going to do my first tri on August 20, 2006 it's going to be an Olympic distance. The question is any tips on how to improve my speed I have a decent road bike and go about 15MPH for 10-15 miles. I want to improve I know hills and stuff will help but where I live there isn't too many hills unless I want to go where cars go 70MPH wouldn't be fun I personally think. Anyway any tips will help.

To race fast you need to train fast!
You need an interval day at least once/week, this will help improve your VO2 max. Just like training for a marathon where a day at the track is an important component - the bike is the same...as is intervals in swimmiing for that matter.
1. Mix-up your workouts (ie for 5-days of riding) 2 general aerobic days, 1 long day, 1 day of hills, 1 day of speed work.
2. Sign-up with a local TT only series: In early spring I race an 8-race series that is 10.5 miles long with some of the best cyclists in the state (as well as the state TT championships). It is an all-out, hard as you can possibly go anerobic effort. I use this series as my speed work training and it gets me ready for Tri season and reminds me what "FAST" really is.
3. As a long course guy, I love racing in Swim, Bike and Run specific events. As noted above I race in the Bike TT series, I also run 3-4 marathons/year and swim in an open water swim series (10-races each Wednesday night (starting near the end of May), where we swim 1-mile in open water followed by a quick transition to a 5k...a fun workout with about 200 others.

Have you tried spin classes?

Another way to get faster on the bike with interval training is Spinervals on the indoor trainier (video/dvd interval training with coach Troy Jacobson). You can also do your own drills - like one leg drills or one minute, 5 minute, etc. intervals of all out pedaling. Of course, you still need to ride outside. It is quite different going fast on a trainer vs going fast on the road.

Thanks for all the help. No I haven't tried spin classes the ones at the gym are usually 5 AM or 5-6PM they aren't really convient for me. However, maybe someday I'll do some. Once again thanks right now all I've been doing is riding around town with really no plan whatsoever. Now hopefully I can have a plan so that I can go faster. :D

Hello:

I have been doing Tri's for a few years now, and if your "big" race is an olympic in the fall, I would advise you to try a sprint a month or so before that. It helps to get the nervousness out of your system a bit. In terms of training for speed, I have found in the last few months my bike speed has really increased, I think it is because I did some weight training early in the season. I have used the
Triathlete's Training Bible, by Friel and found it helpful.

Welcome to the sport. Build a solid base and the speed will come--most folks can't even get on their bike for 10 miles, let alone for 25 and then run and swim too!


:D

a.c.