(beep)
- Give me a second.
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Yeah, yeah I got it,
I'm done, I'm done, morning training.
So we just did a big strength circuit here
with all kinds of goodies.
And as I'm writing this out and pontificating what I'll do
I'm realizing holy smokes this is a really complicated
and not a lot of people have even the equipment to do this
and as I was writing,
I'm also realizing that a lot of what I talk about in here,
like I talk about gravel biking
and then you need a gravel bike,
and then you don't just need a gravel bike
you need gravel shoes.
And I talk about kettlebell training
and all of a sudden I now you need to buy a kettlebell,
and now all of a sudden I'm doing ringworking
and you're like holy smokes do I need to do ring work?
And it reminded me of the very first time
that I joined a master swim program
and the coach said to me,
"Taren, and you got to make sure
"that you lift your elbow up nice and high
"we need a high elbow recovery."
Dude you're talking about a high elbow recovery
and I can't even breathe or swimming yet.
We are in the beginning of the year
and in all likelihood races coming back in 2021
there's probably a lot of people
that aren't worried about ring workouts,
or incorporating strength yet.
You're more concerned about
how do I even start to start to swim?
What bike should I get?
I can't even run yet without getting injured.
We're gonna give you the guidelines
for with just two swims a week, just two bikes a week,
just two runs a week, how can you start to start
to do triathlon training?
How do you wrap your brain around getting set up
to feel like you're confident enough
to even execute a triathlon a training plan
and this also gives me a chance
to procrastinate between exercises.
I am not good on rings yet, new?
Not at all.
Okay, so let's start with swimming
that's the part of the triathlon
that tends to give the most new triathletes problems.
If you can get through the swim
with as little damage as possible,
a triathlon is really quite easy
most people can build up a basic enough amount of fitness
to do the bike and the run really successfully,
but it's that swim that's really intimidating.
Now the thing about the swim
is that most of the resources out there for you
are from previous swimmers,
and they tend to be very elite swimmers, coaches,
and athletes who tend to lead master swim groups
or former elite swimmers who tend not to actually remember
or have ever even experienced
what it's like to try to take up swimming as an adult
it's really, really hard.
So let's say you go to a swim clinic or a master's group
and they're giving you guidance on a high elbow recovery,
or a high elbow catch,
or you need to really improve your kicking
because you've got to get your heels kissing
through the surface of the water.
What I find, is that you don't need
to worry about all that at the start you to do two things,
you need to learn how to breathe in the water,
and learn how to not sink in the water.
Now in our book "Triathlon Swimming Foundations"
you can get it at triathlonswimmingfoundations.com,
or on all of the Amazons all around the world.
What I talk about is building comfort
and capability in the water, just building the ability
to not freak out and not be scared of being in the water.
And it's from that foundation of not being scared
and from being balanced, not sinky, not swaying side to side
that you can then build your way
into becoming a very good swimmer.
And without that it's never going to happen
no matter how many times you go to the pool.
So what we recommend, if you're really struggling
with swimming is use this as a benchmark
Can you yet swim 400 meters or yards
continuously without taking a big gasp
anytime you turn at the wall?
Or without feeling out of breath whatsoever
at the end of that 400.
If you can do that then you can build up your fitness.
If you can't yet do that
then you need to work on these drills
to build that comfort and capability.
And the drills that you need to work
on are really very basic.
Go into a pool and start with drills like putting your hands
on the side of the wall,
putting your face down and blowing bubbles.
Putting your face down and blowing bubbles
and then kicking your feet off the bottom of the pool.
Going into a deep end
and expelling as much air out of your lungs as possible
so that you become less buoyant and you slowly sink down.
And the idea is to get yourself more and more comfortable
with having your face in the water,
expelling oxygen and CO2,
and getting rid of that really tight feeling
of having so much air in your lungs
but then you're also short of breath
so you need to get even more in
and get even tighter and tighter,
making you stiffer and stiffer,
making you panic more and then making you sink,
making you panic even more.
