We’re kicking off the 2010 season here at the Pointy Helmet Coaching blog with a series of “Top 10″ posts. First up is a topic that comes up often in triathlon, whether you’re a beginner or veteran. Our sport attracts all kinds of people who say all kinds of silly things. Here is my Top 10 list of the silliest things that triathletes say!

10.  ”I need as light a bike as possible, because having lightweight equipment is very important.” Unless you’re climbing very steep grades, the weight of your equipment doesn’t really matter in triathlon.  Especially here in pancake-flat Florida, you’re much better served getting equipment that is as *aerodynamic* as possible, such as an aero helmet, deep section wheels and a skintight race suit.  Losing weight off your body always helps, but going from a 21 pound bike to a 19 pound bike will actually not gain you very much time in a steady-state cycling effort.

9.  ”I need to carry all of my nutrition with me during my race.” This depends on the distance you’re racing, but usually this is not necessary.

For triathlons with total duration under 90 minutes, you don’t need any nutrition (except for some water, probably in the form of a single bike bottle) unless it’s very hot or humid.

For races that are 90 minutes-3 hours, you can consider taking in some nutrition if you want, but you can usually get this from the on-course aid stations.

For Half Ironman races and longer, the course will almost certainly have well-stocked aid stations on the bike and run, so all you need to do is carry what you need to get from one aid station to the next.

That means rarely do you need more than 2 bike bottles, huge quantities of gels in your Bento Box, or that cumbersome Fuel Belt on the run.  Carrying less stuff = a more streamlined bike/run = a faster race.

8.  ”My bike is broken; I’ll just have my Local Bike Shop (LBS) fix it.” While sometimes it’s necessary to take your bike into the shop, the majority of bicycle maintenance and repairs can be completed by you, with some knowledge and practice.  I’ll be doing a separate article on this topic in the near future, but you should certainly be able to change your flat tires, clean your bike, adjust the shifting and replace certain parts without having to drop your bike off at your LBS.

7.  ”Doing these squats will help my bike strength.” Cycling is an endurance event.  Even if you’re pushing hard, you’re still doing 90+ “reps” per minute (i.e. each pedal stroke) at a relatively low “weight.”  Any strength training you do should be as specific as possible to your athletic needs, which for most triathletes means a focus on functional strength and injury prevention  High-weight, low-rep squats just don’t fit into that plan for triathletes.  Go ride instead!

6.  ”I can do that flying mount/dismount on race day, even though I’ve never tried it before!” The flying mount is when, exiting T1, you jump on your bike in one swift motion.  The flying dismount is when, approaching T2, you jump off your bike and hit the ground running, literally.  For both maneuvers, your shoes remain clipped to the pedals the whole time.  Both are difficult to do (the mount is harder than the dismount), and unless you practiced before the race, you shouldn’t do the flying mount or dismount.  Too many triathletes have injured themselves (or others) by attempting the flying maneuvers without having mastered them in practice.  You only save a few seconds with each, and if you screw them up you risk injury.  Don’t do these unless you’ve practiced them.

5.  ”Aero helmets look silly.  I won’t be wearing one.” Rubbish!  Pointy Helmets, in terms of “dollars spent per second of time saved” are one of the most efficient ways to spend your equipment budget.  Only aerobars and a skintight suit are more cost-effective.  Once you’ve decided you’re serious about triathlon, go get your aero helmet.  Get one of the ones with the long tail that covers your ears–there are several models on the market that cost between $100 and $200.

4.  ”I’m going to pump my tires to 160psi, that will make me faster!” The notion that higher tire pressure is always better is one of the most common (but easily correctable) misconceptions among cyclists and triathletes.

The reason we use pneumatic tires (i.e. tires with a layer of pressurized air between the tire and the wheel proper) is because the road surface we ride on isn’t perfectly smooth.  The layer of pressurized air absorbs the minor imperfections in the road surface, allowing the wheel to glide along efficiently.  Obviously, if there’s not enough air in the tire, the tire will deform too much, causing increased rolling resistance.  However, if there’s too much air in the tires, the wheel will “bounce” over the imperfections in the road surface, wasting energy with each bounce!

