The off season for most cyclists are the months between October and December. This is the time in which we focus our time on other aspects of our sport or other sports. This is the same for many marathoners- we just ran our fall marathon and are planning on spending the next few months on a new skill or sport. Cross training can seriously benefit you, the Athlete, by making you stronger in other parts of your body. I prefer cycling at this time of year because the fall days are shorter and we can zoom across the roads and really enjoy the cool breezes…

So here’s a list of tips that I hope you will find helpful when training for a Duathlon:

There are tons of aspects of cycling that you may or may not be aware of. A lot of you are coming to multi-sports with a running background and the biggest difference- is the investment in equipment. Cycling is expensive. However, just keep in mind, that investing in high quality equipment will last you a long time. I just retired my first pair of cycling shoes this year after having worn them since 1998.

To be effective in a duathlon- you will need to invest in shoes, a bike, a helmet, decent cycling shorts and a triathlon “outfit” for race day. Particularly an outfit that you can do all three in without changing your clothes. I will spend more time on this in Part 2.

Plan: There are multiple free plans on line that could outline a beginning training program for duathlons. Here are a few plans I found online that are free (here or here). Basically, for a duathlon, you could plan on alternating run, bike, run during the week and on the weekend, plan on running and riding back to back building up to 90 minutes of riding followed by a 6 mile run. These workouts are called bricks. You gradually increase your brick each week. There is also a plan in this months issue of Her Sports and Fitness. Personally, I would probably pay for a personalized plan by Coach Al mainly because I need a more structured plan and I know with his plans, I will get results.

Spin Class: Attending a spin class weekly can seriously improve your ability to ride effectively and run faster! Cycling is learning how to be really fast but very efficient with your energy. An effective spin teacher will take several cadence checks throughout a class and you need to be RIGHT ON whatever number they say. If you are on a fast flat- your cadence should be over 20 pedal strokes, climbing a big hill seated, your cadence should be around 15 strokes per minute. You are making your legs stronger and more efficient on the bike.

Yoga and strength training are equally important when training for anything and should be done year round. There is also specific weight training plans for triathletes- but the bottom line is your core. It must be strong. The reason is that when you get tired, your core is what will hold you together on the bike and in the run. A strong core can/WILL keep you in an aero position for a longer period of time. As for yoga, I would also recommend Sage Rountree’s podcasts for athletes. They are short in time but will cover what is necessary for cyclist and running- mostly going to be hip opening yoga poses. Cycling and running are all front to back activities- which can lead to weaknesses in your hips, knees and ankles.

Interval Training: Imperative. If you want to improve on the run or on the bike, you will need to incorporate high intensity workouts into your weekly routine. I would expect to see at least one speed workout on the run and on the bike each week. These workouts will not only make you stronger, and faster for both sports.

Community: If you can, find others with similar goals and try to ride together once per week. A good place to find others is the bike shop. Most shops will have two or three teams that will utilize the bike shop and can direct you to others who ride and train together. Haven’t seen this yet, but, it would be cool to have a women’s website that could be on a registration system to find others in your area who ride. Riding in a group situation is imperative.

Indoor Trainers: Since it’s the off-season, there are going to be times when you need to ride indoors because of darkness or weather issues. We use Cyclo-Ops Trainers or rollers. Either is fine although, for training purposes the Cyclo-Ops will allow you to have a variety of workouts. These are very expensive on Colorado Cyclist! I bet you could find either of these on Craig’s List or Ebay for $50! Most cyclists will have this stuff stashed in their garages! It is a necessity though. And the rollers, can really improve your ability to SPIN on a bike.

Events:

Resources to find events in your local area are going to be the following websites:

Competitor Magazine

Active

TriFind: A directory of Women’s Only Triathlon and Duathlon Events

Thank you for reading this! I hope it helps you in your training. Please let me know if you have any specific questions about training, if I don’t know the answer, I’m sure I can find out!

It is best that you have the perfect triathlon training schedule to be more effective.

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