Reddit reviews Triathlon Training For Dummies

To make myself commit to swimming, I signed up for an olympic distance tri a few years ago. I started swimming about 10 months out beginning with the 0 to 700 and 0 to 1 Mile programs. During this time I also did some spin classes to get bike ready (this far out from my race it was still winter) Right about the time I finished up with 0 to 1 Mile it had turned to spring and I started full on tri-training.

I used the olympic distance program from Triathlon Training for Dummies and supplemented the swimming workouts with the drills I found at beginnertriathlete.com because my swimming needed the extra love.

Half way through my olympic training I signed up for a sprint distance just to get a feel a for the race. I wrote a race report here, so I'll spare the details on it, other than to say I'm glad I got in that experience before my 'real' race.

My goal for my olympic was 3 hours or less and I was pretty confident I'd get it. So, of course I ended up with 3:07:18. I've got a laundry list of reasons why I missed my goal, but it is what it is. My flair in /r/triathlon is that time so I don't forget my shame and to motivate me to get back out there to beat it.

I don't really have any sage tips on training. Just stating the obvious that it takes a serious time commitment to train effectively for this sport. Training three disciplines concurrently can wreck havoc on your schedule, especially when you're looking at 3 hour bike rides or brick workouts. I also tried keeping weight training in there as well, but I ended up have to drop that just to keep fatigue manageable.

Honestly the only thing keeping me from more triathlons is the training schedule. I enjoy the training and the races were really fun, but the training load has a way of getting in the way of other stuff and vice versa. I definitely plan on getting back into eventually, at least at the sprint distance.