How Many Years Of Training Before Surgery?

Triathlons: What is your best all-around training regimen for a beginning triathlete? Long-time athlete with lengthy (2 year) layoff from surgery; 40 years old?

• Answer:

  Welcome back to the athletic world! I may not be fully qualified to answer this question but nonetheless, I will add my suggestions. Phase I First of all, you would need to get back your endurance and stamina. But since you mentioned you underwent a surgery, you would want to do that with least hardship to your body, for a start. And your best bet would be to go with swimming. Swimming has the ability to increase a person's overall endurance and stamina. The water acts as a relaxing agent while your body and lungs does the hard work. Start with light playful sessions and then keep increasing your levels gradually until you reach your desired goal for whatever triathlon level you choose - Sprint/Olympic/Ironmans. Phase II Now that your body is getting back to its former glory ( you mentioned being a long time athlete), you should let it go through the next level of hardship - Cycling. Simply take your bike and go out. Preferably, do it early morning so as to fill up your lungs for fresh air. How fast your ride is secondary to how much distance you can cover. Remember, you are doing a triathlon. You need to finish one stage and still retain your energy for the next stage. Phase III The most difficult of all - Running. After your body is all worked up and pumped up with endurance gained from swimming and cycling, you go ahead with running. Keep yourself hydrated and keep running. As simple as that. And once you are all done and comfortable with the individual sessions for your triathlon category, you need to sum it all up and get ready for the real deal - The continuous triathlon. Practice for the category you wish to compete and then do the individual rounds in that order. Initially, the sole goal for you would be to complete the phases with enough sustaining endurance. Forget timing at this stage. Then if once you are comfortable completing all three rounds, work upon your timings. In a triathlon, the transition time counts too. You need to be prepared for that as well. Remember, you may be very good in one of the individual races of triathlon (swim/run/cycle) but not so in other race. But you need to save your energy for the other races as well. There is no point completing your favorite race very quickly with all your energy and then finish the other races with poor timings or spend a lot of time during transitions regaining your strength. The average counts. All three races are important. You are the master of your body. You are the only one who knows it's strength and weaknesses. Capitalize on your strength and work upon your weaknesses. And once again, welcome back to the athletic world and all the best for your future races!