 Proper recovery starts as soon as your workout begins. Often we don’t maximise the quality of our training because we haven’t been thoughtful enough in planning our nutrition for the day. As a busy triathlete, having healthy energy bars (Raw Food Bars, Lara bars, VEL bars etc.), bananas, apples, trail mix… stashed away in the pockets of your swim bag; hidden by that bush on your long run route; jammed in your cycling pockets – is critical. If you get to a point in your workout where you feel light headed and “desperately in need of calories” you are getting close to that edge – the edge where you start to hinder your ability to recover properly from your training and to get ready for the next workout. It is important to fuel immediately after (and during) a big workout and not to let yourself get too hungry.
 A lot of us have grown up on peanut butter and if you love the stuff, it probably gets slathered on toast, apples, celery… as post training recovery food. As with all foods, variety is the spice of life, and it is good to mix things up so that you don’t get exposed to toxins from pure volume (a lot of peanut products have traces of aflatoxin – and many people have low level peanut allergies). There are all sorts of nut butters out there: almond, cashew, sunflower seed, hazelnut, macadamia… so give some others a try. You might find a new love.
 We all have weaknesses somewhere. You may not think your weakness is swimming, biking, or running. You could be right, perhaps your weekness lies elsewhere. Is it your discipline? Is it your core strength or mental stamina? Take a moment to think about what really may be holding you back from reaching a goal or taking your fitness to the next level. Perhaps you need a friend or coach to give you some constructive criticism, but once you’ve identified that weak link, start working on it.
 Today’s tip is brought to you by a registered massage therepist, Adrienne Stedford. She runs her practice, Hungry Triathlete, out of Penticton BC and is a therapist for various training camps. If you’re a planning a training trip on the Ironman Canada course – you know who to call.
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Training puts HUGE stress on all of the soft tissues in our bodies. When muscles work hard, they develop microscopic tears which your body has to repair. Massage is great way to aid in repair of muscle tissue- breaking up scar tissue where it has formed and realigning fibers in their most functional directions. There is nothing like going to a well-trained Massage Therapist to find your trouble areas and work them out. Your body can use this type of care after every hard workout, though for most of us time and money limits that luxury. So here is the hard part – inflicting self therapy on your own body.
Continue reading Massage Tip
 Aero helmets are a popular piece of fancy gear that long course triathletes often obsess over. IMtriathlontips.com been down in the A2 wind tunnel care of Blue Competition Cycles to measure their exact aerodynamic advantage. What we learned is that aerodynamics are extremely personal. Helmets that had the longest taper at the back and seemed the most sleek and “aero” sat differently with the natural taper of each riders back. We saw a decrease in wind resistance with a helmet that had a shorter tail on one rider, but the same helmet didn’t work quite as well for another. There’s also the issue of position and what you can hold for an entire 180 kilometers. All in all, it’s very personal. It depends on YOU and how you sit on your bike and hold your head.
When trying helmets on bring your bike (or keep the receipt), get in your aero position and get someone to look at how the helmet fits with the overall line of your body (side profile pictures work the best). You want to avoid a big gap between the tail of the helmet and your back, this will prevent turbulent airflow.
Continue reading Aero Helmets
 We’re back, but with somewhat limited internet access. We’re committed to keeping the daily tips going and adding some video tips as well. We appreciate your patience as we get settled down in California.
This tip is about patience and about staying present. Do you find yourself rushing through your morning swim workout, to rush to work? Rushing thru meals to get to other activities? Worrying about workout number two in the midst of workout number one? If so you are falling into the mental trap of anticipation and likely detracting from the quality of your current activity. The more you are able to focus on what you are doing – keeping your catch strong in the pool, savoring that yummy meal so important for your recovery, posture and leg turnover during your run – the more enjoyable these activities will be and the more you will benefit. Learning to stay in the present is also critical for race day success.
Continue reading Being Present
 Well, Ironman Triathlon Tips is going to be on hold for a bit. H and T will be starting their full time effort in the sport of long course triathlon and driving south to California. We’ll get going on the Internet connection as soon as possible and get back on the daily tips right away. A few minor details to work out but it should be good. If you sign up for the email feed you’ll start getting emails again once the tips start coming. We’re hoping to incorporate a video section as well.
On that note – today’s tip is about driving to your race.
