A significant portion of triathlon's appeal lies in the attempt of mastering a sport that itself consists of three quite separate disciplines. If you've ever seen a runner try to swim, you've witnesed firsthand the challenge that triathlon presents to the athlete. But I've found that rather than embracing the subtle nuances of the sport, most triathletes- myself included -are often quite unfortunately content to swim, bike, and run lots then hope for the best on race day.
To address this problem, I devised a list which I made into a quick yes or no quiz. It's by no means comprehensive, but by taking it and analyzing the results, you can determine places you may be able to improve within each sport, your lifestyle, or triathlon as a whole.
I'll be doing my best to better address each of the questions listed below. I'd suggest embracing a couple, several, or all of them as New Year's Resolutions, but everyone knows, as demonstrated by gym attendance, that Resolutions only last until February.
SWIM
1. Do you swim with a Master's Swim Team
2. Have you had your stroke videotaped and analyzed by a qualified individual?
3. Do you not only perform drills each workout, but drills specifically addressing deficiencies in your stroke?
4. Do you practice strokes other than crawl/free-style? (For example, by swimming a small percentage of your weekly yardage backstroke, you can develop muscles that are neglected by crawl stroke and make your muscular development more balanced and your body stronger overall + less prone to injury).
5. Do you flip turn? If so, do you flip turn well?
BIKE
1. Have you been professionally fit? For example, by a F.I.S.T. certified individual, Serotta Fit Institute Certified individual, or by a service like Retul . If not, have you put continued effort into studying and improving your position?
2. Do you train intelligently with a power meter?
3. If you train with a power meter, do you leave the numbers alone once in awhile and just go for a perceived-effort ride?
4. Do you perform a majority (about 80%) of your rides at a low-to-moderate intensity and have the remaining amount dedicated to high-intensity training (ex: tempo workouts, hill sets, sprint sets)?
5. Do you ride with a local club or team?
6. What color is your bike? Black is the fastest color, and white is even faster.
(that's a joke, but it's also probably true)
7. Have you analyzed the relative performance of each leg with a basic or advanced exertion test?
8. Do you perform bike-specific drills like single-leg pedalling, riding a fixed gear, or riding on rollers?
RUN
1. Are you more than 10% heavier than your optimal race weight (if you know it, or over 10% above what you would expect your optimal race weight to be)?
2. Do you train for and race running events in addition to triathlon training? For example, a local 5km, 10km, or half-marathon?
3. Do you regularly perform running-specific drills each week? Ex: Before each run, do you warm-up, stretch easy, do drills, strides, then your workout?
4. Do you do a regularly core workout program which emphasizes the muscles that get under-worked compared to the running-specific ones? Ex: exercising the hip adductors and abductors?
5. Do you run consistently, have a decent variety of workouts, and have a longer run each weekend?
6. Do you only increase your mileage by about 10% each week when building up?
7. Do you get a new pair of shoes every 300-500 miles?
8. Do you make a consistent effort to run on soft substrate?
RECOVERY
1. Have you tried regularly icing, massaging, elevating, or compressing (i.e. compression apparel) your muscles to see if they improve your recovery?
2. Do you get an optimal amount of sleep (likely +7-8 hours) consistently?
3. Do you address impending injuries rapidly and diligently or try to train through unusual soreness/pain?
4. Do you have a post-workout (within 15min) recovery snack like a protein bar or fruit smoothie to replenish your glycogen stores?
5. If you've been injured in the past, have you kept up on preventative measures to keep from becoming injured again? Ex: you had ITB impingement and used a hip roller to recover and now use a massage stick daily.
NUTRITION
1. Do you eat many 'nutritionally-empty' foods?
2. Do you eat smaller, healthy meals at regular intervals during the day?
3. Do you consistently measure (as in, once a month) your body weight/composition? (A quote I picked up from Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight, which I'll write up a review of in the near future, spoke to the effect of "A known quantity is a managed quantity")
4. Does your weight during the off-season (usually the Thanksgiving-Christsmas desert fest) inflate beyond 10% above your training weight? For example, the weight you achieved before your taper for the previous season's A race?
LIFESTYLE
1. Are you regularly negatively-stressed? Have you identified what's causing the stress and worked towards reducing it?
2. Do you manage your time well?
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