Triathlons: Swim, Bike, and Run.\u00a0 Chances are good, if you are new to the sport, that you are very good at one of these three sports.\u00a0 Swimming and running, while both requiring some amount of force to propel you forward, also require technique.\u00a0 Good technique in swimming will enable you to float across or through the water with less drag.\u00a0 Good technique in running will allow you to move forward without losing time to braking forces.\u00a0 When you’re on your bike, aside from minimizing drag, about all you can do to go faster is to either pedal faster, or run a bigger gear, or both.<\/p>\n
If you’re doing an olympic distance race, then your bike ride is 24.8 miles.\u00a0 If you average 15 miles per hour (mph), then you will finish in just over 1 hour and 39 minutes.\u00a0 But, if you can get your average mph up to 16 mph, then you will finish in 1 hour and 33 minutes!\u00a0 That’s 6 minutes faster!\u00a0 So, how do you go 1 mph faster over 24.8 miles?\u00a0 Well, it really depends.\u00a0 In general if you pedal 90 RPMs, then the next highest gear should get you there.\u00a0 Unfortunately, most people cannot maintain the same RPM when shifting into bigger gears.\u00a0 So, that should be your goal.\u00a0 Increase leg strength so that you can maintain the same RPM in the next highest gear.\u00a0 You can do this by riding your bike or hitting the gym and doing exercises like squats and step-ups, or by using the hip sled machine.<\/p>\n
The one part of triathlon that happens twice in every race is the transition.\u00a0 I have done about 10 sprint distance triathlons and usually end up with a T1 or T2 time less than five minutes.\u00a0 Believe it or not, this is slow, but I have talked with athletes that take as much as 12 minutes!<\/p>\n
To easily shave time off your race, look to the transitions.\u00a0 See what other athletes are doing or for that matter, not doing.\u00a0 Do you waste time putting on a gps in T1?\u00a0 How about your bike shoes?\u00a0 Do you put them on and then clomp your way out of transition before finally clipping in and hoping nobody runs you over, or do you clip them in and hold them up with rubber bands?\u00a0 The latter can save you time in T1, but may slow you down on the bike.<\/p>\n
You can see there is at least one place where you can improve time (transitions), and a second where you can really shave off time (bike), but that may take 12 weeks or more, three times a week at the gym.\u00a0 If you have the time, it’s a worthwhile effort.<\/p>\n
Another way to go faster is to lose weight.\u00a0 The easiest way to do this is to buy a lighter bicycle or remove items that will not help you in the race.\u00a0 Losing weight is a great way to go faster up hills too.\u00a0 The down side is that when you are lighter, you will go slower down hill.\u00a0 Many people like to coast down hill to save energy, so it’s a trade off.<\/p>\n