Duathelon

[violette]

I'm doing a Duathelon next June. I've never done any racing. I run and bike every other day. When and how should I start training. I have a trainer at home. I was thinking on training all winter, and by this spring start going outside again. I live in Canada (Nov-Apr snow). What do you think. It's a
5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run.

[alpinerabbit]

You should get a solid running base in the winter so you can run 10 k fairly easily. Shorter tempo runs and longer slower runs. weather permitting. Add some hills for strength. You longest slow run can be in the 1 hour to 1:15 range, no more.

You can start spin classes in Feb if you can find them.
If you can, from Feb, do once a week sessions on your own on a spin bike, or your bike on a trainer:
10 minutes low rpms (40-60) at a HR that is under your anaerobic threshhold (for me that is between 155 and 160). Recover for 3-4 mins, do 3 of those. Work up to 3x 20 minutes with 5 minutes recovery. Plus 5-10 warm up.

You can then start riding your bike outside in April/May. Long rides as long as you want (or can).

In May&June start doing bricks very often. Run off the bike every time you bike, even if it is only for a short bit.
Add some double bricks too - warmup by doing running drills, then 15/5/15/5 minute (bike/run/bike/run) working up to 30/10/30/10/30/10 with a few mins recovery in between.

This should get you through your du smoking.

[spindizzy]

I think your first goal should be to finish and to have fun! With that in mind, there is nothing wrong with getting base miles under your butt and feet. A lot of it depends on the level of fitness you enjoy right now.

You should start off slow and do not add more than 10% to your mileage each week. You should be keeping some sort of journal as to distance/time you have completed. Be sure to take rest days.

Some programs have you completing duathlons with 12-13 weeks of training prior to your event.

See this link for an idea of training. It is only 8 weeks, but I beleive it is for someone with some fitness under there belt. But it gives you some sort of idea of what you should be doing.

I have a coach who tells me what to do - I don't know if I'd be as motivated if I wasn't accountable to someone. But that's me. :D There are tons of people that are successful at completing this type of training on their own.

Go get em!

http://www.team-magic.com/8_Week_Long_Course_Duathlon.pdf

[spindizzy]

Violette:

Here's a link to a free training program for beginners.

http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms.asp