Preparation for a sprint triathlon.

The following things will help you in a sprint triathlon.

Evening Meal.

Avoid any red meat the night before your triathlon because it can take up to 18 hours to fully be digested. Best to eat pasta and white meats like chicken and fish, which are easier to digest.

On race morning you will then be able to eat your breakfast without too much problem.

Try and eat your last main meal before 7pm the night before so you can fully digest it for the next morning.

The night before avoid drinking alcohol because it is high in empty calories; it boosts your appetite, it can also reduce your body’s efficiency to burn fat. Alcohol will affect your body’s ability to keep cool during the triathlon. You could wake up on race morning already dehydrated from even small amounts of alcohol and this will impair your performance.

Alcohol can stay in your system for more than 36 hours; if you have to drink alcohol reduce the chances of dehydration by drinking at least 500ml of water before you go to bed.

Drinking just plain water in the 2-3 days before your event can flush away vital minerals and salts and you could get cramp early in the event. To avoid this drink 50/50 fruit juice/water or electrolyte drinks, these are a much better choice than plain water.

Snack on fruits in the 2 days before and avoid going hungry.

Race Morning.

Have breakfast 2-4 hours before Triathlon.

It is normal to not feel hungry on race morning if you feel full on race morning just snack small amounts of fruit apples, bananas or energy bars up to 90 minutes before you are due to start.

Preferred pre race breakfast meal.

Toast butter with jam or honey (carbohydrate small amount of fat and simple sugars)

Banana for carbohydrate and potassium to help prevent cramping.

Cereal with milk (i.e. porridge slow releasing energy with milk for protein)

Orange Juice with water 50/50.

Have a spare snack and extra drink should the start be delayed.

The Transition area.

A bright coloured towel laid on the ground below your bike helps you find your bike in the transition area. Try to remember where your bike is in the transition area by solid fixtures like a wall, a sign, a banner etc. The bright yellow coloured bike next to yours could be gone by the time you arrive back. Your own bright towel helps you find your correct place when you return from the cycle section.

Lay helmet upside down or hanging from bike so it is easy to get on.

Shoes laid out for easy access to get into, save minutes by using either camping toggles or elastic shoelaces rather than tying them up.

If you are wearing socks roll them down to the ankle to help get them on easier, wet feet can make you take 4 times as long to put them on.

The Triathlon.

15-10 minutes before you need to drink 330ml of either plain water or a weak carbohydrate or electrolyte solution (1-3%)

Sip this drink just before the triathlon, your kidneys will almost shut down while you compete, so you should have no need to go to the toilet and you can then use this fluid in the Triathlon.

Swim

If you are unable to warm up for the swim section do arm swings 10 of each forward and backward. 10 arm shrugs and 10 punches trying to avoid hitting anyone or anything. If you do not warm up for the swim you can take the whole triathlon to get going.

Swim goggles will leak for the following reasons.

If you tighten them up just before the start too tight, they may have never leaked before.

Making them too tight is no extra guarantee that they will be water tight, being too tight can change the way they fit on your face, which will result in allowing water to get inside them.

If you put goggles onto a wet face this can cause them to not seal properly as your skin needs to be dry to cause proper suction and also overlapping your goggles over the swim hat stops a proper seal.

Bike

Cycle in an easy gear high cadence (90-100rpm) when you start the cycle this allows the blood to be diverted from your swimming muscles to your cycling legs. Wait 2-4 minutes after starting the bike section before drinking because as soon as anything enters your stomach blood is diverted from your much-needed working muscles in your legs. Allow yourself time to get use to cycling before drinking

Being in an easy gear (high cadence) keeps the chain at full stretch and should stop the chain from coming off when you run with bike out of the transition area and start cycling.

For events lasting 60-120 minutes you need to drink 600-1000ml. It is much easier to drink on the bike. Plain water is harder to absorb so it is much better to have a carbohydrate or electrolyte drink for fast absorption even a tiny amount can help with performance rather than plain water.

Avoid drinking as you approach a hill. When climbing hills aim for more than 60 rpm that is more than one per second if you do not have a cadence sensor on your bike.

Spin your legs on down hill sections to keep the legs from seizing up, this will help you for climbing the next hill and running afterwards.

In the last 5 minutes of the bike section before the run increase your cadence by 10rpm to reduce the likelihood of dead leg syndrome.

Run

Start the run with a short shuffle stride, if you try and over stride with tight hamstrings caused by the cycle leg your muscles will almost certainly remain short for the whole duration of this sprint distance triathlon.

Your legs will be tired from the run so you will need to use your arms to keep going.

Short arm movements help with shuffle strides while longer backward and forward movements improve your stride length.

Anything you drink in the last 10 minutes of the run will generally not be absorbed until you cross the finish line.

Save time by preparation.

Before the start do these few little tricks to save time.

Walk from swim to your racked bike before the start and recall where it is, pace yourself from where your bike is to the bike exit.

Know where you enter the transition area after the bike and where the run exit is.

You will be surprised how many people spend hours training to go fast only to lose minutes going the wrong way on race day.

To make events safer with one-way traffic and stop people bumping into one another often there can be 4 different places for entry and exit.

Use elastic shoelaces or quick release camping toggles much quicker than doing up shoelaces can save 30 seconds a shoe with wet hands from the swim.

One-piece tri suit quick drying to swim bike and run. Number elasticised belt and pin number on much quicker than putting on a top when you are wet.

Mistakes to avoid.

Do not wear anything different that you have not tried before in training.

Do not change your position on your bike in the last 7 days before the triathlon because your body will not have time to adjust to the changes.

Preparing sports drink with twice the strength hoping this will make up for lack of training.