Part I
Starting Your Triathlon Training
In this part . . .
We fill you in on the first steps to take now that you’ve decided to train for a triathlon. In these chapters, you discover how to choose a triathlon event and what to consider if your event is far from home. You’re training for three sports — swimming, biking, and running — and you need equipment; Chapter 3 is where you find an overview of everything you need (and don’t need) to train for and participate in a triathlon.
In Chapter 4, we give you a list of questions to ask yourself before you start to train. We let you know what to expect at a physical with a doctor and what you could gain from an evaluation with a fitness professional.
You also find out how to enlist the support of family and friends to cheer you on and keep you focused. The triathlon is an athletic event that challenges your personal limits and brings surprising social perks. In this part, you see how training with other triathletes can keep you challenged and motivated.
Chapter 1
Training for a Multi-Sport Event
In This Chapter
Getting ready to get moving
Defining what tri means for you
Knowing what to expect on race day
Welcome to the sport of triathlon — a race that combines swimming, cycling, and running in one event. Although the growth of the sport may make it seem as if everyone around you is training for a triathlon, you’re actually joining a small minority — a group that the rest of the population might call either remarkably fit and dedicated, or just a little bit nuts. The degree of nuttiness they may attribute to you will be in direct correlation to the distance of your event — the longer the event, the crazier they may think you are.
But while others are scratching their heads, you’ll be on your way to complete fitness — improved cardiovascular health and aerobic endurance, as well as powerful, toned muscles. But that’s not all. Training for a triathlon is a social event, too — triathlon training clubs are popular with experienced athletes as well as new ones.
So what are you waiting for? This chapter launches you into life as a triathlete.
Defining Your Triathlon
You’ve decided to do a triathlon. But what exactly does that mean? Going from one sport to the next, and the next again, challenges all your muscle groups — and your mind. The distance of your event will determine just how great this challenge will be. And the goals you set for yourself will determine what you take away from the experience.
A brief history of triathlons
Triathlon is a relatively new sport — the first one took place in San Diego, California, in 1974. Four years later, the first Ironman triathletes crossed the finish line in Hawaii with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, and 58 seconds. Since then, triathletes have cut that time to the 1996 record-setting 8 hours, 4 minutes, and 8 seconds.
Triathlon became an Olympic event in 2000, at the standard Olympic race distance of a 1500m swim, 40K bike ride, and 10K run. Once reserved for elite athletes, the growth and popularity of the three-sport event has made it accessible and as easy to find as local road-running races.
Choosing a distance and event
For most first-timers a triathlon is a Sprint-distance event — an 804.7m (0.5-mile) swim, a 19.3K to 25.8K (12- to 16-mile) bike ride, and a 5K (3.1-mile) run. A Super Sprint is slightly shorter than a Sprint, but it’s a less common event distance. After you have a triathlon under your belt, you may decide to take on a longer event — such as an Olympic, a Half-Iron, or the extremely challenging Ironman.
Unless you’ve been drawn to do a triathlon by a specific fundraising race in your area, your first step will be to select an event in a location that’s accessible to you and in a time frame that gives you enough time to train. In Chapter 2, we offer tips on how to pick your first race. In Chapter 19, we offer a list of resources for finding local, national, and international races.
Choose a race that’s first-timer friendly, close to home, and easy to get to.
Setting your triathlon goal
The reasons for participating in a triathlon are as varied as the athletes you’ll see at the starting line — people of all sizes, shapes, and abilities. They’re all there to test their endurance and meet their personal fitness or life goals.
Depending on your fitness level, your goal may be to finish your event in a certain time — or simply to finish. And for your first triathlon, that’s the best place to start. If you’re determined to be a little more specific about how and when, remember these goal-setting tips:
Stay positive. “I will finish” will keep you far more motivated than “I won’t finish last.” Focus on what you want to do — finish happy and strong.
Stay personal. If you want to focus on where you’ll place, make this goal about you, not the other triathletes. Set your goal about your own personal finish time or how you’ll feel when you finish, not about where you’ll finish in relation to everyone else. Your triathlon is about you.
If you’ve entered road races, swims, or cycling events in the past, you may be tempted to set a goal time for your event. If you want to set specific time-related goals, set these for your training sessions, not for your first event. So many factors can influence your race time — water currents, wind, course elevations, even the number of other triathletes competing in your event. You don’t want to be disappointed that you didn’t meet an arbitrary collection of hours, minutes, and seconds for an event you finished successfully in every other way.
Evaluating Your Equipment Needs
You have ambition. You have some degree of fitness. And you have enthusiasm. Still, you may be lacking a few essentials — wheels, clothing, or shoes.
Following is a list of the basic equipment you need to complete a triathlon. Buy them now and start using them in your training. You’ll want to use for your event the same clothing and equipment you train in.
Tri suit: Available in one or two pieces, tri suits fit snugly and feature quick-drying fabrics and padded shorts for the ride — you don’t want to have to change any clothing during your event. Tri suits look serious. Even the idea of wearing one can be intimidating. You may think that only the experienced or elite triathletes will be in tri suits, but the tri suit is a great choice, especially for beginners, because it simplifies your event and your transitions.
An optional piece of equipment is a wetsuit. A wetsuit gives you warmth and buoyancy and helps you glide through the water. Water temperature ...
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