“How Embarrassing!” – Have you ever had a ‘moment’ during a Triathlon and did you learn from it?

Coach Dougal has been doing the sport before some of us were even born! So ignoring the various fashion trends that have passed in triathlon he certainly has seen his fair share of classic embarrassing moments. Read on to hear about his top observations and maybe use it as a learning point before you make the same mistake!

Don’t be that person who a) has a mechanical and b) needs a lot of help to fix it!

By the very nature of the triathlon event taking more than an hour, or even up to 17 hours, there are plenty of opportunities for us to experience an embarrassing situation but, at the same time, learn from it.

There are lots examples of incidents at all levels of racing, from your local pool based fun race, to the Olympics, we have seen some entertaining, some comical and some downright and toe-curling scenes, but lessons can be learned!

1. Which Way Now?

The rules for a Triathlon state that the competitor is responsible for knowing the course and following it as described in the Race Brief. So how many of us can confess to not knowing the whole route before we set off to race?

It’s 1999; the BBC is covering the London Triathlon ‘Live’ the men’s Elite wave is being broadcast for the first time, and Simon Lessing (multiple World Champion and Sydney 2000 Gold medal prospect) is the hot favourite to win AGAIN! During the run, the BBC camera motorcycle takes a wrong turn and ends up in a Docklands dead-end street, the leaders, merely following the motorcycle, had to do a quick u-turn and rejoin the course. Whose fault? Well, the athletes should have known the course!

A novice triathlete (who shall remain nameless to protect me, sorry, himself!) is competing in their first-ever triathlon. He is so intent on doing well on the bike that he misses the signage to make a right turn, 2km’s down the road he notices a lack of competitors and has to u-turn and head back to T2 rather sheepish. Whose fault? Obviously, the athlete, but, even if you know the course, keep your concentration as it is easy to become distracted, and miss turns.

2. Don’t blame the tools!

You can’t help it if you get a puncture, or a piece of kit fails unexpectedly (see this athlete at London 2012), but some situations can be avoided:

An athlete has a bike that has been in use for several races and quite a lot of training on a turbo trainer involving lots of sweating. Unknown to the athlete, over time, the inner gear cable has become corroded. Just as the athlete reaches a downhill section on the course, they selects the big chainring and as they get into the correct gear the cable snaps. When they get to the next uphill section, there is much grinding of big gears, a massive reduction in cadence and lots of internal cursing! Whose fault? Regular inspection of the cables, especially before a race, could have helped.

3. Keep Calm and Don’t Carry On!

Nutrition and Hydration are covered in other Blogs on this site and the importance of getting the right plan has been covered, however, not sticking with that plan can be disastrous.

During a long course event an athlete drops their bottle containing the correct mixture of nutrients to cover them for the bike, in a panic and thinking about the lost time to go back and get the bottle, they decide to leave it and rely on the racecourse nutrition. Halfway through the run, they are surprised to find that they have run out of energy after completely losing their nutrition plan. The one minute required to get the bottle would have saved the extra 25 minutes the run took due to no energy. Whose fault? Racing is important, but trashing your whole event instead of thinking of the consequences can be detrimental to your final result.

4. Use the Correct Gear!

Equipment issues have already been mentioned, so what do we mean by using the correct gear?

Witnessed during a middle distance event: lots of athletes were coming out of T1 still feeling dizzy from the swim. They then jumped on their bikes to find that there was a very steep incline……quite embarrassing when several of them fell off and ended up in the bushes, not only risking injury but also causing a significant hold up to athletes behind them. Whose fault? There are two learning points here: they should have checked the exit of the transition and realised that they should have been aware of the incline, and they should have selected a suitable gear to allow for that as they mounted their bike.

A classic example of the difference this can make to a race is the very first Leeds ITU race in 2016; Alistair Brownlee was 6th out of the swim, but he knew that the start of the bike was immediately uphill. He had practised for several weeks before ensuring that he could get his shoes onto his feet and be powering up the hill whilst most people were still riding with their feet on top of their shoes. He went on to win after leaving most of them standing on the bike as he was prepared for a very unusual exit onto the bike.

5. And Finally

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but be prepared to learn from them. After each race, review what went well, what didn’t go so well and make changes to see a better result next time. What seems like a simple change, or a quick, 2-minute check of your route, kit or nutrition, could make a big difference at the end of the day.

We’re here to help

Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.

The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.

If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.

Dougal GowAugust 26, 2020Dougal Gow, coachingComment

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