10 ways to improve your triathlon time

A beginner's guide to a faster triathlon

There's no getting away from dozens of dedicated swimming, cycling, and running sessions if you are going to perform well at a triathlon, but the gains can be slow and hard-won. If two hours of running can only give you a 10-second gain (hypothetically), how many of those tough runs do you have to do to hit your goal?

There are more efficient ways of cutting your time, that don't involve endless hours of sweat or weeks of trial and error. You still have to commit to those endless hours of sweat, but in addition, you can consider the following. Each requires minimal effort but can cut your time considerably:

1. Case the joint - Free

OK, you aren't robbing the transition area, but if you scope it out in advance (the night before for an IRONMAN or Half IRONMAN) you may be able to steal a few seconds. In particular, look for your spot, marked by your bib number and maybe your name, and walk the transition. If it's a shorter race, and you can't visit the transition area the night before, arrive early.

Your spot will be marked with your bib number

Walk to the swim area. Then, walk the route from the swim, entering the transition area. Make note of where the timing sensor is, and the direction you'll have to trot, the shortest way to your bike. Then, walk from your spot to the "Bike Out" sign, and pay attention to where the line on the ground is. That is, the line before which you cannot mount your bike.

Next, look for where the bikes come in, where you'll enter, and trace your way back to the bike. Finally, follow the most direct path to the "Run Out" sign. Memorise this. Before I go to sleep, I like to replay it in my head, making clear note of each exit and entrance.

Some people attach balloons to their bike to make their spot easy to find, but I think that's amateurish and inconsiderate (they may get tangled in other people's things.) Some people will bring a bright towel which they will notice as they run up towards their bike. In the Bintan 70.3 I placed a large leaf on the ground in front of my bike.

2. Practice the transition - Free

Well before the event, you can set up a mock transition, complete with everything you'll have in your race. Bike, helmet, sunglasses, bike shoes, race belt, running shoes, sunglasses, etc. Then practice running up to your transition, getting on the bike, cycling, getting off the bike, and doing the run.

This is a good time to learn how to push your bike from the saddle while jogging in the transition area - it shouldn't swerve or fall, but roll in the direction you push it.

3. Ditch the gloves - Free

Save time, have one less thing to carry, worry about, and deal with.

4. Use elastic race laces - $5 - $15

Don't fiddle with normal shoe strings when putting your running shoes on. Get elastic laces. I like Nathan Lock Laces.

5. Use a race belt - $10-$20

Forget about pinning your bib to your tri suit. Just string the elastic ends of the race belt through the holes in the bib and wear that for the cycle and the run. To the rear on the bike, and to the front while running.

6. Wear a tri suit - $50 - $350

Changing clothes will slow you down. Wear only one thing for all three stages. A triathlon suit will have minimal padding (don't want to swim with sponges between your legs), no sleeves, and a zipper in the front. You will feel equally at ease swimming, cycling, and running in it. Try to find one that has gel padding, not sponge. It'll last longer and absorb less water.

It might not look very fashionable...

...but you swim, cycle (and run) in the same thing.

In cooler climates, you may wear a wet suit - but here in the tropics we don't need those so I'm only commenting on what to wear in hot weather.

7. Use aero bars - $80 - $500

Aero bars clipped on to my road bike

If you're using a road bike, the most effective thing you can do to make yourself faster, especially over a 70.3 or full IRONMAN is to use aero bars. For just a hundred or two, you'll get close to the position you would be in on a tri bike, shaving minutes on a half IRONMAN.

8. Wear triathlon cycling shoes - $100 - $400

Tri bike shoes usually have only one strap (as opposed to two or three for road bike shoes), and that strap may open the opposite way road shoes do. This makes it easier to quickly pull the velcro open from the inside of your foot to the outside. They also tend to have holes in them to allow water to drain out so your wet feet can dry off before the run. Last, they may have little loops to allow you to thread a rubber band through them and connect them to your bike, while they're clipped in to the pedals.

9. Get a bike fit - $100 - $500

Personally, I believe this to be one of the best investments you can make. In fact, I'd do this before buying any bike equipment or anything of real value. A bike fit expert will ensure you're seated in the optimum position to get the most power out of your body without compromising on comfort, all the while staying aerodynamic. Do it, it's well worth the pain you won't feel in your neck!

