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Tri training made mes LESS fit???
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We'll get there, I suppose we just have to work out a transition from 'runner' to 'triathlete.'
(I swam tonight)
Also if you were not recovered from the tri it will have an effect or you may have just been having an off day and are overanalysing it.
VOTE BARLOS
Despite it being in the books and magazines, inevitably I learned this from personal experience. You can only be properly fit for one or two races a year (if doing big, long ugly stuff) or maybe three or four if you're doing shorter stuff. Each 'A' race requires you to build then taper your training, then recover. (books get quite anal about this, giving each bit a name, but basically you do easy stuff for an aerobic base and just a small amount of speed, then up the speed percentage to about 20, then ease off before the event).
Soooooooooo, it's ok to enter loads of races, but decide what you want from them and where they fit into your training plan for the 'A' race.
Looking at Mousers' schedule, maybe consider the 5k as a bit of speedwork, but all other runs for a week either side of it would be 'easy', try and run the 10ks at no faster than your 1/2M pace, use the other sprint tris as pacing and transition practice for the Warwickshire, maybe 95% effort but not 'eyeballs out', the 1/2M as an LSR for marathon training (this assumes you're targeting the marathon and the Warwickshire Tri).
Anyway, my thought for this year has been 'you only have to be fit for one day'...my 'A' race is IMA.
Has the number of hours you train increased since taking up tri?
If not then it's inevitable that your performance will drop in your normal event.
If you used to run 6 hours per week but now only do 3 as a consequence of swimming and biking then you need you either need to accept that your running will suffer or up the training hours.
TC
Vote Barlos
Ahh so that's what this is supposed to say then?
Biggest thing I noticed about tri is that it reduced my gut though I haven't even been on a bike since Stratford due to other commitments.
Going to try killer Dorset coastal path 13.1 next weekend and hopefully a bit of sea swim but only if my toe is OK and other leg returns to normal size.
BARLOS FOR PRESIDENT.
But the thing I have discovered is that tri training has got me fatter and heavier! My legs are much thicker at the top now and I can;t wear my running shorts anymore cause they rub! And I'm always hungry, especially after a longer bike, so generally stuffing my face and now I seem to have grown a spare tyre around my middle!
How do you find the balance between eating enough and not over eating as I seem to be getting it all a bit wrong!? And I cannot abide calorie counting, but have recently been found buying a ''shapers' sarnie in Boots! Oh dear! Is there any hope? Or am I destined to become a tubby tri trainer?
Cyling 3 miles = 1 mile of running
Swimming 1 mile = 3 miles of running
So if you were running 30 mpw, you can take the equivalent of the other disciplines, add in running and work out roughly what you would be doing in terms of 30mpw from all disciplines.
This is only a general rule of thumb and not set in stone but seems to get me through. I still run more instead of cycling than I should, but it's only cos I miss running and know this keeps the weight off more than the other disciplines per hour of exercise.
Have also noticed I'm getting slower running wise but as The Count says it's probably because I'm doing less miles per week.
One more tri to do and I can lock the wetsuit and bike away back in the shed for the winter ;-)
Good info from everyone else too.....
No wonder people are losing fitness/losing speed and in some cases overtraining :-)
Smiffy is of course right and if you train to HR and time then that is a far better way to train
I have also heard that the training percentages are relevant to the precentage time spent on each discipline in a race hence the 'bike a lot, run a lot ... swim when you can be @rsed'
There's some myth about starvation training on the bike. That you can go out for 2 hours plus at a medium / low intensity with just water and then you'll burn lots of calories and lose weight. Or that you'll teach your body to burn more fat. It's total crap.
Like distance running you need to fuel yourself properly to get the best out of your session. Sure you can run a marathon or cycle 4 hours on water alone but you'd be better off fueling properly and getting a better workout.
Secondly, refueling after training should happen asap to finishing. Within 1 hour, 2 hours tops. After 2 hours due to the insulin changes you've missed you glycogen window and are actually more likely to store whatever you consume as fat. If you've been out in the morning e.g 9am for a long cycle where you haven't eaten, come back, have a shower, faff about then get around to making lunch you're going to be starving. Therefore you're likely to over-eat, generally on high carb products at the wrong time.
Agree with smiffy's comments above and would tweak meldy's to train your weaknesses first, then think 50%, 30%, 20% or somewhere along those lines. No point in being a shit hot cyclist if you're 10 minutes down coming out of the water.
With a bad knee!
Multi-sport trainng vs single sport training, - there was once a Great Italina racing cyclist called Fausto Coppi - when asked about the best training for winning events like the Giro D'Italia he said "ride a bike, ride a bike, ride a bike!" (only in Italian I suspect :-) ) Then again you think of Lance Armstrong - came for a tri - background, and never forgot the priciples of cross training.
For me, the thing with Tri (sprint especially) is that the swim stands out as so different from the other two in fitness required, and yet has less impact on the overall performance.
ie Sprint tri swim in a pool - turning every length - and how many people on here doing tumbles? - So compared to the bike and the run, shorter and also more prone to anaerobic at times with the "stop start" nature of it - (don't even get me started on the pool congestion that contributes to this at some events too!)
Most runners don't look anything like Tarzan, coz they simply don't need the upper body bulk - yet for some (annoying!) peole, you just have to show them a swim training plan and you see them put muscle on their upper body before your very eyes - the only consolation being that it will slow them down on a long run
Main thing though about whether multi sport training - and tri training in particular has a negative or positive impact on your running performance is where you were to start with.
ie If you are a full time runner and seek to add swim and bike to a week's training schedule, you're gonna get problems with tiredness - stands to reason (although thats not to say that wioth adding in gradually you wont end up training longer and harder overall than you previously were.)
If you already do a bit of all and are just stepping up the efforts in training then again tiredness may have an effect if you don't do it gradually enough.
Moving from single event to multi though...For those people for whom running is still having a big effect on raising their overall aerobic fitness then multi sport training should probably have a positive impact on their single event performances -
its going to add variety which is likely to increase training performance, and hence response to it,
its going to add to the overall cardivascular training load,
and as has already been mentioned, its will have a stabilising effect through core strength and development of opposing muscle groups - leading to greater endurance and less chance of injury.
Anyhow, thats my opinion - which is worth what you pay for it - so , in this context, I'll get my coat!