Hey what's up triathletes Taren here today I'm going to give you 5 Triathlon training
facts that just might mess with your head play with your noodle cook your goose bake
your brain get you all messed up and in general ruin a lot of things that you thought you
knew about Triathlon training stick around the first thing that I'm going to tell you
about Triathlon training might change what you thought you knew is that kicking is stupid
for Triathlon you barely have to kick in the swim yeah that's right kicking only amounts
to about 10 to 15% of your total propulsion and that's even for a good swimmer most age
the group athletes fall even far lower than that 10 to 15% range so even if he get say
50% faster with your kick propulsion you might only be getting one or 2% faster overall legs
are the biggest muscle group in your body so if you're kicking really hard you're going
to be going through a ton of oxygen and tiring yourself out a lot so kicking really hard
doing kicks sets work on flexibility in your ankles strengthen your ankles it's not really
the best use of your time what you should be working on with your kick is figuring out
how to do as little of a kick as you can to get your body to float up in the water and
give you enough kick to roll side-to-side that's all you need to do and not much more
and you're going to find out very quickly when you start swimming with a wetsuit that
work is already done for you the second thing I'm going to tell you to mess with your brain
sticking with swimming is that swimming harder won't actually make you faster No Way now
before all the engineers in the crowd start waving their hands and screaming Taren that's
impossible that's not how physics works what I'm talking about is triathletes approaching
swim with the same method that they approach the run and the bike and what I mean by that
is on those two sports when you push harder to go faster it's just the way it works that
isn't how it works in swimming especially if your new triathlete and swimming is not
like cycling and running where the harder you go the faster you go it's more like yoga
ot tai-chi where the technique of the sport matters a lot more than the fitness that you're
putting into it when new triathletes who haven't yet figured out a proper swimming technique
start pushing harder what they end up doing is thrashing a lot more and they lose a proper
catch in the water they lose their control of the water they lose their balance in the
water when you're starting out in Triathlon learning to swim first focus on technique
getting proper catch learning how to float learning how to balance and roll side-to-side
in the water and then once you've got that down then you can work on swimming harder
the third thing that I'm going to tell you to bake your brain is that you shouldn't be
using gels or chews how many of you and be honest have taken gels chews or a sports drink
for a 45-minute run you really only need to be taking on any sort of calories if you're
going longer than an hour and 10 hour and 15 minutes any shorter than that and your
body has more than enough built-up energy in the form of calories fat deposits glycogen
in your muscles to get you through that length of workout very very easily and using those
quick access energy sources like gels chews sports drinks it's very sugary so your body
ends up preferring to use that and if you're using it for every single workout you're training
your body to not access your body's internal energy stores you become reliant on that Sugar
your body doesn't know how to burn fat so you probably gain weight and the biggest issue
of all is that your body can't actually access its own energy stores in dire situations so
if you ever mess up and you don't take any of those quick release energy sources like
gel chews and sports drinks you're risking a big-time bonk so for all workouts make sure
you're taking enough fluid but unless you're going longer than an hour fifteen hour and
20 minutes certainly push it and see how your body can adapt to getting through those shorter
workouts on its own energy stores don't go making a stop at bonk City the fourth thing
that might mess you up is that running a lot probably isn't going to make you a faster
Triathlon Runner running after a bike is a completely different thing than pure running
there was once a study done where Kenyans were brought into a triathlon to see if real
true pure well-trained Runners could get off the bike and still maintain some of the speed
that they had and in a pure running race and what you think happened every one of them
had a disastrous race running after a bike might as well be an entirely different sport
from just running on a straight road race and if all you're doing is logging long garbage
miles just to get running miles and Running time into your legs you're going to have a
very good triathlon you're going to cramp after the bike and you're probably going to
be walking a lot during that Triathlon you can solve this really really easily by doing
at least a half-a-dozen brick workouts that simulate the transition going from the bike
to the run as quickly as possible ideally you want to do one of these a week almost
the entire year But I'm very least if you're getting ready for your first triathlon do
six of these and the last Triathlon training tip that I'm going to tell you this is just
going to ruin your day is that aero isn't everything and I know what you're saying but
but but but Taren aero bikes and aero helmets and aero wheels and Specialized and wind tunnels
and all the pros are worried about aero aero aero aero aero yeah yeah yeah yeah I get it
aerodynamics and itself is a very good thing where it ends up becoming an issue is where
people focus only on aerodynamics and not overall bike comfort and fitness if all you're
thinking about is your setting up your bike is how to get as low and aerodynamic as humanly
possible you're going to definitely put yourself into a situation that unless you're a 7th
level Bikram Yogi master remember we're seeing a six foot man get inside this tiny box of
20 inches this is truly remarkable You aren't going to be able to get into that position
with any sort of power even Pro triathletes like Jan Frodeno have brought their bodies
up because they found that A) it made them more powerful and B)
bringing them up actually made them more aerodynamic because they were able to stay in that Aero
position longer in worst case scenario you might be putting your body into a position
that is so far beyond your natural limits that you could injure yourself the best Aero
position on the bike is one that you can hold for the entire duration of your race without
getting up and that's different for everyone so I cannot stress enough get a f&cking proper
bike fit if you're fitting your bike at home you're doing it wrong if you're fitting your
bike at a bike shop and all they're doing is basically eyeballing you you're doing it
wrong you want to go to a bike fit specialist who's been trained at body assessment and
proper bike set-up to everyone's individual capabilities your body will thank you so there
you go triathletes those are five Triathlon training tips that go against lot of what
we think we know and hopefully messed with your head set you On a straight path I was
on a very crooked path with every single one of these tips not very long ago let me know
in the comments below just how much this messed your brain as always happy and hard training
out there and good luck on your triathlon races