A triathlon is a continuous multisport event comprising of a swim, bike and run. There are various distances you can complete, from a super sprint (400m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run) up to an IRONMAN (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run) –and multiples of that!

The race includes the time to change between each discipline.

There are many different distances for a triathlon, but there are five common distances:

Super Sprint Distance

– 400m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run

Sprint Distance

– 750m swim, 20km Bike, 5km run

Standard or Olympic Distance

– 1,500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run

Middle or Half IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3

– 1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run

IRONMAN or Long Course

3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run.

For triathlons, they will go, swim, bike then run. The timers start at the beginning of the swim and stop as you cross the finish line after the run, so getting changed between disciplines is included in your overall time. This is called the transition.

For other multisport events, there may be different orders. Many, though, follow that order.

Duathlons often have a run before the bike and a second run.

Biathlon is traditionally cross-country skiing and shooting!

If you are entering a first timer-friendly event, then you really don’t need much. British Triathlon offer several events that are aimed at getting participants into the sport.

Therefore, you don’t need to go and buy the latest kit or gear.

To complete a triathlon, you will need:

– Bike (any will do!)

– Helmet

– Running shoes

Other equipments that will help you with your race are:

– Goggles

– Wetsuit (may be needed for non-pool swimming

– Tri suit (a garment you can wear all through the race from start to finish)

– A number belt (you can tie your number to it, and it helps it be worn on the bike and run.

Everything else is just for comfort!

For training, we would also recommend:

– A comfortable set of cycling shorts

– A good light-weight jacket you can wear in all sorts of conditions

– A water bottle to take with you for sessions.

For a complete and full kit list, check out this page.

Each person will have a very specific training programme, so the general answer is difficult to give.

For your first triathlon, you should consider making sure you can complete the distances you are racing, and this starts with:

– Make sure you can swim

– Make sure you are happy riding a bike.

Thereafter, we would suggest 1-2 sessions of each sport and make sure you do some general strength or fitness. That will really help. For more advice on training, check out our Training Plan Pages.

Do a little bit, and often, don’t try and do big “hero” sessions!

Before choosing your first race, there are a few considerations you should take when making the decision.

1. Current Fitness levels We often talk about general fitness and then more specifically triathlon fitness. Triathlon fitness looks at being able to complete the different distances. For most new triathletes in the shorter distances, that would be more about your ability to hold your technique or sit on the bike for that long. General fitness is the fitness you have from what you do already. If you are already doing classes that last 30-60 mins, you may find that you don’t. need that much more fitness to complete the shorter triathlon distances. The individual sporst builds its own fitness, and also crosses over as general fitness too. IF you already race one of the distances (e.g. a half marathon) you may be able to do a distance below that quite comfortably (a standard distance).

2. Pool or open water swim? If you are are not so confident in the water, can’t swim well, or don’t like the idea of swimming in a lake, river or the sea, thence choosing a triathlon with a pool swim will be a good move.

3. Hilly or Flat? Hilly courses, or courses off-road runs, will take longer to complete, choosing flatter courses will make them a little easier

It can be difficult to shoehorn an exact time that you need to train for a triathlon. Given your general fitness, you may be more than capable of doing a triathlon next weekend. However, assuming you can swim and you can ride a bike, then our plans last for the following durations:

– Super sprint and sprint triathlons – 12 weeks

– Olympic or Standard Distances – 20 weeks

– Half IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 – 24 weeks

– IRONMAN or Long course triathlon – 32 weeks.

These are guides, and people may do more or less. Our Virtual squad runs for the whole year. but offers training suitable for the season. You can do more or less depending on your own circumstances.

We use software called Training Peaks which is free and fantastic at tracking your fitness and improvement.

Coaches can be great to help you set goals and track progress. Remember it isn’t a linear journey though.

Of course! You may choose a shorter race to match your swimming competency and build distances from there. Perhaps a pool-based event is better than an open-water swim.

You can swim any of the strokes except for backstroke (The water safety will think you are in trouble if you go on your back).

If you are in trouble, lie on your back, and the safety crew will come to you. You can stick an arm in the air too.

However, if you just want a breather, resort to breaststroke.

Commonly, athletes get out of breath because they start too hard, or the water is too cold, and they are not comfortable in it. Take a few moments before you start swimming hard get used to the water temperature and be confident about your swimming effort. Just because it is a race doesn’t mean you need to go max effort.

You won’t need a wetsuit for a pool-based triathlon.

However, for open water events, you will need to consider a wetsuit. British Triathlon’s rules around wetsuits have recently been updated, but if you have to wear one will depend on the race distance, air temperature, and age (older athletes can wear wetsuits in warmer temperatures – up to a point).

