Photo: Paul Phillips

You don’t have to swim, bike and run year-round to have success in triathlon. In fact, you’ll probably be most successful if you take a short break from training once a year to let your body recuperate and recharge your motivational batteries. Six-time Hawaii Ironman champion Mark Allen used to do nothing but surf for five or six weeks between his last race of the season and New Year’s Day.

With time off comes a loss of tolerance for the volume of swimming, cycling and running that one can handle in peak shape. So when the time comes to start training again, it’s important to ease back into it. The risk of overuse injuries is higher when an athlete is ramping up training after time off. This risk is greatest in running, thanks to its high-impact nature. For this reason, Mark Allen advises his athletes to do as he says, not as he did, and continue running a little through the off-season.

“You can take time away from the bike and the swim,” he says, “but running is important to continue even in the off-season. However, don’t make it true training, but rather just go out for easy, short runs to get some fresh air, to sweat a bit and to move your body. Don’t keep track of pace or weekly miles as you might during the season; just run for fun and recovery. This keeps the tendons and ligaments strong so you will be able to handle the workout impact when you return to real training.”

Good advice. But what if you take some time off running anyway? Use these three guidelines to avoid getting hurt when you start running again:

Do the two-step. Divide the process of getting back into running shape into two steps. The first step is to gently allow your body to readapt to the stress of repetitive impact. Schedule only short, slow runs, preferably on soft surfaces, for the first three weeks. Don’t worry about building fitness. Save that for step two, which follows your three-week adaptation period.

Obey the 72-hour rule. Your bones, muscles and connective tissues need time to recover and strengthen in response to the stress of each run. For this reason it’s best to run less frequently than you might normally do during the first few weeks of running—once every three days is a good rule of thumb.

Listen to your body. Stop running and take an extra day or two of rest whenever you feel worrisome pains. A little restraint here will spare you from a much longer forced break due to injury.

Photo: Nils Nilsen

In triathlon, there’s no choice: You have to run (or at least walk) after riding your bike to reach the finish line. No run, no finisher’s medal.

In training, you have a choice. Everyone agrees that triathletes need to run after some bike rides by way of preparing to do the same in races, but there’s also a consensus that it’s not necessary to run after every ride. So what’s the sweet spot? How regularly should you follow a ride with an immediate run?

According to the top coaches, it depends. Among the factors to consider in planning this aspect of your training are your experience level, your schedule, your susceptibility to injury and how your body responds to this type of training.

There are two basic types of bike-run workouts you can do. A so-called “brick” consists of a full bike workout followed immediately by a full run workout; in other words, it’s a session in which each part could stand alone as a complete workout. A transition run is a short run—usually 10 to 20 minutes—after a full bike ride. Whereas bricks prepare the athlete more comprehensively for the race experience, transition runs are more narrowly focused on preparing the athlete for the transition from riding to running.

Because they are more stressful and time-consuming, bricks cannot be done as often as transition runs. According to elite triathlon coach Cliff English, whether you do occasional bricks or more frequent transition runs should depend on the distance of your races. “The long-course athletes I coach usually do one brick per week,” he says. “Short-course athletes do multiple short transition runs.”

A second factor to consider is your level of experience in the sport. “The newer the athlete is to triathlon, the more valuable transition runs can be to get them used to running off the bike,” says Tim Crowley, an endurance coach in eastern Massachusetts whose athletes include 2008 Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker. As a beginner you will probably notice that transition runs yield big improvements in your ability to run off the bike. As you gain experience, you might find that you become less dependent on transition runs to maintain the ability to run well after pedaling, and as that happens you can reduce the frequency.

Some triathletes perform frequent transition runs—as often as after every bike ride—not because they need to, but simply to save time.
“Training in three sports and getting reasonable frequency is a challenge, so this is a good, time-efficient way to maintain run frequency,” says Lance Watson, head coach of LifeSport.

Another potential benefit of frequent transition runs is injury prevention. “Adding short runs off the bike is a great way to increase frequency without overloading the athlete from a musculoskeletal standpoint,” says Matt Dixon, whose roster of athletes includes 2009 Hawaii Ironman runner-up Chris Lieto. The idea here is that a short run after a bike ride offers largely the same running-specific fitness benefits as a longer independent run but with less pounding on the legs.

While frequent transition runs may help you fit it all in and avoid injury, coaches caution against depending on them. “It’s important to run on fresh legs sometimes,” says Crowley. “Some faster runners may even get slower if they run off the bike all the time.”

While there’s no magic number for frequency of post-ride runs, a few basic considerations will help you settle on a number that, if not quite magic, works best for you.

Appropriate strength training in the off-season can lead to significant improvements during the race season. The key is to stay patient. This patience can be one of the hardest elements for most of us type-AAA personalities, who demand immediate gratification. However, if implemented correctly, the benefits of exercise-specific strength training can be extraordinary.

