If you’re not an athlete swimming in sponsorship deals and big time prize money, choosing what to spend your cash on is one of the more important things you need to consider. We know it’s a struggle to know what things to buy that will benefit your triathlon journey. That’s why we’re here to help you out.

We asked our members: what is one thing you wish you could have spent on off the bat when you got into triathlon (rather than spend on upgrades)? And what is one thing you can buy the cheapest version of and get away with it?

Spend

Matthew Spooner cheekily said, “Bike shorts. Good ones. Makes life so much better.” And it’s true; quality chamois and hidden seams spell the difference between enjoying a long day in the saddle or rueing the decision to ride out.

But speaking of bikes, a number of members suggested spending for a proper bike fit.  John Muncey said, “A comfortable position that you can hold and want to ride in minimizes injury and encourages regular training.”

The same thing applies to running. Tommy Morwood admitted, “I wish I had seen a podiatrist or running specialist to analyse my stride. I ended up with really bad knee pain and shin splints due to having the wrong shoe. As soon as I found out that different shoes were made specifically for different people, I got checked, was recommended a specific pair of shoes, and have been injury-free ever since.”

Getting a coach or having good training advice also ranked high on what our members felt they should have spent on earlier in their triathlon journey. Rhys Stewart said, “I should have spent more straight up on a coach. I don’t regret self-coaching, learning the sport and the process for three years before hiring one. But I wouldn’t have wasted nearly as much time making mistakes and stagnating during that period.”

Save

On the flip side, there are many ways to save when it comes to triathlon expenses and equipment.

On the topic of bikes, many of us began doing triathlons with borrowed bikes and then purchased a second-hand bike when we wanted to do more races. Dustin suggested, “An old nine- or 10-speed mechanical shifting TT bike with rim brakes can go a LOOOOOOONG way; it’s all about the fit.”

Matthew added, “A friend recently sold a top spec 2017 Cervelo P3 with Di2 and Zipp Wheels for £1400 ($1800 USD). This is around 20% of the original cost [but] the difference between this [second-hand] bike and a brand new superbike will be marginal.”

(It’s also worth mentioning that Chrissie Wellington won her first few professional races on a second-hand road bike!)

You can also snap up the previous season’s bike models, sports GPS watches, apparel, and shoes when they go on sale.

And while crossing a finish line and being called an Ironman may be the ultimate dream for some, this comes at a high price: a registration fee sometimes up to 100% more expensive than an unbranded race of the same distance, plus travel costs. Matthew said, “Triathlon is far more than Ironman; Ironman is just a brand with great marketing. Spend time doing sprints and Olympic distance races. Do local races, learn the ropes. When you are at a good level, enter an Ironman.”

As for training, joining a local triathlon club with coached group sessions can help you save on coaching costs and provides you with a mix of training partners.

Lastly, joining Pho3nix Club allows you to leverage our experts with sound nutrition and training advice and also pick the brains of age group athletes of all levels.

Triathlon is a sport we can enjoy at various price points; our top priority is to make the most of what we have to achieve the goals we set out for ourselves.

(Header photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash.)

We already swim, bike, and run, so to ask time-poor triathletes to also hit the gym can be quite daunting. But strength and weight training is vital for injury prevention, and even improves form and performance.

As sports science in triathlon continues to improve, we’re seeing more and more elite athletes showcase gym sessions as part of what they need to do to stay on top of their game. You may say, “But of course they have time for that because that’s their job, right? How do I find the time outside my regular training as well as work and social commitments?”

Fear not, fellow age grouper. Here’s how you can get your strength training in.

Specificity and Compound Exercises

You can focus on the muscle groups and movements most important in triathlon: when these muscles are strong, they fatigue slower which will allow you to keep better form longer during training and competition.

Swimming engages the lats and pectoral muscles, while running and cycling use the hamstrings, quads, and glutes in different ways. All three disciplines use the core for efficient movement and energy transfer.

The lat pulldown and seated row help build the muscles required in swimming, while the chest press works the opposing muscles to these. Squats and lunges improve muscle strength through the legs as well as engage the core; this trains proper movement and also the activation of lateral/stabilizer muscles.

Also, try to do compound exercises with free weights (or body weight) rather than single-muscle exercises using machines. For example, it’s better to do a squat rather than a leg press because the squat better approximates natural movement and posture, plus activation through your core.

Integrating Recovery

If you plan to do consecutive discipline+gym sessions (kind of like a brick session but with weights instead of a second discipline), it’s better to do the weights work after the sport-specific session so your body can absorb the strength gains post-workout. Just keep an eye out for proper technique; if fatigue from the sport session is making you lose form during the weights session, reduce the weight or number of reps you’re lifting.

For days you have intense weight sessions churning out reps to muscle failure, do only a recovery session (i.e. yoga class) as your second workout of the day. The gains you make after such an intense workout happen well after the session (within 12 to 24 hours), and trying to train through this recovery period where your muscles are rebuilding can render your strength gains useless. Look at bodybuilders: they don’t do two leg days in a row.

Periodisation

How often and how hard you need to hit the weights during the week depends. Strength training can be integrated throughout the year going from offseason through to the racing. Diane Buchta, the conditioning coach for triathlon legends Mark Allen and Paula Newby-Fraser, set forth five phases in a periodised strength training model.

Phase 1: If you’re relatively new to weight training, you should ease your muscles into it in order to prepare for more intense weight training sessions later on. This usually takes four to five weeks for your body to adapt, with three sessions a week.

Phase 2: You begin to build strength and endurance during the triathlon offseason. You don’t want to be trying to build muscle (“anabolism”) while doing lengthy sport-specific sessions that eat muscle (“catabolism”). This is when you’re training those slow-twitch muscles and encouraging them to build thicker and stronger.

Phase 3: Now that you’ve gotten strong, it’s time to put some oomph into it as you begin to do more explosive work with heavier weights and lower reps to build power. This happens about two to three months before your goal race.

Phase 4: As you begin to approach the season, your weights program should turn your power into speed. Sessions and reps are performed faster, with no rest between sets. You’re in the gym twice a week.

Phase 5: Now that you’re in-season, specific weight training sessions are optional. However, you can head into the gym about once or twice a week for quick and non-strenuous sessions for maintenance.

Before you start a new exercise program, consult an expert to help you through the basics of technique and structure. This is the biggest time-saver and will ensure you see improvements efficiently.

(Header photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash.)

Nutrition is one of the most important aspects of an athlete’s life. It provides the fuel we use for training and competing. Whether you’re working out to cut weight, trying to build muscle, developing speed and endurance, or you just want to improve your mood and quality of life, the food that you eat matters a lot to the success of your workout sessions and overall goal.

Even though everyone’s nutritional needs are different due to goals, current body composition, and even genetics, there are general rules that anyone can follow when eating to maximize your training. From the nutrients you must include, when you should eat, how being consistent matters, and some suggestions what to eat before and after a workout, we got you covered.

Get Your Protein

Protein is the macronutrient responsible for building and repairing muscle that you damage during your workouts. It’s important that you have enough protein so your muscles can repair themselves and grow stronger especially after an intense training session. (Protein also works as an appetite suppressant, helping with weight loss.)

How much protein should you eat in a day? It’s recommended to take .75 per kilogram of your bodyweight per day. If you train often or are a professional athlete, the recommended protein intake increases to around 1.3 – 1.8 of protein per kilogram of your bodyweight.

Aside from regularly hitting your protein count, make sure to spread out your protein consumption. This is because the body can only use a small amount of protein at one time. Eating protein after a workout is important to gain muscle and minimize muscle breakdown.

Some examples of protein-rich food are: lean cuts of meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, dairy products, legumes, and protein powders.

Carbs Are Not the Enemy

Carbohydrates are often wrongly maligned as being the cause of unwanted fat. However, carbs are important because they fuel workouts and training sessions. Carbohydrate also helps you maintain the effort and intensity of each workout as well as help prevent cramps.

How much carbohydrate should you consume per day? It varies. Eat more of it during training days because you’re expending more energy. You can have less carbs during your rest days. Foods such as whole grains, pasta, bread, fruits, and vegetables are great sources of carbohydrates.

Stay Hydrated

The human body is made up of 60% water, which is why you need to stay hydrated to allow your body to function at peak performance during and after your workout. Try to drink at least 2 to 3 liters of water per day.

To make sure you’re sufficiently hydrated, check if you’re peeing regularly (every 3 to 4 hours when awake), start your day with a glass of water, make sure there’s a bottle of water near you and regularly take a sip during the day. You can also try to drink sparkling water or herbal teas to change things up. Finally, adjust your water intake to support increases in training intensity and competition.

Eat Enough

You need to eat enough to supplement your training. Low energy levels are usually caused by low energy intake and high energy being expended in workouts. As a result, your performance, workout results, and overall health suffers a lot.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport or RED-S can cause impediments to your menstrual cycle, bone health, immune system, heart health, and gastrointestinal function. Symptoms of RED-S are frequent illness, low energy levels, stress fractures, and low sex drive. For women, it also disrupts menstrual function.

What To Eat Before and After Workouts

Generally, a meal should be three to four hours before and a snack should be one to two hours before training. You can also consume a pre-workout mix or coffee 30 to 60 minutes before. Ensure your snack or pre-workout has enough carbohydrates and can be digested easily.

Carbohydrates are the primary nutrient to be consumed before workouts. Add in some protein as well, especially if you have your snack 1 to 2 hours before your training session. This snack prepares the body to perform at a high level during the workout and keeps you sated.

After workouts are all about recovery and refuelling. Quality carbohydrates and protein are needed for such. Don’t forget to stock up on fluids to keep you hydrated throughout the rest of your day and replenish what you lost during your workout.

(Header photo by Mike Von on Unsplash.)

Here’s the latest news out of the Pho3nix Sub7 and Sub8 Project: the Phoenix Foundation and Mana Global have announced Zwift coming onboard as presenting partner.

Now known as the Pho3nix Sub7 and Sub8 Project Powered by Zwift, the audacious attempt to break seven hours for men and eight hours for women over the full distance of triathlon will most likely see similar engagement on the world’s leading cycling and running virtual platform as we have seen with other sporting properties that have partnered with Zwift, like the Tour de France and the PTO Collins Cup.

Mana CEO Chris McCormack notes how Zwift’s star has risen among endurance athletes. He says: “In the past year especially we’ve seen how training on Zwift is so valuable not just for amateurs but also professionals to train consistently, safely, and still with that social aspect that is integral to making sport enjoyable. The Pho3nix Sub7 and Sub8 Project Powered by Zwift is an extraordinary attempt that requires everything to go right for our athletes. Getting the training right is key, and our partnership with Zwift makes that possible.”

Zwift CEO and co-founder Eric Min says: “We’re immensely proud that so many of the world’s professional triathletes choose to train on Zwift. In this event every second will count towards breaking the ambitious targets. We are confident that Zwift will play a significant part in helping the four athletes to achieve their goals whilst having some fun along the way.”

Here’s what the Sub7 and Sub8 athletes have to say about riding on Zwift.

Alistair Brownlee: “It’s no secret that I much prefer riding outside when I possibly can, but I think that Zwift has changed it from something that I really don’t like doing to something that I find quite fun because there’s a competitive element of racing other people all around the world. For some reason it gets the most out of me in that competitive situation. Whether it’s me as a professional athlete and it encourages, inspires, and motivates me to do physical activity, or someone who gets inspired to do the hour of cycling before work or that hour on a weekday evening — I think Zwift does that, so I think that is genuinely awesome.”

Lucy Charles-Barclay: “I’ve been an avid user of Zwift since very early on into my triathlon training. I do live in a very busy area near London, so a lot of my training is done indoors. I can ride with other athletes, I can make group rides, so if I want to ride with my friends during the lockdown, we all ride on there together. I love that Zwift is coming on board.”

Kristian Blummenfelt: “You can get so much more out of your threshold session by being on Zwift and also kind of the community they have there. Even though you’re riding by yourself in your basement, you can still feel like you’re riding with your mates from Spain and France and all around the world. You feel that you’re a part of something more than just riding for yourself.”