The goal is to put enough air in the tires to minimize tire deformation, but not so much that the wheel bounces around.  For most riders, assuming 20-23mm tire width, this pressure is between 100-125 psi.  Less for smaller riders and rider tires, more for larger riders and narrower tires.

3.  ”You don’t need to buy all that aero equipment.  Just go train more!” This is a false dichotomy.  The amount of training you do is completely independent of the amount of money you spend on equipment.  Spend as much on equipment as your budget can afford, while also training as much as your schedule can allow.  It’s really that simple!

2.  ”I don’t deserve to buy all of that go-fast equipment.” This is the second cousin once removed of #3.  It implies that you’re not fast enough for the aero equipment to make a difference.  The reality is that aero equipment works at all speeds, and in fact will save you *more* raw time at slower speeds!  If it makes you happy to buy that set of aero wheels, then by all means go for it, even if you ride the bike leg of a sprint triathlon at 14mph!

1.  ”People will make fun of me if I show up at my first triathlon with a mountain bike.” False.  We were all new to triathlon at some point.  Doing your first triathlon on whatever bike you already have isn’t embarrassing, it’s a smart financial decision.  If you buy a fancy bike, and then decide after your first race that triathlon isn’t for you, then you’ve just lost a bunch of money.

Besides, most triathletes at your first race will be too absorbed in themselves to even notice you.  Of the 10% that do notice you:

• 30% will smile, and/or offer words of encouragement to you.  Most triathletes recognize that it’s in everyone’s best interest to maintain a positive environment at these races, to encourage triathletes to keep racing.
• 65% will notice you, feel positive toward you, but not say anything.  I fall into this category.  I privately say to myself, “oh cool, a new triathlete–I hope she has a good time today!” but I decide to say nothing because I’m awkward and would probably end up accidentally saying something stupid.
• 5% will make a face at you or say something stupid.  However, these are the sort of people that you’d ignore under normal circumstances–they’re just douchebags.  Take pride in the fact that you’re a better person than them (and you’re probably faster than them)!

So, about 0.5% of triathletes will treat you negatively for bringing a MTB to your first race.  These people are assholes anyway.  The remaining 99.5% will either do nothing or give you positive encouragement.  Ride your mountain bike with pride!

The Cemetery TT is a fixture of the Gainesville community. The Team Florida collegiate athletes use it as a benchmark to gauge their fitness, and the strongest Gainesville cyclists use it as a low-key chance to duke it out against the clock. After all, in the “race of truth,” the clock never lies.

For full disclosure, I have never participated in this race. There has only been one instance of the Cemetery TT since I moved to Gainesville, and I had a prior commitment. I have, however, participated in more than my fair share of triathlons (of which the cycling leg bears a strong resemblance to a standalone TT) and time trials of all distances.

The distinguishing feature of the Cemetery TT is the set of unique, arbitrary and unusual equipment restrictions. To quote Team Florida Cycling coach Phil Gaimon on the equipment rules:

“Equipment rules: aerobars, TT bikes, deep clincher wheels, shoe covers, and skinsuits are okay.
Aero helmets, tubular wheels, disc wheels, and trispokes are prohibited. You will not get scored if you come out on this stuff, because aero helmets aren’t as safe in the event of crashes, and no one wants to stand around while you change a flatted tubular or try to find a tube with a 2-mile valve.”

Of course, some of this reasoning is simply illogical.  Aero helmets are no less safe than regular vented helmets in a crash, and during a TT there is no one “standing around” waiting for you to change your flatted tubular.  (In fact, a flat tubular is faster to change than a flat clincher, if you do it right!)

So I followed up with Phil on this issue, and he cited two reasons for these equipment restrictions:

1. It’s the way things have always been done.
2. Since most collegiate athletes can’t afford fancy gear, we want the technological playing field to remain level.

Of course, reason #1 is fundamentally flawed.  Not only is the fact that something has been happening for a long time NOT proof that it is correct, the UCI (International Cycling Union) has a track record of changing equipment restrictions that have been in place for a long time.  Example: the retroactive changing of the Hour Record equipment rules, invalidating Boardman’s and Obree’s hour records that they set in grotesquely awesome positions with some hideously fast equipment.

