If you don’t watch your energy supply in time before the T2 the bonk will hit you, you should probably do a negative split…
Didn’t understand a thing? Then this is just right for you. PowerBar provides you with the small ABC of the jargon of the Triathlon scene so you can participate in triathlon small talk right from the start and of course, focus completely on your training.
Triathlon is a sport that is executed globally, which is reflected in its own athlete slang. You will soon notice that there is no way around some English terms – Probably already before you enter your first competition. Because first, you have to decide: Which kind of the splash-mash-dash do you want to perform; The Olympic kind, the Ironman, the 70.3 or the IRT? During the Olympic kind you have to swim 1,5 kilometres, cycle for 40 kilometres and run 10 kilometres. The Ironman consists of 3,6 kilometres swimming before 180,2 kilometres cycling and finally running a marathon. Fans of Game of Thrones can be excited: If you make it in 15 to 17 hours, you’ll count to the ironfolk. The 70.3 triathlon got its name from the distance one has to complete here. As the name already says, it’s 70.3 miles. On the other hand the IRT is an acronym for In- Reverse Triathlon which stands for completing all disciplines in reverse. As soon as you’re at the start line, you can pick a rabbit. No, not the animal. A Rabbit is the fellow racer you pick out early in a race as a person to follow and eventually beat. Once you did that, right after the kickoff, you’ll go straight into the washing machine. Don’t worry, you don’t have to squeeze yourself into the machine. Anyhow, it will still be wild. With the term washing machine athletes describe the wild start of the swimming part of the race. Then it’s all about who reaches T1 first. T1 is where the change between swimming and cycling takes place. For the cycling, part aero bars are recommended. An aero bar is a special handlebar that enables a very aerodynamic riding position and therefore to gain more speed.
As long as you take care of your energy supply you’re on the right way – even experienced athletes know the so called bonk only too well. What happens during a bonk is that previously stored glycogen is suddenly depleted and you’ll feel extremely hungry. Fatigue sets in. One way to completely avoid the dreaded bonk: The negative split strategy. Negative splitting means that you’re racing the first half of the race at a slower pace than the second half. One way to find your way back into the race is changing the cadence, which means adapting the pedal frequency to your stamina – and therefore the pace on the bike. The idea behind this is to achieve the so-called second wind. This means being able to suddenly perform at a top level with less exertion.
In T2 the switch from bike to running takes place. Now the finish line is almost waiting for you. Don’t forget Better DFL (Dead F***ing Last) than DNF (Did not finish). To prevent this, make sure you complete one or two brick sessions before the race. Those are workouts in which you only train two of the three disciplines.
If you understand all of that by now you may call yourself a real Tri-Geek. You’re not just talking about triathlons, you’re living it, breathing it…and letting everyone else know about it.