SUPERCHARGE YOUR TRI
Experienced athlete but new to triathlon? Then read on as we transform a time-crunched runner to a triathlete ahead of the 2020 race season
How to make the move from singlesporter to triathlete in 10 easy steps
Whether you’re a swimmer, cyclist, runner or team sports athlete eyeing a move into multisport, triathlon will throw up a host of unique challenges. How do you improve in one discipline and not suffer in the other two? Increase your training load without becoming injured? Understand how to fuel your performance?
And gain confidence for that introduction to open-water swimming?
If you’re troubled by any of the above questions, then fear not. Because over the following pages, we’ve given a newcomer to tri – former runner Tomos WhitmarshKnight, 30, who’s aiming for August’s Carlisle Sprint Triathlon – their very own multisport MOT, courtesy of Matt Luxton at the Tamar Performance Centre in Devon.
Cue mindset and nutritional advice, technique analysis and guidance on how to find that elusive tri-and-life balance. Turn the page to find out what our tri debutant learnt from his day of tri conditioning…
FINDING THE BALANCE
Matt Luxton: Understanding the background of an athlete is very important, not only from a physiological perspective but also psychological. This is an area that forms the very start of every successful coaching partnership. This conversation between coach and athlete helps the coach start an athlete-centred approach and develops an understanding of what makes that person tick from day to day. For Tomos, I gained a great understanding of his day-to-day life and how this could shape some of the conditioning and mobility that may be needed to help him achieve his goals of the Carlisle Sprint Triathlon this summer. As a coach, this information is vital.
Tomos Whitmarsh-Knight: Everyone’s always looking for the perfect work-life balance, and when triathlon training gets thrown into the mix, time is always a struggle. But sitting down and talking through my daily routine allowed Matt to offer some sound and sensible advice on how to achieve this.
ASSESS YOUR PHYSIOLOGY
ML: I used an ultrasound body scan to help analyse Tomos’ body composition. With his background in competitive running, he’s used to being a little leaner than he currently is. Understanding the relationship between muscle mass, body fat and hydration on performance is an area we discussed during his consultation, particularly in relation to relative power on the bike. From this we helped Tomos to understand how many calories he might need to optimise performance and recover from sessions. This greater understanding of the macronutrients always serves to empower the athlete to make better decisions with their nutrition.
TW-K: Matt’s advice made me realise that, as athletes, we’re always happy to throw money at the latest gear for those marginal gains when the most important aspect is us, yet we never seem to ‘MOT’ ourselves! Having done the test with Matt, I’m now more conscious of making sure I receive the calories and macronutrients required to optimise my training ahead of my races.
UNDERSTAND YOUR FEARS
ML: Psychology is a really important aspect of every triathlete’s journey. Whether it’s the fear of an open-water swim, riding a bike on a road or running further than they have ever before. Tomos explained he’s very good at following through with a goal once set but, perhaps due to never having raced a triathlon, he admitted he may need help with visualisation and breaking down each element of the sport. Understanding fears can help the athlete and coach to work on specific race elements in training so the athlete feels more confident when doing them on race day.
TW-K: With this being my first triathlon, the inevitable self-doubt questions will be on my mind leading up to the event. Have I done enough? What if I forget my trisuit? What will I eat? I learnt that it’ll be important for me to breakdown each element of the sport and just remind myself that, if I’ve put the work in, everything ‘should’ go smoothly.
MASTER THE SWIM
ML: For most with a background in running, swimming is the most daunting of the three disciplines. Tomos used to swim breaststroke at a club until he was 14, but hasn’t done any competitive swimming since. Swimming is a skill-based sport compared to running, so I aimed to correct his stroke at the front first. We got video footage in an Endless Pool, which helped to pinpoint easy wins for him. Key changes to swim technique after the analysis included: his thumb entering the water first instead of middle finger; starting bilateral (from both sides) breathing; and stopping Tomos breathing too far back. By the end of the session, this resulted in an improvement of 12-14secs per 100m.
TW-K: Being able to visually see where I needed to change my swim technique made understanding the drills Matt gave me a million times easier to put into practice. The time I now spend in the pool has more focus and is quality over quantity.
