injuries from weak muscles???

Doing long endurance events is hard on your body. Putting a lot of time or miles doing one repetitive movement if you have any imbalances, you will get injuries.

Finding someone who sees the big pictures to help you strengthen and help you improvement patterns is very helpful and often prevents injuries.

Will you list some of the exercises they had you doing.  thanks

do you still do the strength program during your tri season? I too, would be interested in hearing what they have you do. I think I'm finally starting to feel the effects of strenght training. I have been doing leg press, abductor/aductor machine, hamstring machine, hip flexor machine and then I use the resistance bands. It's just so difficult to get in the gym to do this during season. I can leave my house directly for my runs and bike rides. Guess I have to do what I have to do!

I do a variety of bridges, clamshells and reverse clamshells (with resistance band), monster walk, lunges, karaoke (or carioca), high knees, mini-squats, sit-backs, quad sets, very slo bicycles, one leg balance drills, etc.

I don't do them all every day, but I usually get in 15-30 minutes of a selection of them most days. No gym needed.

Maybe I wasn't doing enough at home stuff and the weights helped more

This is exactly what my PT prescribed for me.  All easily done at home on the floor, 15-20 minutes per session, 3 - 4X per week.  And, yes, I do this all year.  I also add resistance training in the off-season (barbell lunges, leg press, etc.).

I have had to bail on two attempts at completing my first Marathon.  On the first I ended up running the half instead and most recently (as of yesterday) I made the decision to quit training for a Marathon in Oct.  Most recently my soleus and achilles has been super tight; I'd get to three miles on a run and I would get a twinge and it would ache and tighten up.  Ended up walking back home for 2.5 miles.  That is getting a bit old.  I have to think it is due to improper muscle balance on many parts of my 49 yr. old body. 

I have missed three of my long runs and 3-4 weeks of training due to injuries.  I have decided to rest for a little bit and get into the gym to hit the weights, continue swimming, running shorter distances and lose some weight for next year.  I probably am done with the long distance stuff and will stick to Half-Ironman Distance tris and below.  My body just can't handle the wear and tear or running alone; especially my right leg where all my injuries occur.  Thanks for the insight on the exercises.

Don't throw in the towel yet.  I, too, struggled with injuries and never thought I'd be able to go long.  After finding a good ortho/PT pair who collectively put me in orthotics, started me on the routine noted above, and helped me modify my gait above  -  I've since completed 12 mary's (#13 next month), 2 IM's, and a host of other swim/bike/run events.