With the cost of air travel – plus the need to pack your bike, driving to a race can be a great option. If you need to power-drive be sure to get in plenty of rest stops. And not just a quick ‘out of the car and pee’ rest stop either, take the time for a good 10-15 minute jog every few hours. Playing hacky sack is another great way to get the muscles and joints moving. Hacky Sack will loosen up the tight driving muscles. Hip flexors in particular. Kick a soccer ball or lie on the grass and stretch. Anything to shake out the legs every few hours.
And we’re off…check back soon or sign up for email/RSS notification to let you know when we’re back in action. Plenty of old tips to browse through as well.
Continue reading Driving to a race
 The next time you’re out riding or running, play a little game and try to guess your heart rate every 15 minutes or so. Pay attention to how your legs feel, how hard you’re breathing, and what kind of terrain you’re in. The more you do this the better you’ll get at predicting your HR based on those feelings. This will help weed out those ‘off’ days when you feel like you’re working hard but that commuter comes ripping by you wearing a back pack and helmet mirror. When you’re good at it you’ll know that your HR should be sitting at 150 for a given effort. Then have a look at your HR monitor, if you see something way off -like 135 ish - and your legs feel like your normal 150 effort, you’ll know it could be good to start thinking about a day off. Especially if it happens regularily over the course of a couple training sessions. This ‘low HR to high leg pain’ usually occurs on the bike when you’re tired. We’ve found the opposite to be true when running. Honestly we don’t have a good explanation as to why that is, perhaps someone would like to share. It most likely varies from person to person. When we’re getting really tired and the training load has been somewhat large, we often find that the aerobic running HR is higher than normal for a given effort in the aerobic zone.
 This will take some experimenting and I can almost guarantee your eyes will betray your stomach. Those pieces of pizza look oh so good, but they’ll make you keel over 30 minutes later. Perhaps not, your stomach may be made of iron and you can handle such things, but it is probably best to avoid cheezy, meaty, greasy options either way. You’ll be hungry, and rightly so, but start slow and only eat a few bites of simple foods for the first 30 minutes. After that you should have a good idea of how hungry you really are and whether or not your stomach can handle the junk foods you are lusting after. Focus more on getting your hydration back in check as this is generally the source of potential problems. V8 is an excellent recovery drink, as is Ultragen from First Endurance. Both are packed with electrolytes and all sorts of good nutrients. Ultragen contains high doses of Amino Acids(broken down protein for easy digestion), Glucose to quickly replace lost reserves. If you are super organized the night before you can make yourself a recovery smoothy with good fats and easily digestible protein. Keep in mind you just had the hardest workout of your year so why fill your body with crappy food right away. Give your muscles what they need to recover…then reward yourself later in the night or the following morning. That 3:00 am desire to get to IHOP or Denny’s is not worth fighting!!
 Don’t plan a day off, take it when you need it.
Like we’ve mentioned in several tips, consistency is your best friend when it comes to improvement in triathlon. A great way to ensure consistent training is to avoid planning a regular day off. Let your motivation and fatigue decide that day, not a planned schedule.
There is no reason you can’t train 10 days in a row if you feel like training 10 days in a row. Why settle on Monday as your day off when that day could be a perfect day for a bike ride? This is especially true in the winter or rainy season when weather can interfere with your plans. Don’t pass up the nice day because you have a planned day off (unless you have a coach and he/she says so). If your coach is planning a weekly schedule, then stick to the plan – or at least or be sure to communicate if you simply MUST ride because it’s the first sunny day in a month. If you’re doing your own thing, and feeling good, then it is just fine to train all the time until you really need that day off. Learn to listen to your body and don’t ignore it when you are feeling run down.
Often other parts of our lives can contribute to symptoms of over-training. If you haven’t been putting in big volume but feel exhausted, aren’t sleeping well, are feeling moody/melancholy then perhaps other factors like extra stress at work are wearing you down. You may need a rest day, just as badly, to recover from life in general. Don’t let egocentric, weekly mileage goals get in the way of proper recovery. Good health is more than just great training.
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About this site:
These triathlon and endurance sport related tips have been compiled by Heather and Trevor Wurtele over the years of their progression from working age-groupers to full time professional triathletes. Heather is now a 4 time Ironman Champion and top 10 World Championship finisher. Trevor has an Ironman PR of 8:22 and a 2:51 Ironman marathon.
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