8 Tips for Racing Your First Sprint Triathlon

TriDot Podcast Episode 338

8 Tips for Racing Your First Sprint Triathlon

Andrew Harley: Welcome to the TriDot Podcast. Really excited for our talk today. I always like talking about race day. We do all the training, we listen to the triathlon podcast, we talk about the sport, we think about the sport, we dream about the sport, all for race day. And so we're going to do a couple-weeks series where I just bring one coach on, and we talk to that coach about how to have a successful day at the races for each distance. And today, we have Coach Ben Somerville from Precision Coaching, based in the UK, and he is here to talk to us about how to race a sprint triathlon successfully. Coach Ben is the 2-time National Sprint Distance Champion in the UK and a 10-time age group medalist. So he's got some silver and bronze medals in there, too, that he wishes were gold, but that's a different story. So he's fast, and he is well equipped to talk us through how to have a successful day at the races when we are toeing the line for a sprint triathlon. And Ben and I have come up with a list of 8 tips that we think are going to help you out on race day. Ben, thanks so much for jumping on to talk about this one.

Ben Sommerville: Thank you for having me. I love sprint triathlon. This is where I started. It's my secret love. It's not even a secret love. So I'm so excited to help people get the information they need to have their best first time.

Andrew Harley: And I am I'm Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People, slower than Ben, and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always, we'll start off with our warm-up question, settle into our main set conversation, where we'll go through our eight tips for a sprint triathlon, and then we'll wind down by asking Coach Ben an audience question on the cool down. Lots of good stuff. Let's get to it.

Announcer: This is the TriDot Podcast, the triathlon show that brings you world class coaching with every conversation. Let's get started with today's warm-up.

Andrew Harley: Okay Ben, for our warm-up question today I was thinking about this one. Triathletes, even in the middle of the pack and the back of the pack, we're fairly competitive people, right? We like a good race, we like a good competition. And I was wondering, for today's warm-up question, what, Ben, in your opinion, is the most random or ridiculous competition that you, sir, have won? What comes to mind for you?

Ben Sommerville: Oh, there's so many that come to mind. Yeah, as you said, I'm an unendingly, incredibly, almost unnecessarily competitive person. My partner and I, we place bets and have competitions each other for almost no reason at all. Often than not, the only thing at stake is a chocolate bar, which is completely ridiculous. And so to be honest, I can't even remember half of them. I grew up as a middle child between two other brothers. And so I think any time I've just had a competition with my brothers, or a chocolate bar bet with my partner, is probably something. It was probably just mundane. I can't even tell you what one of those was, because it's entirely meaningless. I either have meaningless competition, or I have very meaningful competition, where there's gold medals at stake. So there's no really middle ground for me.

Andrew Harley: Okay.

Ben Sommerville: I may have to be that person and say it's just something really weird. So weird I've forgotten about it, pretty much.

Andrew Harley: Okay. Alright. Well, I do have a specific answer here, and I had a couple come to mind. But here's what I'm going to go with. You, Ben, you are looking at the Fourth of July Bobbing for Apples Champion of Black Rock Mountain State Park.

Ben Sommerville: That’s pretty impressive.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, it's super impressive. The year -- it was probably 2004, 2005. My family and a couple families that we were close with, every 4th of July, when I was in high school, we would go camping in Black Rock State Mountain Park, in the state of Georgia. And it was a good place to spend the Fourth of July. There was always fireworks in the valley, and there was always a bunch of activities going on around the campgrounds on Black Rock Mountain, there in Georgia. And I wasn't actively participating in the competitions. I think I was just hanging out with friends, and we happened to be passing by when they started the Bobbing for Apples portion of the-- whatever the festival was going on there. And we decided to jump into it, and I didn't know that I was good at this, and apparently, I was very good at this. And I won a couple rounds. And the championship bout, Ben, I was probably 15 or 16 at the time, I had to take on -- I think it was like a 10-year-old girl. And we were the two finalists in the Bobbing for Apples competition. And I just gassed her. I just totally obliterated her and was crowned the Fourth of July Bobbing for Apples Champion, 2005, Black Rock Mountain State Park. And I've never done it since. Never, ever done it since. That's my answer here. I want to know from our audience, of all of the random competitions you have found yourself a part of, whether it was just an office thing, or a festival thing, or a family thing, what is a ridiculous competition that you won? Let us know.

Announcer: Let's go.