The Pho3nix Sub7 and Sub8 Project Powered by Zwift represents the marriage and control of every conceivable variable to deliver the fastest time humanly possible. This is not just a race. This is the chance for a place among the pantheon of sporting greats. A chance to become a household name. A chance to be the fastest.

Almost all triathlons start with swimming, so the importance of training to swim well cannot be understated. But do you need to train like a swimmer to be better at triathlon swimming? Let’s take a good look at training like a competitive swimmer or a triathlete to see what really works best.

Training Like A Swimmer

Logic goes that if you want swim better, you should train how competitive swimmers do. Even though triathletes cover more distance than competitive swimmers, triathletes could get faster by applying technique and training systems that swimmers use.

Kicking

There’s a belief in the triathlon community that kicking is not important since triathletes wear wetsuits that keep them afloat. However, an efficient kick is essential in balancing your stroke and creating less drag in the water, even with a wetsuit. Having good kicking technique will also give you an extra gear which you can use strategically in the open water, for instance to move onto the feet and draft off faster swimmers.

Larger Training Load

Competitive swimmers train more than triathletes when it comes to swimming. High-level swimmers tend to swim about 20 hours a week while triathletes on average swim around 5 to 7 hours a week – a very high disparity. Technique is very important but triathletes need to be fit enough to use the technique especially in the last parts of the swim, where fatigue might start to set in.

Breathing

Elite-level swimmers use bilateral breathing to last longer in swimming meets, which is something that triathletes also need. It’s a bit awkward to breathe from your non-dominant side but doing this will make your stroke more symmetrical and avoid overloading one side of your body. Bilateral breathing is also a very useful skill to have in your arsenal for open water swims, which usually kick off triathlons. Your dominant side might be blocked by someone, the sun might be blinding from that side, or maybe chop makes it difficult to breathe on that side. In this case, being able to breathe on your other side will make you more comfortable.

Now that we’ve laid out the arguments for training like a competitive swimmer, let’s look at the arguments for training like a triathlete.

Training Like A Triathlete

If you’re a triathlete which is three sports rolled into one competition, why would you ever train like a single-sport pool swimmer? There are differences between pool swimming and triathlon swimming. Here are a couple of reasons why to train like a triathlon-specific swimmer.

Horses for Courses

Many triathletes learn to swim as adults, while most competitive swimmers started training as children. This leads to differences in flexibility and range of motion that may prevent many adult learners from achieving a “perfect” stroke. Additionally, all the cycling and running can also lead to difficulty achieving and holding a streamlined position in the water.

Due to these factors, some triathlon swim coaches focus on simplifying technique (“place, press, push”) as well as increased stroke rate and open-arm recovery, rather than the picture-perfect gliding pool stroke usually seen on swim champions like Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe.

Additionally, many masters swim sessions incorporate medleys or use of other strokes rather than freestyle. This can be quite daunting, as well as time-consuming and not very specific to the athlete’s need. While there can be space in a swim training session for other strokes (which can help refine the freestyle stroke), triathlon swimmers must balance the amount of training time between swimming and the other triathlon disciplines. Hence, they need to swim freestyle a majority of the time.

Different Environment, Different Requirements

Swimming alone in a 50-meter lane with a black line underneath you is a very controlled situation, perfect for becoming a faster pool swimmer. However, if you train for triathlon swimming solely in the pool, you won’t learn how to change your stroke for open water conditions, to adapt to ocean currents, or to sight to keep you swimming on course. Triathlons also allow you to draft off your fellow swimmers, which is not a situation most competitive pool swimmers find themselves in.

Kicking for Balance

As stated above, having an efficient kick is very important in triathlons to propel you through the water. However, the kicks that pool swimmers and triathletes use have some subtle differences. While pool swimmers (especially sprinters) kick more forcefully, triathletes must conserve their legs because they still need them for biking and running.

Most elite triathletes use their kick to balance them in the water and only turn on forcefully kicking if they intend to bridge toward stronger swimmers ahead or leave weaker swimmers behind.

In the end though, the answer is you need to swim with the aim of improving. Some people see improvement joining a masters swim squad; others need more triathlon skills-specific training. You can also do swim-specific training blocks. One thing is for sure: a triathlon coach can help you balance the amount of swimming you need to do with the rest of the bike and run training needed for the sport.

(Header photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash.)

Triathlons are a unique and challenging mix of three different disciplines in one event. During a triathlon you go from swimming to riding your bike, and finally running afterwards.

Each of these disciplines has a different movement pattern and demands on your body to the next one: often, a first-time triathlete will get dizzy going from swim to bike, and feel like their legs are bricks going from bike to run!

And that is where brick training can help. If you’re a rookie triathlete, the concept of brick training might seem foreign to you. But adding this to your program will pay dividends as you go further along in your triathlon journey.

What is Brick Training?

Brick training combines two of the three triathlon disciplines in a single workout. It helps you transition from one discipline to another. Most of the time people focus on the switch from biking to running, although there are also swim-bike and swim-run brick sessions. There are also enduro brick sessions which involve several repeats of the brick.

What does Brick Training teach your body?

Brick training allows your body to handle the aerobic, anaerobic, and muscular demands of a triathlon. A good training plan should include brick training as it helps your body effectively prepare for the next discipline while improving your recovery from the previous discipline.

Brick training also teaches you to properly pace yourself. It can be easy to accidentally go all-out at the start of the event. Doing so can cause fatigue, and you might not have enough energy to keep up the pace all the way to the finish line. Brick training can help you learn how hard you can push in one discipline without negatively affecting the following discipline.

Going from swimming (a horizontal body position) to biking or running (upright), many athletes report dizziness or loss of balance getting up and out of the water. A brick session involving swimming allows you to become familiar with this sensation. You also learn ways to deal with it or reduce it, like kicking harder in the final 100 meters of the swim to bring blood to your legs and prep you for standing up.

From bike to run, legs will feel heavy because athletes tend to push hard on the bike, building up fatigue and lactate in the legs. Cycling also tends to affect your running mechanics because the cycling posture keeps you hunched forward, shortening the hip flexors; pedaling also reduces flex through the ankles. Bike-to-run bricks help you learn to shake off the stiffness and build the muscle memory to get into good running posture; they also train you to aim for cadence rather than stride length in those early kilometers on the run until your body loosens up.

When in your program should you do brick training?

Brick sessions can be quite taxing on the body as well as time-consuming. You can also do shorter transition runs off the bike (lasting from 10 to 20 minutes) to teach your body the muscle memory to run well after pedaling. Long bricks are best done once a week until just before you start tapering for your target event, so you’re fresh come race day.

(Header photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.)

Caffeine is a well-known stimulant, commonly taken in through coffee and tea for its ability to improve alertness. Caffeine can also be found in most pre-workouts and popular energy drinks. But does caffeine really give you a boost in triathlon performance or is it just a placebo?

How Caffeine Improves Performance

Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system that makes you more alert and reduces RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion, which means that due to caffeine’s effects you feel less tired when racing or doing your training sessions.

Taking caffeine increases the process of fat oxidation. Fat oxidation is the process of using fat as your energy source rather than carbohydrates, effectively helping you lose weight and improve your performance at the same time. Doing so will spare your muscle glycogen or carbohydrates during low-intensity efforts, allowing you to use them during the more intense parts of your session, boosting your endurance.

How Much Caffeine Should You Take

Everything is good in moderation – and caffeine is no exception. Taking 2 to 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight is the optimal dose to boost your performance. If you aren’t drinking coffee regularly, a maximum of 3 mg/kg of body weight will do nicely.

Now, you may try to up the dosage to increase your performance further, but doing so will be more detrimental than helpful. Studies have shown that taking 6 mg/kg of body weight or more hampers your ability to focus and may make you jittery. On top of that, your body develops a caffeine tolerance if you take in large doses frequently. On this regimen you won’t get the same benefits you once did for the same amount of caffeine.

When Should You Take Caffeine

Drinking caffeine at least 45 to 60 minutes before a race will give you the most benefits, as caffeine effects spike after this amount of time elapses. Additionally, taking caffeine during races will also increase your performance as your blood circulation is faster during this. As a result, your intestines will process the caffeine quickly, allowing you to reap the benefits faster.

Some athletes may try to stop drinking coffee for at least 1 to 2 days to get a better spike in performance. However, doing so may cause withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and fatigue. Instead of doing this, try to lessen your caffeine intake within 4 to 7 days before the race then get back up to your regular dose on race day. This is especially true if you’re an avid coffee drinker.

What Forms Of Caffeine Can You Take

Caffeine can be taken in a lot of different forms, aside from the usual coffee or tea. Energy drinks, such as Red Bull, contain a lot of caffeine. Cola obviously, but also Mountain Dew, if you’re not aware. If taken with carbohydrates, caffeine will provide you with better results than regular carbohydrate drinks.

Pre-workout drinks and fat burners also contain caffeine. Research shows that caffeine taken in tablets allows for better performance. Sports products like gels and energy bars are another way of taking in caffeine.

How you get your daily fix of caffeine depends on what’s the most practical for your situation. Try it out and see what works for you!

(Header photo by P.O.sitive Negative on Unsplash.)

Are you a total beginner who wants to get in shape? Or do you have an injury that kept you sidelined for a year and now you want to get back to racing form?

According to four-time world champion triathlete Chris “Macca” McCormack, you’ll need three things to get back on track: a goal, a program to follow, and holding yourself accountable to make sure that happens.

Set your goal.

“A goal may be a sprint race, or maybe it’s a 10K,” says Macca. “It’s something on the horizon; then you work backwards to figure out what you need to get there.” If you’re starting with zero fitness, short distance events (those that take under an hour to complete) are the best ones to aim for because you don’t need a lot of endurance or skill to start with. It doesn’t take too long to train for one, and the race itself is also over quite quickly.

Get into the program.

Once you’ve got your goals set, you’ll need a training program to follow. The training program should cater to your needs and ability; it reduces guesswork and lessens the distractions because all you have to do is follow it. You can either get one tailored specifically for you from a coach, or take advantage of the multitude of distance-specific training plans for beginners available with your Pho3nix Club membership. Our training plans progress the physical challenge incrementally so you never get so exhausted that you might skip further training.

Follow through with accountability.

Lastly, you should go all in and engage fully with the process of getting fit again. You do that through accountability. Yes, you hold yourself accountable, your coach holds you accountable — and you should also find a supportive group to hold you accountable for completing your training sessions and keep you on the path of progress.

Macca says, “This is the main reason why our community was formed: everybody has this accountability amongst friends, asking you how’s the training going? Once you get over that month-to-month hurdle of trying to get fit again, training is just second nature; it becomes habit. And habits change lives.”

Time to get back into the habit and live a fit and healthy lifestyle for the long haul!

Swimming in the open water is very different from swimming in the pool because there are more factors in ocean swimming. Changing tides, contending with the waves and salt water, rougher surface due to strong currents — there are a lot of challenges in ocean swimming that can stop you from bringing your pool speed through.

In this article, swim expert Brenton Ford teaches three ways to optimize your stroke for the open water.

Recovery

Recovery is the part of the stroke where your arm comes over the top of the water to prepare to enter for the next stroke. “Excellent swimmers in the open water tend to recover a little bit wider and a little bit higher with their hand,” says Brenton. Full-sleeved wetsuits encourage a straighter arm swinging wider; coupled with chop and waves, a higher and wider swing allows you unrestricted recovery, versus trying to keep the hand quite close to the surface of the water as most pool swimmers are encouraged to do.

Stroke Rate

When swimming in the sea, you’ll find that the added buoyancy due to the salt water lets you sit higher in the water. This makes it easier to turn your arms faster and allows your stroke rate to come a little bit higher than in the pool. You can turn this to your advantage. “Due to the lack of smoothness in the open waters, you’ll get less glide and distance per stroke. A slightly faster stroke rate can help a lot,” he adds.

Assertive Entry

“You don’t want to be overly controlled on where you’re putting your hands in the water,” says Brenton. In open water swims you’re more likely to be swimming with other people, so there’s going to be some chop in the water, unlike swimming in a pool where the surface is calmer. “You just need to get your hand in the water with a little bit of speed behind it. A faster hand entry to get your hand out in front of you gives you that balance and control, gives you the stability to handle choppy conditions,” he concludes.

