How to Prepare for Success in Your First Triathlon

I first got interested in triathlon way back when I was finishing high school. That year, Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced in the infamous Iron War race. They battled shoulder-to-shoulder for nearly the entire 140.3 miles of the course. Allen finally broke away near the line to win and break his losing streak at the big island. 

  

 

Stop Making Excuses

Not long after that, an Aussie named Greg Welch broke through in Kona to win, and that put triathlon on the map in a big way in Australia. Suddenly we had some of the best talent and racing in the world right on our doorstep, with multiple world champions like Emma Carney, Jackie Fairweather, Michellie Jones, Greg Welch, Brad Bevan, Miles Stewart, and Chris McCormack. 

 

"Like many, I had all kinds of delusions about what was and wasn’t needed for triathlons and kept second-guessing myself every time I signed up to do a race."

Triathlon became so popular that our domestic race series was telecast live on commercial television like other major sports events. (And it’s way more exciting than cricket, by the way.)

 

But despite following the sport, it took me years to jump in and do a triathlon myself. Like many, I had all kinds of delusions about what was and wasn’t needed for triathlons and kept second-guessing myself every time I signed up to do a race. I had all the usual excuses - work getting in the way, not having anyone to train with, and not being able to afford it.
 

So here’s my advice for the best way to get started in triathlon, or any new hobby for that matter. 

 

Join a Club

Because I start work at 6:00am when most squads train, I am forced to do the vast majority of my training solo. That’s not a bad thing, as I actually enjoy the time spent on my own, but there are days when even I don’t want to train. Having others there to talk you into the work will help you enormously.

For example, last weekend I was standing at the start line of a half-Ironman and it was just miserable. Cold, rainy, windy, and generally shitty, with a forecast for huge winds on the bike course. If I had gone to that race on my own, I wouldn’t have even started. But because I went with my girlfriend, who was determined to finish, I felt obliged. On top of that, I ran into friends who were also 100% focused on finishing no matter what. So I started - and once I was swimming everything wasn’t so bad.

"[I] actually enjoy the time spent on my own, but there are days when even I don’t want to train. Having others there to talk you into the work will help you enormously.

That kind of peer pressure is a good thing when it comes to the hard times in training. There are days I’ve been so exhausted before even riding that I’ve literally prayed to God (and I’m an atheist) that I would get hit by a car so I didn’t have to train. The fatigue can be that bad. But when you have training buddies to lean on during these times, it makes it so much easier.

 

The other aspect to joining a club is that they’ll usually be able to get you discounts for gear (more on that later) and there will be people with experience for you to learn from. 

 

You Don’t Need All That Gear

Even though you see professionals using bikes that cost as much as most people’s cars, you don’t need one of those bikes. The same goes for an aerodynamic helmet. For proof, go watch Chrissie Wellington win in Kona multiple times with a standard helmet on a Cervelo P2, which is a far cry from their top-of-the-line P3 (at the time) and current P5.
 

I’ve seen people at local events riding mountain bikes with the knobby dirt tires. The reality is that a local sprint triathlon is only a 20km ride, and if you’re just seeing if you will enjoy the sport or not, you just need a bike, any bike, and you’ll be fine. 

 

Chrissie Wellington

 

The gear you really do need makes for quite a small list:

 

1. You’ll need a bike and helmet that fits. 
2. You need running shoes. 

 

You don’t need a tri suit or a two-piece combination with shorts and a top, but you will be substantially more comfortable in them than any other gear you may want to wear. Ignore the idea of wearing a cycling top because it is also Lycra. These jerseys normally have three large pockets on the back, which will act as a parachute while you’re swimming. 

 

The same goes for most brands of compression wear. Most have a seam that runs directly through your crotch. Without wishing to be indelicate, if you’re unused to sitting on a bike seat for a period of time, you will likely already feel like you’re going to rub a hole in yourself. Don’t make that worse by adding a seam to cut you in half, too. Trust me on this. 

 

"If you’re a beginner triathlete, I will guess the swim isn’t your best leg. The extra buoyancy offered by a wetsuit is well worth the small investment to rent."