Any wetsuit will do for your first triathlon. However, to help make your life easier, a triathlon or swimming wetsuit would be ideal. Often companies hire these, or people are looking to do second-hand deals or will lend you one for your first race.

The water temperature is measured on the day and it is worth keeping an eye on what the event organisers are suggesting.

The start of a triathlon can be fairly chaotic. It is something that we will work with our athletes deliberately to become confident in that environment.

For your first event, instead of going right to the very middle of it, you can avoid getting accidentally kicked or finding yourself in what is affectionately known as the “Washing Machine” by starting near the back or on the edge of the group.

You can allow a few seconds for everyone to start and then you can do your own pace and swim behind them all. The chances are you will be faster that way and overtake many of the keener athletes who are less comfortable in that environment anyway.

Drafting is the act of staying behind a lead athlete and gaining an aerodynamic (or hydrodynamic) advantage. In triathlons, drafting is not permitted on the bike section in most races unless specifically said.

Draft-Legal races are the ones where you see a bunch of athletes cycling together. This is the format that the elites race in bigger events like the Olympic games. Some Age-group racing may be draft-legal, but this is usually reserved for qualifying events.

If the event is draft-legal, you will need to have a road bike without aerobars.

Aerobars are handlebars that allow riders to sit in a more aerodynamic position. This position resembles a skier (and is where the idea came from).

Aerobars are permitted in most races (not draft-legal ones) but are not mandatory.

When race day comes, there are likely to be a lot of nerves and expectations. Hopefully, your training has gone to plan, so the reality will be you can relax and enjoy putting all that training into good use.

Here are some peculiarities that are different to triathlon events that are worth knowing about:

– Transition zones. You will need to leave your bike etc., at the transition for your swim. It is worth understanding the timings for setting up as some transitions close a set time before the start of the race.

– Toilet queues! Often everyone wants to go to the toilet just before the start of the race, pack some toilet roll and allow for a bit of time in the queue.

– Other people’s bikes and equipment make people and the event look quite series. However, everyone will remember their first race, and it is. a very friendly sport!

– Faff! With three sports, triathletes like to faff a lot, so try to minimise the event's complications and keep everything as straightforward and simple as possible.

– A comprehensive race briefing. Look through the course and the briefing notes. Try and orientate yourself to the ground before the race; it will make your event much easier.

– A rough group of swimmers. The swim can be quite rough and congested. If you are uncomfortable, move to the back or edge of the swimming group. People are very unlikely to be grabbing or swimming over you deliberately. So assume the best and carry on with your race.

– Faster athletes behind you. Listen out for faster athletes on looped courses. They will usually ask you to move one way or the other so they can get past you.

The race is continuous, so many people will wear a trisuit which they will swim in (perhaps under a wetsuit) and the ride the bike and run in it too.

You can choose to change clothes completely between disciplines, and in the longer events, there is usually a change tent to facilitate that change. However, triathlon rules forbid nudity in the public area of transition, so often, planning to race in a trisuit or something you are comfortable racing throughout is a good choice.

Other than that, make the changes between sports as straightforward as possible. Just remember putting dry clothing onto a wet body is often hard – so “putting a t-shirt” over the top of a swimming costume can be a lot easier said than done!

There are loads of tips and tricks to mount quickly, leap on your bike, but for your first race, just make it as simple as possible.

Bricks are a term used in multisport training where you stack two sports after one another. The common one is to run after a bike session.

This doesn’t need to be long; it can be for only five minutes. However, practising change sports is a great skill to help you get more accustomed to the changing stresses. It can be very different.

It is harder to practice swimming to cycling, but it is also worth doing a little of that in the summer when it is less cold.

It doesn’t need to be every session, but once a week can make a good difference to how you feel come race day.

The common challenges athletes face in a triathlon beyond the fitness for the event are often due to not practising the other parts enough!

Often athletes prepare for the swim, bike and run, but forget to check the kit doesn’t hurt or rub in a race situation. Perhaps, if they are racing longer distances, haven’t practised nutrition strategy properly, or transitioning between the sports.

Often the logistics around the event can catch first timers out, so make sure you think about making life as simple as possible and plan ahead of race week for the event itself.

Like any sport, there are several rules and though all competitors should know all the rules, for a first timer, it is impossible to know them all. So here are the important ones broken down by discipline.

Swim

– You can’t swim backstroke (it looks like you are in distress)

– As long as you make no forward progress, you can hold onto any safety craft.

– You don’t need to swim Front Crawl

Bike

– You must wear a helmet and it must be done up

– Only some races will specific the type of bike you need to use.

