Workouts: Swim: The program gradually builds your
swim endurance to make sure you can comfortably finish the distance. Take time to do drills as well. Swim drills (i.e. single-arm, kick-on-side and catch-up) are designed to allow you to focus and improve on a particular part of your swim stroke. A local swim coach, swim clinic or Masters workout will help you determine which drills you should emphasize in your training. Bike: The longest ride in this program is 90
minutes in weeks nine and 10. Base workouts are done at a relatively low intensity (zones 1 and 2) and are designed to build endurance. As the plan progresses, there is a little more work in zones 3 and 4 to increase your speed and threshold. Run: As with the bike workouts, the major-
The Equipment Basics As with almost every new sport, completing your first triathlon will require some equipment. You don’t need to rush out and buy these things—in fact, I recommend waiting until you have done one or two events to make gear purchases. There are countless goodies and gadgets that will assist you in both training and completing triathlons as quickly and comfortably as possible, but for now, the very basics you will need are:
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Wetsuit (at least for race day) Race apparel (a simple competition bathing suit with shorts thrown on for the bike and run will get the job done, or you can invest in a triathlon-specific race kit)
Enjoy your first triathlon adventure!
Ryan Bethke
Running shoes Bike (road bike preferably, or mountain bike) Bike helmet (Safety-approved) Bike shoes Swimsuit Goggles
ity of your running will be in zones 1 and 2. If you need, you can walk to stay in that training zone. As you get fitter, you’ll find it easier to stay in the zone while running. The exceptions to staying in zones 1 and 2 are the fartlek workouts, during which you can play with the pace of your runs. Traditionally, this is done according to the terrain you are running on, so if there is a hill, you can run hard up it, and if there’s a long straight you can run easily or at a steady and strong pace. Allow yourself to experiment with pace and intensity. An example fartlek run would be: Warm up for five minutes, then run a few faster efforts for two to three minutes followed by a two-minute jog for recovery. The run is completed with a cool-down jog. The fartlek pick-ups can move into zones 3 and 4, while recovery stays in zones 1 and 2.