The one exception regarding equipment is a wetsuit. Many companies and shops offer rental deals now and I highly recommend you do this. If you’re a beginner triathlete, I will guess the swim isn’t your best leg. The extra buoyancy offered by a wetsuit is well worth the small investment to rent. Do not try to use a surfing or water-skiing wetsuit as an alternative. They’re a different kind of rubber, are designed differently, and will actually make swimming harder, not easier. 

 

Most wetsuits have multiple sizes that are all close to each other. Using 2XU as an example, I can fit into three different sizes, and also a fourth that fits me perfectly. Take the time to get your size right and make sure the person helping you understands the suits and how to make them fit correctly. 

 

When put on properly, a wetsuit won’t have any restriction in the shoulders or rubbing around your neck where the zipper closes. A poor-fitting suit will leave you fatigued and chafed, so don’t be shy about making sure this is absolutely correct - especially if you decide to buy, as they are a big investment. 

 

Learn to Swim

For nearly everyone who starts triathlon, and even for regular competitors, the swim is the discipline that holds the most fear. It’s easy to understand why, especially in Australia. The swims are open-water swims where you can’t see the bottom and the water can be quite cloudy. Down under, that means people worry about sharks. 

 

 

This fear is compounded during wave starts where you have a hundred or more people starting together in a small space. (An Ironman swim will have 1,800-2,000 people all starting together and it’s like being in a wet mosh pit.) This leads to jostling, occasional punches and kicks to the head, and then a panic that starts to set in. Adding fear of deadly creatures surfacing from the dark depths to eat you and the swim can really set people on edge. 

 

"It’s very different having to lift your head to sight, having to deal with waves and other people, and not being able to see the bottom"

If you’re not a confident swimmer, then the experience can be confronting even for short distances like those in sprint triathlons. So spend some time in the water prior to your race, and in open water, if you can. It’s very different having to lift your head to sight, having to deal with waves and other people, and not being able to see the bottom. I’d even suggest a few lessons from a reputable swim coach just so you develop some confidence and learn to relax when things get bumpy. 

 

This is another great part about being in a training group, as you’ll be able to join in on swim squads. These groups often work on these exact elements so that you’re relaxed swimming in close proximity to others on race day. 

 

All Are Welcome

Triathlon is one of the most open sports I’ve seen. From absolute beginner to top professional, everyone races on the same course and all are welcome. 

 

The distances for sprint triathlons are only an 800m swim, 20km ride, and 5km run. For most people, that will take between an hour to an hour and a half. If you can survive a Spin class and a short run after, then you’re fit enough to do a sprint triathlon.

The 2-Day ITB Cure for Endurance Athletes

With many endurance athletes suffering from ITB issues, I decided to explain exactly how I got rid of my ITB warning in two days. Two days is a far cry from the length of time I usually see athletes suffer with ITB. Most of them deal with it in one for or another for periods of a year or more.

 

Understand the Root Cause of the Pain

The first step is to understand why the situation happens in the first place. Pain like ITB syndrome or plantar fasciitis often happens with sudden jumps in mileage and training volume. That’s exactly what happened to me.

 
 

My bike mileage had been quite low for a few months. That was followed by a three-week trip where I rode only twice, and even then those rides were only on a trainer for an hour or so. But with a half-Ironman race scheduled ten days after I arrived home, I rode five days in a row and put in eleven hours over those five days.

"Is it any wonder my body sent me a warning signal that I was overdoing things? That’s exactly what stage one of pain is – a warning sign."

In other words, I rode more in five days than I had in the two months preceding. Is it any wonder my body sent me a warning signal that I was overdoing things? That’s exactly what stage one of pain is – a warning sign. Failure to address it will often see these minor things become major things that can sideline you for a long period of time.

Tiny Glitches Can Cause Massive Problems

The second reason ITB issues can surface is due to bike setup and pedalling style. Even a tiny glitch can cause massive problems when multiplied out by how many revolutions you are doing sub-optimally over an extended period.
 