Here I am getting my road bike better fit for tris

I did this at Loue Bicycles (Singapore). Ask for Timothy - you will thank me later.

10. Wear an aero helmet - $150 - $500

You may look like an alien, but you will also be fast(er). This is one of those things you do before dropping $3k on a new wheelset, as the time gains vs the cost are well worth it.

Average Speeds in Strava and Garmins & Cheating Segments

Average speed can a good way to track performance over time, and also compare between riders. After all, how many of us are not a little bit competitive?

But average speed, if calculated in certain ways, can be very misleading. It can make you look a lot faster or a lot slower than you really are.

Example 1: Record only the fast parts
A group I ride with, which incidentally is very fast, likes to make themselves look even faster by only recording the core (fast) sections of their rides.

They don't start their Garmins until the ride has really begun - all the time coasting out of their driveways and around stop signs to get to the main road gets excluded.

Same goes for the end of the rides - they stop their devices before any cool-down, right after the final sufferfest and final sprints.

The result is high average speeds but low(er) total distances.

Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with this. It's a matter of preference: Do you want faster or longer rides overall?

A real example. The ending is where the rider starts his slow section - the cool down.

These rides become apparent on Strava as the start and end are usually the beginning of the fast parts of a ride, not anybody's house. If the red line meanders into some small residential roads (the starting or ending of the ride) he's probably recording the entire ride, straight from home.

Or, like in the example above, the start and ending are at different places.

Example 2: Enable auto-pause
If you use a Garmin, you'll find the auto-stop feature under Menu -> Training -> Auto Pause/Lap. By setting "Auto Timer Pause" to "When Stopped", the timer will momentarialy stop when you are at red lights or stop signs.

The Auto Timer Setting in the Garmin Edge 705

With this setting off, at stop signs you will observe two things:
1. Your timer will continue
2. Your average speed will slowly erode. So if you are stopped for long enough, your average speed will eventually hit zero, or very close, even if you've been hammering it at 45 km/h for the whole ride.

Or, instead of selecting "When Stopped", you could use the "Custom Speed" setting, which will stop the timer whenever your speed is lower than the custom speed. For example, if you set it to 5 km/h, the timer will stop when you are going 4 km/h, for example. This is to eliminate any erroneous timing as a result of any minor movements while essentially stopped.

Protip: Some people claim is possible to cheat Strava by setting a custom speed and then completing a segment by moving slower than that custom speed. By doing so, you can get the KOM.

However, Strava's take differs: 

"...stopped time is included in segment time to keep leaderboards competitive. So using autopause does not allow for cheating on segments. We time segments based on the time stamp from when you enter a segment and when you finish it, it is not based on the "ride-time" that occurred on a segment but rather the elapsed time."

Source: Strava Knowledge Base

Personally, I record my entire ride, including the slow parts just getting to the main roads, and the cool-down coming home. This gives me a lower average speed.

I do enable the auto-pause; I don't think it's accurate to be recording stops, whether they are breaks or red lights.

However, if you are using Strava, most of this really doesn't matter. Strava will automatically crop out your stops, giving you that faster average speed. So you could have an average speed recording of 28.0 km/h on your Garmin, but 30.0 in Strava.

This seems consistent with the idea that you can cheat and get KOMs by completing a segment slower than your custom threshold speed. In fact, you can even set your custom speed to 99.9 km/h....

So next time you see a 40km/h average find out how it was recorded, and next time you see the slowest guy around getting KOMs which you know he's not capable of, ask him what his threshold speed is set to.

Training for an 8-Hour Enduro

The Challenge
In just four weeks I'll be racing in an 8-hour off-road enduro. It was just announced a few days ago and I'm not really prepared. This leaves little time to train, but enough time to develop a strategy.

I'm most concerned with the following:
1. Hydration & Nutrition
2. Pace Strategy
3. Psychological State
4. Training

Here I am finishing a lap in last year's 12-hour night race

Hydration & Nutrition
I tend to not drink enough water, which is a real mistake in this oppressive, tropical heat of Singapore. Last year I did the first few laps with no water - I felt fine - but then about 6 hours in I was too dehydrated to push on. The ultimate way to learn.

