Training Smart: Different Plans for Different Goals
A runner who is training to run a marathon for the first time is almost always advised that the goal should be to finish — period. Higher aspirations can wait until marathon number two or beyond.
The same is great advice for a first-time triathlete. Setting a time goal for your first triathlon is like starting a book by reading Chapter 2. You don't know how you are going to react to this brand new experience, so don't put pressure on yourself that is unnecessary.
If you decide at the finish, or perhaps a day or two later, that you really enjoyed the experience and want to do lots more triathlons, you can get to work on time goals, using your first times as a basis for comparison. Just enjoy the first one.
Remember, this is supposed to be a fun experience, and that includes the training. That's not to say you are going to be dogging it and just lollygagging through your training, but it will be less intense as you focus primarily on getting comfortable with the distances you will cover in the swim, bike, and run. The triathlete newbie will also be less concerned about missing a workout.
With a goal of completing the triathlon, you will not need to do any really intense workouts, such a speed sessions on a track. You can, however, add some speed work to any of the sports to break up the monotony of the drills. So long as you add these higher-intensity workouts judiciously and infrequently, they are unlikely to do harm. It's worth noting that just because your only goal is to finish does not mean you won't finish well in your age group. Anything in the top 50 percent would be an outstanding achievement for a first-time triathlete.
In any triathlon, there will be elements of the competition you have control over and those that you don't. You have control over your effort, your speed, and your determination to finish. You do not have control over the weather, the venue conditions, or where you place in the race. Worrying about what you cannot control only heightens your anxiety and adds undue stress.
Dial It Up
If you do have a specific goal in mind for your triathlon — perhaps you have participated before — you will be practicing to complete the distances in the time you have targeted. Of course, you will have to integrate your training to account for the fact that you will be doing three sports instead of just one, and it is highly unlikely that you will be able to train under the actual triathlon conditions (swim, bike, and run all in one session).
You can, however, train to run the triathlon distance at your goal time after biking the triathlon distance. In fact, the bike-run session is a recommended part of the training regimen, known as a brick. Chapter 11 contains charts of schedules for triathletes who are training with specific time goals in mind.
In triathlon-speak, a “brick” is the term for a bicycle workout followed immediately by a training run. The origin of the term is lost in the lore of the sport — there are multiple stories about how it arose — but one explanation is that a brick is what your legs feel like after the double workout.