And when you take the damage caused by setup and pedalling style, and then get off the bike and try to run, you’re multiplying your injury risk by even more. This makes triathletes especially susceptible to ITB issues and is why a good bike setup is vital to longevity in the sport. (I’d also suggest videoing yourself pedalling from front and rear so you can see any possible abnormalities in your stroke and correct them.)

Pigeon Stretch

 

Do Some Release Work

Having been warned by my body that if I kept pushing something truly bad would happen, I immediately dropped the riding out of my training plan for a day. If something hurts you, why on Earth keep doing it? At this point it was Sunday, exactly a week away from my half-Ironman, and in my head I was ready to pull out rather than risk more serious problems.

"If something hurts you, why on Earth keep doing it?"

Following the RAIL system, the first thing I had to do was release work. ITB issues are usually caused by something at the hip not working properly. That means that although I did foam roll my ITB, it had almost no effect. After I performed each movement I would get up and walk around to assess what had the best effect in terms of minimizing the catch at my knee. The thing that made the most difference was a ball in my glute.

The next thing that had the biggest impact was the pigeon stretch. Knowing what muscles do is important if you want to stretch them because the best way to stretch a muscle is to do the exact opposite of its functions. The hip (glute medius) performs hip extension, external rotation, and abduction. Pigeon puts the hip in flexion, a bit of internal rotation, and adduction. So it fits perfectly in this situation.

But that’s not the end of it, as I also wanted some active stretching to bridge the gap between release and activate. The option shown in the video below works well as it is essentially a PNF stretch for the hip. Don’t neglect this step.

Activate the Released Muscles

So, we’ve done release via a combination of changing tissue tone with the ball along with passive and active stretching. Now, we need to activate. That was done, as you can see in the video, by lying face down and going through hip extension, external rotation, and abduction. For many, especially long-term cyclists with tight hips, you may need to also stretch the hip flexors and quads to even allow you to extend the leg off the ground.

Integrate Into a Standing Position

Finally we need to integrate. I chose the single-leg deadlift for this because it hits many things at once and gets us into a standing position to check our function. You must return to standing to see if this whole process has been successful. This is important as quite often I see people run through most of this process in one of the lesser postures (lying, quadruped, or kneeling) and then fail to return to standing for a final assessment.

Test With Locomotion

The next step is to test with locomotion. Walking and running are the two most important primitive patterns we have. There’s so much talk about rolling and crawling, but in both cases those patterns are used developmentally to get us to walking. So when you rehabilitate an injury, make sure you can return to pain-free walking and running - and you’re not just left endlessly crawling around on the ground.

100% Pain Free Running and Riding

I performed this series three times a day for two days and was 100% pain free afterward. In the days since, I have ridden again and been pain free, and my running has been pain free, too.

The key message is to treat ITB issues early before they become full-blown disasters that force you onto the sidelines for an extended period. That will also mean that in the short term you need to lay off the thing that caused the pain in the first place. Pain is a request for change. Ignore it at your own peril.

Finally, make sure to reintegrate yourself with a movement that can be loaded (as load cements movement patterns). The movement should also make the whole body work as a single unit. Isolation work is great in the early stages of rehab, but your healing process must return you to integrated, functional patterns if it to be successful.

Size Doesn't Matter - But Your Technique Does (For Running, That Is)

When I signed up for my first ultramarathon, I started training like crazy. I hired a personal trainer and a strength coach to kick my butt into high gear twice a week. For months I ran, biked, squatted, pressed, lunged, and lifted my way towards ultramarathon fitness. I was in the best shape of my life. Little muscles I didn’t even know existed started popping out and I delighted in making my girlfriends squeal in horror at the size of my flexed quads. And yet, in spite of all my hard work and my Herculean muscles, just a few months before competition day, my training suddenly ground to a halt. 

I started developing all sorts of injuries, from pains in my knee to stress fractures to tendonitis. I saw doctor after doctor, determined to fix the problem. I got ultrasound, electric stimulation, orthotics, and kinesio taping, but nothing seemed to work. I was told I had lazy glutes, imbalanced quads, tight hip flexors, weak bones, and fallen arches in my feet. One specialist finally told me my body simply wasn’t made for running and if I wanted to walk without a cane in my thirties and forties, I had better quit.