Now you can go get "Triathlon Swimming Foundations"
if you want the entire plan
for how we help athletes build up
and you can read the reviews
and it's like one of the best resources
in my opinion, of course, I'm gonna say that
of all triathlon swim books out there,
because it's built specifically
for that age group triathlete.
But if you just wanna try something off the hop
try going and swimming,
think about as soon as your face goes
into the water you hum,
and that humping is going to help you expel air
and that's gonna help you get used to blowing bubbles out
and constantly breathing out, getting out of the CO2,
getting out that tightness from your chest.
And you know what if you focus on those breathing drills
and you focus on getting comfortable first
about two workouts a week will take you
if you're starting a completely nothing
somewhere around one to two months
we find most people end up
having like just this Eureka
where swimming is completely unlocked,
and just like go and read the reviews of that book
if you're interested to see what kinds of changes people
are actually experiencing in this
realizing that they're not quite ready for workouts yet
they have to work on the comfort and the capability first.
Now, when it comes to the bike
what you might be seeing is me on here with a $15,000 bike
with the Zwift set up, with the custom pain cave,
with the VO2 Master mask all over my face
and all of the odds and ends
and you're wondering, do you need to get into a lab
and do some cardiovascular and metabolic testing?
Do you need deep section wheels?
Do you need an aero helmet?
What is going to be the best thing for you?
But then also looking at it and saying,
"I'm just a new triathlete,
I just wanna get to a race,
"do I have to have all of that 10, 15, $20,000 worth of gear
"to do my race?"
And the answer to that is no, absolutely not.
Again, I'm gonna plug a book, "Triathlon Bike Foundations"
at triathlonbikefoundations.com
we talk about how the bike
that you need to do your first race on
is whatever bike you have, whatever bike it is.
It can be a mountain bike, it can be a city trail bike,
it can be a commuter bike, it can be an old road bike
that your dad or your mum used to use
with a basket on the front and a kid's seat on the back
it doesn't matter.
If you have a bike that you are comfortable on,
that you wanna use that doesn't break the bank
that's the bike that you should use.
The one thing that I do recommend in that book
is whatever bike you use
put a set of aero bars on the bike.
Aero bars are gonna make your frontal plane
a lot more narrow and 85% of the drag
that you end up experiencing
that you've got to push through the air
is actually created by your body
not the super-duper fancy bike.
I love my super-duper fancy bike
but the best thing about it
is that it's so custom up here
because I can get this nice and dialed in
and be comfortable in that position
and just stay in that aerodynamic position the whole time.
So if you go and get yourself a pair of clip-on aero bars
and you know what,
I actually have a pair of clip-on aero bars
that we're trying to sell,
if you DM me on Instagram and you're in North America
and you want me to send them to you,
first person that is in need of some aero bars
we'll send them to you,
so DM me on Instagram at Triathlon Taren,
but whatever bike you've got is completely fine.
In the bike book, we actually lay out point for point
what is the first thing you should upgrade to?
What's the next thing you should upgrade to?
What's the next thing?
So that athletes, instead of just thinking,
"Oh my God I have to spend $20,000 to get into triathlon."
You can just make the decision of what's your budget
and how many of those upgrades
and what order should you actually make them.
And then the key thing is that you've got to do just
in my opinion if you're starting out
two bike workouts a week
do one bike workout a week that's sufficiently long
and in your case, if it feels long like a stretch
a little bit of a challenge that's good,
build up by about eight to 10% every week
and just keep doing that
that bike should be really, really easy, really relax
just focus on going a little bit longer each time.
The other workout should be a more intense workout
with intervals lasting about one to eight minutes
with anywhere from a four to one work to rest ratio
or a one-to-one work to rest ratio.
And when I say hard it should just be a hard workout
with intervals, with challenge,
with little bits of rest in between.
If it feels hard at the start
you are going to make improvements.
And with those two workouts,
quite simply you're gonna do really, really well.
