Lifting for a triathalon?

[Cuchulain82]

Another routine question, but this one is different from the usual MAP 'pimp my workout' thread:

How should someone lift to prepare for a triathalon?

Here's the story- my girl is training for the NYC triathalon in mid-July. This consists of the following:

-1500 m open-water swim, followed by
-40 km road bike, followed by
-10 km run through central park

She is a former competitve swimmer and is weakest in the run. She is doing great with endurance training, but knows nothing about lifting, and I'm not sure how to advise her. I imagine that the usual dynamic motions would help her alot (turkish getups, clean and press, lunge and press, overhead squat, etc) but I don't know how heavy she should go. I imagine she would want to go moderately heavy and do exercises over time, rather than reps/set.

So, for example, I was thinking of something like 3-4 sets of clean and press at 50%mr for 1 min each, with 1-2 min rest in the beginning. However, I don't know if this is right because she isn't really looking to add fast twitch muscle- she needs aerobic, working for 4 hours straight, muscle ability.

She is only going to be able to lift once a week for sure, but hopefully I can convince to up it to twice a week. She has no experience in the weight room and is very uncomfortable. I have no idea how to advise her, or even any resources she could look to, so any and all help is appreciated.

[TigerDude]

There's info on cross-training at runnersworld.com, but not too much on weights. It doesn't seem to be a focus of runners.

Runners World (http://www.runnersworld.com/category/1,5034,s6-51-54-0-0,00.html)

[cxw]

Bevan Docherty is one of the worlds top triatheletes. I've read a reasonable amount about his training, and I don't think he does any weights.

For long distance, it's more about endurance. A lot of speed increases come through doing the activitiy over and over again. Ofcourse, some sprint work will also be useful.

Once a week may be worthwhile, e.g. some squatting may help flexibility, therefore increasing stride length and therefore increasing running speed.

Also, mid July is pretty close. In terms of periodising a training program, this is reasonably late in the piece to start worrying about strengh improvemtns.

[Cuchulain82]

@cxw

I had the same thoughts myself- it is late, she doesn't need fast-twitch fibers, etc. However, she is looking primarily to do two things:

(1) Injury prevention
(2) More power up hills- she has been having trouble tightening/cramping up going up larger hills. When she's biking it hit her quads and hamstrings, and when she's running it's more her calves.

I spoke w/some of the trainers (who I respect) at my gym today, and they said something similar- basically that if she is having trouble getting up hills, she should probably do sprint routines up hills. Another option would be doing more hills, gradually upping the pace over time.

I dunno- she training for something different than fighting, and my limited knowledge of lifting is even less helpful in this case. My gut instinct says that she could benefit from some weight training (even though July is close), and she wants to know more about the weightroom and feel comfortable lifting. She has the motivation and I don't want her to have a bad experience and then get turned off to lifting forever.

[kmguy8]

she might injure herself in the weight room.. have her begiin lifting after the event in prep fo the next one... a change up this late in the game is likely do more harm than good... a simple back injury or shoulder could mess her game up....
leave well enough alone IMHO
you do not want to be blamed for that, do you?

[Cuchulain82]

leave well enough alone IMHO
you do not want to be blamed for that, do you?
Good golly- not at all. But she is actively asking me about lifting- how to, how often, which exercises, etc. Not only is she enthusiastic, she's also a little pissed that I haven't said more already (this has been going on for a little while). The last thing I want to do is make her feel like I'm blowing her off.

I think that if she did some dynamic exercises with light weight and some sprint work, it would help her. Is that really a bad idea?

[kmguy8]

no.. light weights will be ok... but i really doubt it will help her
specificity is what she needs now.. diet and rest will help most
overtraining will hurt performance.. plus.... you had mentioned full body work like turkish get ups.... these movements seem, well, more likely than a little light lifting to result in a "stupid" injury that could affect training (rotating bar, pulled back muscle, shoulder injury, etc)