How to train for Olympic Tri in 3-4 hours / week? (Page 2)

Monday  - rest from the wickedness of your training

Tuesday 1/2 hour swim

Wed. - 1/2 hour run

Thursday - 1/2 hour swim

Friday - 1/2 hour run

Sat. - 1/2 hour swim

Sun - brick ... 1 hour ride followed by 1/2 hour run

Four hours........knock yourself out. 

To those who say you can't train for on oly in 4 hours a week without doing poorly, I say BS.

My first year jumping from sprint to oly, this was my training plan:

M: Run working up to 6.5 miles (under an hour)

T: Swim 45 minutes

W: non s/b/r activity

R: Bike/Run brick working up to 45 min bike/45 min run

F: non s/b/r activity

Sat: run speed work 45 minutes

Sun: off

That's 4 total s/b/r hours per week.

I finished my two races around 2:45 that year and for me at least, that's better than poor.  First race was stiffer competition but finished in the top half; second race I earned a 2nd female overall.

It's doable.  Not everyone needs to train 7-10 plus hours a week to reach their goals.

I like mine better.....but yours may work with the new swim "safety rafts".  

Some people might want to bite my head off, but im just trying to help, hehe.

Try looking into Crossfit Endurance, there are some short intence work outs. Might be worth a shot. I think if you work hard with the time you have you can reach your goal of completing the Oly.

Just be careful and prepare the swim, make sure you are comfortable in the water for the 1,500 mts, the rest you can ride comfortably and walk most of the run! Wont win the race but the goal is to finish. 

Best of luck to you!! 

If you want to get better at swimming you swim. If you want to get better at running you run. If you want to get better at cycling you cycle. If you want to get better at doing excercises really fast for no particular reason with poor form, you do crossfit. If you want to complete your olympic triathlon with only 4 hours/week of training, I'd suggest spending that time wisely.

All kidding aside, in 6 years of triathlon, I've never swam more than one day per week for a sprint or oly.  Granted, I swam as a youth but was never fast.  I'd say jumping back into it post age 30 I could at least break 2 minutes/100 m.  And I didn't have the OWS fear.

One day per week yielded me 1:45/100 in sprints and olys.

This season I got a coach and he got me up to twice per week for sprint training, plus each session is a bit longer.  So far in time trials I haven't gained even a second from my days of once per week training.

I believe it......either the water bothers you or it doesn't.  I couldn't do it on only one swim per week, but I know plenty of folks who can. 

As far as gaining speed....and this only comes from watching my kid's times over the last few years....they only gain speed when they are swimming alot.  I would bet they couldn't gain anything from where they are on only one or two days per week.  What you are saying sounds right to me.

If the goal is to just finsih, minimal training does work.

The question the OP needs to ask him/her-self: "How much pain do you want to be in on race day and thereafter?"

Dave, I know, i really am not a fan of crossfit, but i have heard of people doing ok (not FOP but ok) with crossfit endurance since its S/B/R but with short work outs, thought they might interest the OP.

I thought I would post some ratios to see what people think. If you look at hours alone, the BT 20 Week Ironman calendar has the highest amount of training in week 16 with 18 hours of S/B/R. That is supposed to be enough to get you through an Ironman in 17 hours. Say an Oly is roughly 25% of an Ironman distance. 18*25% puts you at 4.5 hours of training for an Oly. It is not ideal, and I would definitely put more focus on the swim because the swim is a larger portion of the Oly. I am curious, though. Do these ratios trend across all distances, or are they specific to the Ironman distance?

You can't use ratios like that. It would be like saying that training for a marathon on 50 miles per week is the same as training for a 5k with 6 miles per week. The 50 miles will work much better for a marathon than the 6 miles for the 5 k.

My assistant is looking in my office to see why I'm laughing at my computer screen...

Mark

Speaking as someone who's finished two Olys with roughly 4-6/hrs training per week.... If you only have that much time, I would ramp up your intensity in order to get the most out of your time (intervals, etc). The swim isn't that bad. But your body is shot by the end of the bike.Also, I wouldn't focus on much of a taper. Your body shouldn't be very beat down on that much volume, although I would take it easy your final week, mainly to avoid injury.

It's def doable. But figure on finishing around 3:00, though.

And ignore those who say choose another sport. I think that's a ridiculous, arrogant thing to say. Just because someone can't put in the time, they're not "worthy" of joining us? Garbage. And some people wonder why triathletes can get a bad rap...