Blaireau

Hi there:

I am doing a Duathlon in April and was wondering if there was a chat group specifically for duathletes and if anyone could recommend a good training book for duathlons -- assuming there is one.

Cheers!

dothedu

Hey, a good book that I have recommended and am still using is "Training Plans For The Multisport Athlete" by Gale Bernhardt. It is great! You might want to check duathlon.com as well sometimes they have some good stuff on there.

Blaireau

Txs.

Treefox

Or go with any Triathlon scheme and just alternate bikes and runs for the swimming days.

Blaireau

That sounds good. Seems like there is a dearth of Duathlon specific books out there.
Any Duathletes out there, btw?

RacerJRP

I will be one around May/ June. Just joined up with a TRI club about a month ago.

dothedu

I mostly do duathlons but i also do olympic distance and half iron triathlons. I do prefer duathlons and am very fortunate enough to live in a place that supports the sport. Alot of places I have found a duathlon is hard to come by. Unfortunatly most of the multisport focus has shifted primarily to triathlon which is why you cant really find many books that even mention the word duathlon. Its always good to hear from others out there that have a desire to keep the sport alive.

Dalai

Yes, I've focussed on duathlons more in the last years... In 2005 the Duathlon World Championships were held in Newcastle Australia. So in the year preceding I raced the local duathlons and also the State, Nationals plus the additional selection race held in Newcastle to qualify for the team and race the Worlds...

Since then and until recently I've been dealing with a few niggling injuries so haven't raced much at all.

Treefox

Did one Sunday.

They're much more prevalent in the spring and autumn 'shoulder seasons' when it's a bit too chilly to be zipping out on the bike while soaking wet.

Blaireau

Thanks for all the reply fellas.

Any one of you used a particular training program/plan?

I am scheduled to a 5mi Run 32 Mi Bike 5 mi run in April in NC. This is my first one!

Right now I am running 4 miles each on Tuesdays and Thursdays

And riding 32 miles each on Saturday and Sunday, with a 2 mile run after one of the bike rides (sort of a brick workout), but I got a few more weeks to up the workload....

Dalai

@Treefox - Winter season for us also. Fortunately we have two Duathlon series here in Melbourne. One is via our State Tri association, the second series is run by one of the local clubs.

Not really any particular program. I've just cut out the swim training (was 4 swims, 4 rides and 4 runs) and included an one additional session for the bike and run.

Training sessions vary between over distance, tempo, intervals, hill repeats, fartlek with regular brick sessions thrown in for good measure.

Only additional change from a regular tri program is to also have run - ride - run bricks. I find a useful session to include especially if the weather is poor is to have the bike set up on the trainer and run 2km, ride 20 minutes, run 2km, ride 20 minutes, run 2km, ride 20 minutes and finally run 2 km.

End up with 8km's running and an hour on the trainer...

Treefox

I suppose I'd recommend taking a Tri programme and replacing swim workouts with alternating cycling and running base miles. Don't go too hard - just go consistent and long.

dothedu

I usually just use a tri program and substitute bricks for the swims. say monday i will do a run focused brick equalling the same time indicated for the swim, wednesday I will do a bike foused brick. on friday I usually find a middle school track (everyone uses the high school tracks around here so the middle school is empty) and I work on transitioning while doing my brick. I bring a rack similar to the ones in transition and set it up off the side of the track. I set up everything that i will need for the bike section like i would for a race, I then run one lap and transition to the bike, ride four laps on the bike then transition back to the run. I keep repeating this for about an hour or until i fall over. Tues, Thurs, Sat and Sun I follow the rest of my plan just moving my long run to sunday as to not follow my brick.
Work on your abs as well, it will help you handle the stress of running off the bike.

Blaireau

Seems like good advice. Thanks.