(Header photo by Orca on Unsplash.)

Nutrition is one of the most important aspects of an athlete’s life. It provides the fuel we use for training and competing. Whether you’re working out to cut weight, trying to build muscle, developing speed and endurance, or you just want to improve your mood and quality of life, the food that you eat matters a lot to the success of your workout sessions and overall goal.

Even though everyone’s nutritional needs are different due to goals, current body composition, and even genetics, there are general rules that anyone can follow when eating to maximize your training. From the nutrients you must include, when you should eat, how being consistent matters, and some suggestions what to eat before and after a workout, we got you covered.

Get Your Protein

Protein is the macronutrient that’s responsible for building and repairing muscle that you damage during your workouts. It’s important that you have enough protein so your muscles can repair themselves and grow stronger especially after an intense training session. Protein also works as an appetite suppressant, helping with weight loss.

How much protein should you eat in a day? It’s recommended to take .75 per kilogram of your body weight per day. If you train often or are a professional athlete, the recommended protein intake increases to around 1.3 – 1.8 of protein per kilogram of your body weight.

Aside from regularly hitting your protein count, make sure to spread out your protein consumption. This is because the body can only use a small amount of protein at one time. Eating protein after a workout is important to gain muscle and minimize muscle breakdown.

Some examples of protein-rich food are: lean cuts of meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, dairy products, legumes, and protein powders.

Carbs Are Not the Enemy

Carbohydrates are often wrongly maligned as being the cause of unwanted fat. However, carbs are also very important because they fuel workouts and training sessions. Carbohydrate also helps you maintain the effort and intensity of each workout as well as help prevent cramps.

How much carbohydrate should you consume per day? It varies. Stock up more during training days as you’ll expend more energy. You can have less carbs during your rest days. Foods such as whole grains, pasta, bread, fruits, and vegetables are great sources of carbohydrates.

Stay Hydrated

The human body is made up of 60% water, which is why staying hydrated is very important to allow the body to function at peak performance during and after your workout. Try to drink at least 2 to 3 liters of water per day.

To make sure you’re sufficiently hydrated, check if you’re peeing regularly (every 3 to 4 hours when awake), start your day with a glass of water, make sure there’s a bottle of water near you and regularly take a sip during the day. You can also try to drink sparkling water or herbal teas to change things up. Finally, adjust your water intake to support increases in training intensity and competition.

Eat Enough

It’s very important that you eat enough to supplement your workouts. Having low energy levels is usually caused by low energy intake and high energy being expended in workouts. As a result, your performance, workout results, and overall health suffers a lot. Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport or RED-S is very harmful to your body as it causes impediments to your menstrual cycle, bone health, immune system, heart health, and gastrointestinal function. Symptoms of RED-S are frequent illness, low energy levels, stress fractures, low sex drive, and disruptions to your menstrual function for women.

What To Eat Before and After Workouts

Generally, a meal should be 3 to 4 hours before and a snack should be 1 to 2 hours before training. A pre-workout mix or coffee can also be consumed 30 to 60 minutes before. Just make sure that your snack or pre-workout has enough carbohydrates and can be digested easily.

Carbohydrates are the primary nutrient to be consumed before workouts. Add in some protein as well, especially if you have your snack at least 1 to 2 hours before your training session. This snack prepares the body to perform at a high level during the workout and keep you sated throughout the day.

After workouts are all about recovery and refuelling. Quality carbohydrates and protein are needed for such. Don’t forget to stock up on fluids to keep you hydrated throughout the rest of your day and replenish what you lost during your workout.

Chloe McLeod is an Advanced Sports Dietitian and Accredited Practicing Dietitian for Pho3nix Club.

(Header photo by Morgan Sarkissian on Unsplash.)

While there’s always a time and place for riding road bikes, if you have a tri bike then training in your TT position should be the norm, especially during triathlon season. What use is it to have a time trial bike if you can’t take advantage of the aero position?

Get a Good TT Fit

Your bike fitter will tell you there is a tradeoff between the upright and time trial positions: while riding with your hands on the hoods allows you to breathe easy, your chest catches the wind resistance. The point of aero position is to present the smallest surface area possible to oncoming wind, but getting down too low can make breathing harder and also changes which muscles you use to push the pedals. The fitter works with you to find that happy balance of comfort, aero, and power.

A properly fitted TT position should allow you to stay comfortable down in the bars for long periods of time and still be able to push your pedals hard.

Train in Aero to Stay in Aero

The strength to stay in the time trial position (which is a bit like doing a plank on your elbows) can be built in training. Resist the urge to sit up. You can stretch a bit to loosen up your back or shoulders if they get stiff, but try to get back in the TT position right away afterwards. I like to get up out of my saddle for 10 seconds max, then get back down into aero.

As a triathlete, you should still be in your TT position going uphill; this also allows you to deal with any headwinds. If your training grounds don’t have any hills or mountains, you can simulate this by staying down in the TT position and switching to your heaviest gears (“overgearing”) until you’re pedaling 50 to 55 rpm.

As a side benefit to training in aero going uphill, you’ll also be stronger when time trialling on flat courses.

Consider the Course

If the race is on very hilly terrain though, there is benefit to training out of the TT position. On steep climbs, you will inevitably move out of aero position because you can push more power riding upright (and there’s no real aerodynamic benefit if you’re pedalling up at 9kph). Practice pedalling out of the saddle also.

Training in your time trial or aero position is very important to becoming comfortable in that position as well as getting faster bike splits due to the aero advantage. If you have it, use it!

(Header photo by Tony Pham on Unsplash.)

Drafting is when one rides behind another to take advantage of the lower wind resistance in this “slipstream”. This allows the drafting rider to use less energy while traveling at the same speed. Conserving effort this way pays off in endurance sport, because the one who can maintain the fastest pace over the long distance usually wins.

Unlike cycling with its team dynamics and support cars, triathlon is a notoriously self-supporting sport with an emphasis on awarding the fastest individual to cross the finish line on their own effort. This is one of the major reasons why drafting on the bike isn’t allowed in triathlons.

While it’s easy to put “No Drafting” in the rulebook, enforcing it during races is another story. Compared to basketball, soccer, or tennis where the field of play is easily visible to referees, triathlons have massive footprints due to their distances; even looped ones are difficult to see from end to end, and events need plenty of marshals patrolling the bike course to catch drafting.

Additionally, there is no standard distance to maintain: draft zones can range from five meters up to 20 meters depending on the organiser and the ruling body overseeing the event. Some, like USA Triathlon, will even require you to stagger your position on the bike course so you’re not riding in the same line as the athlete in front of you – even if you’re not in their draft zone. And if passing a long line of athletes, some organisers require you to pass the entire bunch and ban you from slotting in among the group.

Drafting is one of the most common infractions athletes commit on the bike course, whether through ignorance, carelessness, or malice. So how do you not draft?

Train Yourself to Determine Distance Visually

Once you know how long the draft zone is at the race you’re attending, determine your frame of reference. I like to visualise distances in number of bike lengths (the average road bike is 1.7 meters long), or fractions of the length of a 25-meter pool. Then practice this while riding in training, staying clear of other cyclists or vehicles ahead of you.

During a race, you can keep the distance between you and the cyclist ahead of you constant by counting the number of seconds between when they pass a landmark and when you pass it. This is easy if there are lampposts or markers on the side of the road; in Kona, Hawaii the cateyes on the middle of the road are a constant distance apart so the pros use this as a guideline for staying away.

When Passing/Being Passed

When passing another rider, do it quickly and decisively. Once you enter the rear of the other rider’s drafting zone, you must pass; if you approach that rider’s rear wheel but fail to make the pass, that’s already considered a drafting violation.

If in doubt about your ability to hold the increased effort needed to pass a big group, err on the side of caution and don’t begin the pass attempt. So the simple (but not easy) remedy to this is to train to be a stronger cyclist.

If you’ve been passed by another rider, let them go instead of trying to match their pace.  Use the opportunity to coast and take in some nutrition or hydration.

When Riding Uphill

Passing on rolling courses with many uphill and downhill sections requires the rider to have good timing. Most times, athletes get in trouble going uphill when the rider in front slows down, causing the rider behind to enter the draft zone inadvertently.

In these situations it’s good to have a reserve of power so you can make that pass; if you train yourself to be a strong cyclist on hills, you have that extra gear to be able to bounce up that hill.

Again, it’s always better to anticipate the situation, so keep your eyes on the athlete ahead of you to make sure you’re not creeping up on their draft zone.

But What If I Get a Drafting Penalty Anyway?

Despite best efforts to avoid drafting, you might still end up with a penalty; that’s always a risk when competing on crowded courses (unless you’re the rare athlete who’s a frontrunner from start to finish).

When this happens, it’s best to roll with it; instead of arguing with the marshal, take the penalty and treat your stop at the penalty tent as a bit of a break. You can always fire up a protest afterwards, but while the race is still ongoing take the opportunity to refocus so you can still put in your best effort.

(Header photo by Tony Pham on Unsplash.)

Sinking legs is one of the biggest causes of slow and inefficient swimming. Most swimmers try to compensate for this by kicking harder. However, this drains a lot of energy.

How do you stop your legs from sinking? Effortless Swimming expert Brenton Ford provided his insights on how we can do this and become more efficient swimmers.

Don’t Lift Your Head To Breathe

“When you lift your head up, your feet are going to sink,” says Brenton. Swimming is all about balance; if you lift your head (which weighs about 8 kilograms) above water, your feet and legs will sink to counteract this movement.

When breathing, you want to turn your head to the side without lifting your whole forehead out of the water. You should be looking to the side of the pool, not up at the ceiling or sky. “Ideally, you want to have one goggle in the water or at least part of one goggle in the water… keep half of your head in the water when you take that breath, and that way, your feet and your legs will sit a whole lot higher.”

Point Your Fingertips Down on the Catch

Pushing down on the entry and catch is another common reason your legs sink. When you push down with your arm and hand, the front half of your body lifts up and again your legs will drop.

Brenton says, “We want to make sure that when we enter and extend forward, in the next phase of the stroke, we want to start to tip the fingertips down so you’re starting to press back against the water and propel yourself forward instead of pushing down on the water.”

Don’t Hold Your Breath While You Swim

Holding your breath while swimming creates unneeded buoyancy in your lungs, again causing legs to sink. Exhale when your face is in the water, and make sure you breathe out all the air inside your lungs before you take the next inhale. (This also has the added benefit of bringing more oxygen in with every breath.)

Swim Tall

Swimming tall means: chest out, shoulders back, drawing your belly button towards your spine and lightly squeezing your buttcheeks together. Think about growing tall through the top part of your head. “And what that will do is create great connection through your core so that you’re firm through there and it’s not like you’ve got a wet noodle in the middle.”

One good drill to encourage your body to swim tall is the torpedo or streamline drill. Push off from the wall underwater with arms above your head and in that “tall” body position. Notice how much further you can go from one push as your swim posture gets better.

Look Down and Slightly Forward

Head position also affects your swim posture. “If your eyes are looking directly forward, for most people, that’s going to cause your hips and your legs to sink down,” says Brenton. For most people, the ideal head and eye position is when you’re looking down at least 45 degrees from the pool surface. “It’s not straight down, but just a little bit further forward of that.”

Kick from the Hips, not the Knees

Lastly, Brenton says that kicking from the knees with a motion similar to doing bicycle kicks will cause your legs to sink. Due to poor ankle flexibility, your feet will be pointing to the ground instead of back behind you. If you’ve ever done kick drills with a kickboard and noticed you don’t move forward (or worst-case scenario are moving backward!), this could be why.

Instead, think about initiating the motion from the hip, letting the rest of your leg move with the wave. Keep your thighs and toes close together, with your heels just breaking the surface of the water.

(Header photo by Richard R. Schünemann on Unsplash)

As age groupers who keenly follow the sport’s elite athletes we sometimes think that if we trained like them we could become as good as them. But individual talent and genetics, amount of time available to recover, years of consistent training, and access to expertise are a few of the things that differentiate the cream of the crop from the rest of us.

The good thing is there are still enough common aspects between their training and ours that we can learn from.

With the announcement of his technical project manager for Sub7 as well as a series of Instagram Stories on the Bahrain Endurance 13 account, dual Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee revealed bits and pieces of how he trains. Here are some useful things we picked up.