A proper yearly training cycle allows for off-season recovery and strength focus. This is the time of year when the muscular system becomes more significant than the aerobic system. As the year progresses and the training cycle shifts into the build and peak phase, the aerobic system will catch up and surpass the muscular. However, the goal is to have this shift happen later in the season and at a higher power point than in previous years.

Here’s a home-based workout that does not require any major equipment. The idea is to have a convenient power workout that can be completed each week without having to go the gym. This workout should take one hour in total duration, and its key point is to build exercise-specific strength.

A proper, natural progression warm-up should precede the focused work to follow. The first five minutes should be used to let the legs adjust to spinning at a minimal effort (low heart rate: very easy). The next five minutes should be used to gradually build up to a decent effort (heart rate elevates by 10 beats per minute: moderate effort). A good 10-minute block of drills should follow. Two very good drills to incorporate into any warm-up are one-legged spinning and 30-second intervals of higher cadence work (more than 110 rpm) at lower resistance.

The heart of the workout, or main set, will follow. Each interval should last a total of 10 minutes. The interval starts with a superset of leg strength exercises. The strength exercises are performed first in order to fire or activate the muscles. A proper superset is performed with as little rest as possible before engaging in the next exercise. The first exercise is the walking lunge. The main focus for this exercise should be on engaging the core, keeping the neck neutral with the spine, and not letting the front knee move ahead of the foot. The second exercise is the hamstring curl. This should be done in the supine position on the floor with the heels over the top of an exercise ball.

Beginners should keep their gluteus touching the floor, while intermediate/advanced athletes can perform the curls with the gluteus raised. The third exercise is the jumping squat. Once again the core needs to be engaged with the neck neutral with the spine. The upper body should be upright and the squat motion should not go beyond 90 degrees. Then the explosion up should have a controlled jump that lands softly. The fourth and final exercise is the eccentric (focus on downward motion of the calf raise rather than the upward motion) calf extension. This should be a one-second upward motion followed by a controlled three-second downward motion.

Once the strength exercises are completed, the bike portion begins. The idea is to get right up to the prescribed effort level and try to hold it for the remainder of the 10 minutes. This is a strength workout and therefore the second and third intervals have lower cadence prescriptions. The first interval is important to set the stage for the intervals to follow. I recommend performing this workout once or twice per week during the off-season. This is a tremendous way to build explosive bike strength for the next race season. This strength session can also replace one of your regular weekly gym sessions.

Bike Trainer/Weight Combo
60 minutes

Bike Warm-up: 20 minutes of gradually building spin and to include bike drills.

Interval 1
- Superset strength exercises: 25-30 reps
- Walking lunges, hamstring curls using a exercise ball, jumping squats (no weight), eccentric calf extensions
- Bike: finish the 10 minutes (if the strength movements take you four minutes, then bike for six minutes) HR Low Zone 2
- Cadence: 85-95

Interval 2
- Repeat strength exercises
- Bike until the 10-minute mark HR High Zone 2
- Cadence: 75-80

Interval 3
- Repeat strength exercises
- Bike until the 10-minute mark, HR Zone 3
- Cadence: 80-85

Cool-down: 10 minutes of easy spinning

Christopher Thomas is an expert coach with LifeSport Coaching, Lifesportcoaching.com. Christopher is certified in personal training and weight room instruction from ACSM and AFAA, and as a Youth Fitness Trainer and Specialist in Fitness for Older Adults by the International Sports Sciences Association. He was named the 2009 USA Triathlon Amateur Athlete of the Year.

Haskins has experienced nearly every open-water swim scenario during her career. Photo: Paul Phillips

… I have trouble staying on course in open water?

Swimming in open water is very different from the pool, as waves and currents are possible and you don’t have lane lines and black lines to help you swim straight. But there are techniques to help you stay on course. Every four to five strokes, I pick my head up out of the water to see where I am going. I always sight just before I take a breath, so the movement is more fluid. When I sight, I look for the swim buoys. But sometimes with large waves or choppy water, the buoys are difficult to see. To solve this problem, I will often look for large land markers over the buoys to help me sight the course. Sometimes the sun glare can be brutal, so make sure to wear tinted goggles. If you are behind someone, you can also follow the bubbles of their feet, which makes it very easy to sight. But make sure the person you are following is swimming in the right direction. Never blindly follow another swimmer!

Featuring Duane Franks

Q: I’m hearing a lot about pro triathletes, such as Andy Potts and Tyler Stewart, who are doing most of their bike training indoors. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? What’s the best way to practice this approach if I want to try it?

Mike Holmes
Concord, N.H.

A: The reason you’re hearing more about athletes performing indoor bike workouts is because they are time efficient, convenient and they can be a very effective way to improve fitness. Indoor cycling allows you to quickly get to the focus of the workout without having to deal with traffic, inclement weather and other distractions on the road.

