Training Schedule??

[light_sabe_r]

Okay so I've decided to enter the Gatorade Series "Enticer" in December. (It's on 1 week after Amy's Ride) So I'm wondering what all you lovely ladies do for training up to your events.

Here's the distances according to the site for the next enticer...

300m swim / 10km cycle / 2.5km run Pretty Tame compared to you ironman legends of course...

Now here's how I've been training

1: swimming
Joined the University pool to swim 2-3 times per week... where it's nice and WARM. I anticipate the water will be warm in the MIDDLE OF DECEMBER (aka SUMMER) no wetsuits are allowed if the water is over 24 degrees. That's okay because I don't have one anyway. :P

Anyhue, after the 40min ride to the pool (I take the long way) I've been able to complete slow laps of 350m in a mixture of freestyle and backstroke (as in 100m Free, 50m back 100m free 50m back then me almost dying on the last 50m) At least two of these laps are ARMS ONLY because my legs are not the problem here, (they never have been with my swimming) I've done this twice now. I'm just trying to go as long as I can without stopping or changing strokes at the moment. If I can get to do the 50's in 1 minute at some point during my training I'll be very happy.

My aim for the swim is "DON'T BE LAST OUT OF THAT CANAL!"

2: Bike
Not worried about this one at all. My daily commute is 4.5km each way... and it's 15km to the pool (where my average speed along the flats stagger up to 25km average... It's the hills that kill me) so I get to go nice and FAST.

It's the ride back after the pool which is dreadful... and that's going to work... so it's a very SHORT ride of 2.5km (including a ferry ride which will soon be gone once the bridge opens in the next month or so...) but it includes the so aptly dubbed by the local cycling elite THE HILL OF DEATH... Yes the even the elite struggle up theTHE HILL OF DEATH... I've seen large packs of organised rides attempt the hill, they come flying around a bend in the river loop then all of a sudden they're doing about 10km/h... It's a VERY steep hill. A lot of them struggle with it too!

At the moment I granny gear it 10m then have to walk it ;_; My goal is to get up THE HILL OF DEATH... at least once on my hybrid before I get my roadie. Then I'll flatten that hill!!! That's my training!!!

My Aim for the Ride is to kill THE HILL OF DEATH... at least once before I do my Tri, so that way can just RIDE when I get out of the water.

3: Run
SOOOOO worried about this one... I spent most of my first tri walking the 3km because I was so tired. I mustn't have done so bad though because I still came 15th out of 20th in my age group...

There's a little "FLAT" up he road with a duck pond. There's like a jetty/track accross the pond and it's about 400m around the pond. I've been jogging/walking/running it until I think I can't breathe anymore. I don't really have a exact measurement of the track... It's guessing and using a landmark and a stopwatch to time myself....

I also play indoor soccer on the weekends... Lots of running around in Quick bursts, *catch that player! intercept etc*
I've gone from being the goalie/8min run girl to being able to play 30mins out of the 40min game. That was a major achievement for me. ^_^

My aim for the run is to jog the entire thing... It's better than walking it all right??

My aim overall... Finish, I'll be happy with that.

To enhance my training I'm thinking about investing in a heart rate monitor. Because lately when I've been pushing it too hard my throat feels like it's gonna close up, this happens when I've been swimming then riding... or riding over 50km in one hit... I just want to know if it's my heart rate that's the problem and if it is I know I'll be able to train better... like stay in a ZONE so to speak for longer periods of time. ^_^

So what do you think? I'm doing some weights training as well... usually it involves, LIFTING THE BIKE UP THE STAIRS... and 5kg dumbells (I've graduate from 500g, to 1kg to 2.5kg and now 5kg under the supervision of a personal trainer.) Is this an okay schedule to keep so far or should I modify it to make it a bit easier? I'm just not sure.

how did you all start out training? Was it similar to this?? I really need advice running because I'm so BAD at it. I've never been able to jog, let alone run so this is a new thing for me altogether!