Consistency is the Foundation

“My tip for triathlon is: number one, train consistently over a long period of time. That’s how you get fit, stronger and prepare well. For race day make sure you know exactly what you’re doing and you’re not trying anything for the first time on the big day.”

What His Training Looks Like

“When I was competing at Olympic distance racing I would run anywhere between 80 and up to 120 kilometers in a week.

“A normal week for me is probably somewhere in the region of 30 hours of training: six bike rides a week, six runs a week, and five swims every day, slightly different. A couple of gym sessions, some physio and massage as well.”

How He Recovers and Looks After His Body

“Being tired and training hard is part of being an endurance athlete. If I feel like I’m over training, I think I’ve already gone too far. So I have a few easy days, make sure I sleep really well and eat really well to recover.

“As I’ve gotten older I’ve had to adapt my training to train less, to try and train more effectively and efficiently to get the most out of every session and look after my body more.

“I normally have one physiotherapy session a week and one massage a week. Strength and conditioning makes up a big part of my program now… I do mostly rehab stuff, looking after my calves, lower legs, hamstrings, hips. Plenty of flexibility and strength [work] as well.”

Moving Up to Ironman

“The transition from Olympic distance to ironman is a big jump. You’re going from a less than a two-hour race to an eight-hour race. There’s a lot of things to get right, mostly pacing and nutrition. I got those spectacularly wrong in one of my first ironmans.

“My bike tips for middle distance racing are: plenty of time on the bike, train to be really good at constant power rather than spiking it to be really efficient; and nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.”

Carbon Plate Shoes Work

“Yes, the carbon-plated super shoes are definitely faster. I think they’re worth 30 seconds over 10k at the end of a triathlon. They seem to make more difference to some people than others.”

While we may not be able to access the bleeding-edge technology Alistair has when it comes to equipment and nutrition, we see the importance of dialing these in for ourselves. With a Pho3nix Club membership, you get access to our team of experts as well as our extensive range of partner discounts so that you too can perform at your peak.

When you started running, you probably didn’t give much thought to how you ran; you just went faster than walking. But as you got more serious about the sport, you might have wanted to make changes to your technique for efficiency and speed.

Thanks to media hype and various articles around it for the past decade, foot strike (or where on your foot you land) is one of the popular targets for change.  Running on your forefoot supposedly preserves knee and hip health, while landing on your heels brings all those impact forces up the leg and causes injury.

But the truth is more complex, and whether or not a forefoot strike is good for you depends on your goal.

For sprinters, adopting a forefoot strike is useful since they have a relatively short contact time and it makes them lighter on their feet, which is important for short-distance running. A forefoot strike allows sprinters to run more aggressively with much more force from each push-off that nets them more speed. Landing so far forward on the foot, sprinters rarely if ever touch their heels to the ground.

However, it’s a different story with long-distance running (and triathlon, which features long-distance running). Efficiency, more than raw power, is key. While striking with your forefoot provides lots of power, it comes at the cost of greater pressure and strain on your Achilles tendon and calf muscles. This compounds as the mileage goes up, increasing risk of injury. Because of this, forefoot striking isn’t as sustainable for long-distance running.

We see this happening when short-distance athletes migrate up towards Ironman; Alistair Brownlee runs with a very toe-y style for Olympic distance but has had to make changes to his run form for running marathons, landing flatter on his feet.

Not all heel strikes are created equal. It’s important to make a distinction between a “glancing” or “proprioceptive” heel strike, and a “braking” heel strike. The first one occurs when your foot lands under your center of mass, with the knee bent and a quick transfer of energy loading through the midfoot to toe-off; the second one is when you over-stride and your foot lands way in front of you in a braking motion. It’s this extreme, braking heel strike that transfers landing forces up your leg through knee and hip, courting injury.

If you’re a habitual heel-striker concerned about wrecking your knees and hips, you can adjust form towards a glancing heel strike much easier by shortening your stride and increasing your cadence/leg turnover.

In fact, coaching these days focuses more on preventing overstriding, rather than focusing on foot strike.

And check this out: a large study conducted on elite marathoners by Leeds Beckett University in partnership with the IAAF saw that most marathon runners at the 2017 IAAF World Championships were rearfoot strikers. The researchers concluded, “there is no one optimal foot-strike pattern with regard to performance and athletes should not be overly encouraged to alter what comes naturally to them.”

(Header photo by Unsplash on Unsplash.)

Racing is one of the biggest reasons we train so hard so we can perform our best. Sadly, the human body is not invulnerable. We can’t stay in peak physical condition all the time. Peaking needs the correct balance of physical fitness and being fresh — two things that don’t always align.

Racing prioritization is important for both of these factors to be in your favor during important events. We can classify races as “A”, “B”, and “C” races.

“A” races are those races with the highest stakes. These are the races where your physical fitness should be at the absolute peak and you are well-rested also. Most people are capable of one or two “A” races a year. If you plan on two “A” races, these should be at least 6 weeks apart to keep your legs fresh.  A two-week buffer should be included in the training plan for “A” races to reduce stress while maintaining physical fitness.

“B” races can also be called intermediate races. These races are usually a good test of your physical conditioning. You won’t be at peak form for “B” races, but you can experiment with different preparation routines and strategies to find out what suits you better. Even though these races are a cut below “A” races, they prepare you psychologically and provide you confidence when racing for higher stakes.

“C” races are strictly for practice and trying out different experiences. You shouldn’t be affected by “C” race results that much, but can use them as data to enhance your training programs. “C” races can serve as recovery, where you can relax a bit and let the game face slip. Or you can treat them as workouts with no buffer periods needed to prepare for. Try scheduling “C” races as you would schedule a hard workout.

Let’s say you have 16 weeks to train for your A race: a 70.3 where you want to set a new personal best. At around eight weeks into the program, you can schedule an Olympic distance race as your B race where you can test your fitness and race strategy. You can do a Sunday park run as a C race after a high cycling mileage Saturday.

When you understand how to prioritise races, you can enjoy the thrill of crossing the finish line without always treating every race as do-or-die. You’ll also become better able to peak at the right time for the right race.

(Header photo by Massimo Sartirana on Unsplash.)

Many kinds of training plans exist today, but a typical twelve-week training plan has three elements at its core: strength work, speed work, and foundation work. These things are layered all throughout the course of the plan so they blend together optimally come race day. What’s most important is that these three elements are structured to reinforce one another instead of toppling each other down.

When you get this kind of structure, you’re guaranteed to be strong, resilient, and confident that you did everything you can to prepare for race day.

Foundation

It all starts with building a solid foundation by building a good aerobic base. This is possible by doing long sessions that build your endurance and nudge it further.

You can build this with long rides and long runs where distance or time rather than pace is the goal; you’re putting “time on feet” and increasing your body’s tolerance to lengthy sessions.

Strength

Next, you’ll need to get your strength work in. For Ironman distance, strength work is very important. It’s not about getting your heart pounding, but rather getting strong enough to compete in Ironman races. If the one who slows down the least wins the Ironman, then you need to be strong enough to hold your target pace.

The biggest mistake people make in this type of work is thinking that strength training sessions have to hurt aerobically. Even when doing strength training sessions twice a week doing hill repeats on your aerobars, your heart rate might not rise too high. It’s not about how high your heart rate is. It’s about strengthening your legs and your entire body to maintain your technique and be as efficient as possible throughout an ironman race which could take you from 9 up to 15 hours.

More importantly, you need to know your limits and not overdo strength training. You want your legs to feel that they’ve worked hard, but you don’t want to feel destroyed. Like doing weights in the gym, strength work does muscle damage during and after the training session happens. This is why it’s important to do recovery days after tough sessions, which include rest and getting enough protein in your body.

Following a really tough strength day, there’ll be no long rides or if you do decide to go on a ride, it’ll be what we call a coffee ride: leisurely, low intensity, and you can chat to people while riding. This recovery allows your body to recuperate and absorb the gains you’ve made in your last training session.

Speed

After foundation and strength, you build speed last. Speedwork hurts and does a lot of muscle damage. Again, recovery is vital following a strenuous speed session.

Remember, when you do speed, do it properly. You need to make sure that there is a distinction between FAST! and easy. The biggest mistake is to go at the same pace all the time so you end up doing your recovery intervals too hard, and your hard intervals too easy.

All three elements build on each other to make the athlete into the best version they can be on race day.

(Header photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash.)

Functional Threshold Power, also known as FTP, is the maximum amount of power that you can sustain over one hour. It’s measured by watts per kilogram, which is the power produced divided by the cyclist’s weight. FTP is mostly used to measure the fitness level of a cyclist along with weight and heart rate. FTP is a moving metric, meaning the results of testing FTPs vary depending on the circumstances and environment. It increases with training but decreases if the athlete has over-exerted themselves. You need to have a power meter to measure FTP.

Besides doing a one-hour time trial and just taking the Normalised Power number as your FTP, you can also measure FTP with a standard 20-minute test.

This is the format provided in Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan, the seminal work on using power in cycling.

(Note that the test proper takes 20 minutes not including warm-up and cool-down.)

• Warm-up: 20-minute easy ride
• 3 x 1 minute fast cadence interval (up to 100 RPM) with 1 minute easy between intervals
• 5-minute recovery spin
• 5-minute all-out effort
• 10-minute recovery spin
• Test: 20-minute all-out effort
• Cool down: 10-minute easy ride

Multiply the 20-minute average power number by 0.95 to give you your FTP number. Many softwares like Strava, TrainingPeaks, and Today’s Plan actually compute this number automatically when they detect that you’ve done an FTP test.

Allen and Coggan’s test simulates the maximum effort you can sustain for an hour, but minimizes the lactic acid build-up. The 20-minute test is easier on the knees and joints and faster to recover from, which is a good thing if you have more training coming up during the week.

Coaches develop plans using percentages of FTP to create “training zones” or “power zones”; time spent in each of these zones will help build an athlete’s aerobic, anaerobic, max effort, and sprinting capability. This makes training more effective because you have a tangible target to push towards within each training session.

Coggan defined seven power zones which correspond to how your body responds during a race or training session.

As you become more fit, pushing the target power for these training zones will take less effort; if you’re tracking heart rate along with power, you’ll find you’re sitting in the lower end of the heart rate range for each zone. This is why it’s also important to test FTP periodically so you know if the training is effective. FTP test results help you chart your strengths and weaknesses as a rider, allowing you access to which areas of your game you need to maintain or shore up on.

How Do I Improve FTP?

Since FTP is w/kg, if you decrease the denominator then the resulting number is larger. The simplest way to improve FTP is to lose weight and continue pushing the same power — but that’s easier said than done, because weight loss improperly done brings with it muscle loss, and thus power loss.

Strength sessions help increase FTP because they build muscle, as well as improve muscle endurance pushing heavy gears.

Try a 2×20 interval session, which is two 20-minute intervals separated by a five-minute easy-paced recovery. Target a pace you can maintain and not blow up on the first interval. For the next interval, maintain the same pace as the first but make sure to pour out everything at the end. If you do this correctly, your power or pace shouldn’t have much of a drop-off between the two intervals.

However, the most efficient way to improve FTP is to follow a training plan specifically designed to do that. If you subscribe to Zwift, they have a 10-12 week FTP Builder. Such training plans are designed so that you spend the right amount of time in the proper power zones. Do this, and watch that FTP climb!

(Header photo by Simon Connellan on Unsplash.)

Food is an essential part of an athlete’s life. It’s the fuel that allows athletes to train, compete and get better.

But food is so much more than just what we put inside your bodies. Food has an emotional attachment for humans! When we’re happy, we like to eat out and celebrate. When something bad happens, we might try to eat our sadness and frustrations away. This is called emotional eating and it’s applicable to both positive and negative situations.

One such situation is when we’re stressed. Stress is one of the most common emotional triggers to eating. Stress eating occurs when we’re trying to cope with stressful situations or environments or when we’re anticipating a stressful event. Usually, we stress eat to suppress our stress, or as a reward when we get through it. Safe to say, everyone has done stress eating since it’s a normal human thing to do.

However, you shouldn’t make stress eating a habit.

