If you want to run a triathlon, even the "easier" sprint triathlon, you need to be in extremely good shape. A sprint triathlon consists of a 0.5 mile swim, 13 mile bike ride and 3.2 mile run. The Olympic triathlon distances are almost double the sprint lengths -- .93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike ride, 6.2 mile run. If you handle those, you might want to test yourself in a Half Ironman with a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile ride and 13 mile run. Then you might be ready for the big daddy, the Ironman Triathlon distances of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile ride and 26.2 mile run. But first things first.
Sprint Triathlon
The Running with Hal Higdon website offers an eight-week training program to prepare you for a sprint triathlon. Higdon cautions would-be triathletes that they must have a strong basic level of fitness before starting the program: an ability to run for 30 minutes and bike and swim for nearly as long. In addition to swimming, running and biking during each week, the program incorporates strength training and one day of rest. On Week 1, for example, you strength train on Monday, run 30 minutes on Tuesday, bike 45 minutes and strength train on Wednesday, swim 20 minutes and run 25 minutes on Thursday, rest on Friday, run 30 minutes on Saturday and swim 30 minutes and run 30 minutes on Sunday.
Olympic Triathlon
When you are ready to step up to the next level, a 12-week training program at the Amateur Endurance website can help prepare you. it requires between five and 11 hours of training per week. You can see the difference in work levels between the sprint program and the Olympic program. For example, on Week 1 of the Olympic program, you swim 45 minutes on Monday, ride 60 minutes in a indoor cycling class and run 20 minutes on Tuesday, do a 60-minute core workout Wednesday, run 60 minutes and swim 60 minutes on Thursday, rest on Friday, bike 120 minutes and run 30 minutes on Saturday, and cap off the week with a 60-minute bike ride and 30-minute run. The workouts get even tougher after Week 1.
Women
Although the above workout programs are for both men and women, the Women's Health Magazine site offers a 12-week program designed to prepare beginning women triathletes to complete an Olympic triathlon. However, you need to have a base of three to six months of steady endurance training before tackling this program. You should be able to swim 500 yards, bike at least 15 miles and run at least three miles. and do each of them -- separately, not at the same time -- without stopping. Then you are ready for Week 1, which consists of running 40 minutes on Sunday, resistance training for 20 to 30 minutes on Monday, swimming 500 to 1,000 yards and biking 30 minutes on Tuesday, resting on Wednesday, swimming 500 to 1,000 yards and biking for 45 minutes on Thursday, resistance training for 20 to 30 minutes and running 30 minutes on Friday, and swimming 500 to 1,000 yards and biking 60 minutes on Saturday.
Considerations
Before you train for a triathlon, get your doctor's approval for the grueling training schedule. Don't expect too much from yourself in your first triathlon. As Hal Higdon says of the swimming portion of the sprint triathlon, "Mainly, you need to swim well enough to get you through this first triathlon leg without drowning, no small feat in itself." Since the swim is usually in open water, you should practice at least some of the time in a lake or the ocean. You can find workout programs for the Half Ironman and Ironman online as well. As a general rule, you can double the training workload of an Olympic triathlon for the Half Ironman and quadruple it for the Ironman.
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