Because Tyler Stewart balances a full-time job with her career as a professional triathlete, she uses indoor workouts to add efficiency to her training. Photo: Larry Rosa

Coasting downhill and soft pedaling are essentially eliminated during an indoor ride, increasing the average intensity. Riding indoors eliminates environmental factors such as terrain and wind.

Furthermore, when riding indoors it’s easier to control important performance variables such as intensity of effort, cadence, gearing selection, heart rate and power—if you have a power meter. Controlling these variables enables us to dial-in precise workloads during training and measure the effectiveness of our training program with objective feedback.

The list of disadvantages of indoor cycling is short but worth noting. First, the most obvious downside is that indoor cycling lacks the specificity and feel of the road. Riding on a bike trainer doesn’t require the same balance and stability that riding outside does. Good road cycling skills are necessary for safe and efficient descending, cornering and group riding. Some triathletes complain that indoor riding is mind-numbing, so listening to music or watching motivating videos may help to reduce boredom.

There are several types of bike trainers that can be used for cycling indoors. The most common are wind, magnetic and fluid trainers. With a wind trainer, the rear wheel sits on a roller that provides resistance against the tire. The fluid and magnetically braked trainers create a smoother and quieter ride than the wind trainers. (Your roommates and neighbors will appreciate this, especially during those early morning sessions.)

You’ll need to elevate your front wheel a few inches, placing it on a wood block or stack of books to match the height of your back wheel. You can take that a step further by elevating your front wheel even higher to simulate climbing. There are a few commercial products available that allow you to choose several height settings for the front wheel. My athletes use an inflated Bosu Ball—a special brand of exercise ball with a flat bottom—under their front wheels to simulate steep hills. This not only puts you in the climbing position, but it also forces you to spin smoothly and efficiently, or else you’ll start bouncing on the ball. This method is ideal for athletes who don’t have access to hills for road training.

More sophisticated trainers come with electronic systems that can regulate power resistance. CompuTrainer is a popular brand that does this with a variety of functions that customize your workout. It also downloads simulated race courses and can interface with your home computer or video monitor.

Experienced roadies often prefer to use bike rollers for their indoor workouts. These systems are composed of two rollers that support the back wheel and one for the front. Riding on rollers requires good balance and pedaling skills or else you’ll be picking yourself up off the floor. The good news is that once you get past the initial learning curve, these skills transfer well to the road and will actually improve your outdoor riding.

Indoor cycling can also be done on a commercial studio cycle available in most gyms. Studio cycles have a fixed flywheel that promotes pedaling at higher cadences. A couple of brands of studio cycles, including Cycle Ops and Keiser M3, come equipped with power meters that allow you to set a more accurate and reliable workload.

Riding indoors can be done alone in the privacy of your home or you can join an organized class. These classes are typically led by a knowledgeable coach who will prescribe workouts in a systematic and progressive program. The camaraderie of the group setting will help make those hard intervals more enjoyable.

Duane Franks coaches with Trifiniti in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit Trifiniti.com.

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

A food journal is a simple tool that you can use to identify and address problems affecting your training and racing that could have a nutritional cause. When keeping a food journal you write down everything you eat and drink and when you eat and drink it. This is the information you need to identify potential causes of any performance, recovery or injury challenges you are having.

Sometimes it’s easy to link a problem back to a nutritional cause. For example, in keeping a food journal you might discover that you are simply eating a lot more than you thought you were, a fact that quickly explains why you’re having trouble getting down to your preferred racing weight. (Believe it or not, the average person eats roughly 20 percent more than he or she thinks. The chief value of keeping a food journal is that it eliminates the “disconnect” between how we think we eat and how we really do.)

In other cases it might take some guesswork and experimentation to identify the nutritional cause of a particular problem—or whether the cause is nutritional at all. For example, fatigue that affects your performance could be caused by everything from dehydration to iron deficiency to inadequate carbohydrate intake to sleep deprivation. To solve the mystery, use this Nutrition Troubleshooter to come up with a best guess about the cause of your current problem, change your diet appropriately (with the help of a certified sports nutritionist or your physician, as necessary), and monitor the results. If it doesn’t pan out, try something else, or get a sports nutritionist or your physician involved if you haven’t already.

Here is an example of a simple food journal format. Use it anytime you want to investigate how your diet is affecting your health and running. It usually takes a minimum of three days to identify a pattern. If you make a change to your eating habits based on a pattern you observe, continue journaling for at least three more days to determine the effects of the change.

If you eat fewer than six meals in a day, leave the irrelevant boxes blank and record your sleep quality in the box to the right of your last meal of the day. Likewise, leave all of the boxes blank in the “Subsequent Workout” column except the one that shares a row with the meal that preceded your daily workout.

