Triathlete Training & Research

So once I had chosen to do a triathlon. I decided to dedicate some serious time researching. I am not just talking about the training, the time on the bike, the pool, and the ground. I also started to look for training plans, advice on what I needed, reviews on what items I needed, and more important, what I could avoid.

I have over 10 specific Tri books. I subscribe to two Triathlon magazine's (I will add links and make notes on those later). Let me just say there is allot of good stuff out there, but there is also allot of crap. I mean come one, I am never going to be an Olympian, or make money from racing around the world. No one will sponsor me, it's not that there is anything wrong with me, I am just not that good.

I don't do it because I am good. I do it to get better. I do it for the health, I do it for the escape from daily crap. After my accident I made a choice that there is more to life than work, video games, and TV.

Sine my accident I have done allot. I have travelled. I got married to my increadible wife. I have gone back to school. I have run Marathons. I have instructed clinics. I do it because I enjoy the doing. The journey to the "it". It is, of course, about the actual race day, bragging rights, personal growth, fulfilling your goals, etc. However, I find it is the training itself that is the true accomplishment.

When planning a tri, even Sprint and Olympic distances, you need to do allot of scheduling. You need to become a multi-tasking expert.

"OK I got a 2 hour swim, and 8 hour work day. I meet with Mandy at 6:30 to see Slum Dog Millionaire, then head home, make dinner, plan run for tomorrow, make lunch, get everything I need for the morning ready. OK I have a window of about an hour and a half, maybe I can get in a quick swim"

I don't get up at 5:00 am because I like it, in fact I have always been a night person. I just cant get in everything in, in one day, unless I get up early. I also need allot of sleep. Both for my brain to process the day before and also for my body to revocer. The repair that happens during sleep is not only physical but mental.

So how do you plan out all these workouts? how do you find the gear you need? How to know what is crap and what is worth while? how do you know what days are essential? What days you can skip? (I am not telling you to skip days)

I found a website called Beginner Triathlete. http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/
They have different levels of entry, my favourite is the free one. (Hey I am poor, I am a person with disability, I work a minimum wage job, and I have student loans. I look to save money wherever I can)

I wound up buying my backpack after reading the review on this review http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=820
this wound up taking me to the Rocket Science website. http://www.rocketsciencesports.com/

I am not going to add anything more about this backpack, other than to say two things. 1) everything the article said I found to be true. 2) Rocket Science has great customer service. I had problem with some stitching. One email to the company and they paid for me to ship my backpack to them. Then about a week or so later, I got a new one. (They have great water bottles too) So I can personally say this company stands behind there products.

This blog entry however is about BeginnerTriathlete.com. I love this site because it is a one stop website for everything triathlon. From food, to gear, to plans. From sprint to Ironman and everytying in between. You can look at routes, you can upload routes. They have discussion boards for all the questions you will have. Like how do I get the sand out of my feet after the swim and before I get into my bike shoes.

I found the hardest part of triathlons is not doing the work. It is the planning, because of my reduced cognitive skills, I find it difficult to plan my day, plan my training, plan meals, plan clothes, plan, plan, plan.....

So for my first triathlon (Vancouver 2007) I did the Olympic distance training plan that is offered for free on the website. It was perfect, just fill out a little bit of information and "bang" there is your workout.

I am also able to avoid buying crap. Look at the reviews, they are detailed and well written. These guys use this stuff, so you never get that "tri snob" kind of feel. You know what I am talking about. The guy with the $15,000 dollar bike, the arrow helmet. He has on every kind of clothing and it all matches. He talks about Vo2 max and training thresholds, and all the other stuff that make you go....."yeah, I am on a mountain bike dude"

So check out the website. I mean the best praise that I can give this is this. If a brain injured guy did his first triathlon, An Olympic distance triathlon, and is now able to go on to his first Ironman, 2 years later!! Imagine what you can do.