Training diary of a triathlete

[Trichick]

Right have decided to bite the bullet and start a training diary, hopefuly it will be of interest as its will be rather different I guess to what most of you do in training.

Background
I have been doing triathlon for just over a year now, had a very successfully first season winning the national age group champs for the 20- 24 age group and coming 6th at the worlds in Hamburg.

I have a coach who sets me a programme each week

Goals for 2008

- Race elite
- Reduce my 1500m swim time

Tuesday 8th

6.30am Swim session 3000 meters
WarmUp 800 swim. 4x50 on 15 sec rest. MainSet 1x800 with a pull boy, 1x400 kick, 4x200 swim on rest of 40 sec
Warm down last 200m

11.30 turbo bike (indoors bike is mounted on a roller type thing!) session followed by a 30min transition run (i.e run straight after finishing my bike session!) Turbo 1 hour in heart rate zone 2 (129 - 149 beats/min)

Todays training felt good, legs were strong on the transition run which is a good sign.

Diet - first time I have actually added up all the nutrients i consume - very interesting indeed!

5.30am pre swim snack banana = 143 cals, 30 carbs, 1.8 fat, 0.6 protein

7.30am Breakfast/post workout - 50g oats, 50g mixed nuts/seeds/fruit, 50g yoghurt, 250ml whole milk = 584 cals, 24.8 protein, 64.3 carbs, 26g fat

10.30 Snack/pre Bike session - 1 Banana, 40g cheese = 343 cals, 30 carbs, 16.8 fat, 10.6 protein

During session drink - 145 cals, 37g carbs

12.30 PWO Shake = 179 cals, 15g protein, 24 carbs, 1.2 fat

1.00pm lunch = 2 eggs omelete with 100ml milk = 224 cals, 15.2 fat, 4.7 carbs, 16.2 protein
1apple + 1 carrot = 80 cals, 19.8 carbs, 1.3 protein, 0.7 fat

3.30 snack = 150g cottage cheese = 185cals, 18g protein, 4.7 carbs, 10.5 fat

6.30pm dinner = 200g salmon, 100g peas = 362 cals, 44.29 protein, 9g carbs, 15.7 fat

9.30 pre bed - 500ml milk = 320 cals, 16 protein, 23.5 carbs, 18g fat

Total = Cals 2485, Carbs 247g, Protein 146.6g, Fats 105.9

Along with 2litres of water drank throughout day

Should I still drop the carbs further considering I did 1 hours swim training then 1hr 30mins bike training???? Have burnt near 2000cals during training so I would probably think its to low in cals

[gymbunny]

YES! WOHOOO another female training journal!
Subscribed!!!

It will be really interesting to see how you train as I imagine it's very different to most people on here.

Oh and repped for taking the plunge

EDIT: I wouldn't drop the carbs further myself but maybe someone with a bit more knowledge could give some advice

[Trichick]

Thanks!!

[mjwild]

Cool, alot different training style then what we mostly see on this site, will be interesting to see how the other side trains.

[Aren_Tyr]

Without looking into it detail, the first thing that jumps out is that 2400 calories seems extremely low for that volume of training.

If you're able to sustain your training load day in day out and progress without feeling low in energy on that calorie level then fine, but I'd be extremely surprised if that is the case. If you burnt nearly 2000 from training, then 2400 is going to be way way too little! You're probably going to need more like 3500+ at least.

Today you've done 3k swimming, 1 hour bike and 30 minutes running. That is going to need some serious energy support! Don't know your weight, but protein looks good, carbs look OK, I'd increase fats primarily and also you could increase your high quality carbs. So, for example, more oats and more nuts/seeds, more eggs, and much more yoghurt! (For example, I eat around 250g of Greek yoghurt every morning, and I am not a big guy. 50g yoghurt is very little.).

Get some Omega 3-6-9 oil, flaxseed oil, or fish oil into your diet. Extremely healthy and will give you a good calorie bump.

Just a few general suggestions, can probably offer more specific advice when I've got a little more time.

[Trichick]

Thanks for the advise Aren_Tyr thats really helpfull. Its the first time I have realy added up my diet totals, you are right I do need to increase my intake. Would be interested to hear your more specific thoughts when you have more time.

[myprotein.com]

We will look forward to reading this!

[Trichick]

Wednesday 9th Jan

6.30am Swim Session - Endurance session 45 mins continuous swimming.
My least favourite session as I get bored doing endless lengths have told my coach but he just says its character building and you will benefit come race season in the summer! We shall see. Anyway did 2750m addmittedly did stop at the 1500m mark for a drink (the pool I swim in is quite warm and I dont like getting dehydrated!) Lanes were busy this morning - think there were a lot of new years resolutionists doing 10 lenghts in the fast lane (thinking they can keep up the pace) then getting out shattered - they do annoy me some times - rant over!!
Session felt good, body felt reasonably fresh considering it was early morning!

4.30pm Interval Run session - 1/2 mile reps
7 times 1/2 mile (roughly 2 1/2 - 3mins) reps at high zone 3 (155 - 171 beats/min - just below lactate threshold so hard efforts) with 2 mins walk recovery.
I usually do this on streatch of road near where I live but unfortunately I didn't managed to get out befor it got dark so I had to head to the gym and do it on the treadmill (my least favourite place to run). So i decided to do it as 3min intervals at 16km/hr with walk recovery at 5.5km/hr.
Felt tired before the session however after my 20min easy running warm up and stretch I was feeling great and ready to attack the main set! Main set flew by and I ran strong throughout which was pleasing got my hear rate down to 100 bpm during recovery and maintained high zone 3 during the reps.

Tommorrow should be a good day Turbo session am and then some weights pm!

Had a busy working day with sheep on the farm, so haven't had time to workout my calories etc today but I have basically eaten exactly the same as yesturday only increasing my lunch time omelette to 3 eggs with some added cheese, a steak for dinner instead of salmon and increased the amount of yoghurt at breakfast to 200g.

[gymbunny]

Wow, you make me feel positively lazy. Do you train every day?

[Ollie]

Awesome - I'll follow this with a lot of interest as I seriously considered taking up triathlons when I was into distance running. My swimming held me back though