Tri Season Commeth.
A number of tri’s have already happened. The majority are coming up in the coming months and whilst the elites will be using a lot of these as training events for their 2 or 3 major events this summer, it’s also the first time a lot of beginners will get their first taste of triathlon.
My first event was the May bank holiday in 2016 and I remember it well. Nervous about what I’d look like compared to the other athletes. Nervous wondering about if I’d trained enough. Nervous thinking what “all of the elites” would think of my non elite kit. Nervous about sticking my race numbers on correctly… basically, a few nerves that I’m certain everyone has on the build up to their first triathlon (or any event for that matter!).
Then came race morning. I realised I wasn’t “competing” with just a load of elites, yes, they were there, but I was racing with people just like me. We were asking each other the same sorts of questions. Supporting each other in getting our kit together before the first swim whistle kicked off the day.
I’ve put together a checklist, you can find that here<link>.
Two things immediately came to mind as I prepare for my first tri of the season in a couple of weeks.
Make sure you have your kit together.
Check it. Check it again. Check it one more time before you leave the house. Even write a checklist if you need to, as there’s nothing worse than turning up on race morning without a key bit of kit or your lucky charm!
Practice your bike to runs
If you haven’t already, start practicing. It’s something we did this last weekend with our TriPals. A couple of short bike rides, a couple of short runs.
Do it more than once. Up the distances as you build up to your first event (though make sure to taper off on the week up to race day). The reason being, unless you’ve done this before, you need to get your muscles used to going from the cycling position to a running one. You need to feel what it’s like after sitting on your bike for 20 / 30 / 60 minutes or longer. You need to ensure your muscles do indeed move! I’m no sports scientist, so I can’t tell you exactly what to do, but here’s some tips from my experience, as a complete newbie.
On your last 1km or 500m (or figure a distance based on how far you’re cycling) or whatever distance works for you, put your bike into high gear and get your legs moving a little more quickly. This helps release the lactic acid that has built up in your legs and gets them a bit more loose and ready for the run.
On my Olympic distance tri, I felt my legs tightening up pretty bad towards the end of the bike. I went into high gear for the last 400m or so until transition, jumped off my bike…and could barely walk! My knee (always a bug bear for me!) felt like giving way. My family were cheering for me as I hobbled out of transition and headed out on the run, I was wondering if at this stage if I could complete it! Mind games were definitely at play here!
I started out slow, running a slow pace on the first kilometre to get my legs moving and feeling good(ish) again. After that, I blasted my best 10km time. That and the help of 1,000’s of people cheering me on got me over the line.
So, my advice?
Practice. Practice some more. Practice a little bit more. Get to know what your body feels like on the transition from bike to run. What worked for me, may be entirely different for you, but if you don’t give it a go, you’ll never know!