Hi, this is my first year training for a triathlon (I started in april). I have completed two triathlons this year and want to go into off season training. How should I approach off season? Anyone know of a free plan? Should I still train every day and train bike 3 times, run 3 times and swim 3 times a week? Any suggestions are welcome.

I finished my season a couple weeks ago, ending with the HIM, The Great Illinois. I did fine, 6 hr. 33 min. I did have some problems with my back, it was very sore for about a week and was so bad at one point, I had to sleep on the floor. I took a lot of Ibuprophen and a lot stretching during that time.

-I have a triathlon coming up on Sept 20. -Distance = 0.5mi swim, 20mi bike, 5mi run -I will have done 9 weeks of training. -This is my first and only race of the season.

I have been reading this forum for a couple of months now and have found it very helpful. I haven't been able to find a good answer to my question on the internet even though I think it is really basic - maybe the problem is that everyone else already knows. So here goes.

Time for another check in for me. Since my 70.3 in June I've been trying to get focused on letting my sciatica issue clear and work on my cycling. So, I've been riding pretty much 5-6 days a week and working on core and flexibility to give the sciatica a rest. I love it, been road cycling and mountain biking for the most part. I love the mountain bike.

Well, I was contemplating skipping my lunchtime ride and subing it into an evening ride, until I looked outside and saw that it will be rather rough with a large storm front building and coming in out general direction.

After a long cold winter, and wet spring, it's finally hot in Wisconsin. Too hot. I've always had problems with heat. My body really has a hard time. My face turns purple, my stomach gets sluggish, my skin gets salty.

Like many - for some reason, I'm challenged when it comes to counting laps in the pool. After one of the last threads, I decided to try just counting push-offs. It actually worked great - it was very easy to remember the number I was on at the time. I just had to workout how many push-offs I needed to make for the intervals I was doing.

While I was doing my swim workout today (Quick side note - I did a swim, then a bike - can we call that a "swike?") in the midst of my intervals, I noticed that my obliques were really working hard. Add to that - I was swimming PR times. It seemed I figured out how to engage my core muscles to pull with. Felt like it was something very good - curious which lead to which.

So this is my first year of doing anything that includes running and I'm wondering if I am setting myself up for disaster or injury based on the timing of my events. I am doing my first tri this weekend which is an Oly distance and then doing another the end of August. And during the training for the second one I am also going to start training for a half marathon I want to do in Oct.