On the Road - Training For Triathletes by Paul Scott

For many triathletes, being on the road means training in gyms, unfamiliar surroundings or hooking up with groups they bump into. If you do travel a lot, you can still have effective training and stick close to a plan but you have to be hyper-flexible.

What's on offer?

There is usually a fitness suite within most hotels or a fitness facility nearby. With a treadmill, a pool and cycle machines you have all you need. Running outdoors is an easy option, but you will have to ensure that the area is safe. You only need your run shoes, shorts and a top. The pool may be short but you can still get a feel for the water. The bike may not be like your road bike but get the seat height right and your legs won't know the difference. Just do what you can with the facilities on offer.

What to do

Moving from treadmill to gym bike and back again is a great 'brick' session; just add some background music or your iPod and you can stay entertained for an hour or more. Spending 20 or 40 minutes in a short pool working on your stroke still counts even if you have no more than a dozen strokes before you reach the end. Don't do anything that imposes a sudden and high intensity effort - you could end up injured. Highly competitive spin sessions, using totally new weights machines or throwing yourself into a circuits class may be excessive. Keep to controlled sessions that come close to the equipment and workouts you normally do.

Tip

Contact the hotel where you will be staying to find out about facilities. If you are staying for several weeks, you can Google for the local triathlon, running or cycling clubs. At the very least, plan to take your run kit and swim goggles with you.

Coming Back From Lay Off - For Triathletes by Paul Scott

We may think that we'll be consistent for ever but life gets in the way. Illness, a freak injury, a heavy workload or a major life event can disrupt a training routine and interfere with the best-made plans. At some time you will have to come back from lay off.

All (fitness) is not lost

More often than not, except in very long lay offs, less fitness is lost than you might think. You feel fat, out of shape and very uncoordinated, but fear not that all is by any means lost. Most importantly, you must remember where you are when you start the comeback trail. Try to forget the sessions you performed during the good times; they will come back, but leave such distances and efforts for a few weeks yet. Start small and you will build back in the time that your body allows you - too much too soon and you'll only go backwards.

Start small

There is no absolute, but start small, possibly along the lines of the beginners' programme. When all goes well for a week, move a step up the progression ladder. If this means that it takes two to four weeks to be back on schedule, so be it. You cannot make up for lost time or beat the system. If you have been stopped by lack of time, work or a family situation, it is less likely that you need to worry about your health compared to those people recovering from illness or an injury. In all instances, listen to your body, be patient and try not to make up for lost time or catch up with lost sessions.

How to use the schedules

At the very least, you need a plan to give you an idea of how to train and what proportions to train in each sport. Good technique and endurance are your priority before building more speed and competence. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Seasons

In most of the northern hemisphere, triathlons are held from April until early October. Most triathletes compete from May to September, so after a seasonal chill out of two to four weeks the winter training starts in October or November. This structure gives a logic to your yearly schedule.

In the winter, you can build your endurance ('base') and technique. This is followed by spring progressive training which blends into early races and season-specific sessions. Some training is clearly not about goals but getting out of the house, burning off stress and seeing your friends. However, most sessions allow you to get better because they are targeted at a specific triathlon weakness.

Build and recover

Most plans suggest sessions, but you decide if you have recovered from your previous training or need to reduce or delay training for a day or so. To progress, you must build sessions that overload you more than before, although eventually you'll have to recover. Don't do several long or hard sessions back to back. Similarly, each fourth week reduce the quantity and frequency of your training. Don't try to do more; it's time to recover and just catch up on your work commitments, chores and the like while you have some extra spare time.

Did you know

Studies suggest that total bed rest has effects after two to four weeks. Other data shows that dramatically reducing training starts to reduce fitness after four to six weeks. So do what little you can and you will cling onto most of the fitness you've built up.