When we stress eat, we usually look for food that makes us feel happy on the inside — comfort foods, as many people call it. Comfort foods are typically high in sugar like ice cream or chocolates, or high in calories and saturated fat. The quantity and type of food we crave to cope with our stress may have detrimental effects over the long-term.

So how do we stop ourselves from stress eating?

Face The Stress Head-On

You have to acknowledge the thing that stresses you out so you can do something about it. Don’t just run away from it. Ask yourself: “what are the practical things I can do about my problem?” Whether that’s light exercise, journaling, talking with a confidante or therapist, or other ways to cope, take the time to deal with the source of your stress. The quickest way to deal with stress is to handle it ASAP.

Keep Healthy Food Options On-Hand

Stock up on healthy snacks in your home, pantry, or working space so that when you get hungry, your snack options aren’t the type to sabotage your health goals.

Conversely, the best way to stop eating junk is for you to not see it, so stop buying it for yourself.

Take Care Of Your Food Intake

Keeping a food diary helps monitor your eating habits so you can check what you can change inside your day to avoid overindulging on junk food because of stress. Do you go directly to the nearest McDonalds after every tense meeting? Maybe you’re stressed out every Sunday because you’re already thinking about what’s gonna happen at the office on Monday. Keeping an eye out for these subtle cues will help you eliminate them before the habit sticks.

Make sure you’re eating enough everyday. High or low blood sugar levels severely affect your mood, which sometimes contributes negatively to your stress. Don’t skip meals; eat on time.

Lastly, when preparing your meal plan for the week, we recommend including proteins, nutrient-dense complex carbs like oatmeals, and healthy fats like avocados. Try including foods that can help reduce stress and boost mood, like fatty fish, eggs, natural yogurt, chamomile, dark chocolate, turmeric, nuts and seeds, and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Chloe McLeod is an Advanced Sports Dietitian and Accredited Practicing Dietitian for Pho3nix Club.

(Header photo by Damian Barczak on Unsplash.)

Okay ladies, “pink it and shrink it” isn’t good enough anymore.  That kit that they made slightly smaller and pink but still in men’s proportions, the stock training plan with a 2/1 build and recovery cycle that has you doing hard intervals the day your cycle starts — these won’t cut it.

We have different needs and challenges than men when it comes to training, and it’s time we talk about them.  It’s possible to take advantage of our unique strengths and challenges when it comes to your menstrual cycle.

Unfortunately the menstrual cycle has become stigmatized to the point women are uncomfortable speaking about it to their coaches.  Especially if the coach is male, but it’s even a conversation some don’t want to have with a female coach because it makes them feel awkward.  We’ve been taught it’s something private, embarrassing, and you just don’t talk about it. This does us a disservice in health and training.

It’s not something to be embarrassed about; it’s a natural part of female anatomy. Let’s start by breaking down the parts of your cycle.

It can be broken down further but we will talk about the Follicular phase (roughly days 1-14) and the Luteal phase (14-28).  These are rough estimates on the days, because it is completely normal for women’s cycles to be between 20-40 days.

• Follicular Phase: The time for high intensity and setting PR’s
• Luteal Phase: More focus on recovery, hydration and fuelling.

The Follicular Phase

This encompasses the first half of your cycle starting the day your period starts. Estrogen levels start low and slowly increase to day 14; progesterone levels are also low.

What that means for training:

During this time your body is revved up and ready to perform.  This is the low-hormone phase and because of that you have increased muscle strength, power, pain tolerance, and ability to utilize carbs more efficiently.  It also means your body temperature is more consistent; this is a bonus for training and racing on hot days as well as at high intensities, increasing the time to fatigue. Basically if you have to race, do high intensity reps, or an FTP test, now is the time to go.

The caveat: for some women on the first day or two of menstruation the symptoms may cause some discomfort and you may not feel great.  After that though, your body is ready to go.  It’s also worth noting that as hard as it is to get moving on those days, exercise can also help reduce the symptoms.

Luteal Phase

Around day 14 of your cycle (depending on cycle length), ovulation occurs and that’s when estrogen levels peak and progesterone levels increase. During this phase your progesterone levels continue to rise, estrogen levels fall, and your basal body temperature increases.

What that means for training:

This is the time you have to focus more on hydration, recovery and fuelling.  It’s also when it may be harder mentally to push: progesterone can be a depressant and it is increasing as estrogen (which has mood-elevating benefits) falls.

At this time of your cycle your body temperature is increased by about 0.4 degrees Celsius and at the same time your body will start sweating later than normal.  This means that the time to fatigue during this phase is reduced, and your body is working harder to cool itself.

It’s important to keep fuelling in mind during this phase.  Increased estrogen and progesterone (both of which peak during this phase) have been shown to suppress your body’s ability to access stored carbohydrates (gluconeogenesis) and can cause protein catabolism.  This means you need more external fuel for workouts and a higher protein intake to combat that process.  These hormonal shifts can also cause disrupted sleep late in the luteal phase and reduced ability to recover.

Now it’s not all doom and gloom and it doesn’t mean you should stop training during this phase.  It just means you have to pay a little more attention to your fuelling and training schedule to make sure your needs are being met at this time.

If you are not on hormonal birth control you can’t schedule when your cycle starts and it’s likely at some point that Aunt Flo will show up race day. While it’s not ideal, you can make sure you are prepared and understand what is happening to your body at that time.  If you are able to track your cycle and line it up with races (which I know isn’t always possible with logistics) it can set you up for some big PR’s.

By Cat Hine

The swim portion of a triathlon can be somewhat daunting, especially for those who have picked up swimming later in life. Throughout the social media domain I frequently see reference to ‘surviving’ open water, or ‘not drowning’.

However the recent return to open water mass starts has enhanced the race experience, and it really feels like we have to some extent returned to ‘normal’ when it comes to racing in the UK. Danny Robdrup wrote a fantastic article about ‘returning to swimming’ in June.  But this isn’t just swimming, this is open water racing!

I appreciate that the traditional ‘mass start’ isn’t used by some of the big brands, such as Ironman. However the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal while in the water is still very much a part of the race experience. I hadn’t realised how much I missed racing until I got gently punched in the head and kicked while turning round a marker buoy.

I do not condone violence in the water.  This year alone there has been a number of very high profile posts from pro athletes with regards to ‘bad behaviour’ in the swim portion of events.  A certain Brownlee also got a penalty earlier in the year (the less said here the better, I fear).  Intentional bad behaviour is not sporting. But the accidental knocks and scrapes as you draft off a set of toes and take the shortest line possible to a buoy is all a part of the day.

When the gun goes off, strong swimmers will move to the front of the pack, and the weaker swimmers will naturally drop away.  It can be a little chaotic for a moment.  Most people will have practiced being in this scenario at some point.

The best thing about a mass start or big wave start is that you don’t have to go far before you’ve found somebody to draft off (unless you’re Lucy Charles Barclay, of course).  For a large amount of the swim you can essentially benefit from the hard work of others.  If you find a set of unpredictable toes, or somebody that can’t hold a line, then it’s easy enough to put in a couple of strong strokes to overtake them, or drop back a second or two and keep out of their way.

Finding ‘your pace’ to race at is also essential.  The surge of adrenaline as you start the race can result in taking a couple of minutes to settle into this.  Depending on the race length, you don’t want to ‘burn out’ too quickly in the swim portion.  You need to save your energy for the bike and run leg.

Getting into a sustainable rhythm is therefore the number one goal on race day. There will generally be some challenges to overcome.  A bit of chop on the water from the wind, rolling waves in the ocean, or just the presence of other people may impact your ability to swim to the best of your ability.  However, the aim is not to be perfect.  It’s to enjoy the race and achieve the quickest possible time under the circumstances presented on that day.

For those that haven’t raced a mass start in a while, here are some handy tips to help you out:

• Make sure you know the course and which buoys are turn buoys.  Know which direction you’re turning in and don’t just rely on following the pack or the first set of toes you found to follow.
• Warm up and acclimatise before you start.  You don’t want cold water shock at the start of a race as this may impact your performance.
• Wearing a wetsuit will help with buoyancy, and help you swim faster.  But remember to practice getting it off quickly.
• Sight regularly.  Sometimes there will be obstacles that obscure your view so keep checking in to make sure you’re taking the shortest line.
• Use drafting to your advantage.  Don’t blindly follow somebody, but utilise a consistent set of hips or toes so you don’t have to use as much energy as you move through the pack.
• If you’re worried or nervous then start at the back or side of the field. That way you’re less likely to get swept up in the chaos as the faster swimmers make the front of the pack.
• Stay relaxed.  Whatever happens.  If you do get kicked, or land up with a mouthful of water don’t panic.  Keep your heart rate low and catch your breath.
• If you need to rest, do so.  Roll onto your back and take a moment to prepare yourself before you start swimming again.
• Enjoy it.  Smile as you get out of the water… Remember, we do this for fun!

Transition is an underrated aspect when it comes to shaving valuable seconds off your time. The process of changing gears and equipment between different segments of a triathlon, transition is often considered the fourth discipline because of how important having quick and seamless transitions are to a race.

Races are often decided by milliseconds. Triathletes train hard to get faster times cycling, running, and swimming. However, if athletes get stuck tying shoelaces or taking off their wetsuits during transitions, their training would’ve been for nothing. Being efficient during transitions gives you a distinct advantage over your opponents.

Here are some tips to save time during transitions.

First off, simplify your equipment and bring only what you need. Many athletes bring a lot of excess baggage during races. All you need to bring are your goggles, shoes, socks, cap, and sunglasses; everything else is nice to have but not essential. This keeps your transitions very simple and fast.

Next, create a transition routine/flow. This means deciding what goes first when taking things off and putting things on, and arranging your equipment in the transition area accordingly. This decreases the amount of thinking you need to do and energy you put into the transition since you already know where everything is and what you need to do next.

Here’s a suggested transition flow for swim to bike, and bike to run.

T1: Remove goggles and cap coming out of water > Pull wetsuit down off shoulders and arms as you run from swim exit to transition > Put cap and goggles in basket > Pull wetsuit down off hips > Put on helmet, race number belt, and (optional) sunglasses, stomp wetsuit off legs and feet > Put wetsuit in basket > (optional) Put on bike shoes > Take bike off rack and run out of transition to mount.

T2: Rack bike > Take shoes off > Put on left sock, left running shoe > Put on right sock, right running shoe > Take helmet off > (optional) Grab cap and nutrition > Run out of transition.

This can change depending on whether you use bike shoes and also if you are able to do a flying mount/dismount.

Practice this transition routine until it becomes second nature. Make sure that the way you do your transitions are the same, so that on race day you just flow through doing everything even without thinking.

You can do transition practice as part of a brick session or practice for it specifically. Start off with just doing things in the order you mean to. Then you can add some pressure by using a stopwatch or making it a friendly competition with your training partners. The advanced version of this is to get your training partner to mess up your transition area so you can learn how to calmly handle disruptions to the routine.

On race day:

1. Walk through transition to see where the entrances and exits are and what the flow of traffic is through them. Do this so you can move through the area without crashing into anyone else.
2. Take note of where your rack position is and establish landmarks so you don’t get lost looking for your bike and transition box.
3. Prep your transition area yourself so you know where you put things.

Good luck, and enjoy the free speed this gives you!

(Header photo by Ashley de Lotz on Unsplash.)

Most age-group athletes have other commitments like full-time work and families we need to look after. Due to this, we have very limited time to train.

This is where a training plan can help.

One of the most important things training plans provide is time efficiency. The worst problem with triathletes is that they can’t help going all out and do five-hour rides or two-hour runs because they think that training more will provide the best results. In reality, too much training results in greater risk for injuries, recovery from which takes time away from actual improvement.

Being time-efficient with training is something that even professional athletes benefit from tremendously. Even though pros have all day to train, they still need to fit recovery periods with a set number of training sessions per day. A training plan not only helps with consistency in training but knowing what to expect every day and with each session. You know that you have x number of sessions in a day that each takes a set amount of time to finish.

Doing specific training sessions programmed with the right intensity and duration (rather than just doing lots of volume and hoping for the best) is the best and most efficient way to see improvements and it will leave you time for your other commitments as well.