Andrew Harley: Alright, Coach Ben, onto our main set where we're talking about sprint triathlons. And I'll throw out a quick caveat -- when I posed this topic to you, like, “Hey, let's come on the show, let's do this episode.” When we made our list of tips, we are, admittedly, focusing on the new triathlete, or the new to this distance, anyway. We jotted down eight tips for somebody taking on their first sprint triathlon. So there's definitely learning in here, for our folks have been racing for a long time. I'm sure you'll catch some things and some tips from Coach Ben, who's very good at this discipline, this distance. But we are, admittedly, a little focused on, hey, if you're jumping into this for the first time, here's eight things to think about, to practice, to try, because we want our new sprinters to have a good experience. And so maybe share this episode with a friend who's new to the sport or plug in and learn yourself. But admittedly, our list of eight is a little bit focused on the newbie today, because we were all newbies at some point. Coach Ben, when you were a newbie, what was your first sprint triathlon, and how did it go for you?

Ben Sommerville: Oh, you're making me feel old now, Andrew. I'm having to remember quite a long way back. I did my first triathlon in 2013. So 13 years ago, I was 16 years old. I don't look a day over 16 still, but that's just something that I can enjoy, even today. It was my hometown sprint triathlon, here in Frome, in the southwest of England, in the UK. It was a warm day. I was actually quite well prepared. I went into it with a good few months knowing I was going to do it. Wasn't a last-minute decision. I was already a competitive summer, so I knew I had a good foundation. And I had a great coach at the time, Paul Ryman, who, shout out to you. He's the reason that I never have any money these days, because he got me into the sport in the first place, and he was there on the day, supporting me and a friend who did it together. I think I came second in my age group on my first attempt.

Andrew Harley: Oh, nice.

Ben Sommerville: In the top 50 on the day. And the race only had 150 entrants. It was quite a small, local race. It still happens today. It took a couple of years off because of COVID, as most events did. But yeah, once I'd completed that, less than four weeks later, I did my second one, and then the rest is history, basically. And so I look back very fondly. I still have the t-shirt that I got for entering and completing that race. It's a little bit too small for me now, which is a big surprise, because I don't feel like I've changed a great deal. But yeah, I still look back and go, that was an incredible day, and one I'll never forget. And the fact that it was local made it so much easier, less intimidating. And we'll talk about those sort of things in our tips in a minute.

Andrew Harley: I'm a big fan of the local sprint and olympic. And the longer you're in this sport, the more your training partners, and your friends, and you start -- I think folks start gravitating to new challenges, they start gravitating to longer distances, they start gravitating to big races that we're going to travel for and build trips around. And sometimes, the local sprint and olympic can just get lost in the shuffle. And I love trying to get to a local event a couple times a year, once a year, if that's all I can get in. But that's most people's triathlon scene and experience. And it just, it keeps you grounded. Going back to that, and not always focusing on the big IRONMAN, and the big Clash event, and the big this, and the big that. But anyway, my first one, I was not second in my age group. I was a very weak performer in my first one. But I got it done. It was in 2014. It was called the St Patty's Day Tri in Keller, Texas. And so it's a local event that is there every single year, to this day. A very, very good pool swim, 13-mile bike, I think, and then the 5K. And it's just a really, a really good first event. And we, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, there's a lot of local sprints that are pool swims. And so it's a great way for people to try the sport without the intimidating open water swim. And Ben, if I go back and look at my splits, I am faster now at the half IRONMAN and the IRONMAN distance than I was in all three disciplines in my first sprint. Like, I go back and look at what my bases were -- I just, I didn't know what I was doing. I wasn't fit. I was fit-ish, but I wasn't triathlon fit. And I've learned a lot since then. And some of those things we'll talk about here, today. Maybe when I edit this, I'll pop on a picture on the screen of me getting out of the pool on my first sprint triathlon, because there's some good pictures from that event.

Ben Sommerville: I would like to see those. That would be fun.

