Training question for distance??

[tmsl]

I am looking to do my first tri in October and it is sprint distance. I have some training plans that I have looked at on Beginner triathlete. com and other places. My question is to distance, what distance should I shoot for in training, double the distance for each event?

400 m swim - shoot for consisten 800 m swim
12 mile bike - shoot for consistent 24 mile bike
5 k run - shoot for consistent 10 run

Not sure how to do this, any help is appreciated.

Laura

[HillSlugger]

I've always felt that 20% extra was a decent cushion. It's fairly easy on the body to double your swimming and biking if you are able but be careful with the running distance.

[rocknrollgirl]

+1 on that advice. You will be able to race a good 5k off the bike without having to double your distance, and that is the one discipline that you need to be most careful about.

[GLC1968]

I agree with the others. It's fine to go lots further for swimming or biking, but be careful about the run if you are just starting out.

I have recently done my first two sprint triathlons. I'm not a runner at all, so I started from basically nothing and progressed up to 3.5 miles as my longest run prior to the first tri. I was fine. Not fast, but fine. ;)

Actually, I did the same for my swim. My longest continuous swim prior to the first race was 500y (same distance as that first tri) even though my workout totals were well above that.

I'm a cyclist first and foremost, so I didn't train for that portion at all, really.

As a reference, I ended up dead center middle of the pack for my AG in both tri's. Of course, if you want to be faster than that, you'll probably not want to take my advice. :p

[blumensh]

I think I will take this advice as well and double the swim and bike but only do a 20% cushion on the run.