by Coach Anne Jones Thompson
Number One: Set a Goal
Choose an event. Have a reason to train. Goal events provide a purpose for training--a motivating reason not to miss a workout. Most beginners should choose a short distance, or sprint triathlon as their first race, but regardless of the distance you choose, make sure the event is something YOU want to do. Once you’ve decided on a race, commit to it by signing up!
Number Two: Follow A Training Plan
Your body adapts to training stress. If you are looking to take your fitness to new levels, change is necessary. Changing the volume, frequency, duration, and intensity of workouts not only helps the body to adapt to changing demands, but also helps protect the body from overtraining. By carefully planning changes that stress your body, new levels of fitness can be achieved.
Number Three: Monitor Workout Intensity
The most common training mistake is over-training. The second most common training mistake is under-training. Monitoring your workout intensity can help you avoid the two most common training mistakes.
How does one monitor exercise intensity? The simplest method is to listen to your breathing and to notice how you feel. Is the pace easy, moderate, hard? Is your heart about to beat out of your chest? Are your lungs about to burst? Are your legs about to give out? Should you slow down? Can you speed up?
Pace is also a means of monitoring workout intensity. Watches, computers, GPS systems are all available to help athletes know how far and how fast they are going.
Possibly the most accurate method, and one of the easiest, for measuring exercise intensity is heart rate training. Heart rate monitors are available to give athletes an indication of how the body is responding to different exercise intensities.
Number Four: Rest
Training stress cannot be converted to new levels of fitness without rest. Rest is where fitness is built; rest allows your body to rebuild and become stronger and more fit.
Resist the temptation to overtrain, the temptation to think, “More is better.” Beginner triathlon training mileage should be reasonable. Days of rest should be scheduled each week. Rest weeks also need to be included in your training.
Number Five: Practice Your Transitions
Transitions are the parts of a triathlon where you switch from swimming to biking, then biking to running. Practicing transitions will help you learn what to do on race day, and will also help you relax more. Make sure you have all your triathlon gear ready and that you know how to get it on and off in the transition area.
Number Six: Take Care Of Your Health First
Warming up and cooling down are important aspects to training. Start easily and build speed gradually. Stretch before and after a workout.
Get plenty of sleep.
Be aware of what you eat. Everything is OK in moderation, but don’t overdo it with the candies, cookies, sodas, etc. High-fiber whole grains, plenty of colorful fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy and protein are the building blocks for health and performance.
Number Seven: Strength Train
Even though triathlon is an endurance sport, triathletes can benefit from pumping iron. Strength training can help prevent injury, improve the ability to climb hills, and improve the ability to generate more power.
Number Eight: Tri A Few Bricks
“Brick” workouts--where you complete a bike workout and then go for a run before you cool down--are the heart and soul of tri training. Beginners should do a few, just to help the legs get accustomed to the feeling of “running off the bike.”
Number Nine: Find A Group To Workout With
It’s much more fun to train with other people than by yourself, and others will help keep you accountable, and help you train when you don’t really feel like it. Also, the group will help you to feel like you are a part of a team and you will have more confidence when you don’t have to do everything by yourself.
Number Ten: HAVE FUN!
Relax and enjoy yourself. Training is a journey that should be enjoyed. Don’t be miserable during training. If it hurts or is boring or is too hard, you won’t do it. Find what you like to do, and do it.
Have fun during the race too. Take pride in the fact that you reached your goal. Enjoy the moment.
Coach Anne Jones Thompson trains triathletes through TriAdventure Multisport Coaching and Fitness. She has coached multipsports for over twenty-five years. Her personal achievements include the Hawaiian Ironman in 1992, the Boston Marathon in 1996, and the Mid-Atlantic Xterra Championship in 2001. Anne was inducted into the Virginia Tech Athletic Hall Of Fame in 2003 for her contributions to the tennis program as both a player and coach.