Another problem if you’re not on a training program is that you start second-guessing yourself. “Should I really be doing this session? Maybe I should change it to this…” This happens for both hard and easy sessions: you might take the hard days too easy or the easy days too hard. When your muscles are burning halfway into the session, it’s way too easy to call it quits.

If you have a training plan that’s been carefully designed with sessions that specifically target areas of improvement, there’s no need to second-guess what you’re doing. If this is what your coach wants you to do, you do it without thinking. It takes the mental and emotional aspects out of the training. This focus on just doing the training helps you to get it done!

Lastly, training programs help when it comes to recovery. Recovery is one of the most important things that an athlete can do. Often, triathletes think that taking it easy during training sessions is being lazy. When all you need to do is to go out and run at a leisurely pace, if you’re feeling good you might feel tempted to go all out instead. But if the program says to take it easy, there’s a reason behind that and it is to allow your body to get rid of fatigue and rebuild muscles so you can become a stronger, faster athlete.

If you stick to your training plan, you’re generally going to get the greatest gains in the end.

(Header photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.)

If you follow professional endurance athletes on social media, chances are you know where they usually train. Three-time Ironman world champion Mirinda Carfrae and her husband Tim O’Donnell are based out of Boulder, Colorado in the USA. Two-time Olympic medalist Nicola Spirig and four-time Ironman world champion Daniela Ryf take training camps in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Reigning Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt and the Norwegian squad frequent Sierra Nevada, Spain. Bemedalled trail runner Kilian Jornet trains out of Font Romeu, France. Record-breaking marathoner Eliud Kipchoge is based out of Kaptagat in the Rift Valley in Kenya. Why these locations?

Here’s what they have in common: elevation! Boulder is 1,655 meters (5,430 feet) above sea level; St. Moritz is at 1,800 meters (5,910 feet); Sierra Nevada ranges from 1,000 to 3,481 meters (11,420 feet), including Spain’s highest peak; Font Romeu is 1,828 meters (6,000 feet); Kaptagat is at 2,434 meters (7,985 feet).

There are a lot of benefits to living and training at high altitude. However, there are also some disadvantages that may surprise you! If you want to know more, read on.

Training at high elevations where the oxygen levels are lower forces the athlete’s cardiovascular and respiratory systems to work harder to bring oxygen to muscles. After a period of adaptation, the athlete begins to produce more red blood cells to compensate. When they then compete at sea level, their higher red blood cell levels allow them to use more oxygen and work harder, boosting performance. Sounds like a winning formula, right?

Most athletes acclimate during the first three weeks at altitude; during this time, they need to decrease training intensity because they aren’t getting as much oxygen as they have been used to. Their times might be slower even at the same perceived effort.

Every athlete’s response to altitude training is different, and there are still risks associated with altitude training. As stated above, if you’re not used to training in high altitudes, you might experience altitude sickness (mild symptoms are nausea, headaches, vomiting, and shortness of breath). Also, there is a sweet spot for elevation: training at altitudes higher than 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) is more stressful than beneficial to the body and can contribute to unhealthy weight and muscle loss.

There’s also the matter of timing your return to sea level to compete. Compete too soon after altitude camp and you might feel flat as your body re-acclimatises to sea level and the increased oxygen available. Many coaches agree that the effects of altitude training are at their most optimal two to three weeks after return from altitude. The beneficial effects may last from two to four months, enhancing performance in elite athletes by 1 to 2 percent. That doesn’t sound like much, but that’s the difference between the winning athlete and everyone else in the field.

For age-group athletes who don’t already live and train in high-altitude places like Colorado, going to altitude camp for weeks on end doesn’t sound feasible. If your livelihood doesn’t depend on your race performance the “return on investment” might be too low, especially when you figure costs of coaching and testing in to ensure you’re getting the desired effects. Gimmicky gadgets that restrict oxygen consumption like training snorkels and altitude sleep tents don’t have enough evidence behind them that show they work. But even shorter multiple exposures at altitude may have benefits in stimulating red blood cell production and better oxygen intake.

The key is to consult with a coach or experts about what you individually need to improve. More time spent training with precision at home may give you better results than packing up your life to train at altitude. Structuring our training programs and how we use what we currently have are underrated aspects that can help us get better every day. It might not be as sexy as altitude training, but it works.

(Header photo by Viktor Bystrov on Unsplash.)

By Cat Hine

Metabolic testing has been used in nutritional physiology for a number of years to reveal how an individual athlete uses calories. Metabolic testing helps in creating training, racing, and nutrition plans specific for that individual athlete so they can train and fuel in the way that they can best improve.

The athletes most visibly doing metabolic testing in aid of their training? The Norwegian Olympic team.

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A post shared by Kristian Blummenfelt (@kristianblu)

What happens in metabolic testing?

The athlete will wear a face mask, complete with a breath filter and sensors in order to collect data. Working up to approximately an 85% effort either on a treadmill or turbo trainer, inhaled and exhaled gases are measured in order to identify the fuel sources being used at a given power output or speed. Using the ratio of carbon dioxide produced to oxygen consumed, testing equipment can establish the number of calories used and the percentage of these which come from burning fat and carbohydrates. This means that at any given intensity of heart rate, power, speed or perceived exertion an athlete can calculate the number of calories that they have burned or will burn over a set period of time.

The testing protocol follows the pattern of a standard ramp test.  Intervals are however three minutes long, giving the body time to settle and adapt to each increase in intensity.  The incremental increases in power or speed will be relatively small (25 watts on the bike, or 15s/KM on a treadmill) in order to gain the most accurate data possible.  The test will often be completed in around 20 minutes.

Finding thresholds

Information gained through exercise metabolic testing establishes aerobic thresholds: the point at which the body reaches maximum fat burning capacity, and signifies maximum endurance efficiency.  By working at or below the body’s maximum aerobic efficiency, an athlete can train for longer without reaching fatigue. This is because they eliminate the risk of ‘bonking’ by not tapping into their limited carbohydrate stores (approximately 1500-2000 calories of carb stores available at any one time within the human body).

This aerobic threshold is often reached at about 50-60% of maximum intensity. Without testing the average data and significant margin for error can significantly impact training zones.  This can result in under- or over-training and has significant detrimental impact on efficiency, fitness, and/or strength gains.

Anaerobic threshold can also be identified within the testing protocols.  At anaerobic threshold, the body produces increased levels of carbon dioxide as the body attempts to metabolise a build up of blood lactate.  The body will also consume large amounts of oxygen, which results in rapid carbohydrate utilisation and fatigue. Thus, understanding anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold can be of vital significance for any athlete that wants to pace their race effectively, and avoid ‘hitting the wall’ or ‘bonking’.  Testing also allows you to find how much time is needed to recover and go from anaerobic back to aerobic threshold.

How to use metabolic testing data

Once these data points have been collected, a specific nutrition, training, and racing plan can be created for an athlete.

We can set training zones as a percentage of a maximal number; for instance, Zone 1 is usually 50-70% of maximum heart rate, 65%-84% of lactate threshold, or less than 55% of functional training power. However, training zones for various sports will often be different. For example, individuals can often hold a higher heart rate when running in comparison to cycling. It has also been noted that a tendency to fuel the bike to support the run can result in a more efficient fat utilisation in the run phase of the event. Thus, testing should occur across disciplines and a specific nutritional strategy and training plan put in place for each discipline.

During long endurance rides and runs the athlete can work within their own ‘Zone 1’ or ‘Zone 2’ in order to ensure that they are using fat sources efficiently and not risking premature fatigue. Any increased efforts above Zone 2 will start to burn carbohydrates and will therefore limit endurance.

Interval training efforts can be set to anaerobic threshold limits, in order to help train the body to process lactate as efficiently as possible.  The rest period between intervals (so that the body switches from carbohydrate burning back into fat burning) can also be identified to ensure that recovery is incorporated even within the session.  The specific number of calories required to refuel after a session or during a race can also be established.  This will, again, support recovery and maximise performance.

By altering fuelling strategies prior to different sorts of training sessions, the body will start to physiologically adapt.  This can result in an extension of Zone 2 for endurance athletes, meaning that an athlete can go longer and harder while still only burning fat sources.  Top-end speed and power developments can also be supported through effective and carefully timed carb intake.

A focus on nutrition and training zones as a result of metabolic testing can prime the body for adaptations that will support future goals and enable you to wring out the best performance possible.

Training is a vital part of an athlete’s life. You can swim, bike, and run all seven days of the week, but if you’re serious about getting results that stick, it’s important to follow a training plan.

When you’re just starting out, the fitness improvements just by swimming, biking, and running consistently help establish a good foundation because you’re getting fit. However, these improvements tend to plateau. After a while, certain training sessions start to feel easier because you’ve grown in fitness. If you continue doing the same thing, you will see diminishing gains.

Training plans encourage continuous improvement through structured sessions and progressions, providing stimuli for your body to adapt to. Being on a proper training program will see you gradually increase distance and intensity in ways that your body can absorb so you become stronger rather than break down. As individual athletes have different needs, training programs can be tailor-fit for each athlete depending on how they respond.

Training programs also home in on your weaknesses to improve them. You might have a favorite discipline or one you like the least. A training plan helps you still do the work in order to improve, even if you might not necessarily love it. When you do the work even on days when you don’t feel like it, that’s where you’ll see those improvements.

When you’re on a training plan, you’re doing training that works for you. Most elite athletes follow training programs for their entire careers that are supervised by coaches, and they see progress not just over weeks or months, but years.

So if you want to be in this sport long-term and still continue to get better at it, get on a training plan.

(Header photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash)

Training is a must when you want to be fit. You set your goals around becoming a better version of yourself each day to become the best at your chosen sport.

But there are days where you just don’t feel like training. You prefer to sleep in, resting your body, hoping that motivation will come tomorrow. Don’t beat yourself up, it’s normal to think like this sometimes. Even the great ones experience it too.

You know what separates the great athletes from those who are just good? They find a way to get past the excuses and fall in love with the process of training, even during the days they don’t feel like it.

Not convinced? Let’s look outside of triathlon for an example. One of the best athletes in history worked himself into the conversation for the greatest basketball player of all time through sheer hard work alone: Kobe Bryant.

Kobe’s legendary work ethic was well-documented by the media. His pre-dawn workouts, beating everybody to the gym by arriving at 4:00 am, and meticulous training style got him five NBA championships and multiple accolades, despite his admitted lack of extraordinary physical gifts.

What was Kobe’s secret to training like this every single day? He eliminated his excuses by falling in love with the process, not the result.

“Those times when you get up early.. .those times where you stay up late… when you’re too tired… when you don’t want to push yourself but do it anyway… that is actually the dream,” says Bryant during his retirement ceremony in Los Angeles.

When you fall in love with the process and the work, you’ll see that you can’t be stopped by your physical limitations. You can do anything as long as you work hard for it.

You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to be the best possible version of yourself each day. No excuses. Show up every day, do your workouts, train your mind so the body will follow. Greatness is within every one of us, including you.

(Header photo by Mike Von on Unsplash.)

By Stephen Reville

Recently I had a conversation with one of my age group athletes. They said that with so many races cancelled, what’s the point of training? It’s just a waste of time, according to them.

But my response was, why should you not continue training anyway?

I like to keep my athletes motivated. If they’re feeling down I try to perk them up and show them there is light at the end of the tunnel.

So for my athletes during this time, I design a challenge every 4 to 8 weeks to keep you on your toes, and to hit some targets and work with what we have. We can even do some virtual events. You can set yourself goals — some you might have never thought of if it hadn’t been for COVID-19.

Now, if you want to become a good age group Ironman athlete, you have to log a few years to get to your peak for this sort of racing. As she was commentating Ironman Switzerland this weekend I heard Ironman world champion Michellie Jones say that it usually takes seven years for an elite Ironman athlete to understand and start to show the kind of athlete they are. For age groupers, most don’t get to their peak till their mid-40s.

For folks that feel past peak and feel like what’s the point of exercising if there is race uncertainty, my answer to you is remember why you started this journey. If you think it was only to race well, then I’d say think about your health and how fit and strong you feel when you’re training, not to mention what it does for your mental health. Surround yourself with people with a good outlook on life. If you’re locked in then video call mates who you look up to with that sort of mindset.

