PART III

THIS IS PART THREE PART OF CREATING A SEASON TRAINING PROGRAM. PART ONE WAS POSTED ON 8 JAN AND PART II ON 20 JAN. THIS FINAL PART WILL DEVELOPING YOUR RACE SCHEDULE AND MENTAL PREPARATION.

SELECT PRIORITY RACES-
For competitive people, which make up most of the sport of triathlon, racing can be considered the test for all of your many training hours. Race day can be a nervous time that causes performance anxiety due to the stress of the preparing for, getting to, and actually competing in the event. Be positive and put yourself in a position to succeed. Although it is a day to test you current fitness level, it is a also a reward day to swim in the open water, ride on traffic free roads (hopefully) and pound the pavement or trail to a potential personal record. There are many ways to prepare for race day and make it the best experience possible.

-Compete in events that highlight your strengths. If you swim and ride well but don’t run so well, then you may want to stay away from hot hilly run courses. On the contrary, slower swimmers that are fast on land should gravitate toward events that are held on tough bike and run courses. Half Ironman and Ironman events are much better suited to the athletes with strong bike and run backgrounds because of the relatively short swim distance. This will allow you to compete against the competition and the clock with your best possible performance.

-Local and National. There are many races around the country to choose from. However, don’t short change you local events. They provide key opportunities to prepare for your “A” priority events and give you a chance to shine as a good example in your community. Of course National events like USAT Championships, Ironman and IM 70.3 events let you see how you fare against the best of the best.

-Climate, time and season. If you race well in hot conditions then look for warm weather summer events. If you enjoy cooler or harsh conditions that have the potential for rain, then seek out those events to take advantage of your strong points. Likewise, if you are not a morning person then look for events that start later in the morning or have lodging opportunities near the start line. Even better is IM 70.3 Boise that actually went to an afternoon race start. Most ITU Elite events start at noon in order to highlight the Pro’s and capitalize on building community crowds. It is apparent where triathlon and running fall in the US in that they often start at sunrise and end before many people even wake up on the weekend. “Real” sports start at a reasonable hour so that spectators (other than family members) will actually attend the event.

-Plan out your competitive calendar by placing an emphasis on several important (Priority A) races that are spread out over the season. Try to use the first half of the season to gain experience and then concentrate toward your goal events.

-Select races that you have the ability to prepare for and can actually attend. This is becoming more difficult to do with races selling out almost a year ahead of time. However, barring unforeseen circumstances, a quarterly race plan will allow you to emphasize training with some higher intensity tempo work as well as a taper to maximize race day performance.

-Race more. It is logical that the more you race, the better you will become at putting together the three distinctive sports of triathlon. Racing sharpens your skills with open water swimming, technical bike skills, and transition changes from swim to bike and bike to run. Sprint and Olympic distance events are excellent opportunities to practice what you train at a faster pace and also provide a great way to test yourself at something shorter that half Ironman distance. Although the race distance is half of what 70.3 presents, the shorter more intense racing of sprint and Olympic make the pace of the longer distances seem slow.

MENTAL PREPARTION-
Mental preparation has many facets including goal setting, self confidence and perceived stress. To be successful, it is imperative to maximize and minimize these and other limiters.
Goals must be measurable in order to see progress. It must also be realistic but still challenging. You need to know you are getting closer to your goal. For instance, your goal may be to finish your “A” priority Olympic distance triathlon in a certain time. Break down your goal even further and determine that what you plan to do your swim, bike and run in. Once you are in race shape, your race time, barring a mechanical on the bike should be close to your goal time. You will have a breakthrough time, acceptable time or disappointed time that all should be considered.

-Communicate with your family and loved one-Unless you are completely solo with no ties, you have to consider others in your circle with your training and race plans. Ensure that your employer, spouse, family, girl/boyfriends, friends, children…have an idea of what your time commitment and goals for the year are. You may think that you are doing the right thing by doing your training early in the morning so not to interfere with others, however, if you wake your entire house up with your early alarm then you have affected their routine as well. Most important is to compromise and talk things out.

-Work on your weaknesses, while still maintaining your strengths as much as possible. Training, especially the winter months, is about trying to improve on what you are not doing well enough in the individual sports. It is never easy to do what you don’t do best. But working on your weaknesses is the only way to be faster to the finish line. If you are able to swim faster, you gain time there, but you also gain time by racing up front with the faster athletes and then getting off the bike more rested for the run.

-Be prepared and content. Come race day you have what you have. Participant, compete and analyze your performance. Then reassess your plan and make required changes where needed. Family situations, nutrition, sleep, work, health…all have effects on your performance. Realize this and try to mimic conditions of your good performances and eliminate the negative issues that had an effect on your race.

CONCLUDING THE PLAN FOR SUCCESS SERIES OF ARTICLES

Triathlete’s know that being fit and healthy is a benefit of living the multi-sport lifestyle. Just like the person trying to keep their New Year’s resolution, most triathletes have to continually make efforts to keep to their goals whether they are simply trying to stay in shape or trying to be competitive. Participate because you enjoy doing it. You don't have to do an Ironman or IM 70.3 to be a triathlete. In fact, you don't need to even race. However, racing rules training and training fuels your lifestyle and in turn life. So go forth and swim, bike and run to wherever it takes you.