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Your first triathlon
2012
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Presents a practical training guide for triathlon beginners, providing workouts designed for each leg of the triathlon, technique tips, information on equipment, and using triathlon training for weight loss. - (Baker & Taylor)

"Joe Friel is the top coach in triathlon and his book Your First Triathlon is the best-selling book for beginner triathletes. This clear and comprehensive book makes preparing for sprint and Olympic triathlons simple and stress-free. Joe Friel's practical training plan takes fewer than 5 hours a week, giving aspiring triathletes the confidence and fitness to enjoy their first race. Your First Triathlon offers a 12-week training plan for total beginners as well as custom plans for athletes experienced in running, cycling, or swimming. Four easy-to-use plans include achievable swim, bike, run, and optional strength workouts that will gradually but surely build anyone into a triathlete. Joe offers helpful advice to simplify the complexities of the swim-bike-run sport. Even a total novice will learn commonsense tips and tricks to navigate packet pickup, set up a transition area, fuel for race day, finish a stress-free swim, and ensure that race day goes as smoothly as planned. "-- - (Baker & Taylor)

Joe Friel is the world's most trusted triathlon coach and his friendly guide, Your First Triathlon, will get you ready for your first sprint or Olympic triathlon feeling strong, confident, and ready for the challenge.

Friel has helped hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy the challenges of triathlon with his clear and comprehensive TrainingBible method. Your First Triathlon simplifies all the principles of Friel's training approach for newcomers who want a simple, no-nonsense way to train for triathlon. The practical triathlon training plans in Your First Triathlon take fewer than 5 hours a week and will build the fitness and confidence you need to enjoy your first event.

Your First Triathlon offers a 12-week training plan for total beginners as well as custom plans for athletes who have some experience in running, cycling, or swimming. Each triathlon training schedule includes realistic swimming, biking, and running workouts with options to add strength workouts. These simple plans will build anyone into a triathlete.

Friel simplifies your triathlon race day with smart tips to navigate your race packet pickup, set up your transition area, fuel for your race, finish your swim without stress or fear, and ensure your race goes smoothly from the moment you wake up until you cross the finish line.

Triathlon is a fun and challenging sport that can help you get fit, healthy, and feeling great. Your First Triathlon will help you get off to a great start in the swim-bike-run sport.

- (Ingram Publishing Services)

Get ready for your first triathlon with the sports #1 coach! Joe Friel is the world’s most trusted triathlon coach and this accessible and friendly guide will get you ready for your first sprint or Olympic triathlon feeling strong, confident, and ready for the challenge.

Friel has helped hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy the challenges of triathlon with his clear and comprehensive Training Bible method. Your First Triathlon simplifies all the principles of Friel’s training approach for newcomers who want a simple, no-nonsense way to train for triathlon. Friel’s method will build the fitness and confidence you need to enjoy your first event. Your First Triathlon, 2nd Edition includes:

  • Training Plans: Easy to follow in under 5 hours a week
  • Workouts: Clearly explained for swim, bike, and run
  • Technique: Effective drills to polish your form
  • Tri gear: What you need and don’t need
  • Nutrition & weight loss: Practical advice for being in ideal race shape
  • Tips & Tricks: How to navigate your race packet pickup, lay out your gear, set up your transition area, fuel for your race, finish your swim without stress or fear, and ensure your race goes smoothly from the moment you wake up until you cross the finish line.

Your First Triathlon offers a 12-week training plan for total beginners as well as custom plans for athletes who have some experience in running, cycling, or swimming. Each triathlon training schedule includes realistic swimming, biking, and running workouts with options to add strength workouts. These simple plans will build anyone into a triathlete.

Triathlon is an amazing and challenging sport that can help you get fit, healthy, and feeling great. Your First Triathlon will help you get off to a great start in the swim-bike-run sport and excited for your next race. - (Simon and Schuster)

Author Biography

Joe Friel's TrainingBible Coaching company is one of the most respected and successful in endurance sports. Joe has been training endurance athletes since 1980, including national champions, world championship contenders, and Olympic athletes in road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon, and duathlon. Joe is an elite certified USA Triathlon and USA Cycling Coach and holds a master’s degree in exercise science. Joe is a featured columnist for VeloNews and Inside Triathlon magazines and his articles and interviews appear in dozens of national and international magazines, newspapers, and websites. Joe conducts training and racing seminars around the world and online and provides consulting services for corporations in the fitness industry. He has also been active in business as the founder of Ultrafit, an association of coaching businesses, Training Peaks, a web-based software company, and TrainingBible Coaching. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and Boulder, Colorado.

