Training Lessons Learned (ongoing post)

I am still a relatively new triathlete and am learning with every single training session and race.  I am keeping an ongoing list of lessons learned for my own benefit to be reminded of them as well as the off chance someone reads this post and is helped by one of them.  Please feel free to add to this list in the comments below.

1.  Rest is good.  Be sure you get plenty of it.  Your muscles actually grow stronger in recovery, not during your workout!

2.  You’ll figure out the best way to manage your training data.  Within a couple of weeks it won’t be a big deal when you see the gains you make.  Hang in there!

3.  Go slow when you are to go slow.  It will probably by slower than you are accustomed.  These are critical parts of the workouts!

4.  You don’t need to do more than the plan.  If you are used to doing more, you are going to feel like you are under training, but the beauty is you are staying stronger, fresher, and able to crush your workouts day after day.  This is where the gains come from!

5.  Pacing is a very hard skill to master.  I am still learning how to do it.  Think of it as your swim form or some other technical skill with the disciplines.  Embrace the effort to learn it.

6.  Nutrition is an every changing and evolving fourth discipline.  Be flexible yet organized in your approach to learning what works best for you.  Just trying something and not recording exactly what you did and the result won’t help.  You need a written plan and make incremental changes until you find the right mix (for now.).  As your body changes over the years of training and adaptation, guess what... you will have to make changes again.

7.  Develop an understanding of your perceived exertion compared to your training metrics.  I made a huge leap this year and raced without looking at my metrics and totally by feel.  I had better performances with less pressure on my shoulders about not constantly looking at target power or pace.  By perceived exertion, amazingly I hit or exceeded my targets for the race!

8.  As an adult onset swimmer, swimming is hard.  Never short your technique practice... If you have to sacrifice a workout in the pool due to time, better to do technique than the hard sets.

9.  Golf has it’s vanity metric, handicap.  Some people actually brag about a low handicap and can’t actually play to that level.  Triathlon has the same potentially damaging metrics like watts/kilogram, time per 100m, running pace, etc.  Don’t lie to yourself or others about your capabilities.  We are all on a journey in this sport, we all started at the bottom and celebrate the gains you make.  There is no need to inflate what you can do, it will just lead to embarrassment or missed expectations later.  Your best is good enough at all times!!

10.  When T1 exits into an uphill when you need to mount your bike, consider running your bike to the top of the hill then mount it... doh!  Learned the hard way here!