Triathlon Training Schedule for Beginners - Laying the Foundation for Success

One of the most important things to consider as a beginning triathlete is an appropriate training schedule for your current level of development, the race you're planning to run, and the amount of time you have to prepare (both the total time remaining before race day, and the amount of time you can devote to training on a weekly basis).

Your Current Level of Development

The best place to start when laying out your triathlon training schedule is by doing an honest assessment of your current fitness level and preparedness to compete in each separate event. This is one place where it can be extremely helpful to get some outside help: an experienced competitor may be better able to objectively assess your fitness and preparedness levels than you; it's hard to be objective about our own performance.

You may even want to book a session or two with a professional triathlon or endurance training coach; there's really no substitute for having a realistic baseline assessment before you set out to train for your first triathlon (or even your first several events).

The Race

Once you know where you are, you need to know where you're going; what are the challenges facing you in the race you're preparing for? What's the distance of the swim? Is it going to happen in a pool or in open water? If open water, is it going to take place in a lake, or in the ocean? Plan to do as much of your training as possible in conditions as close as you can make them to the actual conditions you'll be competing under.

What about the bike and running courses? Are they hilly or pretty flat? If it's winter now and the race is in the summer, you may want to at least drive the bike and running courses (if you can); doing this can be a great help in visualizing and mentally preparing for what you'll be up against in the actual race.

Time

All races are races against time, and your training is no different: today is whatever day today is, and the race is on whatever day the race is on; the difference between those two dates is the total time you have to prepare.

Also, if you're like most triathletes, you have a day job, and maybe a family, and maybe other social obligations, and yet somewhere in all of that, you have to find time to train, consistently, every week. This can be a whole different level of challenge. You may need to give up some things you're used to doing to make time for training (and for recovery from training), so be prepared for that.

Be Prepared

The bottom line is, know where you're at, know where you're going, and be prepared to do the work and make the sacrifices you'll need to make along the way. One way to make sure you're prepared is to read as much as you can about the process, so you know what to expect.

I've been putting together a series of "lenses" on Squidoo that deal with these issues; one of them is titled "Triathlon Training Schedule for Beginners" - you might like to have a look at that lens, and the others I've also done (they're all linked together; look for the block near the bottom of the lens).