DKT Training

David Kennedy Thompson

Training Specifics

Workouts

Swim: 1,207,500 yards or 403 hrs

Bike: 5,220 miles or 275 hours

Run: 2,200 miles or 246 hours

Total Annual Hours: 924

Swim: 117

Bike: 50

Run: 102

Total Annual Workouts: 269

All this exercise converts to over 1000 Double Cheese Burgers form McDonalds. McDonald’s dollar menu is a cheap way to purchase 2000 calories after a race. I don’t eat there that often but do enjoy it when I do.

Training is measured in hours and converted to distances by estimated average speeds.

Swim Training

Like most triathletes, I did not come from a swimming back ground, and I suffered through years of early morning masters and 8,000 yard kid’s swim club practices to get better. However, I have changed my training plan from a long distance focus to more sprinting with great success. Duane Dobko, my swim guru, approach me with this idea in 2006. We’ve trained together ,or he has been beating me to a pulp ever since.

My training goal is to swim fast enough to neutralize the ability of the best swimmers in triathlon, so I need train like a Division 1 swimmer. Therefore, Duane is the perfect training partner and swim coach for me because he swam at the University of MN and in the Canadian Olympic Trials. Duane is also an accomplished triathlete himself and really understands the demands of triathlon swimming versus swimming in a pool.

Duane Dobko

DKT’s Training Partner and Swim Coach

Common Workouts

1. Variations of twenty or forty sprint 50s on 2 minutes (mostly free)

2. Variations of ten to twenty 200s on 4 minutes (mostly free)

Lucky for me cycling is one sport that came naturally to me. I grew up in a small farming community were no one road bikes for exercise or tight shorts. I bought my first road bike after graduating from high school, but I didn’t really get in to cycling until I was in graduate school in Boston. I raced a season of collegiate cycling for MIT and continue to race USCF events for training.

My current goal on the bike is to average 30 mph in a triathlon.

Common Workouts

1. Fifteen to sixty intervals of 30 sec hard & 30 sec endurance

2. Twenty to Thirty intervals of 5 min hard/ 2 min endurance

Bike Training

If I have an athletic background, it’s in running. I ran x-country and track in high school, and continued through college. However, I mainly ran cross in college, not track, because of injuries and my academic schedule.

Common Workouts

1. Twelve to twenty-four 200 meter intervals on the track on 2 minutes

2. Thirty to sixty minute tempo runs

Run Training