Reason #2 is, in theory, a perfectly valid reason for implementing equipment restrictions.  There are few higher priorities in the sport of cycling than encouraging new athletes to compete at a high level.  The cost of TT equipment is a legitimate hurdle that these athletes must overcome to be competitive.  Setting equipment restrictions is a simple and effective way of allowing college athletes to get competitive experience without sacrificing their student loan payments.

However, the current equipment restrictions do not adequately reduce the financial barrier to entry of these cyclists.  The use of TT bikes adds a minimum of $1500 in cost to a collegiate cyclist looking to be competitive.  The use of deep clincher wheels is also another expense, as TT wheels are often deeper, heavier and less practical than the aero wheels used in road and crit racing.

Additionally, some of the equipment banned by the current rule-set makes no sense from a financial standpoint.  Aero helmets are not particularly expensive ($100-$200, about the same as a good set of clip-on aerobars, which are LEGAL under the current rule-set).  Tri-spoke wheels are perhaps the best “bang-for-your-buck” wheelset a college athlete could get.  Tubular wheels are often cheaper than their clincher counterparts, especially when obtained secondhand.  Wheel covers for a training wheel, effectively turning the wheel into a super-aero disc wheel, cost $100, a very reasonable price.  All of these pieces of equipment are banned on the pretense of either safety or convenience, both of which are largely non-factors in time trial racing.

The current equipment restrictions for the Cemetery TT are not appropriate.  They do not keep costs down for college athletes, and include the nonsensical banning of perfectly reasonable equipment.  Additionally, they do not allow those with tons of aero gear the chance to actually use a significant portion of their equipment.

So, what *should* the equipment restrictions be?

Simple.  Ban all aero equipment, period.  Run the TTs in an “Eddy Merckx” style–no aerobars, no deep wheels, no aero helmets, nothing.  Let the college athletes show up on the same road bikes they use for their weekly training rides and duke it out.  Total extra cost: $0.  (Well, maybe clip-on aerobars would be OK.   The expense is reasonable, it’s easy to install/remove them for the TTs and they get the athlete 95% of the way to a full-on TT setup in terms of the total bike/rider aerodynamic package.)

Also, maintain a “best human effort” competitive category as a throwaway.  This would be for the athletes who want to show up with their disc wheels, aero helmets and other aero gadetry.  For many athletes, simply getting a chance to use their aero gear in a competitive setting is half of the run!  (Course records could not be set in this division.  Intra-category records could, of course, be set, but the official course record would have to come from the Eddy Merckx division, just as the current Hour Record does now.)

The collegiate cycling TT equipment rules are scheduled to change next year (for all non-A riders) or the year after (for the A riders).  Aero equipment will be severely restricted.  For college athletes, this is unquestionably a GOOD thing.  It’s time that the Cemetery TT followed suit.

If you wanted to improve your balance beam technique, would you include 30 miles per week of running in your workout schedule?

If you wanted to be a better golfer, would it help to take batting practice a few times a month?

If you wanted to improve your swimming, cycling and running, would you attend a class in “muscle activation” once per week?

Most would answer “no” to the first three questions, but change their tune when it comes to triathlon. Evidently many triathletes feel that strength training is a vital component of their training programs. Why? I’m not sure.

To be fair, for some triathletes, strength training is extremely important. Older athletes lose muscle mass as they continue to age, and regular strength training helps maintain strength and minimize muscle loss. Athletes recovering from injuries would also do well to utilize strength training on a regular basis, to rehabilitate the injured muscles in a controlled environment before returning to sport-specific training.

But for most triathletes, the best way to get better at swimming, biking and running is to do lots of–you guessed it–swimming, biking and running!

The principal of specificity is one that many of us, particularly those of us that are still young and healthy, should consider before devoting our precious training time to attending strength sessions.

There are TWO free clinics next weekend: “Introduction to Triathlons” on Saturday and “How a Triathlon Works” on Sunday.  If you couldn’t make today’s clinic, don’t fret–the same material will be covered in next Saturday’s clinic.  And if you’re looking for detailed information on the logistics of a triathlon race, don’t miss Sunday’s clinic!

