Want To Improve Your Training and Performance?

By this time in the new year most serious triathletes are completing their off-season strength training regimen (which started last October or November) and are beginning to work on the base phase of discipline training. This group will include those who seem to swim like a fish, ride like the wind, and run like they are being chased. In most cases they will be top overall or age-group finishers.

However, if you would like to improve your triathlon training for the coming season there are still some important things that will make a difference. Below are five tips to assist you as you strive for better results this year.

• A key factor in training is to plan for your training. With today's busy lifestyle you must select the days, and time of day, for each training session. Each session must have a specific focus, i.e., endurance, force, speed, or strength, and you must discipline yourself to "stick to the plan." If you do not plan your week you are most likely to fall short of your goals. Remember: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

• The greatest secret to triathlon training is proper recovery. Too little recovery between workouts and your body will fail to meet your training load. You run the risk of fatigue and injury. Too much recovery between training sessions and your body will fail to adapt and improve. Recovery includes: easy training sessions, massage, stretching, sufficient sleep.

• Do not train every day. If you are willing to plan your training so you work on each discipline, i.e., swim, bike, run, transition, and focus on each element i.e., endurance, force, and speed, with progressive and recovery periods, you are sure to improve.

• Train with the gear and nutrition you will be using on race day. One of the most common mistakes made by new and novice triathletes is the use of new gear or nutrition on race day. More improper fitting gear and untested nutrition (bars, drinks, gels, food combinations) have been the cause of a DNF (did not finish) or worse an agonizing finish on race day.

• Prepare mentally. "Think you can, or can't. You're right!" "What the mind can conceive, and believe, it can achieve!" "As a man thinketh, so is he." Preparing physically has its limitations. Preparing mentally will take you beyond those limitations. What will be your mantra?

Years of experiences that include success and failure is where these tips were formed. Want to improve your performance this year and pursue a personal best, here is a place to start.