Mimic Your Racing

When it comes to doing well in triathlon, you need to build a solid fitness level. Due to our limited training time, career & family obligations, it's important to be efficient in how you train. You need to have a purpose for every workout. Having a plan, typically, will keep you accountable for the workouts you do. Planning your season is best done before it begins, so you can track your fitness and goals along the way.

Aside from planning your training season, it's easy to get carried away with doing group workouts that are not specific to your race goals. In group environments, it's difficult to do specific work unless everyone is generally around the same fitness level and speed. This is somewhat rare in age group training, so chances are you need to approach a group training environment with a level head.

If you have a group workout that involves doing a handful of bike to run repeats, make sure you are mimicking your race specific intensities. Most of us age groupers do non-drafting triathlons and if you're drafting in a group bike workout, what specific benefit is that to help you in your next race? If you're drafting on the bike during training what's going to happen come race day? Chances are it won't go as well as you think! Most triathlons are a steady-state type of effort, and if you don't spend enough time training that way specifically, you certainly could be doing things better.

If you are doing short course triathlons, you'll want to spend a good ratio of your training time in what's called zone 4 (power, heart rate, or effort). This is typically where you'd be racing at for sprint or olympic distance events. If you don't spend a whole lot of time in zone 4 in training, then on race day, you will be less prepared than the athletes that specifically train that way.

Having confidence in your fitness will allow you to specifically train for your race. If you lack confidence you can be easily convinced to train in ways that won't help your race results.

Train like you race!

Good luck.

Dotting the T's

Most Triathlons are composed of 5 timing segments. The main 3 are swim, bike, & run. There are typically a T1 & T2 split sandwiched between the 3 sports. The shorter your triathlon the more important your T1 & T2 (transition) times are!

If your goal is to do well then you need to consider ways to improve your transition times. This is the time it takes you to 'transition' from one sport to the next. The less you have to do in transition, the quicker you can get out and onto your bike or run segment. If you're competitive, your competition will likely be trying to do the same thing in transition - so hurry out.

The key is to not leave a whole lot to do.

-Before a race, I'll put my Bib # on (using a bib belt) underneath my wetsuit. This will save time especially if it's a cold morning.
-Not wearing sunglasses during your bike, or get a helmet that has the screen shield magnetically attached where you can slide it on while you're riding away, is another example of how to shave time off of your T1 or T2 splits.
-Learning how to mount your bike with your shoes already connected to your pedals (this means you'll be running barefoot), then sliding your feet into your shoes after you get free of traffic. You will want to make sure you get up to speed before attempting to get into your shoes while riding because you'll be coasting and if you're not going fast enough, you could easily tip over or lose your balance.
-If you are competitive and doing a short triathlon, you definitely don't want to wear socks because of how 'long' it takes to put them on, and that could easily add 10-30 seconds to your transition time.
-The same rule applies for a hat in a short race - just don't wear one!

A good reminder is: The shorter the race, the less you need! Being competitive isn't as much about being comfortable as it is being quick. In fact, if you're quick then chances are you are comfortable with being uncomfortable.

If you're doing half to full Ironman's then your T1 & T2 times are less of a factor due to the length of each leg, so you can be less rushed in those. You will have to experiment on your own to determine what transition strategy works best for you, then practice it!

I used to ride on a low traffic bike path and practice taking my feet out of my shoes then putting them back in, over and over. It's important to be confident in your transition skills, knowing you can control how quickly you get in and out of transition.

Practice your routine!

Good luck.

Improving Your Swim...

I was not a good swimmer by any stretch when I did my first triathlon back in 2005. It was a sprint distance race, meaning it wasn't very long but it was long enough to realize that swimming was my worst discipline. It took me over 12 minutes to complete an estimated 500 meter swim, which is a little longer than a quarter of a mile.

After that event, I began a process that continues to this day and every time I go swim I still focus on getting better. There is an awareness to swimming that you need to develop over time and we do some pretty strange things underwater. You can't see what you're doing until you get an unbiased opinion from a video camera.

Based on my own swim experiences, my top recommendations for improvement are:

1) Get an under & over water video of you swimming and have it reviewed by an experienced coach.

2) While swimming, only focus on 1 or 2 changes, at most, at a time while.

3) Play with your hand entry timing to see if that simple change will make an immediate impact.

4) It's okay to only breathe to 1 side.

5) Keep your hands underneath their own side of the body underwater.

6) Swim with a pull buoy! They are great tools to simulate wetsuit swimming.

7) Try finding a rhythm in your swim, so that you can hold it while swimming harder.

8) Try swimming 'wider' in order to achieve a higher cadence. This will also help your open water skills.

9) Your goal should be to keep your body straight and stiff.

10) Keep one goggle in the water while breathing in order to stay in alignment.

11) Don't just swim continuously for an hour. You get a lot more benefit by breaking up your time and swimming hard on short intervals.


Like most triathletes, we didn't have the benefit of lap swimming from an early age but we can still maximize our time in the water and make gradual improvements over time.

Good luck!

-Dave