There's no one blueprint for what constitutes a beginner at the sport of triathlon. Therefore, it's folly to devise a training schedule for "the beginner."

That said, being well-versed in the practice of folly, we're going to do it anyway. I (Slowtwitch publisher Dan Empfield) am going to write this training schedule. Actually, I've already written it. We're approaching the 20th anniversary since I wrote it for publication in the Orange County Register daily newspaper. It's stood a lot of athletes in good stead in the intervening years, but it's been out of publication on Slowtwitch for the last two years or so.

I'm going to rework the series and present it here.

For you rank beginners I shall assume nothing of you. I shall start with very low expectations. Simply put, if you can walk 20 minutes and not expire from it, you're a candidate for this training program.

This will be a five-month program. It is designed to get you from zero to the completion of an international distance race, also known as the Olympic distance. It consists of 1.5km swimming (about a mile), 40km biking (about 25 miles), and a 10km run (about six miles). You'll complete the race, and you'll live to tell about it (and actually enjoy it).

If you find these workouts excruciatingly easy, don't get over-exuberant. Consistency is the key.

Before I continue further, though, let us underwrite you, like you're an "equity." What sort of "risk" are you? From a physical point of view are you a junk bond? If so, don't worry. The only way from where you are is up. High risk, high return. This being the case, we'll minimize the risk by starting you very slowly. You are a candidate for the beginner's program below.

But what if you were a competitive swimmer in your youth? Swimming is the hardest of the three activities to pick up because it is the most technical. Becoming an expert runner is a bit like becoming an expert house painter. You get the knack of it pretty easily, and then it's just a matter of doing the work and whether or not God and your parents imbued you with a strong back. Becoming an expert swimmer is not like painting a house. It's more like painting a canvas. Yes, it's a matter of practice, but you can't simply grunt and sweat your way to fitness. There is an element of technique that just takes time to master.

If this is you—if you already have the swimming more or less mastered from a technical point of view—then in keeping with the metaphor we'll call you a growth stock, and your time for growth will start now. Your current problem has nothing to do with drowning in the water, it's just that you're just a fat, disgusting, out-of-shape, wheezing, pitiable slob. In this case our job just got a lot easier. We can put you on the accelerated plan., AKA the "Not-quite-beginner training schedule." We'll publish that in due time.

For the rest of you, though, it's back to the true beginner's program.

When pubishing that series in the Orange County Register (a daily paper with a circulation of a million, give or take), the sports editor told me that he'd never gotten so much mail in his history at the paper. And, of course, he sent it all to me. Shoeboxes full. Every one of which I answered. It was such a chore I stopped writing training schedules.

But I shall reprise this schedule below, with some changes here and there, and perhaps write some other schedules as well. But, please don't send me emails. Place them on our reader forum where I, along with others, will share duty in answering them.