Again, we have it all laid out in our bike book
and on our training app teamtrainingact.com.
If you want more guidance on it you can use those.
But if you just wanna go at it on your own
two bike workouts a week,
one being focused on going a long,
one being focused on going intense.
Now the run,
so final area that triathletes often struggle with of course
is running, swim, bike, run it makes sense.
And there's two main areas that stop people
from being able to start a triathlon training plan
when it comes to running.
The first is just being able to run
without it being painful.
I remember when I first started running
I actually could not run the length of two house lots.
I would have to run the length of one house lot,
and then walk a house lot, and then run another house lot
like we're talking 50 feet at a time.
But if that's all that you can run, that's totally fine.
What I would recommend if you are in this situation
where you literally haven't run before
is run in as small bursts as you need.
If it is running 50 feet and then walking a hundred feet
or 50 feet and then walking 200 feet,
wherever you need to start from
that's where you start from, that's where I started from.
I had shin splints, I had lower back pain, I had knee pain,
the people that say like, I am not built for running
I was that guy that was not built for running,
I am Scottish, I am very heavy-boned.
I am like built for caber tossing,
and curling FYI I used to actually be a professional curler
I was great at one sport at one point in time.
The other area that beginner triathletes
need to focus on
because this could be a very rude awakening for them
is running after the bike.
In the very first triathlon that I did I swam a bunch,
I biked a bunch, I ran a bunch,
but I never went from biking to running
and that causes a really quick reroute of blood flow
going from sitting and all of your weight being supported
to all of a sudden bam,
you got to stand up and your weight
is supported by nothing but you,
and I almost fell over.
And there was a volunteer after the race
that came over and said,
"How did it feel when you hopped off the bike
"and start running?"
And I was like, why didn't people tell me about this?
Well, I'm telling you now, all you really need to do
is do some workouts where you bike first,
and then you run after, run is soon after as you can.
Within about six to eight sessions of doing this
the cramps are gonna start going away.
Your body's gonna adjust to it,
you're gonna have more blood flow,
your heart rate is gonna come down when you start running
and it's gonna be so, so much easier for you to execute.
So with two workouts a week on the run
focusing on one being just running more,
like running longer.
It's kind of like that long bike
where if it feels long, keep doing that
and then extend it by about eight to 10% every week.
Maybe running the length of two houses, then three houses,
then maybe the length of one block,
and walk, run however you need to do,
but just gradually increase.
And then the other workout just be a short run
could be as little as five minutes
could be as much as 20, doing it after the bike.
And if you got run walk that too, that's fine too.
Now again final pitch, if you wanna learn more about
how to structure,
and how to have a efficient triathlon running form
because triathlon running is very different
than typical running, like just standalone running
that you might see on a track, or in a half marathon,
triathlonrunningfoundations.com.
All of these books are like we make a grand total
of like eight bucks if you buy them,
but more than anything
when I need a pick me up I go and I read the Amazon
and Goodreads reviews.
Lots of people we're seeing benefits from.
So trainee acts if you're trying
to get into triathlon training,
and you don't know where to start starting
that is where you can start starting.
I guarantee that no matter where you're at right now
there are people with one limb that are 400 pounds
that are 500 pounds, that have heart conditions
that are overcoming cancer.
All of these athletes we've witnessed, we've helped,
we've been a part of watching them
get to even world championships.
And I guarantee that if you start
you will be able to do a triathlon
and you're probably gonna surprise yourself
with how good you can be at it.
So if you're completely new to triathlon
you aren't already subscribed and you want some guidance
we come out with videos a couple of times a week
hit the subscribe button below.
And if you want any helps with swim, bike, run
even nutrition, check out our triathlon foundations series
that you can get to from our website @mymotive.com,
like what is your reason for doing things?
What is your motivation for wanting to go on this journey
and trying to take up triathlon?
And you can get all of the books through there.
Otherwise later training acts good luck,
I would be honored to be any small part of your journey.