Yet Another Question

Just let me know if my contant questions get old

My schedule this week was as follows;
Monday         Swam                 200 meters
Tuseday        Ran                    2 miles
Wednesday  Stationary bike 4 miles and did upper body strength training
Today             Run                    3 Miles
Friday             Swim                 250 meters
Saturday        watch college football all day
Sunday          Run                    5 Miles

Next week I flip flop the swim and bike. I need to put more core and weight training in there somewhere. The pool is nowhere close to a gym. Till I get a bike I'll have to settle for a stationary bike which of course is in the gym. How important is core and weight training anyway? Can I simply run, swim, and bike?

Questions never get old.
My opinion is weight training will make you better at all the above and should always be part of trianing for anything. Your muscles fuel every activity you do. The more muscle mass you have is also the higher your metabolism will be.

 You can pick up a few cheap dumbells at a garage sale and get a great weight training workout right at the house, at least for the first few months till you want to take it up a notch.  Ithink core is critical, and I would hate to think how bad my back and shoulders would feel after a long run if I hadn't worked them hard in weight training.  

I am very bad about doing weight training. I don't suggest you be like me.

I have some weights at home and need to use them more often. CORE exercise is god's gift to any athlete.

My back has killed after running events. The more attention I pay to getting core work done, the better I feel.

I usually schedule my chiropractor visits for after a long race, and after my last Half Marathon not only did I not feel desperate for an adjustment, but I walked the 3.7 miles to get to the chiropractor! Thank you core work!!

My personal opinion is that if you are going to add strength training, then drop some of that cardio. I'd do at least one simple full body strength training routine at least once a week if your focus is going to be on cardio as it is now, or a two day split maybe.

eta: And I'm not talking about doing a ton of sets of little isolation exercises. I mean stuff like squats, bench press, shoulder press, pull/chin ups, push ups, deadlifts, rows, dips. These exercises will hit several muscle groups at once.

one more eta: I'm not sure what your fitness goals are. If it's to be a triathlete, I can't advise. But I can advise on strength training a good bit. = )

I have been doing strength training since 6 weeks post op and I feel it has helped me in triathlons. Having the core strength has helped with stability while swimming, biking, and running. I neglected abs for awhile and I could tell while riding my bike, especially when trying to stay in an aero position for awhile. Right now I am doing a 2/2/2 system with 1 day of rest. Biking and running are on their own day, I do strength training on swim days, and lift before jumping in the pool. Even though I am an Army spouse and can use the gym and pool on post for free, I just couldn't get it to work because of pool hours and the childcare issue. I joined the local YMCA, whose pool is much nicer, has much better hours, free childcare while workout out, and a nice weight room.

You can go to walmart and buy a simple bench and some dumbbells,as well as a mat for abs and other floor exercises, that will give you the chance to build and maintain core strength while training for a triathlon.

By the way, did you pick a first triathlon yet?