I was devastated, but also too stubborn to give up. At long last, I was put in touch with a fellow Canadian, legendary ultrarunner Ray Zahab. Within seconds of seeing me run, Ray had the answer dozens of doctors had been unable to find. The problem wasn’t in my bones, muscles, or tendons. No, the problem was in my running technique. 

Over the months I had spent working on every aspect of my body, I hadn’t spent a single minute working on the way my body moved. Frankly, I didn’t really think there was much to it. However, what I quickly learned was that if you don’t have proper running form, then it really doesn’t matter how much you run, how many weights you lift, or how large your quads are. That’s right: the size of your muscles doesn’t matter – it is how you use them!

So that you can avoid the same mistakes I made, I’ve written down my top five basic pointers on running technique:

1. Body Position

Generally speaking, you want to be running with your head in a neutral position, looking forward, and with your shoulders down and back. Of course, if you are running over difficult terrain, you may have to look downwards to avoid tripping, but you want to avoid running with your head down because it will also pull your shoulders forward and hunch your back. You should also be keeping your arms at about ninety degrees, swinging your arms forward and back with your elbow tight to your body. Avoid the tendency of sticking your elbows out or swinging your arms diagonally across your body, as this will waste your energy. You want to use every bit of effort into propelling you forward, not sideways!

Some people advocate leaning forward with your upper body so that you are leading with your chest. I agree this is a desired form, but I don’t think it helps to try to force it. You will naturally wind up in this position if you follow the next two points.

2. Stride Length

This one is a big one, so pay attention: the vast majority of you are probably overstriding. This means that in an effort to run farther and faster, you are reaching your leg out too far in front of you and most likely landing on your heel. This is the equivalent of slamming on the brakes! Remember, you want to get maximum result out of minimal effort. The best way to do this is to land front- or mid-foot with your body positioned more or less over top of your leg so you can push forward off it. Easier said than done, right? Working on point number three will help get you there!

3. Cadence

Cadence goes hand-in-hand (or foot-in-foot!) with stride length. Cadence refers to the speed at which your legs are turning over. Just as most of you are probably overstriding, I would bet good money you are also using a very low cadence. To find out what your cadence is without having to rely on fancy gadgets, time yourself running for ten seconds and count how many times your feet hit the ground. Before I started working on my technique, I was running at 22 per 10 seconds, or 132 foot strikes per minute. The most efficient cadence is 30 foot strikes per 10 seconds, or 180 foot strikes per minute. Next time you watch a marathon on television, watch for the top runners’ cadences – you’ll see pretty near 180.

Rather than try to count your steps all the time, the easiest way to increase your cadence is to run to a song that has a beat close to 180 or 90 beats per minute (bpm). For me, my song is Cinderella Man by Eminem. Seriously! It has a beat of around 90bpm, so I know I need two foot strikes per beat. On one run, I listened to the song on repeat thirty times until it was engrained in my brain – and in my feet. If you can’t find a song of your own, you’re welcome to borrow mine!

At first, you’ll feel a little bit like motor-mouse. You will feel like your legs are spinning underneath you at a ridiculous speed without getting you anywhere. But give it time. Soon, you will start to build speed while maintaining your cadence, and your stride length will follow as well. All the pieces of the puzzle will start to come together!

4. Breathing

Some people try to match their breathing with their strides. If this describes you, here’s a quick anatomy lesson: your legs are not attached to your lungs, so stop trying to match them. You want to be able to get into a good breathing rhythm, but it may or may not match what your legs are doing. Your breathing will, however, give you an indication of how hard you are working. If you are running long distances, you should be able to breathe comfortably enough to carry a conversation. If you can’t, slow down a bit until you get your breathing back.

