The sport that brings together three others in its composition is considered one of the most arduous, precisely because it involves different training to achieve a unique result.
Triathlon training for beginners can be scary at first, as it involves three different disciplines. To do this, you need discipline and focus – and we will help you with tips to venture into this universe and achieve good results, whether for personal desire or to compete in competitions.
The sport, which originated in the United States, involves:
- Swimming;
- Cycling; It is
- Race.
These three sports need to be trained individually and the athlete needs to achieve good results in each of them in order to be successful in triathlon.
The idea of the coach who encouraged his athletes to practice these three modalities, individually, was for the athletes to maintain focus, also during their holidays.
So, when they returned to training, he had them compete in a race, combining the three sports – and that was how Triathlon was born, which has been part of the Olympic sports list since 2000.
Like all other sports, triathlon training will require focus and discipline and that is why each athlete’s goal must be very clear to themselves. This is a bonus tip : sign up for a cool competition, so you can support your training. This is establishing a goal or objective and is excellent for helping with motivation for training.
To better understand, there are three types of triathlon , in terms of the distances to be covered during the race. Are they:
- Short triathlon: in English, “short triathlon”. This is the recommended test for beginners, as it is necessary to complete 750m of swimming, 20km of cycling and 5km of running.
- Olympic triathlon : this is the official event of the Olympics, as the name suggests. In this modality, you need to complete 1500m of swimming, 40km of cycling and 10km of running.
- IronMan : it is known for being the sport for “iron men and women”, as the name suggests, that is, you have to overcome 3.8km of swimming, 180km of cycling and 42km of running.
In today’s article, we will focus on the Short Triathlon, providing several tips for beginners. Although the Olympic sport and IronMan are desires for those who practice the sport, it is necessary to start gradually to avoid physical exhaustion injuries.
Only those who have this patience and understand the essence of the sport are the ones who get there.
Let’s go to the tips?
1. Distribute your workouts throughout the week
Don’t think about doing everything at once. You may even realize the need to practice other things, such as weight training or pilates, to support your training.
Everything will depend on your physical conditioning and it is little by little that you will get there.
2. Get a check-up before starting to train
It is important to assess your body and heart rate to cope with training, which demands a lot from athletes.
It is possible to have a medical consultation or look for a physical education professional, who could even become your trainer, if you so choose.
Don’t start overnight: take care of your body so that it can help you get the results you want. Knowing how difficult it is to complete a triathlon race and also so that you can practice the high-performance sport for many, many years.
3. Know your motivations
We have already covered this topic further in the reading. But this is an important tip, as creating and maintaining habits is one of the greatest difficulties for human beings.
Especially when what you want requires a lot of effort, as is the case with triathlon.
Therefore, it is important to create possible goals, which can start small and, as they are achieved, increase in difficulty.
In other words, you need to have a place to get there, otherwise no path will work. Therefore, it is important to choose a test and what is the maximum date you give yourself to take it.
4. Take care of your diet
It’s important to know what to eat before and after training , as you’ll need to give your body time to recover – and food is the fuel of the human body.
No matter how regulated you are in your diet, your body needs will be different once you start a heavy training routine, something that you cannot avoid when you have the goal of starting to practice triathlon.
If you need to, count on the help of a nutritionist to help guide you on what to eat and in what quantities. Respect your body.
5. Practice isolated tests
This tip is valid for athletes who have managed to set their goals for participating in triathlon events.
With a date that allows enough time for training, you can test whether the training you are doing is helping you reach your final goal.
In other words, you need to identify possible weaknesses so that you can correct them. Therefore, it is important to sign up for local competitions. Increasingly common, street racing events are there to help you.
How about signing up for a 5km running test and checking how you are doing in this discipline? This way you will be able to know if your triathlon running training is having an effect.
The same thing can – and should! – be carried out to test whether swimming and cycling training for the triathlon are giving results, giving you the possibility of realizing whether you are easily reaching the required 1500m swimming and 20km cycling mark.