Train The Way You Race
For most of us, our training time is limited. This is why,
when training, it is important to train specifically for
the triathlon race. A few ideas are:
* Swim fast at the beginning of a workout. In traditional
swim practices, approximately the first twenty five percent
of the yardage is used to warm-up. On the morning of a triathlon,
you may not have any chance to warm-up. Try doing one out
of every four swim workouts with no warm-up. At group workouts,
stretch for a while on deck and either get in a faster lane
at the beginning of practice or wait until warm-up is over
and hop in for the main set. One of my favorite sets after
a minimal warm-up, although not that enjoyable, is to do
4 X 400 with the first 200 all-out and the back half trying
to survive. You should have complete recovery (five minutes)
after each 400.
* Bike train in aero position. When on a training ride,
people have these aero bars sitting in front of them on
rides, yet they never use them. After riding in aero position
during a triathlon, their lower back gets tight or their
hamstrings lock up because they aren’t accustomed to
riding aero. From four weeks before a triathlon to the race,
try to do at least fifty percent of your riding in aero
position.
* Brick workouts. These workouts can be swim to bike or
bike to run. The purpose of them is to get the body used
to going from one of the disciplines to another without
discomfort. A great way for both types of bricks is to take
a bike and place it on a wind trainer at either a pool or
a track. The amount of repetitions is just as important
as the length. For instance, I will do a bike-run brick
where I ride ten minutes on the bike and then run one mile.
I will do this continuously four to six times through. You
can also do a long brick of just one repetition of bike
to run. The important thing is that you consistently do
bricks. They don’t have to be hard efforts. It could
also be as simple as running for ten minutes off the bike.
The more often you race, the less you need to do these workouts.
However, I recommend that you at least do some sort of brick,
especially bike to run, at least once a week.
