DAC2S

I’m starting a very long, slow journey toward a sprint triathlon today (5/3/11.) I’d love to have you come along for the ride! I’ll post my weekly schedule here, and you can start with week one whenever you’re ready.

I even have a catchy name for it: Defiant Athlete Couch to Sprint or DAC2S for short. Cute, right?

This plan is adapted from the conservative Couch to 5K program and Michael Pate’s Sprint Triathlon training programs on Beginnertriathlete.com. (Both Beginnertriathlete.com and Michael Pate’s personal site have mild weight loss talk.)

This plan is meant to ease you into being able to complete a sprint length triathlon: swim half a mile, bike 13 miles and walk/jog/run 3.2 miles.

This program is pretty adaptable. I’m adapting it below, in fact, for my own needs. I’m starting from a place of very low cardio fitness, but it is my own level. I’m choosing to own it. Hell, I’m choosing to be proud of it.

I want to take a minute and talk about a couple of things.

First, your starting cardio level may be lower than mine. Maybe you can’t walk 10 minutes. That’s okay. It’s taken me three months to be able to walk for more than a minute or two at a moderate pace without feeling like I was going to die. Start out even slower. Walk one minute a few times this week, and ninety seconds next week, until you get to where you can do what I’ve listed here as week one. Let my week one be your week 5 or 10 or 20. It’s okay. I promise.

Second, it has occurred to me that maybe you don’t want to run. Maybe a sprint triathlon isn’t on your want-to-do list. That’s okay, too. I realize that there is no one fitness or athletic program that will magically stretch to cover everyone. But, I think you can use this program to build up your endurance or speed while walking, even if you don’t want to or can’t ever run. You can use an elliptical machine, which is low impact. Think about what you want. You might be working up to being able to walk a certain distance, building up joint flexibility or muscle strength. Or maybe you’re training to do something else. Whatever it is, I think the concept of starting very slow and building that way over time is a great one.

Lastly, what you read below assumes a certain amount of mobility. I try really hard, on my blog and in my life, to make sure that I don’t fall into an ableist trap. Sometimes I fail, because I’m human. Sometimes I say something or do something that I don’t even realize may be insensitive or just plain wrong. I hope, if that happens here, you’ll forgive me. And correct me, because it’s how I (like everyone) learn.  In the meantime, I’d be really happy to talk to you about adapting this long, slow road to a sprint triathlon (or where ever you want it to take you) to fit your individual needs. Drop me a line at shauntagrimes@gmail.com and we’ll talk.

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This program starts with walking/jogging/running and adds in biking and swimming. Depending on what you want to accomplish, you may want to add in strength and flexibility training either on your off days or as part of your training during your on days. I don’t feel qualified at the moment to lay out a program in either of these for you, however I will be recording my own strength and flexibility training under the “training log” tab if you need some ideas.

I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on the Interwebs. Please see one, if you have any kind of underlying medical condition or are afraid you might in any way be harmed by starting a training program. I love you too much to see you hurt!

WEEK ONE

Walk four days this week, alternating 10 and 15 minutes, for a total of 50 minutes.

Fit your walking days into your schedule where you can. It’s okay if you have to walk two days together, or three or four days in a row.

Walk at a comfortable to slightly fast-for-you pace. You want a pace you can maintain for 1o or 15 minutes, but that you would like to build up to being able to walk for 30 minutes at. For me, this is 3.2 mph.

Warming up and cooling down are important, even for these short walks. This is especially true if you are walking at a pace that is even a little bit faster than your normal walking speed. Take five minutes before and after each training session to walk at a slower than normal pace. For me, this is 2 mph.

Check out more about DAC2S, including resources and these weekly updates here.

WEEK TWO

Walk four days this week as follows: 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, for a total of 60 minutes.

Follow the instructions for week one with regarding to scheduling and pace.  And don’t forget to warm up and cool down.

Consider starting a journal of your DAC2S experiment. How did the first week feel? Are you feeling any progress in endurance yet? Take a few minutes to write down how you feel so you have something to look back when you want to judge your progress later. This can be a daily or weekly exercise.

If you feel up to it, add some core training in this week on one or two of your days off. My favorite core training sequence when I’m working at home is squats, wall push-ups and crunches. Start with three reps of one to fifteen each, depending on your fitness level. A strong core will come in handy when it’s time to do your sprint tri!

WEEK THREE

Walk four days this week, twenty minutes each for a total of 80 minutes.

Follow the instructions for week one with regarding to scheduling and pace.  And don’t forget to warm up and cool down.

Are you keeping up with your journal? Are you doing more than you thought you could after the end of week 2, or do you feel held back by the slow pace of the program? Do you need to tweak your speed so that you feel more challenged or more likely to succeed?

Pay attention to your form and speed as you walk this week. If you’re using a treadmill, try not to hold on to the rails. Walk with your shoulders back and your arms swinging naturally at your sides. If you feel ready to work toward a faster walking pace, add in two or three short intervals of that pace. For me, I want to move from 2.8 mph to 3.2 mph without getting leg cramps. This week, I’m walking 4 minute intervals at 2.8 followed by 1 minute of 3.2 mph.