First Tri

First Tri Training Schedules

Looking for a training schedule? Click on a training duration that best suits your needs and time frame for your triathlon. A sample schedule will be generated for you to use or suppliment your current plan.

Begin Your First Tri

Training for a triathlon is intense, but it’s totally possible. If you pick up a training guide, follow the workouts, you can be ready to go in 3 months. If you’re not a swimming, biking or running pro – don’t worry. These will give you a crash course on each discipline in a triathlon and have you more than confident in your ability to finish come race day.

The Swim

The swim leg of triathlon is simultaneously the shortest and most universally feared part of the race. The key to the swim is to stay relaxed and calm. The worst thing you can do is to try and go too fast. You’ll probably end up going faster than you should, tiring out and possibly panicking.

Instead of trying to go fast, focus on smooth movements and moving effortlessly through the water rather than moving at a frenetic pace. If you start to get worried, slow down, tread water, breath and keep going. Remember, go at your own pace – just because there are a lot of people around you splashing everywhere, doesn’t mean that everyone is going much faster than you – it just seems like it. Swim your race at your pace and resist the urge to try and go as fast as possible.

You might feel great coming out of the water #1, but you still have 2 legs of the race left to go. If you spend all your energy there, you’ll be struggling on everything else. If you really want to improve your time, the bike and run legs are the longer segments where you can really make up some serious time – save your energy for then.

How To Improve Your Swimming Form

If you need help with your swimming form, here’s a few things to keep in mind.

  • Swim on your sides. Try standing against a wall with your arms over you head – they should be the same height. Now rotate your hip and reach up with your right arm. See how your body just got longer? You want to do that in the water. Make yourself long on each side and focus on smooth strokes as you rotate from one side to the other. Use your momentum as you swim from side to side to propel you forward.
  • Focus on each stroke being efficient. You might think you’re going faster, but a few strokes with proper form will take you much, much farther than several rapid strokes that don’t propel you forward at all.
  • Look straight ahead (or down) while swimming. You should be looking at the bottom of the pool or lake. If you’re in the pool, your lane will have a line in it. Look at that – when you see the “T” coming up, it means you’re coming up on the wall.

The Bike

You can spend hundreds on bike fit systems in search of a perfect bike for your first race, but if you’re using the bike out of your garage or borrowing one from a friend you can give yourself a quick DIY bike fitting by keeping these things in mind.

  • Wear the gear you plan on biking in. There’s no use getting fit in one outfit, with one set of shoes, when you’ll be racing in a completely different one.
  • Stand over the bike. There should be about a 1 inch clearance between your body and the top bar.
  • Extend your leg all the way to the bottom of a pedal stroke. Your leg should be 80-90% extended. If it’s not, you won’t get the full power out of each stroke. If it’s extended too much, you’ll lose all your power at the bottom of each pedal stroke.
  • Adjust your seat so that your knee is above your foot. When your leg’s extended, you should be able to drop a plumb line from your knee to the ball of your foot.
  • When leaning forward, your body should be at a 45 degree angle. With your back arched and your arms slightly bent in order to absorb the vibrations from the road.

No matter what bike you’re on, if you have poor cycling form, it can be uncomfortable. Make sure you don’t end up with a weird kink in your back or neck after a few miles by following these tips on the bike:

  • Your back should be arched and your head should be focused on the road in front of you.
  • Your elbows should be slightly bent, but not locked. This lets your arms serve as sort of “shock absorbers” for the bumps in the road that you’ll be riding over.
  • Your shoulders should be forward so that your chest can help carry your upper body weight.

Use smooth strokes while pedaling and be sure to not only push downward on each pedal stroke, but pull upward. This will help you pedal more efficiently, not to mention make you go faster.

The Run

Running is such a basic skill, but so many people do it poorly and end up injured. 5 simple steps to better running form:

  • Run using a mid-foot strike if you can. Avoid over- striding, which will cause you to strike with your heel and waste energy.
  • Keep your shoulders back, and your head up. Avoid the temptation to look down.
  • Look ahead. Focus on the ground about 20-30 feet in front of you.
  • Skim the ground. If your feet hit the ground too hard, you may be putting yourself at risk of injury and losing your momentum throughout the run. Run like you’re a stealthy ninja, not a thundering giant who needs his footsteps heard. Land softly and quickly and use the spring of your foot to take the next stride.

If you find yourself running more and more, you’ll want to go visit a running store and have your gait analyzed in order to get more personalized advice and find shoes based on your running style.