So many people that I speak to are under the impression that triathlon is a sport for the superhuman that involves endless hours of training.  Well, this can be true if you plan to qualify for the Olympics but competing in a few local races can be achieved by anyone and leave you with a real sense of achievement. 

I first started triathlon 5yrs ago when I wanted to try something different from rugby, I was overweight compared to your average triathlete at size 14 and considered a long run to be 4km.  Originally, I had planned to do one race, which was the Macau Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run). Although I found the training hard as I had never really done any running or biking, I was really enjoying the challenge of something new and was totally hooked after I completed my first race. In fact most people I speak to, or convince to try a race have the same feeling of achievement afterwards and are still actively towing the start line most weekends.

So the big question is where do you start and how do you go from a budding triathlete to getting across the your first finish line?  Hopefully this article will answer some of those questions and encourage you to enter one of the many races in the territory over the summer (see bottom of the page).

Training: 
1. Time – try to establish how many hours per week you can put aside for training.  If you are an active person already you can easily complete your first race on anything from 6hrs per week upwards. (See program example)

2. Identify your weakness – this is probably the biggest mistake we all make in that everyone likes to train at the things they are good at and try to ignore their weakness in the hope it will improve by itself!  If you know swimming for example is your weak link you need to ensure you spend a larger amount of your available training hours in the pool. 

3. Intensity – another common mistake that I also made was I would swim 1.5km hard every time I got in the pool.  Needless to say, after a couple of weeks I wasn’t getting any faster and increasingly more frustrated.  You need to ensure some workouts per week are easy, some your race pace and other shorter workouts above race pace.  This is where a Heart Rate monitor is an invaluable tool and can ensure your easy workouts really are easy and your body gets a chance to recovery ready for the harder sessions.

4. Distance – this is similar to intensity, you should not do the race distance every time you train.  Your easy slow workouts can build up to slightly over race distance, your race pace efforts should be shorter that race distance ie 2-3x10min running with a good warm-up and cool down. The over race pace efforts would be shorter again ie 4x800 with a good warm-up and cool down.

5. Group Training – I would really recommend joining a training group especially for swimming as it can be fairly boring ploughing up and down a pool on your own.  This is also a great way to meet some new people and training partners who will be able to help you work towards your goal.  (Contact the Hong Kong Triathlon Association for more details on HK clubs or visit www.triathlon.com.hk).

6. Open Water Swimming – you should aim to do a couple of sea swims before your race even if you are a competent swimmer.  Sea swimming can be a daunting experience at the best of times, even though I was a confident swimmer it took me a while to feel really comfortable.  One of the key things to practice is “sighting,” so you swim on course or you can make the race considerably longer for yourself.  I remember Cookie (my boyfriend’s) first race in Singapore when he hadn’t mastered the art of sighting and ended up swimming out of the bay into the Malacca shipping lane. Luckily the safety boat put him back on course before he swam into a cruise liner!
 

Transitions:
1. Swim/Run – you should aim to do a couple of swim sessions with some short runs, ie 3x200m swim with 100m run in between.  It is normally easier to do this at the beach as pool attendants can get a bit fractious when you start frantically running round the public pools in HK! Additionally there are some Summer Aquathon’s, which are ideal practice being held in HK which involve a pool swim and run.  This will make your run from swim to bike more familiar in the race as it takes a while for the blood to transfer from your upper to lower body.

2. Bricks – this is where you do more than one sport in a workout. It can either be a swim/bike/run or any combination.  It is always fun if you can get a few friends together and do a small race as practice (you can even handicap the starts to make it more even).  This again makes you feel more comfortable on race day and it is important to get your body used to the change in sport. Believe me it does get much easier with practice.

3. Race Day – when the big day arrives, make sure you get to the start in plenty of time to warm-up, set-up your transition area and walk through the transition.  You will be amazed how different everything looks when your heart rate is sky high from the swim and run to the bike and the crowds are cheering.  Make sure you walk from the swim exit to where your bike is positioned (look for a marker so you can easily find your bike), then out to the bike start and check where the bike mounting point is (you often can’t ride your bike in the transition area).  Then find the bike dismount and walk back to your bike rack and out to the run start.

Gear:
 1. Swim – you basically only need a pair of goggles as you normally get given a swim cap in your goody bag before the race. Don’t forget the sunscreen, I would recommend a waterproof, non-oil based cream like Ironman Sun Block.

2. Bike – obviously you need a bike and helmet in transition together with either your running shoes or special bike shoes, a race belt for your number or you can pin it to a shirt you will put on & sunglasses. I would also recommend investing in a good pair of sunglasses designed for sports use so the are comfortable for racing, Rudy Project (www.rudyprojectusa.com) offer a good range for example. These will not only protect your eyes from the sun but also insects, dust & rain on the bike.

3. Run – you will need to switch shoes if you used bike shoes, put on socks if required & a run cap.  New Balance (www.newbalance.com.hk) have a new running shop in Ocean Terminal which is well worth a visit.

4. Other – I always take some tape, Vaseline, insect repellant, spare sun block & goggles to transition with me.  You may also want to put a spare tube and pump on your bike so you can finish the race if you get a puncture.

Nutrition:

I would recommend a sports drink like Accelerade (www.accelerade.com) for any sessions longer than 1hr especially in the HK climate. This will help you replace carbohydrate (energy) and salt that you will loose through sweat not to mention avoiding dehydration.  You should always make sure you drink plenty of water before, during and after workouts regardless of length.  You should practice using a sports drink in training and not try this for the first time during a race.  You may find some settle in your stomach better than others.  You may also want to try energy bars and/or gels for longer training sessions, to replenish energy after training if you are not going to eat a regular meal or if you have not eaten enough prior to training.  Typically in an Olympic distance race, I would drink 1-2 bottles of Accelerade plus water and 1-2 GU’s but everyone is different and you need to experiment what works for you. 

Finally make sure you enjoy the journey to your first race and hopefully you will discover a new inner strength and make some new friends along the way.  

I look forward to seeing you at the races.
Claire

More information on Polar Heart Rate monitors can be found on www.polar.com.hk and you can also visit Claire’s site for more training tips and information www.claire-murray.com

Notes:
· Interval length and intensity will depend on your athletic background. Don’t start with too many intervals or too high an intensity, the idea is to main the effort throughout and build from one week to the next.

· Your long run and bike will again depend on your previous training, start with a time or distance that is comfortable and slowly increase every week. This workout should be done at a pace where you can comfortably talk to your training partners.

· The brick session should aim to be fun and I would recommend sets like 500m swim, 10km bike and 3km run.  Once you become familiar with this type of training you can also try two-three short bricks like 200m swim, 5km bike and 1km run.

· If you are new to endurance training, then I would recommend 2days off every week in order to allow your body to recover and develop in order for your fitness levels to increase.