Swimming, Biking, Nutrition and a Host of Dumb Questions

"Tabla Rasa" - Blank Slate.

Lots of good questions. Lots to learn.

I was not far from your shoes a couple of years ago. Were I to start over, knowing what I know now, here are a few things that I'd do. In no particular order

1) Build strength as well as cardio fitness. Before getting too heavy into the tri sports, I would have been better off hitting the nautilus circuit a couple times a week for a couple of months to help develop overall body strength. The first goal is to wake up all the long dormant muscles and remind them in a gentle way what they do.

The second goal, and more important long term one, is to make sure that you don't have any significant muscle imbalances. Is your left as strong as your right? Are your hammies as strong as your quads and vice-versa? Having balance in your musculature will substantially reduce your risk of injury.

2) Obey the 10% rule. That rule means don't increase your duration or load more than 10% per week. This rate allows the body to adapt. Going above it substantially increase injury risk.

3) Nutrition basics: Eat stuff God made, not what Man made. Concentrate on lean meats (chicken, turkey, fish, etc.), fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The wider variety of colors among the fruits and vegetables the better. Eat every 2-4 hours, as hungry. Just eat quality stuff. This helps maintain good blood sugar levels and helps increase metabolism.

Reduce consumption of man made food. Fast food. Processed foods. "Enriched" breads. Added sugar.

Diet changes are most effective if phased in over time. Making drastic changes immediately are difficult to tolerate/maintain.

4) If you're willing to spend $50-100 dollars, go buy a couple of books/dvds. I'd recommend Joe Friel's Triathlon Training Bible. Tons of info on every question you asked and more. I'd also recomment Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion Swimming with DVD. This will help lay out the fundamentals of swimming.

If you're willing to spend some more, the Gold Membership level here is a fantastic value for receiving coaching advice.



Best of luck in reaching your goals. They are ambitious. Congratulations for taking the first steps to reaching them.

I was in the same boat as you about a year and a half ago. I'm 31 right now, I ran x-country in high school but I wasn't good, and I let 10 years of lazyness put 40 extra pounds on my frame. A year and a half ago, I had a situation where I couldn't fit into my pants that I had bought only 3 months prior. I was pissed and decided to make some major changes in my life to get back into good health. At first it was eating right and doing pilates with my wife. Then it was training for triathlon at the beginning of this year. I have a goal of doing a full Ironman by 2010. I started off with 2 sprint distances this year. I want to do at least 2 Olympic distances and a half-marathon in 2007, HIM in 2008, and a full Ironman in 2009. So here's my input....

1. Post all questions on this site. There are tons of people on here and everyone is very helpful. This is the best site I've come across for triathlon help!!! If you have a problem, most likely someone on this site has had it too.
2. Bike. I got a $1200 bike for $800 on Ebay. It was only ridden about 50 miles. Post a entry on this site with your budget for a bike and get suggestions. Just make sure the bike fits you well. Also, I highly recommend getting a set of profile bars. If you have to borrow a bike, I would spend at least 2 weeks riding it so you can make adjustments if anything is bothering you. To start out, I wouldn't be too worried about bike technique. Making sure you're comfortable on the bike to me is much more important in the beginning.
3. Swim. Your bad habits swimming are already learned so more time in the pool won't make it worse. Watch the people around you who swim well and try to mimic what they do. I you have the courage, ask someone who swims well to help you out. Also, do a google search and a search in this forum for freestyle swim technique. You can find some good websites and a few good videos out there.
4. I wouldn't worry about brick training until a month or two before your event. But remember, don't ever skip them! Especially the bike to run brick workout! This is the hardest as most people's leg muscles will want to cramp when going from a long bike into a run.
5. Listen closely to your body. Pain is an indicator that something is wrong. The hard part is determining whether it's caused by injury or just doing something you're not used to. Be careful about doing too much too fast especially with running. I would build your distance up first running at a slow speed to get your body used to the running and then work on running faster. Make sure you have good running shoes. Bad shoes can cause many problems.
6. I would highly recommend doing a sprint distance triathlon to start out the season. They are typically about 1000 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. This is a great way to learn about transitions and see what others do that you might find useful.
7. Nutrition. I think most people run the risk of under-eating versus over-eating because so many want to lose weight. The most important thing to me is MODERATION. No need to diet, just control your eating. And don't worry if you slip up a little. For excercise, make sure you are well hydrated, even in the pool. I your workouts go over an hour, look into getting some energy gels such as GU, HammerGel, etc.

Good luck. If you keep with it, the rewards will be great!

I'm cheap so I just bought the TI book (after reading much of it at Hastings...) and watched the website demo videos over and over, to get footage of what was being described...

But you may get what you pay for

I've thought about training on my ghetto mountain bike, and then borrowing a slightly less ghetto 70's Motobecane for "racing", until I can show the commitment my wife would require to finance a newer model.

For the back pain, in addition to having to re-develop your core, I'd look at your shoes.

WOW, you guys are awesome! That is way more information than I could have hoped for. Thank you all very much. As for the bike, I can spend up to $1k but would really rather spend about one dollar! I'm a cheapy and have trouble spending cash without knowing I'm getting some serious benefits, and with my current knowledge I just don't know where to begin.

Again thank you all very much for the help.

Jeremy



I would say it is a general ache, right in the middle of my lower back. More annoying than anything.