Duathlon Newbie Wants a Good Startup Bike and a Basic Training Program | Ask The Coach

Coach Ani de Leon is a Certified Level 2 Triathlon Coach by the International Triathlon Union and has completed coaching, camp requirements and attended coaching courses such as Endurance Performance Systems Camp in Melbourne, Australia under Tony Benson, Noosa Triathlon Camp in Sunshine Coast, Australia under Nick Croft, High Performance Training Camp in Goldcoast, Australia under Col Stewart, and the Timex Multisport Team Camp, Coach Ani’s other significant highlights include : The first Filipina Ironman World Championships Qualifier and First Female Multisport Coach in the Philippines, Founder/Coach SuperTriKids Triathlon Youth Dev’t Program, Founder/ Coach of First All Womens Running Clinics (Pinay in Action) in the Philippines, Founding Member of First All Womens Cycling Team in the Philippines (Team Davids Salon), and lastly, perhaps the most important of all (for us at least!), she’s our first In[FOCUS] Athlete too!

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Photo Credit : usatriathlon.org/news/articles/2009/04/why-do-the-du-first-timers-offer-their-perspectives.aspx

We got an email from Lem Payo, a duathlon newbie who’s looking for a good start up bike for his inaugural multisport event. Aside from that, he also asked Coach Ani for a basic training program that he could use to make sure he’ll be able to cross the line on race day.

From Lem :

Mam…im joining my first ever duathlon … im currently using my old MTB for this event, can u suggest what is good bike for duathlon?…how much it cost me to buy a new bike? and also what is the basic training for duathlon…thanks mam

From Coach Ani :

Hi Lem,

If it’s your first time to join a duathlon, I suggest that you use your mountain bike for now, it should be perfectly fine! However if you are really on the lookout for a new bike, a road bike can give you access to a lot of other races like cycling races and triathlons. Normally you can purchase a bike anywhere between P25,000 to P500,000+! You could also look into the items for sale in this website (biketradesph.com) as there are a lot of previously owned bikes which have a friendlier price.

As for beginners’ duathlon training, you can do this for your typical week:

1. 1 Bike Ride which is 1-2hours long.
2. 1 Run Session which is 35-50min.
3. 1 Combination session of 45-60min Bike Ride followed immediately by a 30min run. You can do different variations, like run-bike-run/ 2 sets of bike-run, etc.
4. If you have more time, you can add one more 30min run session.
5. Try to do these at a comfortable pace at the start of your training. Nearing the race you can insert some faster surges in the middle of your sessions.

Good luck!

Coach Ani