5. Relaxation

I know - running can be painful. It can be a real struggle. But whenever you can, remind yourself to relaaaaax. This means every part of your body. For me, I find that if I’m not thinking about it, I will automatically start to clench my hands into fists. Every twenty minutes or so I try to tell myself to let them go and I immediately feel a difference throughout my body. The tenser you are, the more unnatural your running stride will be. For example, if your knees and lower body are tense, you won’t be able to absorb the shock of hitting the ground very well and this will cause you to bob up and down, which is really inefficient. Telling your lower body to relax will help keep your upper body steady and allow you to channel your energy forward rather than up and down. If you are running trails, think of yourself as a stream of water easily passing over the rocks and roots underneath you. Smooth as silk!

Next time you go out running, try tackling one of these points at a time, and then when you think you’ve mastered it, move onto the next one. Before you know it, you’ll be the hottest runner out there - because it is all in the technique, baby!

The Single Secret to Becoming a Better Runner

Do you want to know the secret to becoming a better runner? Become more efficient. That’s it. Overly simplified, yes, but that is it.

An Example of Excellent Running Technique

All that training you are doing develops efficiency in one way or another. For example, those countless hours of training work to better your heart’s stroke volume, teach your body to efficiently metabolize fuel, and adapt the nervous system to fire your muscles in the most effective manner possible. The foundation for improving as a runner revolves around the idea of maximizing efficiency.

There is no better place to find excellent running technique than at the Ironman World Championships where even the tiniest inefficiencies can make or break the race. The 2014 winner for the women, Mirinda Carfrae, is arguably one of the best runners in the history of the event.

Mirinda managed to put the pedal down in the marathon to close down more than a fourteen-minute gap and bring home the victory. Her run exemplified so many aspects of excellent running mechanics. Have a look:

From the Bottom Up

When you watch Mirinda run it is smooth and with little wasted motion. You are watching someone with a kinetic chain that is totally optimized - no weak links. From her feet all the way up to her arms and shoulders, the motion flows with grace and control.

How do you get there yourself? Let’s take a look at the most important areas you can work on right away.

Feet: Ground Contact Time and Vertical Oscillation

In running, you only have one point of contact at any time, making it the primary battleground for controlling your forward momentum. Two primary factors come into play at the foot: ground contact time and vertical oscillation.

Ground contact time (GCT) is the amount of time it takes your foot to strike and lift off, and it can have a profound impact on your overall running ability. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that even a fifteen-millisecond improvement in GCT resulted in a 3% improvement overall.¹

"Considering that you want to convert as much gravitational energy into forward motion as possible, energy wasted as vertical motion can pile up in a hurry."

That may sound minuscule, but for a runner able to do 10km in forty minutes, it would result in a one-minute improvement. And for the marathon runner? It turns into seven whole minutes. That’s no laughing matter.

Vertical oscillation (VO) is the amount you bounce up and down with each step.Considering that you want to convert as much gravitational energy into forward motion as possible, energy wasted as vertical motion can pile up in a hurry.

To put numbers to it, let’s look at a 150-pound athlete running 10km. If that runner’s center of gravity rises and falls two inches with every stride, the amount of work done at the end of the race would be equivalent to raising 84 tons one foot high. If you reduce that to only one inch of VO, that number becomes 42 tons. That is a serious amount of energy savings over the course of a race.

How to Optimize GCT and VO

Start with the foot strike. There are varying opinions on what part of your foot to land on, which will be left alone for now. What matters most is striking below or just in front of your center of gravity to minimize braking, GCT, and VO.

The easiest way to ensure proper foot strike placement is to start with a good body lean. Take another look at Mirinda as she runs. What a lean! At the start of your next run try this drill to get there yourself:

1. Stand tall and lean forward, bending from the ankles. The rest of your body should be aligned (straight line from ankle to your ears).
2. Lean until you almost fall over (keeping you heels down). When you reach this point you will instinctively pick your feet up as you would to run. This is the amount of lean you want to shoot for throughout your run.

With body lean in check, adding a quick cadence (turnover) is the next step in keeping GCT and VO low. A turnover of 180-200 strikes per minute is optimal. You can measure this with a metronome app on your phone or with one of the many running watches on the market.

