It’s that time of year again. With Christmas behind us, we all want to start on a new health and fitness venture. Every year we see more and more people wanting to get into fitness, but it’s not enough to sign up for a local 10km or the London marathon anymore, people are looking for something bigger and better.
If Tough Mudder or the like doesn’t flick your switch and the thought of sharing a dingy, sweaty gym with the CrossFit converts isn’t either, you may well have decided triathlon, with its variation and outdoorsy nature, is the one for you.
If you get easily bored and find sticking to one thing is a challenge, triathlon is often the right fitness regime. However, don't be fooled, if you want to succeed, you may well need to put in a little more time than you thought.
For most people that isn't a problem, they soon get the bug and want to do more and more; they want to see those swim, bike and run session times come down and surpass previous bests. Below, Sean Lerwill, author of our Haynes Triathlon Manual shares his best tips on how to train for a triathlon.
5 tips for training for a triathlon
01 Start slow
Unless you are already a great swimmer, runner and cyclist, start with a sprint triathlon. There’s no point signing of for an ironman just because you once ran a marathon. There’s a huge difference between completing a marathon and being able to complete an ironman. Even an Olympic triathlon is a big ask, no matter how good you are at any one of the disciplines.
A sprint triathlon allows you to bring all three disciplines up to the required level and ensure you enjoy the training and the race. Too long a distance before you are ready and you could end up hating the training, and the race, and the sport.
02 Train your weakness
Most people coming into triathlon are proficient at one or two of the disciplines but weak at the other(s). If this is you, PLEASE train your weakness.
Of course, also train your strength, but don’t make the age old mistake of spending 80% of your training time on the one discipline you are already good at and therefore enjoy and play lip service to the others with a measly 10% each.
I’ve seen it time and time again, especially with running which can be done anywhere, anytime with minimal kit. It gets favoured especially as swimming needs a pool or suitable outdoor area and cycling needs a bike and other kit.
Watt bikes and treadmills are superb bits of kit for training and can be utilised in the same building as a pool in many gym locations, so plan your training accordingly and split it fairly, spending more time on your weakness than you strength.
03 Invest in some kit
One of my top pieces of advice to people when starting any new fitness regime is to “invest”. We tend to stick at things more if we are invested.
Look at our relationships and jobs, once we’ve invested time and money we are less likely to walk away.
The same can be said of any type of fitness; spend a little on kit and equipment, and even a gym membership and you’ll be less likely to walk away.
I’m not suggesting you go out and pay £3000 for a triathlon bike, but new trainers, suitable running/cycling/swim kit is a good investment that should see you wanting to stick with your (soon to be) new passion rather than give up and waste your money.
04 Find a training partner or join a club
Humans are social creatures, we do better with others. Its why we still partner up. Why we still get together to celebrate and mourn.
We exercise better as groups as well. Join a club or find a training partner (top tip: find a training partner who is better than you and you’ll achieve far more) and the added competition and knowledge transfer will aid you no end.
Be cautious at first, there are some people out there who can be a negative influence, so take time to choose the right person to be your long term training partner. In general though, group training for triathlon can be really helpful and motivating.
05 Use your commute.
One of the best tips I can give for triathlon training is to use your commute. Especially as the distances get longer, so the training gets longer and fitting in multiple discipline training each day takes time.
In our Triathlon book you’ll find a table showing the training opportunities each day, but to give you an idea: in one day, you have time before breakfast (swim) or on the way to work as a commute (run/bike).
You have the lunch period (swim, bike or run), the after work gym period (swim or run) and the commute home (bike or run). Schedule these well and you can fit in two or three sessions of different disciplines each day with ease.
Triathlon training is not something to go into blindly, even a sprint triathlon requires more training in terms of time that you will be used to. However, with more effort and more investment in terms of money and time comes more reward.
Completing a triathlon or even succeeding in getting a personal best during training at one of the disciplines can be incredibly rewarding and help with self confidence, self esteem, coping with stress and even help with sleep issues and personal relationships.
A final word on training for triathlons
Every time I work with someone and talk to them about their fitness I ask them “why” they want to train and “what” their goal is. Although training leads to a number of specific and non-specific benefits, it’s always good to know why you think you want to train.
In this day and age a large majority of people want to do some form of fitness to “lose weight” or “lose fat” as I like to term it. (as muscle weighs more fat and we want to hold onto muscle; its needed for triathlon).
Exercise will HELP you to lose weight but not on it’s own, you have to pay attention to nutrition too. I’ve seen people claim nutrition is 70% of the battle, with exercise only playing 30%. I’d argue it’s more 50:50.
The bottom line though, you must pay attention to nutrition.
This not only applies if weight-loss is your goal, if you really get into triathlon and want to move onto longer distances, you must ensure you eat well enough to supply the body with enough energy to complete the training and races but also to be able to recover and repair afterward; doing so should keep you injury and illness free.