As a coach my philosophy is that if you want to be good at something, then you’re going to have to learn to deal with adversity. You need to be able to work around it and keep moving forward.

There will eventually come a time for races to return. The more miles and quality efforts that you bank now will build your foundation for when the gates open up again for racing. You can back off on your training load, as long as you have some plan in place so when races open up you’re more than ready.

The law of inertia also applies to training: if you stop now then you will find it much harder to make your comeback than if you’re already rolling along to begin with.

(Header photo by Serena Repice Lentini on Unsplash)

by Tim Ford

For years now we have heard rumblings of this mythical triathlon called The Collins Cup. Named after John and Judy Collins who are responsible for triathlon as we know it today, this event had almost become the stuff of triathlon legend before it was ever run. Some said it would be possible, while others opined it would never even happen.

Based on golf’s Ryder Cup, it was promoted as the event that will bring long-course triathlon to the masses. In teams from USA, Europe and everywhere else, the biggest names in triathlon would face off in a format we had never seen before.

If you have been even mildly interested in triathlon for the last five years, this is an idea that has popped up more and more often. First it was Super League Triathlon, then it was Challenge Daytona or the PTO Championship, and this year we even saw World Triathlon add in the eliminator format into their World Championship series and the mixed-team relay at the Olympics. A number of different organisations have tried to take a swim, bike and run race and do it differently.

The PTO who are responsible for the Collins Cup promised us the most groundbreaking, state-of-the-art broadcast that would make even those people who have never heard of triathlon tune in to follow the action.

Did they succeed? Was the Collins Cup a Ryder Cup-level hole-in-one? Did we see the dawn of a new age for long-distance triathlon?

What did I like?

The Format

There are so many positives for this event but the obvious one to me is the format itself. I love the idea of head-to-head matches with points for your team and bonuses on the line. Seeing how many athletes were pushed all the way to the finish line to pick up maximum points was a sight to behold. The look of suffering on Jan Frodeno’s face isn’t something I have really seen since he was getting whooped by Alistair Brownlee at short distance (trust me, it’s a thing).

We got to see some real face offs too. Holly Lawrence vs. Ellie Salthouse in the swim was probably the only time I have seen a swim be actually exciting. Katie Zaferes sticking on the feet of Lucy Charles-Barclay would have shocked more than a few casual fans of the sport. Even the gutsy way that Lionel Sanders delivered one of the best performances of the day despite his insanely fast performance at an Ironman event 6 days before, probably due in part to his desire to do his bit for the team.

What we got were 12 individual races that were each in their own right an outstanding race that I personally would love to watch all of (yes I am a massive tri geek). I think the format also shows that triathlon is more than just the mass start, first to the line. It can be done in a variety of ways and still be both exciting and a triathlon.

The ‘Trimmings’

As much as this was all about the actual race, I feel that this event was much more. Consider the hype leading into the race — the way the races were drawn and the dynamic around those events. The press conference was probably the best triathlon press conference I have ever seen. I have spoken about this before but there exist so many great rivalries in our sport and often I feel like there is a missed opportunity for these to be highlighted. 2019 Kona, Frodo v Lange the rematch. Alistair Brownlee making his debut. Two Olympic Champions facing off… but the only person doing any sort of press about any of this was Bob Babbitt. This time Bob was able to do what Bob does best, but he had sooooo much more to talk about because of the banter we had seen at the press conference.

Add in the Fantasy League sub-site, the pre-race documentaries and just the general hype that the PTO put into this event, it was hard not to get excited in the lead up to it. I was shocked by how much my excitement levels continued to rise after the match-ups, then the press conference. And I, hand on my heart, spent a three-hour trainer ride watching Breakfast with Bob interviews. Not to mention the amount of effort I put into my fantasy league picks. Those extra things around the race itself were unlike anything I have ever really experienced before as a fan of triathlon.

The Quality

Whatever you want to say about this race, one thing I think most of us could agree on is that it looked expensive. By that I mean you could see how much money they sank into the coverage. Lots of cameras, the fancy slow-mo one that tracked them through transition and even the infrastructure on their website to display statistics like HR, watts etc. This wasn’t the usual ‘one camera following the leaders’ kind of broadcast. There was a substantial investment in capturing the race and if you isolate how it was captured I think it was done well. The angles were good. The action was easy to see, when it was on screen.

You could see the PTO stood by their word of investing heavily into the broadcast. Personally, I would love to see what the coverage of each individual race would look like — if there wasn’t the need to switch between 12 different events, but simply show the 3 athletes in the single event. I think that the quality would really shine in a situation like that and personally I hope they release those 12-race packages to get me through many many trainer sessions (I warned you I am a geek).

There was lots to really like about The Collins Cup, especially when you frame it as their first attempt at a new format of racing in the middle of a global pandemic.

But like any good review I think it is important to point out where I think there is room for improvement too.

What do I think could be improved?

The Broadcast

I think this is the natural place to start. Was the broadcast bad? Definitely not. But was it the groundbreaking experience that would make non-fans of the sport flock to long-course triathlon? Also a no from me.

The biggest issue of the broadcast was working out what to show and when. Too many times there were things happening at other parts of the race that we just didn’t get to see. I know how close the Sam Appleton and Sam Long race ended up being, but I never actually saw it. I  know that Kyle Smith had a crash that put him out of his race but again, I never saw it. I saw all of the winners cross the line, but rarely the athletes in second or third.

As I said, this was the first time an event like this has been run, which means there is no rule book. I cannot imagine how hard it would have been to direct all of those races happening at the same time. There were however a few little things that immediately come to mind.

Commentary: The commentators must have been outside, because for so much of the race I could hear the background noise of music and on-site announcers. I found this extremely hard to ignore and it really started to grate on me. At one point it started raining and I could literally hear the rain pounding down on the roof of where they were positioned.

The length: It got very long. I started watching at 8:30pm and went to bed at 3:30am. I wonder if starting the men first and then having the races go every 10 minutes would have sped the whole thing up? I haven’t really analysed the finish times enough to work that out but the big hour long gap in the middle wouldn’t have been there.

Racing action: Split screens, audio-only interviews and less panning shots of the location would have allowed more attention on the action as it unfolded. Instead, I saw countless panning shots of the facility and that giant silver horse. I saw replays of athletes crossing the finish line over and over. I watched all the winners be interviewed all while racing was still happening. I don’t think I am saying anything wild here and I am sure that the second running will probably change a lot of this.

The Statistics/Timing

Again, I know this is low-hanging fruit. I heard Barrie Shepley say they clearly took some big swings in terms of the technology they used for this event ,and it didn’t seem to pay off. I know they will be all over this and I am sure they are aware of what went wrong. But it got to the point for me where the splits/results were so all over the place that when Taylor Knibb destroyed the field on the bike I just assumed it was an issue with the technology.

I think the main take away from this is that at least they took the swing. I would rather see the PTO take some big risks and try to deliver something we haven’t seen before and fall short, rather than just continue to play it safe like we have seen for so long.

I also think that it is worth noting that choosing to focus on points rather than the splits is not something I think needs to be improved. I might be reading into this but I believe that this was a choice to try and make it easier for non-triathletes to follow. For me, a nerd, it was just not what I am used to. Different doesn’t mean bad and objectively I think it was a good approach to take.

I also really wanted to hear the mic’d up athletes discussing tactics with their captains. This was one of the things I was most excited about. Next time I am sure it will be better.

The Racing

Now this is a weird one and it is something I seem to bring up in nearly every one of these reviews that I do. But for long-course racing to be exciting and good viewing there needs to be a way to get the athletes closer together. Is it draft-legal bike riding? (I know how many ‘fans’ this will piss off.) Is it finding a more statistics-based way to work out the teams and match-ups? Or is it the design of the course to make the action feel closer rather than seeing Jan Frodeno off the front (again) running solo?

I do not have an answer to this. I know there were things like Daniela Ryf being a bit sick and a number of crashes that changed some race dynamics, but there were also some athletes who were just never ever featured.

The only sort of thing I can think of off the top of my head to help with this would be to maybe add in a race inside the race. What if the races went from lowest- to highest-ranked athletes still with the time gaps but suddenly there was an elimination element. If an athlete catches an athlete from the race ahead of them they ‘steal’ their points and that athlete is eliminated. Suddenly it is not only about your three-way race; it is also about the races ahead and behind you. If an athlete has created a gap to secure the full 6 points and is then caught by an athlete behind them, that athlete gets all 6 points plus the points they have probably secured by making up all that time. Maybe some other little ‘gimmicks’ could help to change the dynamics and tactics.

Final Thoughts

The Collins Cup is based on the Ryder Cup in golf, and I think in a lot of ways that works quite well. The PTO have come out and very publicly laid out their intentions to make a triathlon broadcast package that will break through into the mainstream.

I do not think that the inaugural Collins Cup was that package. But I am also not so critical as to not also accept this was only their first-ever attempt. Framing it in that light I think that this event was a huge success and an incredible leap forward for our sport. From all reports, the athletes loved it. Everyone I know who was at the race cannot stop raving about the event. The promise alone of this event has forced other triathlon brands to attempt to lift their game (not naming names) which has made even more races easy to watch.

Was it a hole-in-one? No.

Was it a failure? No.

Was it the foundation of something with real potential? I think so. So to keep up with the golf analogy, the PTO hit a birdie.

I cannot wait to see what comes next for the PTO and The Collins Cup. Much like athletes who talk a big game in the lead up to their first Kona race, you don’t really expect them to get it right on their first attempt… but there is always some small part of me that really hopes that they do. It is the same with The Collins Cup. I don’t think I ever expected them to get it perfect right away. I expect them to take away lots of learnings from this first attempt and continue to evolve this into something that is even better than what they originally promised us.

Tim Ford is a member of our team of coaches. He has gone from being a complete novice weighing well over 120kg to a top athlete with a 4:06 PB for a 70.3. Through his time in the sport he has learned skills which help him to assist athletes of all levels and abilities.

LoveTraining any athlete is not difficult. I am sure you have heard the age old saying “Practice makes perfect.” I call BS on this statement and often argue with people over the ridiculousness of such a vague call. I say, “Perfect Practice makes Perfect” and more so “Perfect practice for the individual makes a perfect performance for that individual.” Getting the mix right for any athletes in our sport is absolutely not one-size-fits-all, but if you can get a basic understanding of where to start individualising the approach, then you are ahead of the game. Perfect the beginning and everything will fall into place.

The key to improvement or success at any level in multisport comes to building a foundation of knowledge about the athlete (whether you’re the coach or the athlete) that will allow you to make those needed incremental improvements towards your set goal. These are not always necessarily physical improvements, yet these tend to be given the most kudos.

Nearly 40 years ago all we had were some basic training tenets and then a long process of trial-and-error, developing fitness and efficiency in the three sports to ensure that the blend is just right. These days the Norwegian training system that produced Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt shows integrating sports science, technology, and testing alongside training reveals (with hard numbers) how an individual athlete’s body adapts to training stimuli. They test more than anyone and remove guesswork to finesse and further refine that blend. (My interview with Kristian and his coach Arild Tveiten goes into some detail about this. Listen here.)

For amateurs, they too can have access to all manner of training data. Technology has made it possible to track many things that me and my peers never had access to. Power, fatigue, sleep, calories in and out can all be tracked by a device on your wrist that can feed a program specifically telling you where you are in your training phase. Add in effective benchmark testing, and it has never been easier for athletes to have access to all of their key measurements and indicators of performance that will tell you how you are progressing.

The entire training mix and perfecting this across the entire spectrum of the sport is key, and there are not many sports in the world that have so much complexity and difficulty in perfecting than triathlon. It is an all-body sport, two of the disciplines being non-weight bearing and the final discipline being the most damaging weight-bearing exercise you can put the human body through: running!

Not only this, but in triathlon we endure running in a fatigued state which magnifies any issues that an individual’s body has with the movement and biomechanics of this sport. This is the most important element of planning that needs to be assessed and is so often overlooked by coaches and athletes obsessed with just meeting set training goals that are usually quantitative in nature. This is the biggest mistake I see in most triathlon training plans and is a total disrespect to this basic principle of our sport. Swimming and Biking are basically body easy; running is very hard and will be the foundation for most injuries in our sport.