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Combined events is a difficult, but valued sporting event by Janek Salmistu

As a rule, a human being is quite a lazy creature who would rather take on something less demanding than toiling away days on end. For example, in sports that lazy creature would rather choose a ball game than the combined events. What is more, it is much more profitable to be a nobody in any football or basketball team than to be a decathlete.

Combined events may be a demanding event, but the more demanding it is, the more appreciation do the world top athletes get.

An excellent example comes from the year 1996 when Germany was choosing its sportsman of the year. That year had been exceptionally successful for German sports. Michael Schumacher was crowned the world champion in Formula One, Boris Becker won the Grand Slam in tennis, Germany received the title of the European Champion in football and so on. Everything said, it was Frank Busemann, the silver medallist from Atlanta, who was presented with the award of Sportsman of the Year. The Germans know how to value the combined events.

PS. Olexiy Kasyanov (born 26 August 1985) is a Ukrainian decathlete. His personal best decathlon score is 8479 points, achieved at the 2009 World Chamionships in Berlin. His personal best heptathlon score is 6254 points, achieved 2010 in Zaporozhye.

He won silver medal in Torino, European Indoor Championships with 6205 points.

I hope this year we will hear from Olexiy Kasyanov many times!

PPS. I think Ashton Eaton is the world's greatest young decathlete. Why? In a decathlon competition, Eaton has run the 100m in 10,35 seconds, the 400m in 46,85, the hurdles in 13,85 and the 1500m in 4.20,75. He scores more points in the runs than Bryan Clay, Daley Thompson and Dan O'Brien did.

Eaton is the same size as Roman Sebrle, the world record-holder with 9026 points, but Eaton is faster than Sebrle and he is only 22 year old.

He has seven 8000-point performances. Nobody in history has done that before at his age.

I think that Ashton Eaton could be the guy to get close to breaking William Toomey's 400m record 45,68!

Anaerobic Training - For Triathletes and Triathlons by Paul Scott

Building the aerobic base can produce good health, solid fitness and the capability to complete endurance events. However, if you want to go even faster, you need to add the top-end anaerobic training. Here are some basic guidelines to how to achieve this.

Why do anaerobic training?

High-intensity efforts (speed work or interval training) take you above the 80 per cent of maximum point to a place where effort begins to focus the mind. At this point, your body shifts over to exclusively using carbohydrate for fuel - you stop burning fat. The by-product lactate (lactic acid) makes movement awkward, breathing laboured and muscles burn. This potent training can, in small doses, add a few more per cent to your top speed. However, the bulk of your fitness still comes from the base you build. Intervals are not a get-quick route to higher fitness.

Speed work

Triathlon may be an endurance event but once you can complete the distance, i.e. you have the stamina, the next element to think about is speed. This high- intensity training is the icing on the aerobic base you build with your steady endurance sessions and technique work.

Examples of speed work are:

* Swim: 10 X 100m at 2 sec/100m faster than race pace with 60 sec recovery * Bike: 7 x 3 min at 90 per cent HR with a 1 min spin between * Run: 7 min at 83 per cent, 7 min at 85 per cent and 7 min at 89 per cent HR back-to-back.

In each case, the hard work only amounts to around 20 minutes, but it is very potent and does not need to be constantly added to. Less is more; if you follow these guidelines you will feel strong, come away from the session before you fatigue and get faster.

The warning label

The downside of anaerobic training is that it causes stress to the body and can, at times of high stress elsewhere in your life, just make you tired, not fitter. Only do it when your body is ready for it. For most beginners this means a total focus on base training for six to eight months before adding small amounts of speed work or racing. Don't rush into speed work; concentrate on building good technique and a solid aerobic base first. Always have a good aerobic warm up of 10-20 minutes before high-intensity work.

Top Tip

Recovering from some high-intensity training requires days of lighter training, so focus on good nutrition and ensuring that you get a good night's sleep for several nights. If the opportunity arises for snatching a catnap of 20-30 minutes in the middle of the day, take it; it will help all aspects of your life.

