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Showing posts from June 23, 2019

TriWeek: Race Day Worries

With the taper-induced phantom pains and niggles and lethargy behind, you may find yourself with a bit of self-doubt, worry and anxiety with only a few nights of sleep before your triathlon race. While it's perfectly normal to feel some stress, nerves and pressure before an important event, use that powerful energy to fire you up so it brings out the best version of yourself on race day. Because lack of self-belief and worry can have a disastrous effect on your race day performance, here are a few tips to improve your confidence for race day: Stop worrying about the uncontrollables - If you find yourself emotionally stressed out in the week or two before a big event, there's a good chance that you are dealing with a roller coaster of emotions dealing with the "what ifs". Worrying about things that are out of your control, like the weather or competition, is self sabotaging. Turn those negative thoughts into something positive so that those thoughts do not

TriWeek: Running Tips

Running is the most convenient sport of triathlon - you can do it anywhere, anytime.  Running is the most cost effective sport of triathlon. Running is the sport where you will likely experience a big endorphin-rush. Running is a way to relieve stress. Running is a way to get outside. Running is familiar to most triathletes - either from road racing (ex. 5K, half marathon, marathon) or running for fitness. Running is a way to change the body composition. Running is the sport where most triathletes feel there is much room for improvement. Running is the sport where most triathletes experience GI distress. Running is the sport that is most remembered at the end of a triathlon. Most triathlon performances are defined by the run portion. Most triathletes feel they need to run harder or longer to run better off the bike.  Many triathletes feel that if they lost weight, they'd be a better runner. Running has the greatest risk for injury. Based on the above,

TriWeek: Cycling Tips

The bike portion of a triathlon represents the majority of your overall racing time. However, most athletes look to the run as the area where significant improvements in fitness need to be made. But to run to your potential, you must consider what precedes the run - the swim and the bike. When it comes to training for the cycling portion of a triathlon, we can't see the bike as a time trial event. If you are simply seeking a personal best time/power wattage/speed, you are likely overbiking. On the flip side, if you simply "save your legs" on the bike because you are worried about running out of energy for the run, you'll underbike. To deliver a strong race day bike, you must train to do so. Instead of putting all of your focus on FTP, TSS, IF or average power watts, consider the following that will have a huge impact on your cycling and running abilities: Posture and form Skills/bike handling Pedaling mechanics Terrain management Fueling/hydration Pacing

TriWeek: Swimming Tips

It's National Triathlon Week! National Triathlon Week is an initiative created by USA Triathlon to celebrate multisport and all its constituency groups. "National Triathlon Week is a celebration of not only triathletes, but all members of the multisport community, including officials, coaches, race directors, families and friends of triathletes and more." On behalf of Triweek, I'll be sharing some information on each sport (swim, bike, run) to help you make the most of your triathlon training journey. If you are new to the sport (or thinking about training for a triathlon), I hope you find this information helpful.                                                  ------------------------------------------------- Without a doubt, a pool offers a very controlled, safe and consistent swimming environment. Add in 1000+ athletes in the open water and you have a very different situation compared to pool swimming. As a triathlete, you must r