Cyclists and swimmers can build huge aerobic engines and a massive base of fitness, with relatively small musculoskeletal damage. You just need to massage the muscles of either a swimmer or a cyclist to see the texture of these muscles compared to that of a runner.

When you bring weight under load and the eccentric contractions to a muscle like you do in running and then put huge stress on your skeletal system, the entire game changes. You often see this when cyclists or swimmers switch to running as a form of fitness. They often blow out knees, are prone to stress fractures, or get injured very quickly. This is magnified even more so when they take up triathlon.

They also have a sound level of fitness which immediately gives them the perception that they can do more than their body is ready for. Put simply, they don’t fatigue aerobically and thus do too much work that ultimately tends to break them down skeletally over time. Cyclists tend to blow knees, swimmers more than often get stress fractures (they have had plantar flexion of their ankle for so long that when they hold dorsal flexion in a running state, their shins take a smashing). It’s these new movements and the accumulation of fatigue in the smaller muscles that see these athletes break down time and time again.

There is a perception by many of the single-sport athletes that triathletes are “Jack of all trades, master of none” — but this is just a complete misconception, especially now watching the short-course athletes on the World Triathlon circuit approximate times achieved by swimmers, cyclists, and runners.

Successful triathletes are masters of perfecting three disciplines in unison with the other. I have watched some of the best single-discipline athletes move across to this sport with high levels of expectation, only to find that being the master of a single sport means sh*t in the multisport world. Perfecting all three is difficult, especially when these disciplines work against each other in their development. The A frame of a swimmer is not good for running. The short hamstrings of cycling and the inward knee action of the pedal stroke, kill running form and shorten hamstrings. The eccentric contractions of running and the muscle damage limit the efficiency in a pedal action. These three sports play against each other, so the mix is everything if you want to be as fast as you can be. Those athletes who come across to this sport and don’t respect this from the onset always end up injured and humbled. It’s a puzzle of perfection and it takes time and commitment to master.

The great Steve Larson came from professional cycling and unlike any other single-discipline athlete was able to make the transition across to some level of success very well at an older age in our sport. No other athlete has been able to do that as well. I spent a lot of time with Steve over the years prior to his death, training together in Bend, Oregon and also in California. Steve was at his best in multisport when he first came across from cycling. He built his fitness first from his bike riding, and then added very sparingly the other two disciplines. He won Ironman Lake Placid on debut and ran a 2:56 marathon off 15 miles a week of running.

After this he tried to address what he perceived as “weaknesses” in his swim and bike, and got his mix wrong. He lost his bike strength, and his run and swim remained unchanged. He ultimately went backwards for a few seasons. I highlighted this fact to him and a light switch went off for Steve. He returned to his old foundation of fitness first – cycling – and then added softly the other two disciplines. His results improved immediately. He went on to have some incredible races with Conrad Stoltz in XTerra events and had some incredible run performances. He finally got his mi” right first and then perfected the blend. Steve had some great success before he retired in our sport.

I think my coaching and conditioning team understood that for me, the basic principle in my triathlon training mix was perfecting my fitness from the run first and building backwards into the non-weight bearing sports in my case. I came from a running background, and I think this was a big plus. We were able to really survive the heavy run volumes as my skeletal system was strong, and by adding swimming and cycling to the mix, our only issues were increased weight (especially from development of quads and glutes from cycling and shoulders in swimming). These reduced our efficiency on the run, but saw us adopt a different approach to our run work, that was more tempo-based. I could use my size to muscle a bike and then, use my tempo (as opposed to speed) to carry me through the run.

Our focus in training at this time was always around brick sessions at a track with leg turnover on the run and stability in the hips. I lowered my knee lift and shortened my stride, which was effective for me and allowed me to maximize my power on the bike. It was limiting in my sprint finish over short-course events, but the trade-off to bike power was worthwhile. Anyway, that’s another story, but part of our puzzle in perfecting our mix that ultimately gave me an injury-free program and a more than 20-year longevity as a professional racer.

The game is about perfecting the mix for each individual. It is up to individuals to be honest with themselves in ascertaining where their weaknesses lie and then be open and committed to making the changes that are needed to improve your overall performance. Remember it is not about single disciplines anymore. Improvement comes by lowering your finish time, and finishing involves completing three disciplines.

Here are 8 quick tips for everyone to take away from this blog. I hope they are of some help:

1: Don’t get caught up in meeting some pre-conceived idea that a certain amount of miles is what is needed to see improvement in any of the disciplines of this sport. Improvement in any of the disciplines within triathlon requires a single attention given to that discipline over time. You then need to build a foundation of work in the other two disciplines around this increase in the other. Never solely focus on one discipline without factoring the other two into your training plan. We are triathletes now and you need to build a body feel around three sports and functionality in these three sports.

2: Recovery is king! Always err on the side of recovery in your training program. Recovery takes many forms, and body maintenance (massage, yoga, etc.), sleep, and rest are imperative to the game and the mix.

3: Guilt attached to any missed session is more harmful than missing the session itself. Guilt is what limits most people in our sport. If you miss a session for any reason, put it behind you and move forward. Don’t play catch up and don’t worry about it. It’s done, move on!

4: Training programs do not have to be built around a seven-day schedule. I see many people and coaches build their training programs in seven-day cycles. This is often good for routine, but remember it is not imperative, and mixing things up is key to improving.

5: Identify your weaknesses at the start of your season and then highlight your areas of fragility (injury proneness). When building your program a focus needs to be given to ensuring that this weakness is addressed early in the plan and then constantly addressed throughout the year. Not all weaknesses are physical, and ascertaining the attention directed at a weakness in comparison to the trade-off that is given to the other two disciplines needs to be looked at here. Improvements take time. Be patient!

6: Trust the people who advise you and build your plans. You have to have faith in the people you’re working with, or it is just not worth it. More so, it is your responsibility to give the feedback necessary to ensure that your coaches or team can do the best for you. Don’t buy into other people’s BS. You’re the CEO of your journey in this sport. Be proactive, be open, and listen — but put faith in the people you have brought on.

7: Brick sessions are a foundation set for every triathlon program, but huge brick sessions are overrated. Bricks are the toughest sessions you can do, and need to be recovered from and set with that in mind. Some people like to do these “head sessions” to convince themselves that they can master the triathlon they are taking part in. Doing this in a brick is not the answer.

When planning your brick sessions, be sure to be aware that these are physically very demanding sessions. Ironman athletes more so tend to over do the brick session component to their training and do way too much. It is the “run” in the brick session that does the most damage,so be careful with it. The faster your running the shorter the run length should be, the longer the bike, the shorter the run session should be. Those are two rules I tend to adopt to some degree. Hope this makes sense.

8: Consistency is the key to any triathlon program, and consistency across three disciplines is the key. Injuries limit your ability to be consistent, so listen to your body. Be flexible with your training plan. A rigid program is not the answer. A program should be built with a skeleton plan, but the fill needs to be flexible and adjusted daily if need be. Flexibility to your consistency is the key.

Chris “Macca” McCormack is a four-time triathlon world champion with the biggest winning percentage in the history of the sport. He is a co-founder and partner in Super League Triathlon, CEO of the Bahrain Victorious 13 team, board member of the Pho3nix Foundation, and CEO of MANA Sports & Entertainment Group.

Love

by Noelle De Guzman

As a child, I was bookish, studious — one might say a nerd. While I enjoyed a bit of tag or hanging about on the monkey bars at recess, my idea of regular exercise was once-a-week gym class. Even then, I was a benchwarmer.

I only discovered the truth of the saying mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body) as I grew older and my personal health flagged due to a sedentary lifestyle.

I started exercising for health reasons, but soon I found that as my body grew more active so did my mind. A morning run or yoga class did wonders for my productivity throughout the day; they were even better than coffee! It was like I’d been sleepwalking through my whole life and had only just woken up to live it fully.

I took up long-distance running and discovered much about myself: not just about how much pounding my joints and muscles could take, but about how my mind responds when things get tough and what I’m willing to go through to achieve my goals. I also learned how to be at peace in every moment, whether it’s an easy jog under trees with birds chirping happily or the hard slog in the last three kilometers of a marathon. Triathlon was simply an extension of this, with the added bonus that going through three disciplines instead of one kept my easily bored mind occupied.

Yoga helped me learn simply to be, to appreciate every breath and to be accepting of whatever state my body and mind are in on the day. This translated into everyday living, reducing stress levels and giving me more space to enjoy the day.

It sounds funny, but physical fitness really helped round me out as a person. Being in the habit of taking care of myself physically balanced out my life that had been until then a pursuit of academic achievements and degrees, then climbing the career ladder.

It opened me up to new experiences. My circle grew from home, work, and nights out with friends to traveling in distant places, trying my hand at all kinds of sports and activities, making friends from different walks of life, deepening connections with my family, and searching out what I could do with my life.

I believe we are all here to maximize whatever potential we may have physically, mentally, and relationally. That is the driving force behind what I do.

And I wouldn’t have realized that if I hadn’t gotten off my couch.

(Header photo by Steven Lelham on Unsplash.)

LoveBy James Owen

How good were the Olympics! The fact that competition has gone ahead given the predicament that the world is in is an achievement in itself. I felt certain before the opening ceremony that the games would turn into a COVID catastrophe and dissolve into a super-spreading saga. But the sanguine Japanese organising committee and authorities enabled the go-ahead of the Games that gave us all something to celebrate – especially during the unprecedented and uncertain global times.

So, to triathlon. When you’re too good at one sport on its own, do three of them one after the other. These super athletes produced a series of fantastic races exhibiting their physical and technical prowess in swim/bike/run disciplines. Aside from the ludicrous speeds at which competitors make their way around the course, I noticed a few interesting aspects during this race that I had not noticed before.

Watches

No one was wearing one. Initially I wondered if this was a rule of Olympic triathlon in which GPS devices were not allowed. During my research I did find reference to a rule which forbids communication devices of any kind – smart watches being one. I’m not certain that this rule applied to the Olympics, but it may have been.

Even if this rule was in force, it still raises some interesting points about data. Let’s assume that these athletes will almost certainly all be using power meters on their bikes, so we’re talking specifically about running.

Many triathletes use data to plan their race, ensure effective pacing, or measure their intensity against known values. But the Olympic athletes didn’t have access to this. This signals just how in tune the top competitors are with their bodies.

Yes, the duration of the race means that energy requirements and management are different from a long-distance triathlon. But the fact is that these athletes are changing their intensity and pace in response to what’s going on around them. It’s pure racing as opposed to running on numbers or aiming for splits. If someone makes a move, you decide whether to go with them; how are you tracking on the day? How well do I know my body? How is my effort right now?

For the age grouper I think the lesson is that data can supplement your training, but don’t become a slave to it. In addition, I believe there is a possibility for data to drive a certain performance output; “my watch says I’m running too fast, I’m gonna blow up!”. Who’s to say that the adrenaline of race day, favourable conditions, other competitors, correct rest, and good training can’t produce some out-of-the-box results on race day? Sure, don’t sprint the first 50m of the run, but use data as a guide, not as a script. Olympic triathletes don’t, so we don’t always need to, either.

Nutrition

There was lots of eating going on! During the run I counted several athletes taking on multiple gels on both the bike and the run. During my most memorable Olympic distance races I remember having at most 2 gels on the bike, and hardly anything on the run. Truthfully, I was probably maxing out and taking anything apart from water would result in some upchucking a few moments later.

But the super athletes have trained to take on plenty of nutrition, even at the highest of intensities. Riding 40km in 55 minutes and running a sub- 30-minute 10km is really, really high intensity. Nutrition is so important to top athletes that, despite the duration and pace, taking in sugars and electrolytes must prolong this high-level output, and may even allow for surges and sprint finishes towards the end.

The lesson here is that nutrition is vital, even at the highest ends of aerobic activity. Train with what you use on race day and test your strategy at race pace. The Olympians are doing it; there must be a reason for it.

The Games are done and dusted for another few years. The lessons from the top athletes can apply to us all: use data as a tool to aid in your training and racing, and keep getting the fuel in even when you’re giving it everything. Thanks Olympics, you were great!