- (Ingram Publishing Services)

With a masters degree in exercise science, Joe Friel was a marathoner and running coach throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. After his first triathlon in 1983 and falling in love with the sport he began coaching multisport athletes becoming one of the first triathlon coaches in the country. The following year he opened a triathlon store in Ft. Collins, Colorado—probably the first in the world. Throughout the 1980s his race management company organized several triathlons in Colorado. He left retail and race management in 1987 to focus on coaching. The athletes he coached for over 30 years ranged from novice to high-performance amateur to professional to Olympian. In 1997, he was a founding member of the USA Triathlon Coaches Association. He served as co-chair in 1999-2000. In 2000, he attended the Sydney Olympics to assist with team preparation. The following year he was the coach of team USA for the World Triathlon Championships. Throughout the 2000s he was a frequent speaker at USAT coach seminars. He wrote 17 books on training, the most notable being The Triathlete’s Training Bible, which is now in its 5th edition and translated into 15 languages. It remains the best-selling book in the world on triathlon training. In 1999, he co-founded TrainingPeaks, online training software for endurance athletes. As an athlete he competed in hundreds of events including national and world championships, was an All-American Age Group Triathlete several times and a USAT-regional multisport champion. He stopped competing after a bike crash in 2014 restricted range of shoulder movement. He continues to present at triathlon camps and clinics for triathletes and coaches around the world. Joe currently lives and trains in the mountains of northern Arizona and is working on his 18th book—this one for coaches. - (Simon and Schuster)

Flap Cover Text

Get ready for your first triathlon with the sport’s #1 coach!

Triathlon is the hottest new fitness challenge. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are swimming, cycling, and running their way to a healthier lifestyle. Finishing your first triathlon is an unforgettable experience, a milestone that can set you on a path to lifelong fitness.

America’s top triathlon coach, Joe Friel, has a practical training plan that will get you to the starting line in race-ready shape—all in just 5 hours per week. With his friendly advice and a sensible training plan, you’ll quickly gain the fitness and the confidence to enjoy your first triathlon.

Your First Triathlon offers training plans for beginners as well as plans for more experienced runners, cyclists, and swimmers. Four easy-to-use programs for sprint- or Olympic-distance events provide realistic workouts that will shape you into a triathlete.

Training plans: Easy to follow in under 5 hours a week
Workouts: Clearly explained for swim, bike, and run
Technique: Effective drills to polish your form
Tips & tricks: For race-day check-in, a stress-free swim, and laying out your gear
Tri gear: What you need and don’t need
Nutrition & weight loss: Practical advice for dropping extra pounds

Your First Triathlon gives you the preparation and confidence you need to cross the finish line feeling great—and excited for your next race.

- (Ingram Publishing Services)

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Library Journal Reviews

The title pretty much sums up what you can expect: Friel clearly covers for beginners the basics of the sport and its components (swimming, biking, running). Information on nutrition, gear, muscular strength, and more adds value and presents multisport as a healthy approach to life. Friel writes clearly, and he's concerned with providing budding athletes with information that is immediately useful. For example, the sections on what to eat before, during, and after exercise are great. "The body simply cannot operate on only one fuel. If you start to run low on one of them—carbohydrates, obviously—you simply can't go on. This is referred to as ‘bonking.'" He also debunks the "fat-burning zone" myth, addresses what I impolitely call the "Hey, but I'm old!" factor, and provides about 30 pages of workout regimens. To date, I've done over 80 triathlons from short sprint distances through full Ironman races, and I can unequivocally state that in every single one of them I have used advice, information, or tips that I got from Joe Friel's books—especially the Triathlete's Training Bible (also VeloPress, 2009). Give it a whirl; you're across the finish line before you know it. — Douglas Lord, "Books for Dudes," LJ Reviews 6/21/12 (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
1 Your New Challenge
1(8)
Race Distances
3(1)
Choosing and Entering a Race
4(1)
Your First Race
5(1)
Can You Do It?
6(1)
A New Sport (or Three)
7(2)
2 Your Triathlon Lifestyle
9(16)
Motivation
10(2)
Recovery
12(2)
Weight and Exercise
14(9)
Exercise and Aging
23(2)
3 Your Nutrition
25(20)
Fueling Before Exercise
26(3)
Fueling During Exercise
29(6)
Refueling After Exercise
35(2)
Eating During the Rest of the Day
37(8)
4 Your Support
45(8)
Emotional Support
45(2)
Training Support
47(1)
Technical Support
48(2)
Where to Find More Information
50(3)
5 Your Swimming
53(12)
Flawed Technique
54(2)
Reinforcing Good Technique
56(2)
Where to Swim
58(3)
Swimming Equipment
61(4)
6 Your Cycling
65(32)
Your Bike
65(10)
Other Cycling Equipment
75(5)
Basic Cycling Skills
80(6)
Bike Safety
86(11)
7 Your Running
97(14)
Good Running Form
97(2)
Building Fitness for New Runners
99(1)
Staying Healthy
100(3)
Where to Run
103(2)
Running in Hot Weather
105(2)
Running Equipment
107(4)
8 Your Muscles
111(24)
Getting Stronger
111(4)
Strength Exercises
115(11)
Strength-Training Phases
126(3)
Improving Your Flexibility
129(6)
9 Your Training Plan
135(24)
Getting Fit: The Big Picture
136(2)
Finding the Right Training Plan
138(20)
What to Do When Things Don't Go as Planned
158(1)
10 Your Advanced Training Gear
159(10)
Heart Rate Monitors
160(2)
Power Meters
162(3)
GPS Devices
165(1)
Accelerometers
166(1)
Back to the Future
167(2)
11 Your First Triathlon
169(20)
Race Week
170(1)
The Day Before
170(4)
Race Morning
174(9)
Race Start
183(4)
After the Race
187(2)
Epilogue 189(4)
Appendix A Workouts 193(28)
Appendix B Gear Checklists 221(2)
Appendix C Triathlon Resources 223(4)
Glossary 227(4)
Index 231(8)
About the Author 239

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