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I keep forgetting that, now that we're a video podcast and people can watch us on YouTube, they can watch us on video on Spotify, we can load media ahead of time. I just never think about it. I always think about it while we're having the conversation. So in editing, I'll try to pop a couple pictures on while I'm talking right now, so you guys can see how gloriously unprepared I was for my first sprint triathlon. Now, Ben, you work with triathletes, and the company you're plugged in with, Precision Coaching, has multiple coaches working with athletes throughout the season, helping them prepare for their events. I find, at the point a triathlete has identified, “Oh, I want to have a coach. I need to have a coach,” they're usually trying to tackle longer distance races or really competitive races. For me, I was in the sport six or seven years, racing local sprints and olympics, before I got a coach and started working with a coach, found TriDot. Do you work with athletes at all, Ben, who are focused on the sprint distance, or do you find most of your athletes are coming to you because they want to go longer?

Ben Sommerville: That's a very good question. And again, I say this every time. It depends. I don't exclusively work with any athletes right now, and I work with quite a tight knit group, just because I have another job that takes up a lot of time, and I want to focus on working with a small amount of athletes and give them the best possible experience. And so, I genuinely--

Andrew Harley: And your job is working for TriDot. Let's be clear. Your job is, you’re a company man.

Ben Sommerville: It is, yes. It keeps me very busy. It keeps me out of trouble, thank goodness. And so the athletes I do work with are not exclusively sprint distance athletes right now. I have worked with exclusively sprint distance focused athletes, sprint and olympic of course, because you can kind of group them together due to the time demands of the training, the time demands of the race, the kind of the intensity, specificity, are quite similar between the sprint and the olympic, or the standard distance, as some people refer to it as. And so right now, no. I was a sprint distance focused athlete for the first 10 years of my triathlon career. And so I was in an environment with other coaches, with other athletes, where our entire life was dominated by the sprint distance. And I often don't see that the longer distance is the only requiring factor, or the only motivating factor, for an athlete choosing to have a coach. It very much depends on whether or not that athlete is looking to complete or to compete. For those athletes who are looking to target that sprint or olympic, that standard distance, those faster-paced events, if you are looking to be more competitive, that is a huge motivating and driving factor for coach selection as part of your training journey. And so the distance itself doesn't necessarily determine whether or not you can have a coach. But you do find a lot of beginners in the sport, who don't have a coach, who are taking on their first sprint triathlon. Or because an element of, fairly routine, fairly structured aerobic exercise is plentiful to help you achieve and complete your very first sprint distance event. Because the time demand of the actual event itself, you don't necessarily have to go full gas and hope that your training has actually been good enough to help you sustain that. You can just complete a sprint triathlon in your own time and your own pace, particularly those local friendly ones. And so I never like to box athletes in and go, “If you want to coach, you can only be doing X distance or Y distance.” It very much depends on your motivation. And so right now, I don't exclusively work with any sprint distance focused athletes, but we used sprint distances, for those newer athletes who are preparing for a longer distance event. They will do a sprint triathlon as part of their training preparation. Because sometimes, it's about just going through the motion of swim, bike, and run. Learning how an event feels. What are the technical elements you need to practice? Just getting a sense for what completing a triathlon is like. And then they move to a-- *coughs*

Andrew Harley: Stay with us, Ben, stay with us.

Ben Sommerville: I'm so sorry. And then they move to the longer distance events as part of the training process. Bear with me.

Andrew Harley: I’ll help you out. And I love that you're saying this. It reminds me of-- I've had seasons where I've done a lot of races. From March, here, in Dallas/Fort Worth, all the way through October-November, I've had sprint, olympics, 70.3s, a mixture of distances on the calendar. And so you kind of stay in that race flow. When you go to you’re A-race, you're ready to go through the motions. You're practiced at going through the motions. You've transitioned lately, you've set up your transition area lately, you've gone through the whole race morning lately. But I've also had years where I've only done one or two races. And so there have been seasons where I've had a half IRONMAN on the calendar, late in the season. I haven't raced in six months to a year. And I love, Ben, I love throwing a sprint on the calendar one month, two months out from that big A-race, just to practice going through the motions of race day. To practice waking up at 4am, and eating my breakfast, and getting to the race site, and getting my stuff set up, using the bathroom. You know how to do it, but it's good to go through those motions and brush up on how you time everything before you actually get to that big a race. So just like you're saying, you do that with newer athletes. As an experienced athlete, I like having a sprint or an olympic on the calendar, not too close to the a race day, but a little bit out, just to make sure those skills are fresh.

Ben Sommerville: For sure. And it's like you said at the beginning of the podcast, these tips might be very beginner friendly, but it might act as a very good refresher for the more experienced athletes, who use sprint triathlons as just part of the training process, but not necessarily your ultimate goal. So if you are an experienced athlete, please stay tuned. This stuff will still be useful for you.