When increasing cadence, one area often overlooked by runners is the swing phase of the running gait (after you toe off). Instead of letting the lead foot trail out way behind the body, mindfully visualize lifting your heel to your butt. This shortens the lever arm of your trailing leg, which in turn reduces the amount of torque required to move the leg back in position for the next foot strike. In short, you save valuable energy.

Hips and Glutes: Improving Strength and Stability

Moving on up the chain is where we find a common weak link: the hips and glutes. It sounds cheesy, but with running, your hips really don’t lie.

Running is essentially a long set of alternating single-leg hops (or partial single-leg squats). If you do not have the strength in the hips and glutes to properly stabilize the motion throughout the duration of your run, you will not only be inefficient, but you will also likely find yourself injured at some point. Improving hip strength and stability needs to be high on the priority list if you want to improve as a runner.

Returning to the same study mentioned above, the researchers concluded that the inclusion of explosive strength training resulted in improved running economy both from minimizing wasted motion and from an increased ability to apply power quickly.

"Improving hip strength and stability needs to be high on the priority list if you want to improve as a runner."

For this reason, it is a great idea to include two or three workouts each week that have an element of explosive strength training. This can take the form of plyometric box jumps, single-leg hops, squats, and much more. Throw them in the mix. Your body will thank you later and you will be a much stronger, more well rounded runner.

Arms, Shoulders, and Spine: Staying Fluid and Relaxed 

From the hips up, everything should be fluid, relaxed and contributing primarily to forward motion. Any excess tension above the waist is wasted energy. At the shoulders, you want to see the shoulder blades pulled back, relaxed, and together with “heavy” low shoulders. It should feel almost like you have a heavy weight pulling down on your elbows.

The elbows should drive straight back with each stride, but rather than using extra energy to swing your arms, try letting your spine rotate fluidly, almost like you are rotating your ribcage toward the front with every stride. You will find that it will do so quiet easily with stable hips and that it will drive your arms straight forward with little extra energy.

And last but not least, keep your hands and face relaxed. A helpful visual is to pretend you’re holding a potato chip between your thumb and pointer finger and trying not to break it.

So what are you waiting for? Try it out. I bet you you’ll be a better runner when it’s all said and done.

This post is part of Macro Man's Health & Fitness blog. Follow him on Twitter!

Want Faster 5K Times? Listening to Music Might Help

When I coach runners, I often suggest they do not listen to music. I think there are many benefits to running that can be lessened by listening to music, but I’ve often wondered if this belief is true.

Many successful competitive runners find music to be a mental distraction that helps them push through difficult runs. Likewise, beginning and intermediate runners often find music can provide a tempo when pacing proves tricky. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research addressed the issue of music.

Study Design

In the Journal study, fifteen competitive male runners engaged in five different running conditions, which were used either during or after a 5K test.

1. Medium-paced motivational songs that ranged from 110-150 beats per minute (bpm) during the 5K
2. Slow motivational songs that ranged from 80-100bpm during the 5K
3. Fast motivational songs ranging from 140-160bpm during the 5K
4. Calm music played after the 5K
5. No music at all

The songs were selected not just for speed, but also for the ability to influence the runners. Before the tests, each runner had his brain activity measured while listening to samples from each playlist to ensure that the songs had the desired effects while at rest.

In addition to measuring performance, the researchers studied heart rate variability, rate of perceived exertion, and mood. Some of these tests were performed just after the run to see if music would aid recovery.

Results

On average, the first 800 meters of the run (the first half mile) was performed faster in the slow and fast motivational music conditions. It was almost ninety percent likely that these two types of music would boost performance. The medium-speed motivational songs had a forty percent likelihood of improving performance when compared to no music during the run. After the first 800 meters, the researchers noted running become more neurologically demanding, which prevented the music from continuing to enhance performance.

Music also provided neurological stimulation that indicated the runners were more motivated before running. They were also calmed by music after their run, which would increase their rate of recovery.

Conclusions

Music provided the biggest improvement in performance during the first half mile of the run. Overall, listening to music, particularly slow and fast motivational songs,improved the time over the initial test by about a little over a minute. Selecting songs you find to be motivational seems to be of critical importance, and both fast and slow music seems to do the trick.