Strength Training for Triathletes

It's early June and I'm five months from Ironman AZ. I'm starting this week with a program from Strength Training for Triathletes by Patrick Hagerman. You can run and bike all day everyday, but if you don't help the muscles get bigger and support the slow twitch fibers (in the case of an Ironman) then you are setting yourself up to plateau and reach muscle fatigue earlier. Bigger muscles can last longer, I'm not talking about looking like a body builder, but rather the strength of your body in specific motions that support the three disciplines of triathlons. This program did a lot for me in just four months during training for my last Ironman, and now I'm hoping to enlist it's help to reach new goals. For longer distance your regimen is broken into three periods, muscular endurance, hypertrophy and power or strength. Each serves it's part in making you a better athlete and more prepared to handle the pitfalls of longer endurance races. The book supports your pursuit of any distance, sprint, olympic, half, or full Ironman. The book also allows you to identify weaknesses and gives specific exercises to remedy them. Starting this week I'll be doing three weight training workouts a week and in the muscular endurance phase working on 20 reps per exercise 2-3 sets with 30 seconds or less between sets. You feel silly trying to do that many reps with almost no weight, but by the time the whole program works towards a few weeks of low reps and lots of rest you feel primed for those long stretches on the bike, or finishing strong in those last six miles of the run. The book can be found at most major chains for running, or cycling and is available at amazon, barnes and noble, or borders. I'll still get a 50 lap swim in today in a 25 yard pool at LA Fitness and check my swim off for the week. I don't have all the answers but I know from experience this guy Patrick Hagerman gives tools for success.