My first Triathlon was a sprint. I borrowed a bike 3 days beforehand.

I didn’t know how to change gears.

I didn’t have the skills to reach for the water bottle.

I got cramps in the run due to poor conditioning.

I didn’t know what equipment I needed.

I didn’t know what transitions were.

I didn’t own a trisuit.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know in 2019.

Now, I know some things. I don’t know some things. There are still things I don’t know that I don’t know.

Here are 10 things I know now which would have helped me when I first started.

1. Assess Your Fitness Level:

Evaluate your current fitness in swimming, cycling, and running. Identify your strengths and weaknesses to focus on areas needing improvement. What’s your starting point? Assessing/testing the following is good practice:

- Run: 5km

- Bike: 20-minute FTP test

- Swim: 1km time, including average pace per 100m

All of this would allow an athlete to design a program with solid knowledge of the starting point.

2. Set Realistic Goals

Decide on the distance (Sprint, Olympic, Middle Distance (Half-Ironman), or Full Distance (Ironman)) and set achievable goals. This will guide your training and help you stay motivated. Decide on your A race—this is your priority goal for training. You may have a series of B and C races on the way to that A race, which form part of your training and testing to measure progress and gain experience.

3. Invest in the Right Gear

Basic gear includes a wetsuit, triathlon-specific clothing, a road or triathlon bike, running shoes, and a helmet. Consider essentials like goggles, a race belt, and cycling shoes. Listen, make no mistake about it—you can do this sport with minimal equipment to keep it cheap, or you can spend a small fortune on just about every piece of kit. Wetsuits can cost £50 or £1,000. Bikes can cost £500 or £15,000. Running shoes can cost £40 or £200. Buy kit that will last you a couple of seasons, then you can upgrade as you go along. My first bike cost £800, and I still ride it six years later. This year’s “race kit” can become next year’s training kit, within reason.

BEG, BORROW, STEAL!

Finance doesn’t have to be a barrier. The triathlon community is exceptional at reusing, selling, and lending kit. Add yourself to local Facebook and marketplace groups and see what you can find there. I borrowed my first wetsuit for my first open-water swim. I borrowed a road bike for my first triathlon. Don’t steal! Any kit you buy this year can be next year’s training kit or potentially sold to somebody else when you make upgrades.

4. Develop a Training Plan:

A structured training plan is crucial for building endurance, strength, and skill across all three disciplines. Bespoke your plan to fit your schedule and goals. Above all else, your plan needs to be flexible because life is going to get in the way. Your family and work should be informed of your goal and, hopefully, support you. Nonetheless, your goal of completing this triathlon shouldn’t become the number one thing in your life. Family, work, triathlon—that’s the order. Don’t get the lines blurred too many times. Ideally, a loving partner or coach can keep you in check here.

5. Don’t Stress About the Transitions:

“The 4th discipline of triathlon is Transition.” Honestly, people overthink and stress about transitions. It’s true—efficient transitions (T1: Swim-to-Bike, T2: Bike-to-Run) can save valuable time. Practice these to make them smooth and fast. For elite/experienced athletes and age-group athletes, this is 100% something to focus on. For most people starting off, transitions are a chance to catch your breath, refocus the mind, put on comfortable kit, and refuel. In your first triathlon, your transitions are likely to be slow, and that’s okay. I coach that. Be slow. Then, when we do your next triathlon, we automatically get faster by having a focus on transitions!

6. Focus on Nutrition and Hydration:

Proper fueling and hydration are key, especially for longer races. Experiment with nutrition strategies during training to find what works best. Generally, pre-loading carbs 3-7 days before race day is essential. During the race, onboard 50-100g of carbs per hour along with salts (electrolytes) and water. An energy gel with 30g carbs and electrolytes, or a Rice Krispy square every 30 minutes, should keep you fueled enough.

7. Incorporate Strength Training:

Strength and conditioning exercises improve performance and help prevent injury. Focus on core stability, flexibility, and overall strength. 5ive Exercises Every Triathlete Should Do:

- Lunges

- Good Mornings

- Pull-Ups

- Push-Ups + Variations

- Plank & Hover stability work

These can all be incorporated into swim, bike, and run sessions or as individual sessions. Most long-distance programming has a long run on a Sunday followed by a rest day on Monday. Doing a light gym session on Monday can be useful once the base is built.

8. Join a Triathlon Community

Connecting with a local triathlon club or online community can provide support, tips, and motivation. Training with others can make the process more enjoyable. Social media is full of inspirational stories from triathletes.

9. Plan for Race Day Logistics

Familiarise yourself with the race course, transition area, and race-day procedures. Plan your gear setup and nutrition strategy in advance. Even get yourself to the city a month or so beforehand so you are familiar with the hotel and road networks. Doing some sort of race recce is beneficial. Often, many athletes will be thinking similarly, so getting a group together to keep it safe can be doable 1-2 weeks beforehand. Sometimes, the race organisers help by releasing the race routes, but these are always subject to change.

10. Listen to Your Body

Pay attention to how your body responds to training. Rest and recovery are as important as workouts to avoid burnout and injury. The hardest thing most triathletes experience is knowing when to rest, recover, and train hard. Balancing progression, overload, and specificity in three different sports is a challenge. For example, getting stronger in your running and cycling can often mean leg muscles develop, which can make your legs sink more than normal in the swim. Alternatively, building up the upper body in the swim can make comfort on the bike a challenge. Lastly, doing 100s of hours on the bike can change your natural running stride. There is a LOT to consider. This is why having an objective view of a program and live feedback from a coach can be the way forward here.

Your first Triathlon should be about three things:

1. Just finish it (we can have a target time for your next race).

2. Enjoy it (do enough training so you can enjoy race day!).

3. Learn from it (you don’t know what you don’t know. After your first race, you will know a lot of things that you didn’t know before!).

You can book a FREE consult & Plan with me here - https://calendly.com/rickycatchup/itsacatchup