Developing a Training Schedule You Can Stick to
It will help a lot if you can settle on a regular schedule and get into a routine. For example, you could schedule your swim workouts for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with bike and/or run on Tuesday and Thursday, and have an extended workout such as a long run on Saturday. Your rest day would be Sunday.
Naturally, the availability of some elements of your training will dictate how you schedule others. For example, you might need to fix your training schedule around the swim classes, the one thing you probably won't be able to control.
Do the Math
The key to figuring out a schedule is to add up all the time your training will take during the week and see how that fits in with your life. The ideal weekly training regimen would be three swim workouts, two short runs and two short bike rides, and a longer ride and run on Saturday. That gives you three workouts at each sport during your typical training week, including the extended session on the weekend. During the week, you can do the rides and runs together or separately, whichever fits your schedule better.
For many people, three of each during the week won't be possible, and it may be more realistic to do two of each with a possible third swim if that is your weakest sport. Here's how to figure the time involved for two runs and two rides plus three swims during the week.
You can get a good workout with a 3-mile run, and at a normal pace that's about thirty minutes, probably a bit less for most. Unless you are running in your neighborhood, you will spend perhaps twenty minutes each way going to and from your run. That's an hour and ten minutes.
Your swim workouts should be thirty to forty-five minutes. Giving yourself twenty minutes each way going and coming, that's another hour and ten minutes to an hour and twenty-five minutes.
Except for biking in your own neighborhood, the cycle workouts will take a bit longer because you will be racking your bike before you leave and after your workout. Add another ten minutes. If you ride for an hour during the week, that's nearly two hours for the bike workout.
You can combine the bike and run workouts by riding for an hour and following that with a thirty-minute run. In fact, that's a good workout that will help you prepare for the real action of the triathlon. You should do this workout, called a “brick,” at least once a week when you start out, moving to twice a week when you get used to the training regimen. Adding it up, then:
Three swim workouts at one hour and ten minutes — or three hours and thirty minutes (includes travel time of twenty minutes each way) for the week
Two bicycle-run workouts at two hours and twenty minutes each (including travel time) — or four hours and forty minutes
Total training time Monday through Friday: eight hours and ten minutes
That does not count whatever you do on the weekend, which will almost certainly be at least two hours and likely more.
You may need to try this schedule for a couple of weeks to see if you can manage it. Do not be afraid to make adjustments, possibly cutting out one of the swim workouts or shortening your bike workout a bit.
Also, remember that life is going to give you some rest days, be it family obligations, emergencies, or the weather. Do not panic over lost workouts, and don't feel your training is going south because you had to miss a workout. That does nothing but add stress to something that you are supposed to be enjoying.
If I become ill while I'm training, is it okay to just keep going?
It depends in large measure on the illness. You can probably train through a mild cold, but if you have fever, forget training until the fever is gone. You'll only make yourself sicker and end up taking more time off.