ANALYSE YOUR BODY
ML: What’s important at the beginning of any journey, such as triathlon, is often a very individual opinion. We spend lots on our bikes and accessories, but the one variable that dictates everything is the person using them. Giving yourself permission to succeed in this sport is often about making sure you know more about yourself than you ever imagined. It can be as simple as getting a massage, run analysis, bike fit, swim coaching or dietary advice. All of which can save so much time and help to prevent injury and wasting energy.
TW-K: While doing the body analysis, Matt identified that my shoulders were both rolling inwards. This is something I’d never noticed before, but it was affecting my swimming technique. Matt gave me some simple exercises that I’m currently doing daily to stretch out and loosen those muscles.
EASY WINS WITH S&C
ML: Strength and conditioning really is the fourth discipline in triathlon. Whether it’s strength, power, mobility or flexibility, this is where easy wins can be made for every multisport athlete. During the movement screening, Tomos recalled previous medial knee pain and we identified simple exercises he could do to improve his glute strength, which will help his performance across all three sports. If you, similar to Tomos, have little experience of strength and conditioning, start with work on your stability and mobility before layering in more explosive and plyometric activities.
TW-K: My excuse for never focussing on S&C has always been ‘not enough time’ or ‘there’s no real benefit’ when, in reality, Matt showed me a handful of exercise that were quick and easy to do, and I felt the burn! S&C is now part of my everyday morning routine.
ADD RUNNING STRUCTURE
ML: Tomos has a long, competitive-running history and has run a 33min 10km race. More recently he’s adopted a recreational attitude, either doing a 5km or 10km run for training. Technique is so important with running and Tomos knows that he pronates in the ground contact phase of his stride, which we further investigated during his movement analysis. This’ll be the discipline that Tomos will find easiest during the preparation, but he’ll need to structure his training to make sure he doesn’t just do his favourite type of runs and neglect other areas.
TW-K: Having had my fair share of injury niggles in the past few years, running recently has mainly been about being able to run pain-free. Sitting down with Matt made me realise that, with structure to my running, I can achieve this while bringing variety to my training to ensure I cover both speed and endurance.
MONITOR YOUR NUTRITION
ML: If there’s an area of sport that’s underpinned with basic principles, but dictated to the greatest degree by our own individual taste, preferences and genetic makeup, the nutrition discipline is it. Tomos currently doesn’t track what he eats, and up to now he hasn’t felt the need to. With the extra volume of training and attention needed for recovery, he may well find keeping a food dairy, along with a record of his energy levels and sleep, useful to make sure he’s getting what he needs to fuel his performance and, ultimately, stay healthy.
TW-K: Everyone’s aware that nutrition is hugely important in this sport and, like me, a lot of people probably feel like they could always do with more information on how to get nutrition right. As I start to increase training volume, I’ll keep tabs on my energy levels and sleep to make sure I’m fuelling appropriately.
DEVELOP YOUR AEROBIC CAPACITY
ML: Like many UK-based athletes, Tomos would love to cycle outside but needs to use his indoor trainer to keep the quality high. He’s not so worried about the social element and uses the popular Zwift platform to cycle three or four times a week. I suggested using a combination of lower-intensity, longer rides to develop his aerobic efficiency, and some shorter, FTP-based sessions to increase his functional threshold power. A week in May to cycle in Dartmoor National Park will help build a good base and get his cycling legs ready for his main triathlon in August in Carlisle.
TW-K: Recently converting to Zwift has made getting the cycling miles into my weekly schedule easier but, like my running, there’s very little structure to those miles. Having sat down with Matt, I realise I need to make sure I’m making the most of those miles and not neglecting the shorter FTP sessions.
PREVENT INJURIES
ML: Tomos’ office job requires long periods of sitting during the day. One of the impacts of this on his ability to remain injury-free is to bring awareness to how this can affect his movement. During the swim analysis we also noticed that he’d a tendency to cross the midline of his body at the front part of his stroke. A possible cause of this can be tight pectorals, and repeatedly doing this can cause shoulder pain. So, taking a holistic approach to this and using the correct posture exercises, stretches and mobility, in conjunction with better technique in the pool, is an area to work on to keep Tomos injury-free.
TW-K: Sitting and talking through strategies to prevent injury was interesting as it highlighted to me just how much my day job is affecting my mobility. Doing simple things such as stretching at my desk and re-posturing can help prevent injury while training and racing.
Converting to Zwift has made getting the cycling miles into my schedule easier