OnFitness Magazine - July/August 2014 - 49

MYTHS

Squats are easy; just bend your knees. You do need a trainer to teach this one.
Squats are a very effective exercise if done properly, but you can injure your back
if it's not aligned correctly during the squat. Ditto if you do not space your feet
correctly to support your efforts. Nine out of 10 people do squats wrong at ﬁrst
and that can lead to injury. You need to begin with a weight you can support, and
you need to learn the proper technique and posture from an expert.

SMART
TRAINING

TREADMILL FOR
NEW RUNNERS

________

If you're new to running,
the treadmill will help
you along. Always warm
up for about 10 minutes,
beginning with a brisk
walk and pumping the
arms (don't let them just
hang limply), then
entering into a slow jog.

ning off the bike so you can be ready to tackle this challenge on race day. This type of training is what's known
as brick sessions.
A brick session is where you do two disciplines back to
back. The goal is to help your body get used to those feelings
of numbness and complete fatigue after a hard bike ride.
The session involves a proper warm-up, then after a
15 minute bike ride, immediately jump into running a
one-miler at a moderate pace. Then repeat the cycling
and run again.
Another brick session recipe is the 40 minute cycle
ride followed by a 20 minute run. This gets your body
familiar with changing muscle groups.
You will also need to learn how to handle the bike correctly: how to efﬁciently climb, descend hills, pass with
conﬁdence, corner and so on.
The best way to hone bike handling skills is to join a
group ride - hopefully with more experienced riders so
you can see ﬁrsthand how they vary the speed, descend,
steer and corner. It's the monkey-see, monkey-do learning approach at its best.
These group rides will help you get used to riding at
speeds that you could never reach without the peer pressure. Look for local cycling clubs and ask to join riding
groups - even if you're not conﬁdent about your biking
skills - you would need to fake it until you make it.
Practice nutrition while moving. Practice your eating
and hydration on the bike. You need to train the way
you'd race so you can be ready on the big day without
much second-guessing.
Get in the habit of replenishing your energy tanks in
motion without missing a beat. There are no picnic tables
on the triathlon route, so you'd better get your nutrition
plan ﬁgured out.
Running
Running is a natural skill, but so many athletes do it
poorly and end up injured. The third-leg part of the

triathlon is where you can make a great difference. After
the swimming and biking, the running will be particularly grueling.
No matter how fast and efﬁcient one's swimming and
cycling are, triathlons are won or lost on this last leg of
the race.
Getting prepared is easy and simple. Unlike biking
and swimming, all you really need to improve your running skill is a pair of running shoes and some proper
form guidelines.
Training should include speed work and hill sprints to
boost strength and improve technique.
Start with sprint sessions that involve doing four to
six 400 meter runs at your pace goal - the pace you
hope to hit during the running leg - followed by a 200
meter recovery boot.
To up the ante, do hill sprints. Hill training increases
lower body strength and explosive power, and it
improves running efﬁciency.
Find a hill that will take about 30 seconds to run up
and has an incline of 10 to 15 degrees. After a warm-up,
sprint up the hill with max effort and jog down for recovery. Repeat the cycle eight to 10 times, then cool down.
As you get stronger and ﬁtter, look for more challenging hills and add more intensity to your workouts.
Below is a weekly training program to help you proceed with conﬁdence.
Monday: 45 minute lap swims in a pool, perhaps followed by a 30-45 minute bike ride
Tuesday: speed or hill run workout
Wednesday: bike-run brick session
Thursday: Take the day off or cross-train - perhaps do
yoga
Friday: Interval swimming. Focus on doing drills and
improving your swimming efﬁciency. Next, opt for a
short recovery run or a 5K tempo run.
Saturday: 90-plus minute bike ride
Sunday: rest Z

Once you're at your
workout pace, you can
leave the incline at zero,
or raise it to between
one and ﬁve percent.
Don't hold on. You may
see most treadmill users
holding on, but this
doesn't mean it's good
for your body, even if
you're out of shape.
If the machine makes a
funny noise, don't use it;
something is probably
on the verge of
malfunctioning. If this is
happening at a gym,
report it to staff. When
you're ﬁnished using the
treadmill, make sure you
don't leave behind your
empty water bottle,
power bar wrapper, gum
wrapper, or used tissue
paper in the cup holders.

4 9 W W W. O N F I T N E S S M A G . C O M | V O L 1 5 N O 1 | 2 0 1 4

Part of triathlon training is simulating
an actual portion of the race. Make
sure you practice the water entry in a
setting that's similar to what will be
in the actual event.

http://WWW.ONFITNESSMAG.COM

OnFitness Magazine - July/August 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OnFitness Magazine - July/August 2014