- Don’t try out new things on race day such as nutrition, new race clothing or equipment. Stick with what you know works, until you have had time to try it in training first.
- Time to consider joining a tri club if you haven’t already taken the plunge. There is a lot of knowledge and experience to draw on out there. Club link: www.britishtriathlon.org/clubs/index.plp
- Plan out your race season sensibly and don’t over-race; your body needs time to recover between each race.
- Choose an A race and a couple of B races either side of the A race, then if you peak early or late for your planned race the season isn’t lost by not performing well in the A race as there are the B races to fall back on.
- Keep a written record of your training then you can look back and see what worked well and what didn’t, thus enabling you to get the best out of your available training time.
- Use your training time to the full. Rather than drive 20 minutes to your local swimming pool, arrange to meet family there and cycle instead. It might only take you an extra 20 minutes but you will have done your bike training as well.
- Work on your swim technique rather than swim endurance, as water is far denser than air and good technique really counts towards a better swim.
- With open water swimming learn to keep sight of solid large objects on the shoreline rather than the marker buoys, as the big objects are easier to see and don’t get lost in the waves.
- Make sure your bike is well maintained, then it doesn’t have as much chance of letting you down on race day.
- Get to know your tri courses before you start your race as it’s the competitor’s ultimate responsibility to know where they are going and not to rely solely on marshals and signage.
Useful site: www.britishtriathlon.org/about/participation
