too many sports? balancing tri, run, cycling

Personally, I would worry about spreading yourself too thin. A marathon, especially a first one, will take a lot of dedication. I'm not saying don't do all the races and tri's and marathon, but prioritize. Which one is your "A" race? The marathon? The time trials? Determine which is most important, then fit the other things in around that. I found The Triathlete's Training Bible to be quite helpful in looking at the big picture and determining how to choose some A races, then building towards them.

I also think the marathon in the middle of it all is rather bad timing. I would think you'd need the month before to really focus on the running and eliminate the cycling time trials. Then, you will need some recovery time afterwards before you start on the tri's.

For me, I've found that if I try to do it all, I end up disappointed with everything. I like what I did last year where I concentrated on the tri's through beginning of Sept, then had 2 months before my marathon where I reduced the cycling/swimming and concentrated on running.

Good luck with it all.

the marathon would be my A race for the year, hands down. all other racing would be structured around getting ready for and recovering from that. basic schedule would look like this:

feb - indoor tri
march - 5k or 8k
april - bike road race, 10k
may - 1/2 marathon run, maybe a du
june - marathon
july - 2 tris, 2-3 TTs
aug - 1-2 tri, 2-3 TTs
sept - du
oct - 10k, 1/2 marathon

Actually, that schedule doesn't sound that bad. Although, July seems a bit aggressive since you're coming off of that marathon. Don't be surprised if you're sluggish during that month. Just don't expect too much that month, and look to build for the August races.

I have a feeling you're like me...it's just so easy to get all pumped up about everything. I ride w/ my bike club, and I want to do some crits. I went in to watch the NYC marathon - now I'm all set to do 2 marathons next year. Just wish there were more hours to each day to fit it all in.

Seems to me you're only doing one sport, triathlon, that encompasses three disciplines. You  just may be doing more of two of the disciplines than swimming, but I don't see the conflict. I've gone for years doing two or three marathons and various shorter running races a year, while doing multiple centuries and time trials on the bike. Really don't see any conflict here...

oh...forgot one - aug - 2 mile ow swim

How well do you recover from an event? I know you're still young enough to not have to think much about recovery

how do I delete "premature posts"??

Edited by Birkierunner 2006-11-15 10:03 AM

young? i did get mistaken for a high school student a couple months ago, and a college student more recently. AND, last night at the bike team meeting, when we were doing introduction, someone asked 'so who's the youngest one here?' and everyone said 'AUTUMN!'....but i wasn't! drinking lots of water pays off, i guess. and good genes.

i digress...

depends on the race. i was barely sore after the HIM i did in july, but after the trail 1/2 marathon i did last month i avoided the stairs for two days. ice baths have really helped after long runs, so i plan on taking a dip in lake superior after the marathon.

gotta catch me first!!!

which shouldn't be hard since i haven't been swimming since august!

Just be warned -- the emphasis of most bike teams is to race CONSTANTLY. I've been there. Often teams will have a minimum race participation requirement. Usually this isn't a huge number (5 or so), but there's that constant pressure to race. I know when I was bike racing full time, I'd have a road race and maybe a crit, or a stage race on the weekend, Tuesday night road races, Wednesday either a time trial or track racing, Thursday night crit... And that was week in and week out.

Just remember that you have to balance it out for YOU. That may take shelving the bike club for a while in season...

yea, we're supposed to do 6 races. the president of the team knows that i'm also on the tri team (sponsored by the same shop) and has said they are 'just happy to have me'...regardless of how many races i do. she knows my main interest will probably be time trails for now (since they are a good compliment to tri racing), and that i will also do one road race for sure. (because i made a deal with of the other riders that if she tried a du, i would do a road race. hee hee), and i'd also like to try one crit. may or may not do cross in the fall, depending on how burned out i am by october.