This is collection of the answers to those pesky questions like;
1 What are the different Triathlon races and what are the distances?
2 What if I need to use the restroom on the bike / run leg?
3 Drafting? What is it? Can I do it?
4 Do I need a special Triathlon bike?
5 How to drink out of a paper cup while running?
Triathlon distances (and a few useful measures)
There are a couple of standard tri distances, however races often vary the distances
Sprint 0.75 k swim : 22k bike : 5k run
Triathlon is basically a game of endurance. Your training, your stamina and your willingness will all help you know what it’s like to reach the finish line. And the equipments you will use can also add up to your real race standing.
You need not invest much on top-of-the-line triathlon gears. A combination of some good equipemnts will create better performances.
Triathlon Bike
Any bikes are allowed in a triathlon race. However, there are those that can aid in maximizing your performance.
It was the day I had been waiting for…further that, the day I had been training for. The winter base and months of following training would all amount to this race, the Dambuster.
The Dambuster Triathlon, one of pacesetter events finest would be my first Olympic distance event. Not only that, it would be the qualifier for the world championships later this year in Hamburg Germany. How badly did I want to qualify? Badly enough to have already written the date in my diary and ensured that there would be nothing going on in the two weeks before the event so I could progress through my taper without any disruption!
I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in such an amazing event as the Iron Man Triathlon. I truly value living in a free and democratic country that is not only war free but beautiful beyond belief. To have 5000 volunteers for 2500 athletes is phenomenal and I commend the people of Penticton for continuing to do such an outstanding job of hosting this event.
The journey to the starting line of Iron Man Canada in Penticton started about a year ago. I had completed 14 marathons and a handful of ½ Iron Man triathlons but the Iron Man always seemed so mind boggling and apparently out of my reach.
It all started with the debate of who’s the best- the runners, the swimmers or the cyclists? We all know that they have their individual fortes but during the 1920’s, when the first triathlons were held, this topic had been ringing wild in the sports world.
To put a stop on this, a Navy Commander named Cdr. John Collins initiated an event wherein swimming, cycling and running routines are involved.
An athletic event composed of three contests, triathlon also covers the measurement of a person’s proficiency in maximizing his time off the intervals. Plus the capacity to endure the subsequent stages of the activity.
1. Baseline Measurements
No training program should be designed without first determining proper training zones and intensities. The more specific the better. Raise your eyebrow when a training program simply instructs you to go at “race pace”, or “long easy effort”. Instead, each recommended intensity needs to include quantitative values. This means that your cycling hill interval workout should not just be “6-8 long hill repeats”, but should also prescribe power or heart rate training zones; such as “6-8 hill intervals of 4 minutes at an average of 300 watts”, or “6-8 hill intervals of 4 minutes at a heart rate of 154-165″. In order for a training program to prescribe such intensities, it is necessary for you to take baseline measurements.
Swim, run, bike…and brag for the rest of your life!
And for one aspiring to become a competitor in a triathlon, he must not only do all that on the spot, he must do it over and over again months before he starts the race. And that is what we call “preparation”.
The first junction in preparing for a triathlon race is to muster all the courage, will and power that you have to be able to understand the risks of joining. Once you’re convinced that you can get over the so-called risks then the next best thing you want to do is to pick up the race.
The next phase you’ll encounter after a free-for-all wild swim is the bike race. This might not actually be the hardest (after all, you only have to know the basics of biking and the principles that would maximize your performance while riding) but it can also make big differences during the race.
In preparation for the triathlon, far too many people seem to put much importance on the type of triathlon bicycle than with what they can do with it. Some even spend grand on a top-of-the-line bicycle and forget all about the thing that matters most- proper use.
Triathlon suits are normally wet suits. Nonetheless, they are matters of personal choice. Anyone can choose their suits according to their best judgements and no one can restrict them from doing so. But whatever freedom is given to the racers, they still must choose what is ideal to them.
Being the type of suit that provides most of the advantages in using the principle of cold and heat absorption, wet suits seem to rank top among all choices.
But not all wet suits are alike. There are those that were specifically designed for SCUBA diving, surfing and those that are perfect for triathlon races.