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

Kenya’s distance runners are known as some of the fastest in the world. But they don’t always run fast. “They actually do a lot of their training at very easy paces,” says Lance Watson, cofounder of Lifesport Coaching in Vancouver, British Columbia. “Kenyan runners often come to Vancouver to train, and sometimes when you see them out running together they’re barely moving.”
Willingness to go slow is not uncommon among elite distance runners. It’s much less common, however, among competitive age-group triathletes, who, because they run less frequently than runners, think they have to “make every run count” by going at least moderately fast. But, according to Watson, there is a place for slow running in triathlon training too. “Just because slow running is relatively easy doesn’t mean it isn’t beneficial,” Watson says. “It builds aerobic fitness, endurance, and fat-burning capacity.”

How slow is slow? According to Watson, the appropriate pace for slow running is the equivalent of a comfortable warm-up pace. In heart rate terms, it’s zone 1, or about 25 beats per minute below your threshold heart rate. Watson recommends slow running for no fewer than five distinct situations:

Recovery runs: Your first run after a long or high-intensity run or bike ride should be slow and comfortable, according to Watson.

Extra runs: Watson is a big believer in training as frequently as possible in all three triathlon disciplines. But any runs you add to your current weekly schedule should be slow to provide an extra aerobic stimulus without a lot of extra stress on the body.

Plan B workouts: On days when you have a challenging run planned but your body just doesn’t feel up to it, do a slow run instead. “It’s far better than nothing,” Watson says.

Long bricks: When Watson coaches an athlete who has trouble putting a decent marathon together in an Ironman, he has him or her do very long bike-run (or “brick”) workouts that include a zone 1 run. Start with an hour run after a two-hour ride and build to a two-hour run after a three- to four-hour ride. But keep it slow! “It’s all about getting used to being on your feet for a prolonged period of time,” Watson says.

Returning from injury: Zone 1 running is much less stressful on the tissues of the legs than faster running. Therefore, Watson advises athletes to do all of their running at a slow pace for the first couple weeks after an injury layoff to minimize the risk of a setback.

Written by: Melanie McQuaid

To be a good triathlete, you need to have strength, speed and endurance. And if you choose to race off-road, agility becomes another important skill. Agility is a combination of coordination, flexibility, power and speed that allows a trail racer to pick his way through technical terrain quickly and efficiently. What many athletes are missing when they move to off-road racing is adequate flexibility to allow them to stay loose while reacting to terrain.

New research has shown that stretching might be less effective in improving flexibility versus using strength training. This is a glowing recommendation for Pilates and yoga, as both combine exercises using bodyweight to challenge muscular strength while leading the body through movements that will also lengthen muscles.

However, hyperflexibility is not the goal; in triathlon functional flexibility is most valuable. Focusing on having a loose and relaxed body at rest that can spring into action when engaged is important. Strained or damaged muscles and ligaments from overstretching are certainly not good for performance. Do not go beyond what is comfortable in any of these movements.

Beginners: Start with one set of 8-15 repetitions of each exercise without the use of a foam roller.

Intermediate/Advanced: Do two sets of 10-15 exercises. Slowly introduce the foam roller to further increase the difficulty but be careful to take your time relearning the exercises with the roller.

Your back and core are the first places to start, as all extremities generate power from here. But as with all exercise, consult your doctor before starting any new program.

Cobra pose: Lie face down on the floor with your arms stretched out in front of you. Slowly push your hands into the floor, relax your buttocks and lift your head and chest off of the floor with your eyes towards the ceiling. This pose is great for back strength and flexibility. Resting your arms on a foam roller will increase the workload for this exercise.

Chair pose: Stand with feet together, arms parallel overhead, palms together. Bend your knees, attempting to bring thighs parallel with the floor. Hold for from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Chair pose strengthens and lengthens muscles in the hips and legs while also stretching muscles and ligaments in the lower legs and feet.

Bridge pose: Lying on your back with your feet hip distance apart, slowly lift your pelvis up while supporting your weight with a straight back on your shoulders. Adding the instability element to the bridge pose with a foam roller requires more strength for an already difficult exercise. Start with pelvic tilt and work your way through bridge pose to the foam roller version.

Side leg lift: Lying with your hip on the roller, lift your top leg up and hold it up. Bring the lower leg up to meet it. Then drop both legs. This exercise increases hip flexibility and strength. Again, if you are strong, add the roller underneath your hip to increase the challenge to all of your stabilizing muscles.

Photo: Kurt Hoy

Q: How do I know how hard to push during a race? I want to give everything I have but still make it to the finish line in one piece.