Andrew Harley: Absolutely. Alright, Ben, enough dilly-dallying around. Let's get to today's tips. We've got eight of them that we've come up with. And tip number one for racing your first sprint triathlon is don't overextend yourself in all three disciplines. Alright? So don't overextend yourself in the pool, don't overextend yourself on the bike, don't overextend yourself on the run. We want to remind you of this for all three disciplines. Coach Ben, what do we mean by this?

Ben Sommerville: What we mean, very simply here, is just know your limits, pace yourself appropriately, and more importantly, just focus on enjoying the experience. If you're very much in the mindset of completing rather than competing, not extending yourself means that you're not necessarily going to go out like a crazy person on the swim, and then at the detriment of your enjoyment and performance of both the bike and the run, as a result. What we're really saying here, is this is not your opportunity to win at the Olympic Games. This is your opportunity to experience triathlon for the very first time, to understand some of the technical logistics, the technical challenges of going through from one sport to the next, and also just getting an understanding of how you just enjoy the experience. Because if your ultimate goal is to complete a longer distance event, if you're finding that the sprint distance triathlon is too overwhelming, or you're not quite sure what you're doing, just getting one done and giving it a practice is always very useful. Which is why, even for athletes who I work with who are doing multiple longer distance events a year, I try and get a couple of sprint distance events in because they're less time demand. You can do them locally, you can do them cheaper, you can do them without pressure, without any feeling observed or overwhelmed. It's just a good way to practice the skills. So I never want anybody to get put off by the idea of a triathlon, because all they see is people going full gas for an hour in a sprint, and going, “Oh, goodness, I can't possibly do that. This is my first time.” So in not extending yourself, you're just completing to the limits of your capacity, to your sense of enjoyment. And just manage your expectations. Your first triathlon isn't going to be anything to write home about, unless you were destined to be the Olympic Champion anyway, in which case your first triathlon is probably going to be pretty good. But we all start somewhere. I look back and go, yeah, I finished second in my age group in my first one, but it wasn't anything to write home about. It was a hard day, not least because it was quite an otherworldly warm day for England, even for July/August, which I think the event was in one of those months. And so, yeah, just enjoy it. And overextending yourself is a recipe for disaster, because if you get out the water and you're already flustered. You're going to make mistakes, and you'll be kicking yourself whilst you're out on the bike. And that's where you really, for a lot of people who aren't confident swimmers, the bike and the run is where you're really going to enjoy yourself. And so give yourself the space and the energy to really enjoy yourself.

Andrew Harley: I've seen people critique IRONMAN as a brand, and I'm sure some others, a lot of the triathlon ‘media’, so to speak -- so maybe the triathlon influencers that have big time shows or YouTube channels. I've seen this critique that there's a bend towards posting about IRONMAN, talking about IRONMAN, and when people are portraying IRONMAN, the action shots you see in B-roll is always the mass starts with the pros, and the pros passing each other on the bike, and they're wearing these $600-$1000, and they're on $10,000 bikes, and you're seeing this swim footage of the pros, or age groupers in Kona, racing in a pack where people are getting knocked -- and that makes really compelling footage for a reel on Instagram, but that can very much, probably, put people off from trying the sport of triathlon, if that's the picture that's been painted of what a triathlon is. Because if you go to a local sprint or olympic, or if you go to an IRONMAN event, or a Challenge Family, or Clash event, most of the field is doing a rolling start at most of these events. And it's very controlled. Everybody's got plenty of space. People are very considerate. You can go at the pace you feel comfortable going at. It's not this -- it can be in certain scenarios, but it's usually not this wild experience. And that's the footage you see everywhere -- in people's commercials, and B-roll, and channels. And so anyway, I love that you're saying that this is approachable. Go to your local sprint. Do your local sprint. You can absolutely do it. Go at the pace you feel comfortable going at. You don't have to overextend yourself. Yes, it's a race, but on your first one, you're just racing yourself. You're just trying to get to that finish line of your first sprint triathlon. And what I love about this tip ‘don't overextend yourself,’ anytime I've had a friend try triathlon, and they reach out to me, “Hey, I just signed up for my first triathlon. I see you always posting on Instagram about your races. What do I need to know?” And I start talking them through what they need to know. The first thing I tell them about race day is do not get out of breath in any of the three sports. If you jump in the water and start swimming, and all of a sudden you're out of breath, you've gone too hard. If you hop on the bike, and you're riding your bike, and you find that, oh man, my heart rate's up, I'm out of breath, you have ridden too hard for a little bit of time there. If you are running and you feel like you're out of breath, you are running too hard. And once that heart rate spikes, once you get out of breath, especially when you're new to the sport, it's very difficult to compose yourself, bring that heart rate down, and regain your breath. And I know this, Ben, from firsthand experience. My first triathlon, I got out of breath in all three sports, because I hopped in the pool, and I hit it like a shark. And I was out of breath before I hit the first wall, and I never caught my breath. I was out of breath for my whole 9-minute swim. Yeah, it took me nine minutes to swim 300 meters, because I was flailing around, I was out of breath. When I got on the bike, before the 12-mile bike was over, my calves were cramping, because they were so oxygen-depleted, because I got out of breath early trying to hammer this thing. So anyway, I always tell friends that, like, when you're new, at no point should you be out of breath. Like once you're experienced, and you're racing, and you're redlining it, and you know how to pace it, and you're flirting with the podium, or flirting with a PR, like, okay, maybe we're going to flirt with that line of getting out of breath, raising the heart rate. But on your first one, when you're new to the sport, when you're learning the sport, there's no reason, at any distance, even at the sprint distance, super sprint distance, to find yourself gasping for oxygen, out of breath. Stay composed, stay relaxed. You know, we work, feel it in your muscles, put power down. But yeah, Ben, anything else there?

