Triathlon Training Triathlons are a swim, bike, and run to the finish, a "multisport" race. Sound intimidating? It should not be. MCCS races are short, sprint distance events, challenging for experienced triathletes and short enough for newbies to have fun meeting that challenge. MCCS holds other multisport races, too, like aquathlons and MCCS Tri-Ekidens (triathlon relays). Looking for events? Check Okinawa-Multisport for event lists and entry help. Many of you may already be doing things that help. Do you PT with your unit, do a spin class, ride a lifecycle, lap swim, or do a treadmill run? Yes? Then you have some training already underway. No? Then it is time to get started. The first step is to set your goal race, then write down your plan. Two or three runs or walks, swims, and bikes each week, 15-30 minutes each, is all you need to do to get ready for your first tri, along with running shoes, a bike and helmet, and some swim goggles. Getting Started - What's First? Before you actually begin training, there are a few things to do, and the first is to make sure you are healthy enough to actually do the training! Starting any sport or training regimen means that your body may be undergoing some things it is not used to doing. Be sure to have medical clearance before you begin a new workout program. Once you get started, be aware of the differences between training soreness and training pain; soreness might mean nothing is wrong or you just need to take it easy for a day, but pain could indicate an injury that needs attention before it makes you stop training. When in doubt, stop training and get medical help. One common workout problem is hydration - or lack of it. You need to take in enough fluids to give your body the liquid it needs to function. While it is possible to over-drink, that does not happen very often in short events like sprint triathlons. Another common setback is muscle cramps. Recent research ideas indicate that cramps are not always from dehydration or low electrolyte levels; they are frequently fatigue induced. The muscles cramp because they have been asked to do more than they are used to doing for a prolonged period. The way to diminish the occurrence of cramps is to workout with gradually progressing durations, and to have some parts of those workouts at intensity levels higher than you would be doing during a race. (http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/11/muscle-cramps-part-1-theories-and.html) Gear and Clothes What kind of equipment do you need to do a triathlon? A bike, a bike helmet, and running shoes. There are is more that you could have - things that will help you race better or safer.  

Swim: You don't need any special gear, but goggles are a big plus. They protect your eyes and they help you swim in a straight line. Bike: Besides a bike helmet and a safe, working bike (bolts tight, brakes working, tires not too old and properly inflated), other goodies that will help

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are sunglasses, a water bottle holder attached to the bike (called a cage). Shoes are a must, too (a lot of triathletes will wear the same shoes on the bike and the run). A key bike element is regular maintenance: checking tires, checking brakes, and lubricating the chain (note - use a bike chain lubricant, not WD-4. WD-40 will make your chain wear faster, it attracts dirt). Run: You need shoes for the run! Socks are optional, but don't do a race sockless if you have never run that way before, doing so can lead to blisters. To prevent a blister, you could lubricate your shoe with Vaseline-type products around areas that feel "hot" from trial/training runs done sockless. Another run help is a hat to protect your head and shield you from the sun. And wear those sunglasses from the bike, too. Clothes: You should wear the same clothes for each leg of a triathlon. Pick something that is not baggy and dries fast; in a short race, just a swimsuit (female) or a swimsuit and a shirt (male) may be enough.

Workouts and Training Runners run, Cyclists cycle, and Swimmers swim. Triathletes do all three! Your first triathlon may seem overwhelming, but if you look at training in little chunks it may be less daunting. Set a weekly goal of doing two to three workouts in each mode: three swims, three runs, and three bike rides. Be consistent and it will become a habit that leads to better health and fitness. Nine workouts in one week? Yes and no. You can swim and bike or run on the same day. A few weeks into training you should do a combined a bike and run workout (called a brick) every week or two (note - by doing bricks, you are training specifically for a triathlon. This can help your body and mind get used to changing gears during the race). You should take one day off each week to give your body time to adapt to training, and you should incorporate what you already do into your training, like regular PT runs. How could you arrange your week of workouts? One example:       

Mon: Bike Tue: Morning Run, Lunchtime Swim Wed: Bike Thu: Morning Run, Lunchtime Swim Fri: Run in the morning Sat: Bike, start and finish at the pool, Swim afterward Sun: Off

How long should you train each week? For MCCS sprint-distance events, Start at 25% to 100% of the race distance, build to 2-3x that distance over the weeks of training. For this plan, do about the same amount/distance of work for each workout. TOTAL WEEKLY DISTANCE AT HIGHEST LEVEL:

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Run = 5k race = 15k or 9 miles/week training Bike = 10-15k race = 30-45k or 18-28 miles/week training Swim = 175m-400m race = 500m-1200m/week training (you could increase the swim to 4-5x race distance, but keep it short for your first training plan)

What kind of training can you do for each part of a triathlon - swim, bike, run, and the transitions (that's the parts between the swim/bike and the bike/run)? For someone just starting triathlons, the first step is to do swims, bike rides, and runs, gradually building up to and even beyond the race distance (for shorter races). Beyond that, what else can you do? Mix up the workouts you do, and you can do some things during training that will help make you faster at each mode or leg in a triathlon - swim, bike, run, and the transition (changing from one to the other), or at least make them easier!. Below are some training ideas. Swim: Do some steady, long swims, working up to non-stop swims of the full race distance or longer. Hold back a bit at the start of the swim and do the entire swim at the same pac e or get slightly faster towards the end. Do a series of shorter swims with short rest, working up to the series of swims equaling the race distance or longer. Take just enough rest to allow you to maintain the same effort level for all of the swims. A third type is short swims with rest equal to or up to double the amount of time it took for the swim. You do these almost as fast as you can, trying to average the fastest possible speed for all of the swims. TIP: Another way to measure rest besides time is to count your breaths, giving yourself a fixed number of breaths between each swim. Keep your eyes looking at the bottom of the pool when not breathing, and aim your eyes sideways when breathing (avoid looking up, forward or backward unless needed for navigation). Keep the top of your head aiming toward your destination. Maintain a good posture from the top of your head all the way down to your toes. Bike: Like swim training, you can do similar things on the bike by alternating easy and fast efforts. You could do a longer, steady bike ride, do some shorter faster efforts within a longer bike ride, or even go on a ride and try to ride up every hill you can find. Hills may seem like a crazy idea, but they are a great way to build strength, start each hill in a moderate to easy gear and keep your pedals spinning, moving into easier gears if your pedals start to slow. You will tend to go where you look, so look where you want to go! If your bike has gears, shift so the effort feels about the same on a gentle uphill, flat, or slight downhill (steeper uphills always feel harder!).

Pedal rpm's recommendations vary among experts and studies, but something between 85-100 pedal rpm's is a good target; experiment as you ride and find your rpm comfort level. Relax your shoulders and bend your elbows (if you are not in the "aero" position) to absorb road shock. Run: Just like swimming and cycling, you can do similar workouts. Another idea is to work up to full race distance by doing steady, increasing distance runs with pre-planned walk breaks if needed (for example, from the beginning of the workout, run 3 minutes, walk 1 minute). You can also do shorter, faster intervals within a longer session. Hills are great for run strength, too; aim to keep a steady pace all the way up the hill - if you cannot, then you went to fast at the start of the climb. TIP: Learn to look forward to hills and running in Okinawa will get much easier! Open your mouth, breathe in AND out through it. Many good runners have similar turnover rates of about 90 rpms or 180 footsteps per minute; if you can make small changes to your stride or tempo to get closer to this, you may begin to run better, faster, or more efficiently. Transition: How fast you can change your mode of movement will probably not make the difference in your first triathlon, but being ready for those changes will make it easier and more fun. Practice putting on and taking off each piece of gear in the same order of the way you will do it at the race. Do some transition practices as dedicated sessions, and do some as part of a combined two-mode session (swim-bike, bike-run, run-bike, or bike-swim) or even three-mode session. TIP: As you near the end of a swim, bike, or run, do a quick mental check of what you will be doing in transition to change modes. Know what you are going to do; plan before the race begins; revisit those plans before each transition. MCCS races allow you to lay things out in advance - do in a way that helps you move quickly through the change; do it in a way that will not be disturbed by other athletes or disturbed by the weather. What Now? Once you have been working out regularly for at least four weeks, doing two or three swims, bikes, and runs each week, it is time to think about turning up the intensity for some of your training. You have built a good foundation, now it is time to shake things up.

Some athletes check training effort with pace, heart rate, or power (Those are all great tools and I use them sometimes), you don't have to train that way. You can train by feel. It is not the most precise way to do things, but it is usually close enough once you try it for a while, and it is a lot less expensive than buying a heart rate monitor, a power meter, or a gps sport watch. Aim for three to four levels of intensity: Easy, Moderate, Hard, and Very Hard. One way to judge these levels is called the talk-test:  

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Easy = Talk anytime; A lot of your training time will be spent here; You will use this level at the start and end of any workout. Moderate = Talk, but not in long sentences; You might race at this level or you might not; You must do some training at this level; As you get fitter you will do longer portions of training at this level. Hard = Talk, but only a few words at a time; You might do some training at this level; You will probably not race at this level unless you are very fit and it is a relatively short race. Very Hard = Talk? No, you don't want to; You might do some training at this level; You will not do an entire race at this level, but you might get to it on the final stretch.

