How do You Increase Your Endurance?

Update: Sunday I did 3/4 of a mile in 48 minutes. Although my swim consisted of mostly 50 yard and 100 yard sets ... I did manage to do a 200 yard set (8 lengths) during my workout.

So I didn't make a mile yet and I have to the whole open water thing to get over, BUT I'm that much closer. The next few weeks I will be focusing on distance and being able to complete that distance in a short time as possible.

The weather has been terrible so I only managed to get outside once this week and did a 19 mile bike ride immediately followed by a 14 minute run. Its the middle of April which only gives me 5 weeks to train.

Even if I was able to complete all of my distances there are a bunch of other things to consider:
Transitions - A transition is the time you take to move from completing one event to starting the next event.

Transition 1 or T1 - is the transition from the first event or the swim to the bike. You have to be able to get out of your swim gear, throw on a shirt and bike shoes, then walk your bike over to the starting area and ride.

Transition 2 or T2 - is the transition from the second event, the bike to the run. You have to be able to park your bike, kick off your bike shoes and put on your running shoes quickly and head to the finish line.

The other things to consider during:
The swim - Let's face it, its gonna similar to that youtube video towards I posted below. It's gonna be crowded and all the pros are gonna do WHATEVER it takes to lead the pack even if that means diving in on top you, kicking and punching you as they swim if they have to.

The Bike - by the time the swim is done you will have gone between 30 minutes to an hour without any meal or fluid replacement. The bike is where you have to make that up. Not only do you have to keep your pace, you have to find the time to suck down a gel, eat a banana and drink some liquid fuel/water mix. They've been pushing us to get accustomed to taking in water/fuel mix every 5 - 10 minutes.

The run - There will be water/fuel stations everywhere. So it'll be easy to get water as you need it. They'll also be handing out fruit for energy during the run.


Wish me luck.