Ben Sommerville: I think you've absolutely nailed it on the head there. And I know this is tip number one, but this is almost, out of the other seven that we've got remaining, this is probably the most important one. So I'm glad we've done it first, because it goes well beyond just -- in getting, grasping that sense of enjoyment in your first event, it actually just becomes a really humbling and sort of expectation management, realistically, because you don't know the limits of your body yet. You don't have that awareness that more experienced athletes have. You don't have that control. You haven't mastered efficient technique yet. You're just new. And so don't try to push, be pushed to that, because as you said, you'll end up doing an Andrew Harley, and going out like a crazy person, and regretting it for the remainder of his sprint triathlon. Now, that's not to say mine wasn't pretty. I had a very controlled swim. I won't tell you my swimming time, because it was a 400-meter in a pool swim. It was significantly less than nine minutes. So no, I wasn't—

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I bet.

Ben Sommerville: I wasn't gasping for breath when I came out the water, but I was certainly gasping for breath halfway around the bike course, because I got excited. And I was like, “Oh, I'm 16 years old, I've got energy, let's go.” But I regretted it immediately when I came off the bike, and I didn't enjoy the run as much as I was hoping because I put way too much effort into the bike, which was always my weakness and still is my limiter in the sport. And so learn the lessons from us more experienced athletes, who have history in the sport. Don't do what we've done. Give yourself a longer runway to then find those limits. Test that sort of control that you have over your body, because you don't know what you don't know. So use the first event just simply to say, “I've done a triathlon. I gave it a go. Here's what I can do next.” Simple as that.

Andrew Harley: And for our more experienced athletes listening, since I got better at the sport, learned what I was doing, had knocked down 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 sprints, had dabbled in olympic, there were times where I would still show up to a local sprint -- and I was experienced, I was trained, I knew a lot more -- there were still times where I would go too hard, because now I know some stuff. Now, I'm flirting with the podium. Now, I have target paces, and target finish times, for all three disciplines in mind. And there was one race that, same thing, was a 300-meter pool swim, that I remember thinking like, “Okay, I put a lot of good work in the pool in, I want this certain time.” And I was like the fifth or sixth athlete in the water. And wouldn't you know it, by the third wall I was gassed, because I had this adrenaline rush of a certain time in mind and just hit the gas a little bit too hard, because I was amped up for that. So you can still, as an experienced athlete, have that problem. You're probably going to be a little bit better at recovering from it and completing the rest of the race okay. But it's not just new triathletes that are -- you're not immune to that once you get farther on. Don't start too hard, you know, when you're first starting. Alright, Coach Ben, tip number two for racing your first sprint triathlon is know the rules, mainly the ones that could get you disqualified or penalized. Coach Ben, talk to us about this.

