BEGINNER PLAN FOR JARDEN WESTCHESTER TRIATHLON - Weeks 17-20
(Click here for advanced plan)

You should consult your doctor before attempting this plan as the athlete assumes all risks of attempting such a plan and Tri-trainer.com assumes no liability for providing this plan. Appendix at the end of the plan.
Workouts are in hours and minutes of duration.

If you have questions please email Razortri@aol.com

9/12/2011

MON

TUE

WED

THUR

FRI

SAT

SUN

TOTAL

STR

REST

SWIM

0.45

0.45

1.30

BIKE

1.00

1.30

3.30

RUN

0.30

0.30

1.00

0.15

2.15

9/19/2011

MON

TUE

WED

THUR

FRI

SAT

SUN

TOTAL

STR

REST

RACE!

SWIM

0.45

0.30

0.30**

1.15

BIKE

0.45

0.30

1.15

RUN

0.30

0.15

0.45

APPENDIX

This is it! The final 2 weeks before your race. If it is your first Triathlon, Congratulations! I would be very interested to know how you did in your first race and if you stayed fairly close to your Plan. If you have been keeping to the plan and your fitness levels have improved, you can now put in some accelerations into your workouts but make sure you recover between your efforts. Save it for the Race!

If you are still worried about the swim, you still have time to practice relaxing and also to practice swimming in a wetsuit in open water. Make sure you are swimming with others. The ideal thing to do would be to swim at Rye Town Beach where the race starts.

I mentioned before that the bike course is tough. Practice on hills. Try to join the organized bike rides on Sunday 18th at 8am from Rye Playland. Check out the course on www.westchestertriathlon.org.
There are CUT OF TIMES FOR THE BIKE on race day.

**I hope you have managed to do the BRICK workouts so that now you will know what your legs will feel like when you get off the bike. If you haven't done one yet I'd recommend this last one. Also, ** the day before race day is a chance for you to check the nuts and bolts and tires on your bike, and then go for a short run. If you can get to the race site before Race day I would try to do an open water swim and check out the swim start and finish.

NUTRITION/HYDRATION

On your longer workouts of 45 minutes or more, you should be drinking fluids and it is better to drink an electrolyte like Gatorade or something similar. Your Triathlon is going to be a long workout of around 3 hours or more and you will also need some carbs to fuel your effort. Practice eating an energy bar on the bike or maybe a couple of GU gels.

HEART RATE ZONES

In the commentary below you will see referance to Heart Rate Zones. Zones 1-5 are used or RPE(Rate of Perceived Exertion ) 1-10. If you have had a Lactate Threshold Test you will know your Heart Rate Training Zones. If not I would recommend you use the Karvornean form of measurement on the Tri-Trainer.com web site under Training articles. Otherwise use the way you feel on a scale of 1 -10 Very Easy to Very Hard.

*** As a Beginner, none of your workouts should feel Very Hard ***

STRENGTH

We've stopped the strength workout in this last 2 weeks to give your muscles a chance for full recovery and now you can just focus on your race specific workouts. You can continue your core ab workouts which I generally do every day.

SWIM

You should still be focusing on Swim Technique. Everybody can improve their Technique. Your aim is to finish this swim and feel relaxed for the bike. Continue to spend about 30-50% of you workout focusing on form ( SLOWLY) unless you are a good swimmer already. Maybe hire a swim coach. Try open water swimming. Relax. If your swimming is going well, practice som efast 50's which will raise your heart rate to a level close to what you will feel at race start.

Workouts during the week can be Spin or one leg technique work on a trainer. As the weather has got a lot better and evenings are lighter, try to get out on your bike. Stationary bike and spin classes are OK but you should try to experience hills outdoors. Your Heart rate Zone does not need to go above Zone 2-3 or RPE 2-4 on a scale of 1-10. Try to stay seated on hills to build your leg strength and if you haven't joined us yet, for the practice rides, try to come on the 16th.

If you are able to run 30 - 45 minutes and you feel comfortable you can start to put in some 20 - 30 second acceleration and then recover. If you still have problems running don't worry. There is no rule against walking in a race and your aim is to finish. You are just building the amount of time that you run or walk for at a very easy pace. Just keep moving for the designated time.

TESTING - You should now understand your workouts better and be able to test yourself.

As I mentioned in the last phase - KEEP A DIARY OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

Also - Race for a reason and raise money for a Charity. That will give you extra motivation motivation to FINISH.

Lastly for race day, look at the Race Check List on www.tritrainer.com introductory page as that will help you to remember everything you need on race day.