A: That is the million-dollar question and a tough one to answer. It takes athletes years of racing to find the balance between leaving it all out on the course and going so hard that they blow up before the finish. The short answer is experience. Consider that a pro might race 10 to 20 times per year for 10 years; that’s a lot of chances to get it right or wrong. And everyone gets it wrong at one point. If you race long enough, you will have a day that gets ugly and ends with a long walk home, or worse, a trip to the med tent. Those races definitely make for tough days, but they can be valuable learning experiences. So how to learn where the edge is without wasting a key race? Try it out in training or at a low-key, shorter race. Go out a little harder than you think is wise and try to pinpoint your personal limits.

A test set in training can act as an indicator of fitness and give some good guidelines for where your effort should be in a race. Go to the track and run 10x1K at goal pace for Olympic-distance race training or head out for a timed 20-miler to see if that marathon pace is possible. (The goal is to reach failure, so if you don’t make it through the set it just means you did it right.) Now you have an indicator of what is realistic. On the bike, wattage can be a very helpful tool. I train with an SRM to give me constant feedback of what kind of power I can sustain over different distances. Get used to the feel of each effort during training and you can be a good judge of pace and power in races.

On race day you should be rested and fueled properly, so ideally you should be able to sustain a slightly higher maximal effort than in training. This is where a time trial or a low-key road race in your training can be helpful. Compete in a local 10K or 40K bike TT and be prepared to go a little harder than you think is wise. Push yourself to sustain the pace as long as possible and note where the wheels come off. These barrier-breaking workouts will help you discover where your absolute limit is—it is probably higher than you might have thought. They can also help you identify what type of athlete you are: speed- or endurance-oriented. Typically, men seem to have higher power and speed and need to work on endurance; they may find they go out too hard early on and have to slow down considerably. Women tend to be more naturally suited to endurance events and maintain a more even pace, but they often find they reach the finish line with energy to spare. By using these smaller races and test sets we can figure out our strengths and what we need to work on, whether it is starting off more moderately and saving some juice for the second half, or getting on it right away and pushing hard throughout the whole event. I fall into the second category: I need to go as hard as I can straight from the gun otherwise I naturally settle into a pace that is too slow. In my best races I have hit a point where I think the effort is way too hard and I won’t be able to sustain it. Then I just keep hanging on (and it hurts like hell) but surprise myself at the end with a new PR.

The goal in a race should be to measure your energy throughout so you cross the finish line using the absolute last drop of gas in the tank. This takes time, experience and practice. And just remember: No true athletic career is complete without one epic blowup story to tell around the campfire.

Written by: Scott Fliegelman

Though triathlon is generally a non-drafting sport, ironically some of the most fun and beneficial training we can do on the bike involves riding in a draft-friendly group. Organized group rides can be found in nearly all active communities, and may be geared toward bike racers, recreational cyclists or triathletes. As a coach, I structure my athletes’ bike training to allow ample time for solo sessions in order to prepare for the specific demands of non-drafting racing, such as time in the aerobars, focused effort and intensity management, but I also strongly suggest adding in a weekly group ride as an excellent way to meet others, improve bike handling skills and get a killer workout. In a single group ride you may find yourself having a grueling hill workout, a leg-searing lactate threshold session, and plenty of steady tempo riding, often at or above the level you might be able to achieve on your own.

To find a suitable group ride near you, head to the nearest bike or tri shop and ask them for suggestions. Be sure to let them know your ability level and experience with group riding so they may tailor their recommendations accordingly. If you have access to a triathlon or bike club in your area, one of the many perks of joining may be the chance to join weekly group rides. Facebook may also be an excellent way to get some targeted suggestions on the subject, and if your FB friends aren’t yet hip to the local group ride scene then you may just start a group ride of your own!

Once you have decided to “test ride” a group, you’ll want to keep a few key areas of group riding etiquette in mind:

Minimize the “tri geek” factor by leaving the aero helmet and tri outfit at home. Surely you’ll want to let them know that you are a triathlete, but there will be plenty of time for chitchat when you can casually mention the 4,000 meters you swam at 6 a.m. and the 30-minute brick run you’ll be doing off the bike.

Ride a road bike if you have one. If not, then a tri bike is fine as long as you refrain from using your aerobars when riding within 25 meters of others. Your hands belong out wide on the base bar, near the brakes so you are prepared for sudden stops or turns.

Keep your eyes up and active at all times—and off your Garmin or iPhone. And try to use only one hand when efficiently taking sips from your water bottle or eating. It is best to take care of your nutrition needs at the back of the pack.

Ride about a bike length or closer from the rider in front of you, and pay attention to their verbal warnings and hand signals regarding road obstacles, traffic and upcoming turns and stops, and pass the message on to those behind you.

Most importantly, be sure to smile a lot, ask a lot of questions and be a humble and safe ambassador for the sport of triathlon. After a couple of rides the others may start asking you questions about wetsuits, Body Glide and compression socks.

Scott Fliegelman is the owner and head coach of FastForward Sports, which provides group running and triathlon training for several hundred athletes of all levels in Boulder and Denver, Colo.