Ben Sommerville: Yes, mainly the ones that could get you disqualified, but not exclusively the ones that could get you disqualified. It's important to know all of the rules. And unfortunately there are a, I don't know how many National Federations of Triathlon there are in the world, and so therefore, there are lots of different event rules, different sort of formats, regulations, things that you have to consider when you turn up to a start line. So hopefully, you're entering a race that does follow your National Federation's rules. So it's an event permitted by them, so you know it's going to be governed correctly, it's going to be safe to do. But that still doesn't mean that there’s no--

Andrew Harley: A good race production company should have whatever their rules are posted somewhere, as well. If they don't-- if they differ at all from the national body. Yeah.

Ben Sommerville: And if you can't find them and you're not sure, ask the event organizer as far in advance as you possibly can. Because it is important, if you're doing your first event, to know the rules. And some of those rules are just simply about the order in which you can do things. The one thing that trips most beginners up is in their first transition between swim and bike, a lot of people, they start grabbing things before they have done certain things. Like, they might grab their bike before they've actually secured their helmet, because they're so in a rush, they put the helmet on the head but they don't secure it. That's an instant penalty, because your helmet has to be on, and fully fastened, and secured before you're allowed to even touch your bike. Whether your bike is on the floor, on a rack, up against the wall, it doesn't matter. If you haven't fully secured and fastened your helmet, you are not allowed to touch your bike. And so little sort of minute things about that in the rules there are important, because whilst they might not disqualify you immediately, they will have an impact on your race day experience. It's not fun to be given a penalty. It's quite disheartening. I've had a very small number of penalties. I've been disqualified a couple of times. It's not fun. And so this is probably another tip for the more experienced athletes, this is a nice refresher. Know your rules well in advance, and if you're racing in another country, even if it's for your first event, or your 20th, or your 200th event, if you're racing in another country, they will likely have a different set of rules. They won't be vastly different, but in some ways, how they enforce them, when certain things are enforceable, the impact of a penalty as a result of infringement on those rules, it could just be different. So always know what the rules are. The ones for your first sprint triathlon are mostly going to be around quite simple, quite mundane things. Your T1 mount line, you need to mount your bike after the line. Your T2 dismount line, you dismount before the line. Little things like that. Usually in beginner, friendly, local events, they'll have very vocal, very obvious people who will be telling you, “Get on your bike before the line.” Things like that. They'll make it obvious. So if you do forget, hopefully they don't sort of hold it against you too much, and they'll let you carry on. Just sort of reset and go again. Things like fastening your helmet are really, really important. There are obviously more and more rules now against sort of how much of your body you can be showing, depending on what types of kit you're wearing. Zippers, front zips, back zips, levels of nudity that is acceptable in transition zones. What you can get changed in and out of. The benefit of larger events, if you are taking on a larger event, is sometimes they'll have completely separate changing areas, in which case you can get fully changed, because there is a separate area for that. But please do look at your rules. It is really important. As I said, I've had a couple of penalties in my time. I've been disqualified a couple of times. I've overturned a couple of disqualifications and penalties because they weren't properly--- they weren't actually legitimate. It was--

Andrew Harley: I feel there's some good stories there, that we don't have to get into right now, maybe.

Ben Sommerville: That's a separate conversation. That doesn't need to go on air, I'm afraid. That definitely doesn't need to be out in the public domain. But, yes, I've overturned a couple because I'm an experienced athlete. I know the rules, and when I travel abroad, I know the rules even for different federations. And so for every level of triathlete, for every triathlon, make sure you know the rules and follow them as best you can. And if you're ever not sure, just ask someone. Ask a marshal, ask a volunteer, ask the race organizer, ask a fellow athlete if you're not sure of something before the race. Try not to ask too many questions during the race, because some people don't like being asked questions whilst they're racing, particularly if they're working really hard, and then you're just jollying along going, “Oh, what do we do at the dismount line?” People don't really respond very well to that. People get in the zone. I'm victim of that, for sure. There's not really much else you can say about the rules, other than, without me going through the rule book, which would be a very boring podcast, if I was just to go through British Triathlon or USCT's rulebook and say, do this, do that. The only reason we put it as number two is because we don't want you to feel disheartened if you do something wrong. It is still your responsibility, but beginner, local events, they'll do everything that they can to give you that support on the day. I've seen events where you may not cross the mount or the dismount line correctly, but they just allow you to go back, try again, and then continue. You lose a handful of seconds, but if you're only here to complete rather than compete, a couple of seconds in the grand scheme of things, to learn a really important lesson about how to complete an event safely and correctly, that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things. So, yeah, they're not fun documents to read. They're usually all PDFs now, not fun to read. Some of the lingo and the jargon can get quite technical, but yeah. Just know your rules and ask for help. It’s really as simple as that. I don't know if you've got anything else to add there, but I don't really want to have people just get really scared or worried that they're going to do something wrong, because it's totally fine if you do.