The Weeks Just Before a Race You may have heard athletes talking about tapering the last few weeks before a race. Tapering is usually a decrease in training duration/distance (usually maintaining the same level of intensity) intended to help the body recover and adapt to the training that has been done leading up to the race - the amount of training is tapered off with the hope that athletes will be able to go faster than they would have without a taper. Tapering works, but it relies upon doing enough training before the taper starts; if you have not done enough training, you have nothing to taper. If you have been training for a sprint triathlon and have been training five to seven hours each week, then you should not need a long taper. Here is one way to taper your workouts. By the time you get to four weeks out from the race, you should already be doing at least one brick (combined run/bike) workout every week. When you get to three weeks out, try to set up your training so you are doing two bricks each week, and if possible do one "triple brick" or "super brick" of all three modes - run, bike, and swim - in one workout session. With two weeks to go keep your level of effort the same for all of your workouts, but shorten one swim, one bike, and two runs by about 50%. During the last week shorten your workouts by about 50%. Take a day off from training two days before the race.

The day before the race, do a very short brick or triple brick, most of it an easy effort. Include 1-2 minutes at race effort in each mode. On race day you will be ready to go. Race Day The race is tomorrow - what should you do? First, try to relax and take stock of all the work you have done in training; give yourself credit for that preparation and know that you are ready. Should you do a workout? Yes, but keep it short. For most MCCS reverse sprint tri's (run-bike-swim), the workout to do is a 5-10 minute easy run with 1-2 x 1-minute efforts at race pace, followed by a 10-15 minute easy bike with 1-2x 1-minute race efforts; if you can finish it with a short swim (5-10 minutes with those 1-2 x 1-minute race efforts), great - but if not, then don't worry about it, end the workout and get back to relaxation! Eat the way you normally do, but you may want to take in a little extra water to ensure that you are hydrated. Pack your race gear before you go to bed so the morning is a little easier. Before you go to bed, decide what you are going to eat for breakfast. On race day plan to arrive early to give yourself time to:         

Check-in Lay out your gear Review the course map Inspect any parts of the course you want to see Give your bike a quick operational check (brakes, shifting, etc.) Warm-up Use the toilet Attend the race brief Remember to stay hydrated during this process, and if you need to take in more nutrition, be sure it is easy on your stomach. You don't want to eat too much just before you race!

Once the race starts, execute your race plan and enjoy the challenge. After the race, rehydrate and refuel as soon as possible to help you recover. During the race, keep one thing in mind - you can go faster in a race than you did in training, but not for long. In terms of effort, race like you trained and train like you want to race. Nutrition To train and race, you need to fuel your body. What fuels you put in – and when you put them in – make a difference to your body and to your performance. Before/During Training Sessions: Hydrate, 12-24oz of water/hour should be enough. Some athletes do best if they drink when thirsty, but that assumes a drink is always available (http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/10/part-i-history-of-fluid-intake-and.html). What you drink is up to you, but you may not need calories in a sport drink. If the race or

training session is an hour or less, and you have had a good fueling session (a meal) ahead of time, you are probably fine just drinking water. Trial and error is the best teacher. Before/During Races: Hydrate! Finish your meal about three hours prior to race start. Be sure you know what is available during the race – water stations, food, etc. – and use that to your advantage. Maybe you carry water on your runs, but if the race has enough water stations, you don't need to do so. This is something you could practice by doing running or cycling loops with a pre-set aid station. It could take 10-20 minutes or longer for the fuel you take in to become available as energy for your muscles. Time your intake accordingly, and use that same timing during your practice sessions. During a race or training, your body may only be able to process 150-400 calories/hour. Eating more than that does not help and could hurt you results. At MCCS races, you should carry enough water on your bike so you do not have to use a bike aid station. There are usually plenty of aid stations on the run. Post-workout/Post-race: Hydrate! Try to get some food within the first 15-minutes; it can be easy to overeat after a training session or a race, but you do need some carbohydrates and protein afterwards to give your body the building materials it needs to get you ready for your next session. Eat, but in moderation. 200-300 calories for that first bit of food is a good start. It is always a good idea to have a plan A and a plan B. Remember, don't try anything you have not done in training. Good Luck! Questions? Contact Mat Luebbers, MCCS Aquatics Swim Team Coach, at [email protected]