Written by: Ian Murray

In almost every multisport race the run is the most important leg to success. Photo: Triathlon.org/Paul Phillips

Most of the multisport races we do conclude with a run. The run is waiting for you after you’ve survived the swim and gone strong on the bike. It shows no mercy for the fatigue you’re carrying into its first few meters, or at the end of the race. If you’re a good runner, meaning you came into triathlon from a running background, then move along. If you’re the type that ran cross country or track in high school or college, or you’ve got stellar PRs in 5K, 10K, half marathons or beyond, then there’s nothing to see here. For the rest of us, let’s discuss how to make your run the best part of your race, where you cannot wait to slip through the swim and spin through the bike so you can pass scores of athletes all the way to the finish line.

Step One

Learn Proper Technique. Running is a sport where good form provides huge advantages. Proper technique makes you faster, but running well also reduces injury and prolongs run-life expectancy. For dramatic and lasting changes, find a running coach—an educator, not simply an athlete you know who runs fast—to teach you how to run well.

Step Two

Practice Proper Technique. Commit to the new run form that you discovered in Step One. Let’s say, for example, that your first change is to shorten your stride. Go out to run five miles and you’ll probably only be able to sustain this new style for 800 meters before regressing to your old style for the remainder of your run. That’s no good. Making changes in your technique requires frequent, perfect repetition and any visits back to your old ways hinder your progress to becoming a great runner. In this case, do the planned five-miler, but run only the amount of time you can sustain the new, perfect run form. Before you fatigue and regress, stop running and walk for 30-90 seconds to refresh before you run another short, yet perfect, piece. Approach all your runs that way and you’ll quickly be on your way to permanent muscle memory alterations.

Step Three

Run Often. The fitness we gain from running is high quality. Being “run-fit” is no substitute for training all disciplines, but it still raises the level of your bike and your swim. To get your technical changes to stick and to make rapid gains in your fitness, run often. You don’t have to necessarily run long, run hard, run hills or run fast. The No. 1 priority is to run often, even if those frequent runs are short, flat and easy. Focus on good technique and breakthroughs will happen. Practice perfection.

Step Four

Run with Meaning. All great runners seem to share one thing: a love of running. Conversely, fear and dislike of running are common among poor runners. For run success, brush off the negative attitude and appreciate the natural human ability to run. “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall is an excellent read, even for folks who don’t run, because it has a good story and it’s told well. Inspiring tales about running are tucked in its pages. Similar nuggets are in Danny and Katherine Dreyer’s “Chi Running” and Nicholas Romanov’s “Pose Method.” Get motivated by reading “The Perfect Mile” by Neal Bascomb, “Strides” by Benjamin Cheever or the run novel “Once a Runner” by John L. Parker. Seek out the perfect run partner, a favorite trail, a stopwatch and a track. By adding new meaning to your running, you’ll begin to find a new level of joy in its practice.

As with all great pursuits, there are many more steps on the path to great running, but following these first four will start you on a whole new triathlon experience.

Ian Murray is a USAT Level III coach, head coach of TTS and the host of the DVD box set “Triathlon Training Series.”

Written by: Marty Munson

Use these tips to have more success in training and racing. Photo: Paul Phillips

Whether you couldn’t make it to the Multisport World Conference in New York City on March 12 or were training during the webcast, stop worrying about the performance tips you missed. Get the day’s top training secrets here and have your best season ever:

TRAIN YOUR MIND RIGHT

1. Let the water clear. The biggest mistake triathletes make, says Scott Berlinger, founder of Full Throttle Endurance, is “training too hard all the time. We call it muddying the water. And if you keep the water muddy, you won’t perform well.” Respect your rest weeks and, he says, “stay within the confines of your workout.” Yes, even when your archrival passes you in the park. Remember, he may be doing speedwork, you may be doing distance.

2. Focus on the process, not the outcome. “Micro goals help you achieve success,” says Paul Weiss, PhD, founder of Asphalt Green Triathlon Club. So instead of fixating on winning, turn your attention to the process – staying aero, keeping your cadence up, getting your nutrition right and all the other little pieces you need to put together to have a top race. That keeps you in the zone. “Achieving process goals cumulatively results in macro goal achievement.” In other words, do what you need to do and the successes will add up.

RUN BETTER

3. Train what’s behind you. “A strong butt is the key to a happy life when it comes to running.” That’s straight from Jordan D. Metzl, MD, sports medicine physician at NYC’s Hospital for Special Surgery and Triathlete contributor. How so? Strength in the glutes keeps the pelvis from tilting from side to side (among other things) and has the potential to eliminate some classic running injuries including IT band friction syndrome. Work with a coach or physical therapist to determine which strengthening exercises are exactly right for you.

