Training - Page 4

How to Find Your Best Triathlon Pace

In every facet of the endurance athletic world, pace is an athlete’s bread and butter. In triathlon, it is the sword the triathlete will live and die by. Triathlon pace is tricky because unlike other endurance sports in which you’re maintaining pace for a single repetitive action, in triathlon you’re switching from one discipline to another for a total of three unique sports! Between the disciplines of swimming, biking, and running, your average heart rate and power exertion are not created equal. In other words, your physiological state at race pace will vary throughout the event. This is the nature of triathlon – having to deal with pacing yourself appropriately through each leg of the race. For instance, your average…

B.J. Leeper

Take Heart in the Latest Triathlon Training Metric

Triathletes religiously track Heart Rate (HR). As they should. It’s a great stress metric. It monitors the stress load a body is used to handling as well as what load it can take during strenuous training. Unfortunately, relying on your resting heart rate isn’t the most accurate way to know if you’ve recovered from your previous workout. But take heart (literally) because there’s a relatively new heart-related metric in endurance training. It’s Heart Rate Variability (HRV). And, simply stated, if you're not using it yet, you will be. The Importance of Heart Rate Variability HRV offers a window into the “flexibility of our nervous system” which can be used to guide an optimal triathlon training program. As triathletes well know,…

Heart Rate / Heart Rate Monitoring / HRV / Recovery

Jared Milam

The Top 3 Triathlon Metrics Most Triathletes Ignore But Shouldn’t – Part III

Previously in this series, we’ve discussed the top three triathlon metrics most triathletes are ignoring but really shouldn’t. So far we’ve covered Functional Threshold and Bike-to-Run Factor. Lastly, we’ll analyze your Race Execution Percentage (or under the TriDot System the RaceX %) by learning what this is and why it’s so important. Race execution as a triathlon metric may sound strange, but it’s more obvious than you might think. After all, executing on race day is what this is all about! TriDot uses predictive analytics to improve and predict your performance. For this reason, our proprietary tool, RaceX, is highly instrumental in projecting performance so you can intelligently achieve what you didn’t think was possible. I’m often surprised how many…

Training / Triathlon / Triathlon Metrics

Jared Milam

The Top 3 Triathlon Metrics Most Triathletes Ignore But Shouldn’t – Part II

Yesterday I introduced the first of three triathlon metrics many triathletes are ignoring but shouldn’t: Functional Threshold. This is a key data metric athletes need to know to improve power capabilities in order to optimize their training and performance. The second key metric the triathlete in training should be paying attention to is their Bike-to-Run Factor (B2R). TriDot uses this key data point to effectively and efficiently train athletes in the bike and run disciplines for the best and most optimized results. As many of you know, half and full distance IRONMAN triathlons are bike and run discipline heavy. If your focus is on long course triathlon, the Bike-to-Run Factor is an especially essential triathlon metric. Bike-to-Run Factor is the…

Training / Triathlon / Triathlon Metrics

Jared Milam

The Top 3 Triathlon Metrics Most Triathletes Ignore But Shouldn’t – Part I

Swimming, biking, and running without the use of metrics may produce some improvements for the triathlete in training, but only to a moderate extent. If there’s one thing that’s been proven in the sport of triathlon, it’s that aimless training is substantially inefficient. Ultimately, numbers do have meaning. Their trends and patterns offer invaluable insight. The more triathletes can correctly interpret and utilize data, the more likely they are to reach their full potential. However, the sport produces so much data! How do you know which metrics are the most important? It’s probably easier to answer this question by looking at three key metrics triathletes shouldn’t ignore: Functional Threshold, Bike-to-Run Factor (B2R) and Race Execution Percentage (or RaceX %). These…

Training / Triathlon / Triathlon Metrics

TriDot

TriDot Check-In with Coach Natasha Van Der Merwe

NATASHA VAN DER MERWE is a professional triathlete, TriDot coach, and member of the Tri4Him Elite Team. In her first full year as a pro triathlete, she qualified for 70.3 Worlds. Natasha has coached more than 200 athletes covering all aspects of the sport from functional strength training to technique on the swim, bike, and run. Her athletes have qualified for 70.3 Worlds in their first year of triathlon, qualified for USAT Nationals, finished Ironmans much faster than they expected, and PR'd at all race distances. Her full Ironman PR is 9:29. Her half Ironman PR is 4:27. What is your background in sports and triathlon? I was born and raised in South Africa, where I grew up playing tennis.…

Training / TriDot Check-In

Jared Milam

Practices Don’t Make Perfect, Optimized Practices Do

You can swim laps all day, but if you’re using improper form, pushing too hard, or not hard enough, results will be few and far between. You can hammer every day on the bike, but if your training intensities are a random mixed bag or if your volume is haphazardly too much or too little, the set-up for failure you’ve just concocted is on point. And, of course, you can run consistently every day of the week, but if you’re stuck in the same old pace or over/under training in volume, your ultimate goals will remain just out of reach. Generic, hit-or-miss practices won’t make you an accomplished triathlete, but optimized practices will. Therefore, we need to understand what makes…

Training / Triathlon

TriDot

Why Triathlon Training Should be Fast Before Far and Strong Before Long – Part 2

In this morning’s blog, we discussed two key reasons why “fast before far and strong before long” is a wiser, more productive training strategy: It emphasizes stamina over endurance and recovery over merely logging miles. Here are two more crucial benefits: 1. Fast Before Far and Strong Before Long emphasizes proper form Perhaps the greatest casualty in the “first far then fast” mentality is it often produces poor athletic form. As the body overstresses and is exhausted by the overreached distance, it starts to break down and lose form. The result is poor body mechanics, as the body isn’t as fresh, alert, and responsive as it should be. TriDot Founder and four-time IRONMAN Jeff Booher cautions athletes to avoid “having…

Training / Triathlon

TriDot

Why Triathlon Training Should be Fast Before Far and Strong Before Long – Part 1

Traditional training principles and workouts in distance events often preach the theory that one must first conquer the desired distance and then work toward increasing speed and strength. This may at first sound good and seem to make sense. But it can be short-sighted, self-defeating, and possibly even injury-inducing. It can also result in meaningless and even harmful “junk miles” and increased training time. The better strategy is “fast before far and strong before long.” It’s one of TriDot’s fundamental beliefs which focuses first on developing strength and speed, and then emphasizes distance. Here are two of four primary reasons this belief makes good sense and produces better results: 1. Fast Before Far and Strong Before Long emphasizes stamina, not…

Training / Triathlon

TriDot

5 Tips for Your Best Triathlon Start

We’ve heard it before – how you finish is more important than how you start. And triathlons often reflect this importance with crowds, cameras, and screams of encouragement. Truth be told, the not-so-spectacular start of a triathlon has just as much importance to the overall performance and psychological well-being of your race than you might imagine – and can impact how well you finish. Going out too fast or too slow, failing to familiarize yourself with the course, and not having a sure and steady race plan are all miscues that can cost you valuable time as well as create added physical and mental strain during your race. These five tips will give you an added edge at the triathlon…

Race / Start / Training

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Patents applied for in the U.S. and abroad. TriDot and the TriDot logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Predictive Fitness, Inc. in the US and other countries. Other trademarks include Optimized Triathlon Training, nSight, TrainX, RaceX, Physiogenomix, EnviroNorm, Normalized Training Stress, and Training Stress Profile. Additional Predictive Fitness trademarks can be found at www.predictive.fit/trademark-list.