Andrew Harley: And I would say, if you're starting with a local sprint, like you said, they're usually much more friendly towards this kind of stuff than something like an IRONMAN from a major race producer. And that's just because, at those major race producers, they've got a really competitive field with people trying to qualify for certain things. And so things get a little more serious very quickly there. But at your local events, they're usually very pro-athlete, they are on your side wanting you to help you figure it out. Absolutely, like Ben said, look in the guide before the race. The race guide usually has the rules written out, or they'll tell you, hey, look at USTA, look at British Triathlon, look at your federation's rules. Look at them. There's probably a lot there. Don't be overwhelmed and feel like you have to know every crossed T and dotted I. Really, it's just know the big ones. And the big ones are, like what Ben talked about in the transition area, there's certain things you can and can't do when setting up your transition area. When you are transitioning, like Ben said, you have to be on your bike before a certain line, off your bike before a certain line. You have to have your helmet strapped. That's a huge one. So if that's a stressor, when you get to your bike, put your helmet on and strap it, and then do everything else. And then once you're in, don't touch your helmet again until you're getting off the bike in transition. That's a big one. Drafting on the bike is a big one. You can't just follow somebody on the bike. You have to have a certain distance between you and a cyclist in front of you. Littering on course. That's a big one. At every single race, make sure you're not, if you're grabbing a cup of water from something or if you're taking an energy gel while you're on the bike, make sure you're putting it in a pocket. Or discarding it in a trash can that's designated for that. And Ben, that's all I can really think of in terms of the big ones that are pretty universal. When you're swimming, you can't -- if you need help from a kayak or water support, you can't grab onto a kayak and use that to advance yourself. Yet, you can rest with one, but then you have to keep going on your own. So there's some stuff like that on the swim. There's wetsuit-legal swims and not wetsuit-legal swims. But Ben, like you said, now we're getting really niche. I think we've mentioned verbally the big ones. Just read it, don't stress about it. And I've had races, Ben, as a veteran, where I show up, and I'm setting up my transition area, and I can't remember, hey, is this race, do they want us to do this with our bike set up or they want us to do that with our bike set up? And there's always race officials in the area standing by for questions. Go find one of them, get clarity, and you'll be fine. Moving on to tip number three for racing your first sprint triathlon. Take a close look at the course. Visualize key turns and your transitions. Coach Ben?

