Tips Page

The following tips and information have been gathered through the personal experiences of a wide range of triathletes. As with many such lists you will find some that work for you, some that don't. Try them out! If you have any tips to add, please e-mail them to the webmaster. Thanks!

• Training
• Race Day

Some other sites available with tips about training:

• Ironman Triathlon World Champship's Training Page
• Great Floridian's Tips Page

Training

Offseason

• Do something fun! Ignore your log for awhile. Spend time with family and friends. Try some other sports you haven't had time for during the training season. You mind needs this break as much as your body.
• The length of the offseason break is a pretty individual thing. From 2 weeks to a month is a pretty average figure.

Planning For the Upcoming Season

1. First decide upon your major goals for the season, both fitness and otherwise. These goals should reflect a proper balance in your life. What balance constitutes "proper" is debatable and ultimately an individual decision, of course. Emphasizing fitness goals while alienating your boss and family is not a healthy approach for most of us. This step will include deciding which races you want to perform (see the Races links below each discipline on this site's Other Links page). Note that some races, like the Ironman Canada race, fill up soon after applications are available so you'll need to make arrangements earlier in the year if you want to participate in these.
2. Put a training plan together that reflects these goals. You can go to a variety of sources for help including books, magazines, other members of the local clubs such as PSTA, a Team-in-Training group, online newsgroups for triathlons/swimming/biking/running, or e-mail lists for triathlons/running. Even on-line coaches are available and can provide individualized plans.
3. Once you've planned your goals and arrived at a plan for accomplishing them, review them with your significant other and family, if applicable. Getting their support up front makes life less stessful.
4. Start a training log to track information that will be useful in evaluating how successfully you followed your plan and what the results were. This can range from a simple notepad to a software application.

Periodization

Base Training

• Focus on your aerobic training, flexibility and strength training. This is an endurance building phase.
• Build gradually. Most plans limit increases in total distance and longest workout distance to 10% or less.
• Include periods of rest. Common approaches include alternating hard and easy weeks or making every fourth week an easy week. Usually an easy week equates to something like a 40% decrease in total distance and longest workout distance.

In-season or Race Preparation

• (Note that some training plans include a transition from Base to Race Prep phases. These usually include a gradual transition from endurance type workouts to combination endurance with more speedwork mixed in.)
• Time is added or increased for speed or hill-based workouts. Endurance/aerobic workouts still make up the majority of training time, but are reduced somewhat.

Tapering

• Consider reducing or eliminating strength training.
• Reduce your caloric intake in accordance with the reduction in workouts. You don't want to put on pounds just before the race you've spent significant time training for.
• Get plenty of rest, especially two nights prior the race (for example, the Friday night before a Sunday race). Take a nap the day before the race.
• Two days before the race: Don't do any workouts. Be sure to stay hydrated from this point until the start of the race.
• The day before the race do a short workout in each discipline. Focus on transitions, technique and making sure your equipment is ready.
• Ride the course if possible prior to the race. Ideally you'll be able to swim, ride and run the course some period in advance if it is a major race. The reality is that you may only be able to get on the course the day before the race. In this situation, it's a good idea to try to do the following:
  • Swim a little of the course beforehand to pick siting aids. Using these will make it easier to swim straight lines while on the course. Especially important will be identifying where the sun will be and picking objects that will allow you to keep your bearings if possible. Also it's helpful to look at the entry and exit points to plan how quickly to start and stop swimming (see Race Day section on swimming).
  • Ride the bike course in the car. This will allow you to memorize most courses so that you know where to go on race day. This reduces the chance of getting off course, which happens even to the best athletes in some of the biggest races. This also gives you an idea of what kind of course you're dealing with regarding hills, road surface and potholes, risky intersections, etc. It also gives your support team a chance to write some inspirational messages along the course!
  • Ride the run course in the car or on the bike. Same advantages apply as for the bike.
• If the race requires that you check in your bike the day beforehand, you may want to cover the bike with plastic bags or something to keep it dry overnight.

Discipline-Specific Tips

Swim

• Joining a Masters swim program. The added coaching, comeraderie and peer pressure will do wonders for developing your abilities. See the Other Links - Swimming section for a link to the US Masters web site for more info.
• There seems to be a wide range of substances that can be used as anti-fog substances for goggles, from the liquids shipped with some brands such as Baracuda to readily available substances such as toothpaste.
• Apply Rain-X to the outside of your goggles to reduce filming and increase visibility.
• Investing in a wetsuit can save substantial time during the swim.
• Applying PAM anti-stick spray to your lower legs and ankles makes a wetsuit slip off much more easily.