4. Keep your feet under you. Should you run on the forefoot? Midfoot? Barefoot? Among the spectrum of sometimes heated opinions on the issue, nobody’s debating one point: “What’s important is where your foot falls underneath you,” says Rob Maschi, PT,  DPT, of NYC’s Hospital for Special Surgery. It should fall directly under your center of mass, not in front of it, or you’re basically braking with every step.

SWIM SMARTER

5. Drop some drills. “You don’t need to do 1,642 swimming drills to become a better swimmer. You can do a few drills that have a very specific purpose and become a better swimmer,” says Earl Walton, head coach for TriLife Coaching, NYC. The one drill everybody needs? Side lying kick drill. “If you’re a bad swimmer, you’re killing your momentum,” he says. “You need to get comfortable in the water and get your body position correct.” This drill is an essential way to do that. It’s not the only drill you need to do, but if it’s not in your repertoire, it’s worth putting there, he says.

DO THE RIGHT THING IN THE GYM

Strength train to become a better triathlete, not a better weight lifter. Photo: John Segesta

6. Don’t strength train to become strong. “When you’re an Olympic weightlifter, the point is to move weight from point A to point B to demonstrate your strength.” To do that, you might need to hold your breath, arch your back, or use momentum. “For any other athlete, your reason for strength training isn’t to demonstrate strength. It’s to gain strength,” says Jonathan Cane, exercise physiologist and head coach at City Coach Multisport. That means doing your weight work with excellent form and letting your muscles, not your ego, get stronger.

7. Keep it simple. Sometimes when you do crazy complicated exercises, “your brain gets better at doing them, not necessarily your muscles,” Cane says. So you’ll be better at doing one-legged tractor tire balances, rather than at swimming, biking, and running. Keep your workout simple and focus on the big muscles as well as the muscles that stabilize you. And don’t stress about whether you should be using free weights, resistance bands, kettlebells or something else. “Your muscles aren’t that smart. They only know if they’re working or not. And if you get the muscle to fire, you’ll get stronger,” he says.

DON’T SKIP THE STRETCH

8. Stretch for speed. Stretching helps you maintain your range of motion, and poor range of motion means poorer power, says Marisa D’Adamo, PT, former physical therapy coordinator for the ING NYC marathon. “Stretching helps you get faster without speedwork. You can’t work on your power or strength when your joint doesn’t have the range of motion it needs.”

AND IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, DO THIS

9. Determine what’s made of glass. Douglas Schwartz, coach at Multi-Sport Partners, asks his athletes to imagine balls made of three materials: marble, rubber, and glass. They have to label the balls according to what they’re juggling – for instance, friends, family, work – and say why each is labeled that way. You see where this is going: The most precious one is the glass ball. Each athlete needs to figure out what in their life is made of glass and how not to drop it. Glass equals family for you? Schwartz suggests a way to make your training more efficient so you can spend more time with family: On your next road trip, have your significant other drop you off 30 minutes away from home and run the rest of the way.

Marty Munson is a USAT Level 1 triathlon coach. Her writing has appeared in Health, Prevention, Marie Claire, Shape.com and RealAge.com. Find more triathlon tips and strategies from her and other experts in the field at trieverything.wordpress.com.

Martin Gilmore, a partner at BB&T Capital Partners, aims to compete again in the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii later this year thanks to a high-speed wind tunnel in Mooresville, N.C.

Gilmore was aboard his $6,000 carbon-fiber 2006 Cervelo P3 model last week trying to make himself and his bike less wind- resistant for the 112-mile leg of July’s Ironman Lake Placid race, where he hopes to qualify for October’s triathlon championship in Kona, Hawaii.

The two-hour session inside the A2 Wind Tunnel, built by former General Motors Corp. aerodynamicist Gary Eaker, cost about $1,000 and resulted in what could be a 15-minute difference in Gilmore’s ride time during the Lake Placid, N.Y., race.

“Fifteen minutes is huge,” Gilmore, 50, said during an interview while pedaling inside the tunnel. “When you look at the available Kona slots, it comes down to a couple minutes. So, you just can’t describe the impact that 15 minutes could have.”

Gilmore, who has qualified for the Kona race on three other occasions, is part of a fast-growing group of amateur triathletes descending on the tunnel, which has been used by top U.S. cyclists including Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie. Last year, about 250 cyclists and triathletes — who swim, bike, and run in their races — bought time in the tunnel, up from about 100 in 2007, according to Mike Giraud, 38, the tunnel’s operator and bike specialist.

Read more: Bloomberg.com

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This Saturday’s 2011 Abu Dhabi International Triathlon will feature one of the deepest pro fields of the year. In fact it will feature one athlete that won’t even be racing this October in Kona in reigning Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack.

We chatted with last year’s third-place finisher Rasmus Henning last month while he was training in Las Playitas on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura. Henning chats about his preparation for the race, the unique conditions of Abu Dhabi and who he thinks has a chance for victory.

