Becoming a triathlete: training tips for triathlon rookies

It’s a new year, which means many people have decided to try their hands at triathlon for the first time. If you’re one of these triathlon newbies, you might feel a tad overwhelmed, as you have to get the gear, you need to pick a race for the spring or summer, and, of course, you have to train.

The good news is that you are going to be fine. Thousands of people have been in your shoes before, and they’ve all made it in the world of triathlon, so you will, too. The bad news? You’re going to have a period of adjustment as you adapt to the life of a triathlete. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with a few essential tips for triathlon rookies.

Only compete with yourself

It is tempting to compete with your friends, training partners, and people you follow on Strava. You want to be the best, right? That’s fine, but training to beat other people won’t get you very far. Either you’ll catch them and have nowhere to go from there or you’ll never reach their level and you’ll get discouraged.

The best opponent to compete against is yourself. Try to beat your 5K PB from last month, shoot for a new best in the pool, aim to conquer your previous FTP record on the bike. As long as you’re beating past versions of yourself, you’ll know that you’re improving.

Take it easy

It’s easy to fall into the trap of training too hard too much when you first get started in triathlon. You feel that, in order to go faster, you need to train fast. That’s not the case. Instead, you should do an 80/20 split—do 80 per cent of your training at zones one and two and the other 20 per cent at the higher intensities of zones three to five. It might not feel like the most effective method when you’re doing it, but the payoff will be huge come race day.

Warm up and cool down

If you’re doing a hard workout, always warm up beforehand and always cool down after. You might get away with skipping these for a while, but if you make it a habit, you will end up getting injured. No one wants to get hurt, because that means you cannot train at all, so be smart and toss in some easy laps before and after each workout.

Don’t trade sleep for training

Sleep is the most important part of your training schedule. When life gets busy, you might be tempted to stay up late or get up extra early to fit in some workouts, but you shouldn’t do that. Your body needs sleep so it can properly recover, and if you don’t give it the rest it needs, you’ll get sick, injured, or both.

Remember that this is supposed to be fun

You got into triathlon because you thought it would be a fun pursuit, so don’t let yourself take it too seriously. Yes, you want to try to be your best in every training session and at every race, but you are guaranteed to have bad days. Don’t beat yourself up when these come. Instead, remind yourself that it’s all part of the journey and that the journey is meant to be a good time.