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Sports Nutrition
Triathlon Training
Written by Shelly Campbell, certified USAT Expert Triathlon Coach
Deciding to complete a triathlon is a very exciting decision that is often a bit frightening as well. After all, who in their sane mind would willingly put themselves up to the task of a 17 hour* workout! (*Longest time allotted for an Ironman competition) If you really want re-affirmation of your answer, ask a co-worker or family friend. The correct answer is Öa select few and no, they are not crazy!
Any multisport event, if approached respectfully, can be filled with personal affirmations that are accomplished in both training and finishing. Hopefully you will find the following guidelines helpful and encouraging.
Choosing a race:
What event(s) do you want to compete in? If several races are chosen then select no more than 2 top priority races in a year. These will be the focus of all of your training. Listed is a general guideline of triathlon race distances.
- Sprint- Any race that the winner will finish in under 90min.
- Olympic-
-
1.5 km
swim, a 40km cycle and a 10km run
-
Half Ironman- 1.2mile swim, 56mi bike, and 13.1mile run
-
Long Course- Any combination of distances between a ? IM and a full IM
-
Ironman- 2.4mi swim,
112 mi
bike, 26.2mi run.
Time commitment:
Perhaps the biggest challenge for multisport athletes is the balance that must be maintained between training, racing and the rest of their lives. Time is also the most misunderstood component of training. Realistically take into account family, work, sleep, vacations, etc. How many hours per day/ per week can you spend in training? This is a critical number that will be assessed and re-assessed. It is important to remember that the highest priority in your life should be the relationship with the person(s) who mean the most to you in your life- not triathlon!
Support:
What is available to help you achieve your goal? Spouse, friends, family, multisport coach, swim/bike/run consultants, health club, pools, nutritional consultant, massage therapist, strength coach, equipment retailers, etc. An inventory should be taken of these individuals and their services. Alone, a single person can positively influence your training, and a wide array of help can make the journey relatively easy!
Current Fitness Level:
Have you completed a season of multisport? Do you have experience in one or any of the aspects of triathlon (s/b/r)? Have you been training at some level recently or have you been taking time off?
Answers to these questions may require the assistance of a professional. None-the-less, you need to discover your ìbaseî level of fitness so that you can appropriately develop a plan for your training. This can be done in many ways. For instance, someone could have a goal of running 26.2 miles. Today, they can only run 2miles. Knowing that, a plan can be developed to achieve their goal. In another instance, someone may choose to ìtestî his or her level of fitness using technology (i.e. VO2 or heart rate). The most important factor for testing is that it is reproducible so that you can re-test as the season progresses.
The weekly plan:
This is where you get to start putting the pieces together. Based on time, fitness, equipment, experience, fitness level, weather, goal race, etc. you can create a bigger picture and then break it down.
Begin with a weekly calendar and decide when you can workout. Often the greatest limiter is pool access. When is swimming available? Place that on the schedule. Then add any group activities you wish to be a part of. Then put in other workouts. Be sure to include strength training and stretching classes.
Developing specific workouts:
Next begin to identify the reason for each workout in the week. Why? What is the goal for each effort? Simply running the same pace 5x/week will not improve your performance. Or swimming with a masters group and pushing yourself to the limit in every practice is not going to benefit your training. For the purpose of this discussion, this aspect of planning will only be mentioned. However, it is absolutely crucial to overall training progression.
Here are some suggestions:
- Make sure you keep the efforts in the workout in alliance with the time of year of training. For example, if you are in base training and spin classes and the instructor tells you to ìcrank it upî, adhere to your set HR guidelines and maintain your parametersónot theirs.
- After every hard workout, the next day or 36 hours should be easy. For example, if Tuesday is a hard track practice, then Wednesday should be an easy run with drills or ìoffî.
- Consistency- Make sure that your efforts in practice do not compromise your overall goals. If you have a long ride planned on Saturday, then donít push yourself so hard on Thursday that you are forced to rest.
- Mix up your workouts. Keep your training interesting and varied to keep motivation high. Train with new partners, do different runs i.e. track sessions, hill sprints, fartlek, off-road, treadmill - try spin classes or anything else that will keep your mind and body working.
- REST! Plan this into your schedule. The key to success is rest. Not blundering through all of the given workouts.
- Intensity- not all workouts should be easy. Use something called ìrepeatabilityî as a guide. Could you do the same workout completed today again tomorrow? If not, then you may want to consider backing off in your intensity.
- Stretching- this is the key to remaining injury free. Make sure you make time for it in your schedule or you may be forced to take the time off!
- Nutrition- this will make or break your performanceÖregardless of training. Take time to learn what will work best for you!
So, given this information, a typical week for an age-group triathlete may look like this:
|
|
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
|
Swim |
Swim Fast! |
|
Technique & drills |
|
Pacing |
|
Off |
|
Bike |
|
Drills |
|
Power/Strength |
|
Long |
Off |
|
Run |
|
Easy w/strides & drills |
Long |
|
Easy w/drills |
LBrick |
Off |
|
Strength Training |
Yes |
|
|
|
Yes |
|
Off |
Finally, Keep the training FUN! This is the main reason why any sport endeavor should be chosen!
Shelly Campbell is proud to be sponsored by Carb-BOOM! and is an All-American triathlete, certified USAT expert triathlon coach, and personal trainer. For more information she can be contacted at her website, www.shellyobrien.com.
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