Ben Sommerville: This is-- well, I think I've said this about every single one. Tips 1, 2, and 3 are actually really, really important. So if nothing else, really listen to these. And this is where, we had a conversation before we were recording this, where we were going, do we need a separate tip on choosing the right race in the first place? And we thought, is that too, is that going too much into the weeds? Is that too focused and too serious for just a first sprint triathlon event? But actually, when you really think about it, even if you just drive the course -- if you happen to be entering a local event and you know the course, or the course is nearby, you don't necessarily have to cycle it or run it, go and drive the course. Just give yourself a couple of opportunities just to look at it, and go, “Is this within my capabilities? Am I going to be able to cycle around this course, run around this course without,” again, like tip one said, “Without overextending myself, without pushing myself outside of my comfort zone too soon?” Particularly if you live in an area which may have some more technical cycling roads or busier roads that are used, because often, these smaller events can't close the roads. So you are going to be sharing the roads with other people, with other motorists, other cyclists who are going to be in close proximity to you. And so it's just really an opportunity to just visualize, get a sense of whether or not this is going to be something that you're able to complete. And if you're looking to get really, really detailed, you know where your transitions are, where those key terms are, if there's any -- we have them in here in the UK -- when you're crossing junctions, there's certain events where you have to put your feet down, either one foot down or a two foot down, at certain junctions. Knowing in advance when those are can be really important, because then it doesn't take you by surprise at the last minute. You're not having to slam the brakes on to come to a complete stop, to then take that junction on an open road. And so I do this for every race that I enter. I have all my athletes do this. No matter whether or not it's a IRONMAN or a sprint, their 10th event, their 100th event, or even their first. It is just important to know where you are. And then, if you're local, give it a go. If you feel confident enough, if your local triathlon club are hosting this event -- often local triathlon clubs will do course recce, or reconnaissance, days where they'll take you around the course on a group bike ride or a group run, and they'll show you the venue, they'll show you where transition will be, they'll tell you where the mounting lines and the dismount lines will be. If that information isn't available in the athlete guide in too much detail, just get in contact with the race organizer. Ask them, so you can go to the venue in good time and go, right, I know this is where I'm going to be coming on and off my bike. These are the key turns, these are the key descents or the key uphills. A lot of people want to know the course, because they want to know how much climbing there is to see how hard of a day it's going to be for them. And I think it's just a really, it's a confidence inspiring and a nerve settling exercise, because if you know where visually, and sort of physically, you're going to be at any given time, it's a great way to be able to just take a step back and just enjoy the experience. Because you're not -- nothing's taken you by surprise. You're not going to be surprised, or shocked, or overwhelmed by anything that is quite literally in front of you or around the next corner. And so, it's a really important part of the process. It can seem a bit mundane, again, a bit like looking through rulebooks, just looking through GPX files, or going on Google Maps and just sort of using Google Street View and following a bike course. It can feel a little bit silly. But take five, ten minutes just to give yourself an overview. An overview at best. You don't have to be like me and go drive around courses. I do that because I can and I want to, or even cycle them. It's five, ten minute exercise. And again, ask people for help if you're not really sure. Speak to a triathlon club if they're doing a local event reconnaissance. Just use it as an opportunity to settle those nerves more than anything else. I always wonder what other people, who may not take it quite as seriously as I do. Not to say that you don't take it seriously as I do, Andrew, but if there's anything else you would recommend to people here, beyond just taking that time, looking at it to settle those nerves.

Andrew Harley: I adore the phrase ‘nerve-settling experience’ that you use there, because that's half of our list today. Half of our list is just putting you in a spot where you are showing up on race morning feeling like, “I don't know what I'm getting into, but I know as much as I can of what I'm getting into. I've never experienced this before, but I am ready for this logistically.” That's a huge confidence boost going into a new experience. When you know -- and we'll get into this in a little bit in another tip -- but if you know where to park, if you know where to walk, if you know what the schedule is for the event, if you know what the course looks like. Because then as you're going through the day, you're just checking off, okay, I did this, I did this, I did that. And that's what we're going for here. So when I'm walking an new athlete through learning their course, it's exactly what you said. If you can get on a bike, great. If you can drive the course, great. If not, get on Google Maps and click it, like you just said, right? Click around the roads, just know kind of what it looks like. You don't have to memorize it. It's going to be, they're usually very well marked. There's usually very clear instructions on where to turn, when to turn. You see other bikes in front of you turning, you see other runners in front of you going around cones in a certain-- so there's going to be a lot of visual cues showing you where to go on race day, but I like knowing in my head, “Okay, I just finished that section. Now I'm about to turn right and run over this bridge, and then along this waterway.” I like knowing logistically what's going to happen and what I still have yet to do on course. And so anyway, I love that phrase because that's-- you can 100% roll into race day, hop in the water, and not know what the course is in advance, and it's going to be marked enough for you to do just fine. But it's just that settling of the nerves of knowing what you're in for and what you're about to go do, it's a confidence-inspiring thing. The only other thing I'll add, Ben, is, for the swim, bike, and run, be familiar with what the course layout is for all the things we've already talked about, but also be familiar with the transition area. Every transition area is different. And what I mean by that is just in terms of, sometimes there's very, there's going to be a spot where you are number 217, and number 217 racks their bike right here. And sometimes it's just a free-for-all. Go in and find a spot for your bike. And so that's something to know. And then every transition area is different in terms of where you're going to be running in and out. And so just scouting that in advance and knowing, okay, when I come out of the pool, or when I get out of the water, this is where I'm going to be entering transition, and then I'm going to run this way to get to my bike, and then when I leave on my bike, I'm leaving out of this corner, and I'm coming back in in that corner. So just kind of walking through those motions in transition area to know not only the race course, but how the transition area flows, whether it's an athlete's first triathlon or 100th triathlon, like Ben said, we all do that to make sure we have a handle on where we're going on race day. And that's just going to help abate some of those nerves. Very, very good there. