Your First Triathlon

Get ready for your first triathlon with the sports #1 coach! Joe Friel is the world’s most trusted triathlon coach and this accessible and friendly guide will get you ready for your first sprint or Olympic triathlon feeling strong, confident, and ready for the challenge.

Friel has helped hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy the challenges of triathlon with his clear and comprehensive Training Bible method. Your First Triathlon simplifies all the principles of Friel’s training approach for newcomers who want a simple, no-nonsense way to train for triathlon. Friel’s method will build the fitness and confidence you need to enjoy your first event. Your First Triathlon, 2nd Edition includes:

• Training Plans: Easy to follow in under 5 hours a week
• Workouts: Clearly explained for swim, bike, and run
• Technique: Effective drills to polish your form
• Tri gear: What you need and don’t need
• Nutrition & weight loss: Practical advice for being in ideal race shape
• Tips & Tricks: How to navigate your race packet pickup, lay out your gear, set up your transition area, fuel for your race, finish your swim without stress or fear, and ensure your race goes smoothly from the moment you wake up until you cross the finish line.

Your First Triathlon offers a 12-week training plan for total beginners as well as custom plans for athletes who have some experience in running, cycling, or swimming. Each triathlon training schedule includes realistic swimming, biking, and running workouts with options to add strength workouts. These simple plans will build anyone into a triathlete.

Triathlon is an amazing and challenging sport that can help you get fit, healthy, and feeling great. Your First Triathlon will help you get off to a great start in the swim-bike-run sport and excited for your next race.

With a masters degree in exercise science, Joe Friel was a marathoner and running coach throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. After his first triathlon in 1983 and falling in love with the sport he began coaching multisport athletes becoming one of the first triathlon coaches in the country. The following year he opened a triathlon store in Ft. Collins, Colorado―probably the first in the world. Throughout the 1980s his race management company organized several triathlons in Colorado. He left retail and race management in 1987 to focus on coaching. The athletes he coached for over 30 years ranged from novice to high-performance amateur to professional to Olympian. In 1997, he was a founding member of the USA Triathlon Coaches Association. He served as co-chair in 1999-2000. In 2000, he attended the Sydney Olympics to assist with team preparation. The following year he was the coach of team USA for the World Triathlon Championships. Throughout the 2000s he was a frequent speaker at USAT coach seminars. He wrote 17 books on training, the most notable being The Triathlete’s Training Bible, which is now in its 5th edition and translated into 15 languages. It remains the best-selling book in the world on triathlon training. In 1999, he co-founded TrainingPeaks, online training software for endurance athletes. As an athlete he competed in hundreds of events including national and world championships, was an All-American Age Group Triathlete several times and a USAT-regional multisport champion. He stopped competing after a bike crash in 2014 restricted range of shoulder movement. He continues to present at triathlon camps and clinics for triathletes and coaches around the world. Joe currently lives and trains in the mountains of northern Arizona and is working on his 18th book―this one for coaches.