Flexibility - For Triathletes and Triathlons by Paul Scott

It may not be clear exactly how much we can actually alter our flexibility, and it does appear to be genetic. However, repeated training can make our muscles tight or prone to injury, so how much flexibility does a triathlete need?

What do you need to do?

Each sport dictates you move your body in a certain pattern of movement. You don't need to be as flexible as a gymnast but poor flexibility makes you move inefficiently, wasting energy and slowing yourself down. Worse still, tight muscles may initiate a vicious cycle, leading to more tightness and so on. Watch a fast athlete: their muscles may be working hard but they are fluid and without compromise.

As a multisport person, you need your muscles to be supple and able to adapt to differing demands. For example, poor shoulder flexibility could affect your swim stroke, especially the recovery action. Similarly, poor lower back flexibility or an injury can make a tucked cycle position hard to hold. Running is the hardest sport on the body and many people run with tight hamstrings, poor hip flexibility or upper body tightness. None of this makes for a fluid runner, especially after a swim and bike.

Improving flexibility

There are several ways in which you can assess and improve your flexibility. Try the following: 1) Get a sports massage, which includes flexibility exercises. The practitioner should be advised that you are a triathlete and they can then seek out muscles that need massage and flexibility work.

2) Soon after training, stretch lightly, holding your muscles for 30 seconds, without pain, and having been shown the correct stretch. Research suggests this may help to maximize your flexibility potential.

3) Relaxing after training or in the evening by doing some light limbering exercises is great for relaxation and muscle recovery. You should perform short stretches of about 6-10 seconds duration within a comfortable range of movement.

Top Tip

Your flexibility potential and level of muscle development are both genetically determined. However, your flexibility and muscle size can be developed; the former in easy relaxing processes, and the latter by very hard resistance training. As a triathlete you will need flexibility, not super-sized muscles.

Transitions Between Disciplines - For Triathletes and Triathlons by Paul Scott

Transitions are the fourth discipline, taking you from swim finish to bike and from bike to run. They vary in their length, degree of crowdedness and the obstacles they pose. Think about transitions as they are the key to saving energy for the real racing.

Welcome to T1 - Swimming to cycling

As you reach the poolside or the edge of a river, lake or the sea, the swim has ended and T1 begins. You may just have to remove your hat and goggles and jog out of the pool to your nearby racked bike, but it could involve half a mile of running in your wetsuit, climbing steps and trying to miss literally hundreds of other athletes. Know what your planned event's T1 is like and build it into your training. A useful skill is to swim 200-1,000m, then haul yourself out of the pool, or every 100m in a 800m swim before walking to the far end of the pool, jump back in and carry on. Some events necessitate you get out halfway, duck under lane ropes or run up the beach and dive back in.

No two transitions are the same from the end of the swim to the start of the bike. The key is to know where you are on the transition racking. You have to don the appropriate clothing, put your helmet on, and only then can you pick your bike up. You wheel it to the mount line and you're off on the cycle leg - the clock does not stop.

T2 - Cycling to Running

As you finish the cycle leg, there will be a dismount line. From there onward, you are on foot in T2 until you are out on the run. This involves wheeling the bike to your transition racking point and then removing your helmet. Those athletes using cycle shoes must change, whilst those cycling in run shoes are ready to go. As you exit T2 and start the run, the hard part of triathlon hits home: you still have cycling legs and they are not yet ready to run.

This bike-to-run transition, known as a 'brick', is worth practising many times over, e.g. 6 minutes bike plus 4 minutes run repeated 3-6 times, It can be done outdoors or using gym equipment. An ideal session is when you're on the road; gym training can get boring. The more you practice, the better your muscles get at making the transition and your brain becomes at dealing with heavy legs trying to run.

Top Tip

Being a triathlete is about not just one fast element or 'split'; it's also about the complete package. Having a fast swim split is pointless if you have disasters in T1 and T2 plus you walk half the run. You have to think, train and race with everything from start whistle to finish line in mind.