Winter is here...How to train safely
Here Coach Diogo discusses the ways to ensure you are more visible at winter and how you can subsequently still take advantage of a time when most people are hiding in the warmth of their home. Feel smug as you come back inside from the cold.
Stay visible and train with friends – it makes the conditions more bearable!
Finally, we bite the bullet: winter has arrived and with it , the weather Triathletes hate and makes the house warmer and the outdoors colder. This is often the time that everyone trains indoors at home or at the gym. Though indoor training is becoming more and more effective, sometimes you need to and should go out and train: some skills you simply can’t learn on your turbo trainer or on a treadmill so you do need to practice outside. With training outdoors, you do heighten your risk of injury or accident but you can mitigate the risk and enjoy the great outdoors at this time of year!
Triathletes often do their workouts on their own. However, in winter time, roads can be very treacherous and dangerous for triathletes and cyclists: there can be ice on the road (in random places); some dirt left by the rain or farm machinery; or wet leaves and so the risk of falling increases. Furthermore, there are fewer hours of daylight so you need to plan your workouts around this or be visible! Equally low sunlight in normally visible conditions can still mean that it is hard to see cyclists when you are silhouetted by a blinding sun.
If you’re riding alone, there are still ways to factor in safety for your session:
Have a planned route. you can estimate the time it will take you and you’ll know if you’ll make it on time before it gets dark.
Let someone know where you’re going and how long you will be. This ensures someone will know where to look for you if you need any kind of assistance.
Make sure you have spares and ways to fix most problems. If you have to stop to fix a mechanical, you will want to do this quickly and you can only do that if you have everything you need!
In winter, it is always good to have someone to train with: they can be a training partner or a group. Not only do other make the weather seem less bad, but they add an additional layer of safety. Having company during a workout can help you quickly in case of any sort of incident. It is better to have someone with you just in case you need to call for help. Hopefully they aren’t needed so then it is also better to have company to relish the enjoyment of a crisp winter workout with your training buddies in a café post session.
Poor weather conditions means that the roads are going to be in a worse state of repair than the summer. Avoid puddles on the side of the road as you never know if there is a pothole in the puddle and if there is, you really want to avoid diving front wheel first into it! Changing a tyre with cold hands is not a fun or fast activity, so it is always better to mitigate the likelihood of getting a puncture!
The shorter days mean that squeezing sessions in and around normal daily activities will result in riding in the dark or lower light levels. Always ride with lights. It just stops you from being caught out and not being able to continue your session as well as acting as an additional method of being conspicuous! It is easy to forget that athletes really are less visible for drivers when is less light on the road so make sure you choose some proper, bright clothing, not only for your bike rides but also for your running workouts. You want to make sure everyone sees you doing your training session – it is far cooler to be labelled as the nutcase training, than the nutcase on the sofa! Also, it’s a good opportunity to break all the fashion rules and make sure you are bright!
With the winter season, many triathletes prefer to move to single discipline events like running races. Several of the events are off-road. Ice can be found as easily off roads as well as on roads! If you have a XC race to do, make sure you can see the course before the race to avoid any risks and wear spikes! Running cross-country and on the trails means you have to work your lateral stability more than usual road running. Therefore, make sure you are stable on your single leg work! Not only will you reduce the risk of ankle sprains, but you will be becoming more efficient for the road season. Equally with single discipline races, there may be approach for triathletes to take them less seriously than their A-events in the summer. This is totally fine but that doesn’t mean you neglect a good warm up or cool down. With the lower temperatures, the shorter durations and higher intensities of many of the preferred single-discipline events, a good and lengthy warm up is essential along with a cool down!
Winter training doesn’t mean you need to stop going out into the “big bad world”, it’s a good time for you to practice your bike and running skills. After all the saying goes: “winter miles, summer smiles”. However, you must plan to train safely and wisely. Make sure you can see and can be seen on the roads, the road or trail conditions will not be the same as during summer so training accordingly; when possible, get someone to go out with you or at least try to join a group, if that’s not possible, make sure you know where you’re going and how long you plan to be out for and ensure someone else knows it too.
Have fun and train safe!
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