I'm starting training for my first tri (olympic) that's in july. I'm a cyclist, and also training for 2 early-season centuries, each with almost 10k feet of climbing, so I don't want to sacrifice any miles on the bike until at least the first one (May 10). I'm confident I could complete any combination of 2 olympic length events, since I used to swim competitively (but 6 years ago) and can pound out a 6mi. run (it may be ugly, but I can do it). If I start doubling up workouts (swim + bike, swim + run, etc..) after my 5/10 century, should that be enough time for an athletic, in-shape 25 year old to be competitive? (I want to do decent, not just finish...)

I am over twice your age, so, I am not sure I can give you a good answer. But, what swim and run training are you doing now?

I am primarily a cyclist. From Sept to May I run 3 times a week, and I added swimming twice a week to that. I also cycle twice on the weekends. May thru Sept, for the past 3 years, I ride 5 days a week with little running.

I have participated in 1 sprint tri, and hope to enter another by June.

I would suggest running and swimming three times per week. Just add them in as you like to your biking.

I agree with this advice. Include a brick workout in there as well.

What's a brick workout? Today I hit a 20 mile ride then got in my first swim workout in years, with a mellow 2300 yards. I thought I was gonna die at about the 300 yard mark, then found my rhythm and was swimming faster and smoother by the end of the hour. I think I'll have no problem pairing swim workouts with a ride or run, but hitting up a run and ride in the same day still sounds kinda brutal. I guess I could shorten my rides. Actually, my bike's having an ongoing problem and is back in the shop indefinitely (see my post in mechanic's forum...) so running it is.

I'm fairly capricious in planning my workouts. I typically have some overall goals for the week like Long Ride on Saturday, Long Run on Sunday, Swim Twice, at least one Brick. During the week I just see how I feel. Like today I'm thinking, maybe I'll go for a swim around lunch time and run in the late afternoon.

One thing that keeps me "honest" is a point system that I read about on Slowtwitch. You get one point for every 100 meters of swimming & every mile of cycling and four points for every mile of running. Then you can get a fair idea of what percentages you are doing across all sports. To date I'm at about 5% swim, 46% cycling, and 49% running. That's about what I wanted to do...though I know swimming has been a bit light, I feel confident I can get through the 2.4 mi swim relatively well. I really needed to focus on my running for this event.

I'm training for the Half distance this year. Currently, I have three key workouts per week:

1. Long bike (currently at 3 hours, working up to 4) Saturday or Sunday
2. Long run (currently at 90 minutes, working up to 120) Wednesday or Thursday
3. Tempo brick (90/30 minutes) Monday or Tuesday

I fill in the rest of the days with whatever workouts I can. Seeing as the swim is only 10% of the total race time, it's on the backburner for the time being.

When the races get closer, I will get more strict with my workouts. But for the time being, this works well for me and I can feel myself getting into better shape and gaining endurance.