– You will need to wear a number facing backwards.

– You are not allowed to ride with music.

– You must obey normal traffic rules.

Run

– You are unlikely to be allowed to run with any music.

– Your number must be visible to the front.

Transitions

– No nudity

– You must do up your helmet (and wear it) before touching your bike and must continue to have your helmet on until after you have put the bike down.

– You should keep your transition area tidy.

– You cannot ride your bike in transition. That means you must push your bike to a mount line before getting on it. And you must get off your bike before you get to the dsimount line.

Other rules

– You are responsible for knowing the route (but many races are marshalled and signposted

– No littering

– You must use designated toilets.

You have come to the right place! Our coaching services range from online coaching to 1-2-1 sessions. Check out what we have to offer here.

We also have a virtual squad to enable a community atmosphere without geographical borders.

A club is also a fantastic opportunity to get some club-level coaching and find a community of local training buddies. That can certainly work with any of the coaching offers we have too. Look at your governing body’s website for local clubs to you.

Unfortunately, some injuries are unavoidable. For example, if you twist an ankle or fall off your bike. Therefore, you may struggle to avoid these types of acute injuries aside from making sure your bike skills are good, and you are working on things like ankle strength in the gym to reduce the likelihood of these accidents occurring.

That is very likely to be difficult though, if it s a random experience.

Most injuries in triathlon training come from overuse injuries. This stems from doing too much too soon or not recovering enough. You can follow our training plans to get a good balance programme which builds slowly.

Nevertheless, we would always encourage athletes to exhibit athlete responsibility and listen to their bodies. Don't push through it if you feel tired or sore because the plan says so.

If you have a niggle or an ache, it is best to catch it early. Speak to a physio if things don’t feel right as it is easier to fix a niggle than an injury. So better to be cautious and keep your training consistency up.

We think this video from our sports psychologist is an excellent resource for race day nerves.

Nerves are normal! So don’t believe anyone if they say they don’t get nervous. it means you are challenging yourself and ultimately living!

Nutrition is one of the most common areas we get asked about within endurance training. There is never a straightforward answer, and it can depend on several factors. However, here are some guidelines to consider.

Breakfast

You should look at having a carbohydrate-based breakfast; you should target 1g of carbohydrate for every minute before you are racing. So if you have a big breakfast which contains 180g of carbohydrate, you should have finished this 3 hours before your race start.

You should ensure you drink electrolyte drinks in the lead up to the race. Drinking to this should be adequate. find out more about electrolytes and hydration here.

During

As you race events lasting more than about 90 minutes, nutrition becomes more and more important.

As a general guideline, unless the weather is particularly hot, you can get away with drinking to thirst with an electrolyte drink and targeting 60-90g of carbohydrates per hour.

Nutrition can be a lot more nuanced than that, so it would be worth looking into individualizing your strategy more by speaking to one of our coaches or nutritionists for a more in-depth plan. The longer you plan to race for, the more important the nutrition strategy is.

After

After racing, you should look to replenish what you burned. A carbohydrate meal and fluids (with electrolytes will be key. You should also look to consume 20-40g of protein in the 30 mins after finishing your event for maximal recovery.

For loads of more information about nutrition, check out our nutrition pages.

Motivation can be a commonly sought-after skill. However, what it is and how it works for individuals can be very varied.

This article looks at the types of motivation and why it is important to know why you are training.

When it comes to racing, if you get it right in training, you will find that ht motivation is easy to tap into.

It is also important to remember that often nutrition and rest can play an important part to the amount of motivation you feel.

Here are a few common mistakes we see in first-time triathletes.

– Carrying all their items in a box to transition. This was a thing a few years ago, and still, people seem to do it. But then they run out of hands to push their bike to the race venue too! Take your stuff in a small rucksack and have your hands free!

– leaving too little time to get to the race on race day and rushing through the transition. Having too much time is better than being late for the race start!

– Starting off too hard! Build into your race and pace yourself.

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We have a host of articles focussed on recovery here.

Otherwise, follow this simple process to recover after your race:

1. Celebrate!

2. Take a few days of any structured training

3. About a week after your race, consider doing some “training sessions, " return to your club, or do some favourite disciplines. Ask yourself what went well, and what did you learn from the race?

4. Now think about the next race you want to do. You may never want to do another one; that is ok, but you may want to. Building consistently from a long way out is the best way to improve. You can’t hammer training all year long, so after a small rest, start planning your next adventure. If it helps, schedule a call with one of our coaches. They can help you plan your race calendar and help you make the best use of your time.