Middle MOTIVATION

CONQUERING THE HALF IRON TAKES CAREFUL PLANNING AND COMMITMENT. BUT IT SHOULDN’T BE FEARED. HERE’S OUR ESSENTIAL ADVICE TO START YOU ON THE ROAD TO MIDDLE-DISTANCE GLORY…

RESPECT BUT DON’T FEAR

The thought of taking on a middle-distance triathlon is daunting to many athletes, especially those with minimal multisport experience. While the distance should be respected, it shouldn’t be feared. With organised planning and a commitment to achieving the end goal, it’s manageable for athletes of any ability as long as there’s the desire to complete the challenge.

APPLY YOURSELF

Tens of thousands of people complete middle-distance races in the UK each year, and you can be one of them; they’ve applied themselves and so can you. Be prepared to work hard but embrace how great it can make you feel.

DON’T DOUBLE UP

When the race distances are broken down and looked at individually – the 1.9km swim aside – it’s effectively double an Olympic-distance triathlon. But this doesn’t mean that you must do double the amount of training hours that you’d do for an Olympic. Of course, there’ll be some weeks when the volume of training is significantly greater, but not every single week.

LOG MILES BEFORE SPEED

The key sessions of each week will become the longer, steadier workouts on the bike and run, and these are commonly done at weekends. Once you begin to get close to achieving the race distances in training then suddenly the fear of not completing the event starts to reduce. Now you can focus on how quickly you can complete.

INVOLVE YOUR FAMILY

In order to be successful it can be crucial to get your family and friends on-board. Try to involve them with your training or helping you with your nutrition and kit. As well as having your family working with you, it’s incredibly effective if you’re part of a training group that are building towards similar goals.

MAKE MIDDLE MATES

Having training partners helps to motivate you and encourages you to not miss sessions; the feeling of letting your friends down by skipping a session will nag away at you. You can learn new training routes and be inspired to work harder. Training will be made more enjoyable and productive as part of a group.