Lucky for me, I have a good friend to coach me and monitor me for this race who knows what he's doing. He'll be racing vicariously through me - he's down with a broken ankle (from being drunk in Korea I hear). He has been racing and riding for maybe 20 years (me - only 4) and if I follow his advice I'm sure I'll benefit tremendously.

Because this race is in the format of laps around a course, with the winner determined by how many laps he or she completes over the period of 8 hours, I'll see him each lap. We'll have a pit and he'll be there (drinking beer I'm sure) and ordering me to follow his instructions on what to eat and drink.

For my long road rides (100km or more) or off-road races (usually about 45km) I fuel myself with Hammer Perpetuem. It provides me with the sustenance to feel neither full nor hungry, and prevents me from bonking. I've tested it enough to know that I need one scoop (135 calories) per hour.

Hammer recommends drinking a few sips of water after each slug of Perpetuem; I consume about 600ml of water per 4 scoops, which would amount to 1.2 litres over this race. This is following Hammer's "Multi-Hour Bottle" approach. Obviously that's not nearly enough water for hydration, just to make the solution go down.

Another approach Hammer offers is "The One-Hour Bottle", which they say is best when racing with support. For me, (one scoop per hour) it'll mean I mix a scoop in a bottle, fill it with water, and drink one an hour.

The benefit of this over the "Multi-Hour Bottle" is that it fulfills more hydration requirements. The drawback is it will only last one hour, not four. But that's OK because I'll have the option of stopping in the pit every lap, which is 6.8 km long.

In addition, I'll need plenty of other liquids, specifically more water and some kind of energy drink with electrolytes.

Then I'll need some more immediate energy source, like gels or some other sugars.

Pace Strategy
For all the mountain bike races I've ever done, even one 12-hour night race (which I didn't finish), I've always thought the best pace strategy is to start hard and fast, and grab a good position early on, and hold it till the end, if possible.

However, for a race this long, I think I'll just treat it like a ride. I will not attempt to secure a leading position at any time. I will just pace myself, steadily and consistently. I hope that my first few laps are not much faster than my final laps. Unless, of course, I somehow find that I have energy during those last few laps. Then I can nail it. But I don't foresee this happening.

I know myself. I will burn myself out too early if I'm not careful. 8 hours is a long time.

If I really pace myself so consistently, I believe others will drop out towards the end and I will be able to finish (respectably - say, the top half)! I'd be happy with that.

Psychological State
This relates to the pace strategy, in that I need to be mentally relaxed, and not over-anxious to hammer it when getting passed by dozens and dozens of others.

Last year - at this stage, late into the night, my psychological state was bordering on delirious

I need to strike a balance between staying competitive, to place as high as possible, yet having fun and still enjoying it. Once it stops being fun it's not worth it.

Next, I need to leave all mechanical and nutritional burdens to my crew, and not let them weigh on my mind.

Finally, some athletes use imagery or visualization to imagine the course, the lines, the actions, from a first-person point of view. This is said to reinforce the pathways between the brain and the body and can result in better coordination and technique. I'm not too sure about it but I can try it.

Training
Given the fact that I only have one month, I won't be able to train to a state of being fully ready to complete this race, on form, at a high level of fitness. But I have built up a decent base of mileage over the past 6 months. Last week I only did 162 km (exactly 100 miles), and I lack the endurance needed for this race.

I'll raise my plan a bit to include more frequent morning rides, and even longer weekend rides. I normally only do two morning rides (35-45km each), and a 120km weekend ride. I should do three morning rides and 162km for the weekend.

This weekend I will recon the course with my crippled alcoholic coach and try to find out the exact course. This will help me in the earlier point - psychological state - in that if I am keenly aware of the turns, berms, boulders and flats - the whole topography - I'll have that much more of an edge.

Last, one bold thing I could attempt ("could" and "attempt" being key) is my own 8-hour ride. Go to the course one weekend and see how many laps I can complete! That would be the ultimate and would set a real, actionable and meaningful benchmark for the final event.

The Course