Sign up for one or both–they’re both free to attend!

After this coming weekend, we’re taking two weekends off from the clinics–I’m racing Ironman Wisconsin on September 13 and attending a USA Triathlon coaching clinic the following weekend.  We’ll resume with another “Introduction to Triathlons” clinic again on Saturday, September 26.

In October, look for more clinics on new topics that will help you maximize your training efforts in the rapidly-approaching off season.  (We’ll also probably move the clinic start time to later in the afternoon to avoid conflicts with Saturday morning rides/runs put on by the Tri Gators and the Gainesville Cycling Club.)

A good triathlon coach:

1. Plans workouts for the athlete (requiring knowledge of workout timing/intensity/workload, race selection, periodization, etc)
2. Gives the athlete technical instruction (requiring knowledge of exercise physiology, swim technique, training with power, bike fit, other relevant equipment choices, etc)
3. Provides motivation, personal and moral support (requiring communication/teaching/interpersonal skills, time available to be with the athlete personally, “reading between the lines” skills, etc)

The time and energy the good coach devotes to these tasks is variable, and depends on the specific needs of the athlete.  For example, a Junior or newer athlete may require more technical instruction, while an elite athlete may have plenty of motivation and technical skills, and requires only expert planning of his or her workouts.

(Notice how nowhere on this list does it mention that a good triathlon coach must be also an elite athlete, or even an ex-elite athlete.  Often, I find that this creates an “I did it this way, so you should too” attitude in the coach that is unproductive for most athletes.)

While the skills to plan workouts and provide technical instruction can largely be learned through study and experience, the last basic task of a coach–the ability to motivate his or her athletes and relate to them on a personal level–is far more difficult to learn, and is far more often simply part of the coach’s personal identity and world view.

The ability to motivate an athlete, to communicate well, to teach effectively and to understand what’s really going on “under the surface” of the athlete is fundamentally what separates the “decent” coaches from the great ones.  It can be the largest factor in determing the success of an athlete (behind the athlete’s basic fitness level, of course).

In the end, if you’re looking for a coach, you can probably find many who will provide you with a good training plan over the course of weeks or months.  You may even find several with a wealth of technical knowledge to assist you in your training.  However, the coach you want to hire is the one among those whom you feel best motivates you, communicates easily with you and understands you as a person and athlete.

Read it here: http://www.sportsscientists.com

Assuming that an athlete is working with a seven-day training cycle (which, though not always optimal from a training perspective, is often best from a logistical perspective), there are two general schools of thought:

1. Do the long bike and long run on consecutive days (usually on the weekend).  This is logistically often the easiest, and trains the body to “run on tired legs.”
2. Separate the long bike and long run by as much time as possible.  This allows for maximum recovery between these two taxing workouts.

I tend to side more with the second school of thought–the recovery benefit from separating the big workouts tends to outweigh the training benefit of doing the run with tired legs. Also, it’s very important to complete the long runs with proper technique, and any fatigue makes it that much more difficult to maintain form over the course of 2+ hours of running.

However, I can appreciate the logistical difficulty of trying to squeeze a long run into a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, when one may be working 8 hours, commuting another 2 and have family obligations. So, there’s no one obvious solution.

Here are some ideas I consider when trying to deal with this conundrum of conflicts:

1. Remove the long run from the schedule entirely.  Instead, increase frequency and duration of the other runs.
2. Do a double run on a mid-day week.  Instead of a 14 mile run, two 7 mile runs may be easier to schedule.  The training benefit isn’t quite the same, but sometimes this is better than the alternatives.
3. Do two “sort of long” runs, one mid-week and one on the weekend.  A 10 mile run on Wednesday and again on Sunday may be easier to accomplish than a 14 mile run on Wednesday and a 6 mile run on Sunday, or vice versa.  This has the additional benefit of avoiding the common fallacy of making one’s long run too great a proportion of one’s weekly miles.

In the end, there is no one solution to this problem.  It really depends on the needs of each individual athlete.  However, for coaches and athletes alike, it’s good to keep these sorts of things in mind as we plan our schedules.