Triathlon Training Tips by Linda Hardcastle, for BGI Fitness

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1 Triathlon Training Tips by Linda Hardcastle, for BGI Fitness How To Structure My Triathlon Training Season General Concepts So you would like to compete in triathlons. Have you given any thought as to how your training season should proceed? Think of your training mileage as part of a pyramid. Early in the season is when you put in the most miles, as represented by the base of the pyramid. progresses, your mileage decreases (moving up the pyramid), while your intensity increases. Tempo Training Early in Season - Base Training Lots of easy miles Let s look in more detail at each of these four levels. Winter is when you should be doing base training, which is putting in the miles in each of your three sports. These should be fun and enjoyable miles. When spring arrives, and you are able to do more training outdoors, you should add tempo training to your routine. Tempo training is also known as speed play. On the bike you may shift up a gear and focus on smooth and powerful pedaling. On the run you alternate faster and slower running in a fartlek workout. While swimming, you focus on strong, powerful and efgicient stroking. In the weeks leading up to your Girst race, you ratchet up the, or intervals, should be a component of all three sports. And Ginally, just before your bigger races, you get to taper. Enjoy the rest you have earned it! Triathlon Training Tips 1

2 My Triathlon Training Season - Bicycle Speci;ic Tips Base training for cycling begins in the winter, so it may be a combination of trainer miles plus rode miles. If you are training for a sprint triathlon (10 mile race), these base rides should be from miles long. For those training for a standard triathlon (25 mile race), your rides should be longer around 20 to 40 miles. 2 minutes 8 miles Tempo Training Early in Season - Base Training Lots of easy miles Sprint: mile rides Standard: mile rides As spring arrives and you transition more to the roads, you want to add tempo training to the mix. When you think of tempo training, think about literally moving up a gear. As you shift into this higher gear, visualize riding smooth, powerfully and with great technique. Or go out at race pace, but for a shorter distance. Another option is to Gind a gently rolling course and stay in one gear. These are not all out workouts just harder than what you have been doing during your base training. At least a month prior to race season, you want to start adding in speedwork. This is where you really push it hard, training your body to cycle at ever faster speeds. Head out into the country for these workouts, choosing intervals ranging from 2 minutes up to 8 miles long. Your recovery period should be of the same time duration or longer. Then don t forget to taper! You have earned a few days rest before race day. Enjoy the surge of energy which you will be feeling, and use it to explode on race day! Triathlon Training Tips 2

3 My Triathlon Training Season - Running Speci;ic Tips Just as with the biking, you want to put in lots of easy running miles during the winter months. This may be on a combination of roads and treadmill. Consider occasionally training on the elliptical as well, to give your legs a break from the pounding of running. For the sprint tri race distance of 3 miles, this means base training runs of 2-5 miles. For the standard tri race distance of 10km, this translates into 4-8 mile runs. A word of caution here adhere to the 10% rule when increasing your mileage. The 10% rule states that you should increase your mileage by no more than 10% per week. This is particularly important with running, as the risk of injury is so much greater. 200m 1 mile repeats Tempo Training - Fartlek Early in Season - Base Training Lots of easy miles Sprint: 2-5 mile runs Standard: 4-8 mle runs With the arrival of spring and the advent of tempo training, you should begin some fartlek runs, which literally means speed play. With a fartlek run, you are constantly varying the pace of your run. Spot a mailbox and stride out towards it. Then settle into a more comfortable pace until you turn the corner. Sight on a Glag pole quite a ways down the road, and shift up one gear until you reach it. Literally play with your speeds and have fun. A month out from your Girst race, increase your intensity with speedwork, such as interval training. Get out on a track and run distances ranging from 200m (1/2 lap of the track) up to one mile repeats (4 laps). This is when you exceed your normal race pace and train your body to move at a faster speed. Then don t forget to taper! Triathlon Training Tips 3

4 My Triathlon Training Season - Swimming Speci;ic Tips Previously I detailed a seasonal training plan for both the biking and running legs of the triathlon. Swimming is a very different sport, however. Technique and stroke efgiciency become all important. And for many, fears of the lake swim must be overcome. These are the two issues which I would like to address here. There are lots of fun toys which can be used to help develop your technique. Get them all and use different ones each day. Hand paddles and pull buoys develop your arm stroke strength and give you a better feel for pulling through the water. Kickboards and swim Gins increase your kick strength. My favorite is a snorkel which extends up in front of your face instead of to the side, like the recreational snorkels. By removing the need to turn your head for breathing, you can focus on your stroke and balance in the water. Throw some drills into the mix, and you will Gind your stroke efgiciency rapidly improving. The other issue to overcome with the swim is FEAR. Fear of bodies all around you and of the deep, dark water. My experience tells me that the only way to overcome this fear is to get into the lake for regular training swims. After doing this all last summer, I can honestly say that I am now 100% comfortable in the lake. In fact, I have fallen in love with lake swimming and greatly prefer it to the pool. How to get into the lakes? More and more tri coaches are meeting groups of swimmers at local lakes, with kayak in tow. Should anyone get uncomfortable, they can quickly grab hold of the boat. There is a regular swimming group out at Morse Lake called the NASTI Masters Swim Team. And I am hearing rumors of races being planned for Morse Lake over the summers. So keep an eye out for these opportunities and get into the lakes whenever you can. Triathlon Training Tips 4

5 Pulling it all Together - Brick Training I would like to conclude this article with a discussion of brick training. Brick training is when you practice transitioning between two events. For instance, in a workout, you will do a swim/bike combination or a bike/run. It is important to include these in your program, as moving seamlessly through your transitions is vital to placing well in your race. Early in the season you may wish to split the sessions up into a morning workout and an evening one. As your Gitness level improves, you can then put them together into one workout. Speed is not particularly important with these brick workouts it is more the process of linking these events together. In fact, you could do a moderate intensity bike ride followed by a hard intensity run. Or they could both be just moderate Set up your transition area just as you would in a race. Try to do at least one brick workout every other week. To learn more about triathlons, join BGI for our summer Triathlon Clinics. We hold two clinics every summer. ( Triathlon Training Tips 5