Just got home from the orientation session for my triathlon training program! I can't decide if I'm more or less overwhelmed? I did get most of my questions answered...because, yes, I was the person asking them.
The leaders emphasized the flexibility of the program which I definitely feel better about. It sound like the keys are: do the workouts when you need to, don't do the same discipline 2 days in a row, if you skip, skip the shorter of the two workouts in that discipline that week, don't take a few days off but then jump into a really long workout, etc.
The program is set up not to increase the workout lengths by more than 10% every week. I likely won't reduce my workout lengths but when my distances/times sync up with the plan, I'll stick with the 10% increases. I'll also stick with the workout phases. The first 2 months are 3 weeks of workouts, 1 week of active recovery, then it switches to 4 to 1.
They also emphasized heart rate zone training. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. In the first month, all the workouts are supposed to in zones 1 to 2 or 3. Using the basic max heart calculation of 220 - age, my max heart rate should be 194. Zone 1 is 50% to 60% of max HR, so 97 to 116. That's like walking. I'm not even sure if that's a brisk walk. The first workout on the schedule is a 36 minute swim in HR zone 1 to 2. My last swim workout was about 50 minutes and averaged a HR of 147 (HR zone 3) and maxed out at 165 (HR zone 4). I don't really feel like doing less than that...so I probably won't.
I'm definitely still overwhelmed by the amount of gear and equipment necessary. It sounds like there will be plenty of clinics coming up to address that what you really need versus want but I could see this getting very expensive very quickly.
Also they tried to emphasize that triathlons are all about balance...balancing the 3 disciplines, balancing work life, social life and workouts...I've never been very good at balance....this could be an issue.
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