Right now i'm near the end of month two of training for my first triathlon in September. I've run a few 5ks, and one 10k, and i've always been a good swimmer.

I've put in about 70 miles running, and biking, and about 6 miles swimming. I ran my first 10k last week to compare against other times, (49:53) and i felt awesome afterwards.

My problem though is, i did my first big "sprint" workout today, biking 10 min sprinting on/off, and sprinting on a track.

The biking went fine, but the run was terrible. I was gasping and out of breath only after a few hundred meters. I figured after a few months of training i would be past the exhaustion, out-of-shape, point, and i could increase (muscle and technique).

I hope to increase my run to around 42 minutes for the 10k, and i thought the sprinting would help that.

What would you suggest to increase both stamina and speed on the run?

Seth from Hawaii

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Hi Seth,

Thank you for contacting TriathaNewbie.com!

You’ve been doing a great job training for the individual pieces of the triathlon. Now it’s time to put them all together and get them to work together. These types of workouts are called “Bricks”. They are basically workouts that combine two of the three disciplines in one workout; like a swim and bike workout or a bike and run workout. These will get your body learn to transition from one discipline to the next because they all use very different muscle groups and your body needs to practice the transition.

It sounds to us like you are trying to train for your triathlon without any training guides and that’s a tough thing to do! Where you’re only in month 2 of your training, we suggest that you find a triathlon training guide that works for you and stick to it. It will show you the best way to ramp up your stamina and speed for the swim, bike and run so that you don’t injure yourself along the way. Jumping to sprints when your body isn’t ready can potentially cause an injury and you’ll waste a lot of time recovering rather than training.

Here are some training manuals we suggest:

• Triathlete Magazine's Complete Triathlon Book: The Training, Diet, Health, Equipment, and Safety Tips You Need to Do Your Best
• Triathlete Magazine's Guide to Finishing Your First Triathlon
• Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals: And Doing the Duathlon Too
• Triathlon Swimming Made Easy: The Total Immersion Way for Anyone to Master Open-Water Swimming
• Training Plans for Multisport Athletes: Your Essential Guide to Triathlon, Duathlon, XTERRA, Ironman, and Endurance Racing
• Slow Fat Triathlete: Live Your Athletic Dreams in the Body You Have Now
• Your First Triathlon
• Triathlon Workout Planner (Paperback Book)
• Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide: Plans, Scheduling Tips, and Workout Goals for Triathletes of All Levels
• The Woman Triathlete
• Triathlete Magazine's Guide to Finishing Your First Triathlon

They are all great guides, so pick the one that suits you and have a great time training!

Please email with any questions.

Be well.
~Jack

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