The result of his investigation was an article featured in the March/April issue of Inside Triathlon magazine. Click here to read the complete article and enjoy photos of Potts riding indoors from Nick Salazar below.

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Hiipakka says the key for him is to train and race smarter. Photo: Greg Sadler

Hiipakka, a father of two and owner of a general contracting company, grew up with doctors telling him he had a heart murmur and that he might have complications in his later years, but at age 27, he had his first open-heart surgery to replace the valve. Before his surgery, doctors took six months to come up with a correct diagnosis because of his odd symptoms—shortness of breath and problems with his kidneys and liver.

He discovered triathlon between his first and second surgeries. After wrestling during college at Michigan State, he started running and tried a triathlon. “I was hooked,” he says. However, the extra physical strain his body took on through triathlon wore the pig valve out more quickly, and by 2006, only eight years after his first surgery, he knew something wasn’t right. “For a year, I knew [the valve] was pretty much shot,” he says. “I could feel my heart hurting and I passed out twice.”

In 2007, he had a second open-heart surgery. His doctor theorizes that the valve calcified with the extra workload, but it’s not definitive. “Not many people with a pig valve put in them still continue to compete,” Hiipakka says. After the surgery, though, Hiipakka was restricted from physical activities outside of walking for a full three months. “It’s like starting from scratch.”

Hiipakka had coached himself up until last summer but is now coached by Lee Gardner of Trismarter.com, who has experience working with athletes with medical conditions. During the 2011 season, Hiipakka plans to race Ironman 70.3 Florida in May, hoping through it he can win a slot for the Ironman World Championship 70.3 in September in Las Vegas.

Based on how quickly his last heart valve lasted, Hiipakka anticipates his next open-heart surgery to be in 2014. Until then, he’s enjoying training and racing, and he feels that his heart condition has made him a stronger triathlete. “You would assume after open-heart surgery that you can’t run or get back into it. I’m running at 85 percent efficiency compared to a normal heart,” he says. “I’ve learned that I have to be more strategic. You learn to recognize your strengths and weaknesses. It made me a smarter racer.”

Take a hint from our beloved Ironwoman: single leg squats should be a part of your strength training routine. According to a 2010 study in the Journal of Sports Rehabilitation, “the single leg squat variations may be better for performance enhancement while simultaneously reducing risk of injury to the low back when lifting even moderate resistances.” The study found that there was more muscular stress in the gluteus medius and hamstrings (two critical muscles for running fast) compared to a traditional two-leg squat.

How to do a single leg squat:
1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Lift one leg slightly off the ground, and lower yourself down as far as you can go. Keep weight in the heel.
3. Return to start. Repeat 12-15 times on each side.

Make it harder: Hold dumbbells and/or do the squats on top of a BOSU (start on the soft side and move on to the hard side as you get better).

As the wife of an endurance athlete, Caren Waxman wakes up alone every morning, including holidays.

“Mother’s Day really upset me,” says the Rockleigh, N.J., mother of three, age 47, whose husband leaves before dawn each morning for hours of exercise. In May, he will wish her a happy Mother’s Day from Utah, where he will compete in a triathlon.

“It’s selfish,” concedes her husband, Jordan Waxman, 46, a private-banking executive at Merrill Lynch and an Ironman triathlete. He says he leaves notes for his wife and children before leaving for morning workouts.

With exercise intruding ever-more frequently on intimacy, counselors are proposing a new wedding vow: For fitter or for fatter. “Exercise is getting more and more couples into my office,” says Karen Gail Lewis, a Cincinnati marriage and family therapist.

Newlyweds have long recognized the risks of potential sickness, infidelity and ill fortune. But few foresee themselves becoming an exercise widow.

Click here to read the complete article.

While Boulder, Colo. enjoys top town status throughout the summer, the winter months belong to Tucson.

Looks like three-time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington is the latest pro to discover the benefits of the Southwest desert. She’s also discovered that despite averaging 350 days of sunshine a year, Tucson does experience a rainy day here and there.

@ChrissieSmiles: rain. in the desert? bonkers!

Reigning Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae and boyfriend American triathlete Tim O’Donnell are also temporarily calling Tucson home.

@MirindaCarfrae: You know Tucson you’re alright . Rode mt Lemmon & ate a big cookie at the top today. I think @juliedibens would approve.

@TOinTRI: Tucson just scored some mad points, local donut shops! It’s still January, don’t want to be at race weight yet!

Recent Ironman 70.3 Pucon winner Linsey Corbin has also arrived in Arizona:

@LinseyCorbin: Goodbye Utah. Hello Arizona!

They likely won’t be the last triathletes to migrate to Tucson this year. Rebeccah Wassner, Laurel Wassner, Samantha McGlone, Simon Whitfield, T.J. Tollakson and others have been known to call the desert home.

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