Bike

• Indoor trainers come in a variety of types. Rollers provide the opportunity to improve your balance and bike-handling skills while getting some spinning in. Resistance trainers, however, are the most commonly used for a couple reasons. Because the bike is stabilized you are able to concentrate less on balance and more on developing leg strength. Also, you don't risk the possibility of rolling off onto the floor and flying into the closest wall. Resistance trainers come in 3 types:
  • Fluid trainers - the most expensive, but quietest types available. Cyclops and Performance make effective
  • Magnetic (or Mag) trainers - Middle ground both in cost and
  • Wind trainers - Loud! but generally the least expensive.
• Some resistance trainers come with only one setting for resistance. Others have adjustable resistance, some that even have a device that will allow you to adjust the resistance while on your bike.
• Most resistance trainers connect to the rear wheel, but some require you to remove the front wheel and connect the front fork to a stand. Aviod these as the bike is locked in a non-flexible position which tends to put excessive strain on the frame.
• When using a resistance trainer, it's helpful to have a sturdy ironing board along side. This provides a surface to keep food, drinks, TV or VCR remotes, etc.

Run

Race Day

Pre-Race

• Allow for approx. 10 minute warmups for the swim and run and 15 minutes on the bike. Do the warmups in reverse order of the race.
• Be sure to have a pair of tinted goggles available  in the event that the swim is into the sun on one or more legs. Also, have an extra pair of goggles available that you've used beforehand and confident will fit.
• Be sure to make the pre-race meeting. Frequently this will be the only time that course changes are announced and possibly the only time to ask questions.

Nutrition

• Golden Rule: Don't try anything on race day that you haven't experimented with in training!
• Some of the most common problems that prevent triathlete's completing long distance races relate to hydration and/or nutrition. Carefully plan out this aspect of your race, including some variations based on how you feel on race day. A good site for additional info is Dr. Jenkins' Sport Med Web Heat and Hydration page.
• Don't eat any significant amounts of sugar before the race, and don't eat anything solid less than an hour before the race.
• Chicken soup is a great source of electrolytes and nutrition for ironman length races, especially on the run leg.

Swim

• Swim at a pace that permits you to exit the race feeling as relaxed as possible. The swim generally only accounts for approximately 15-20% of the time of the total race.You won't win most races on the swim, but you certainly can screw up your race on the swim.
• During the last 100-200 meters of the swim increase your kick or start alternating in some breast stroke to get blood flowing to your legs, especially if you're wearing a wet suit. It's probably also a good idea to slow your pace if you have been swimming hard, otherwise your heart race will jump significantly once you stand.
• Check out the exit to the swim before the race. If the shore drops off pretty quick, then you know to stand as soon as your hands begin to touch bottom. If the shore drops off slowly, then you'll know to swim until your hands are regularly hitting the bottom.

Bike

• Thank the volunteers! The first time you are in an understaffed race you'll realize how vital they are to a successful race.
• Don't be in too much of a hurry to crank it up on the bike leg faster than your body can handle. Going into oxygen debt and lactic acid buildup before you really get started will hurt your effort in the long run.
• Once you get warmed up, you can crank up the pace to something close to your bike AT except on long races. Many people find that reducing speed below that point doesn't have a significant benefit on the run for middle and short distance races.
• Hydrate well throughout the ride. Don't wait until you feel thirsty or it's too late.
• Stick to your nutrition plan.
• If you start to feel stiff during the ride, don't hesitate to change positions, squeeze your hands, wiggle your toes, etc. so that you don't cramp up or lose feeling. Getting up out of the saddle and stretching can help, too.
• If participating in a long distance race, consider monitoring your cadence and heart rate rather than the speedometer and odometer. Spending hours in the "how much longer?" mode can wear on you mentally.
• At the end of the bike leg get up out of the saddle and stretch those muscles. This helps to get blood flowing to those muscles that will be used during the run.
• At the end of the bike you may also want to slow your pace a little for this same reason.

Run

• Thank the volunteers, again!
• As on the bike leg, don't be in too much of a hurry to crank it up faster than your body can handle.
• Unless you are confident that you will complete the run without any problems (i.e., it's a short race), consider walking at the aid stations. You want to ensure that you are hydrating properly and this is tough to do while running.
• Stick to your nutrition plan.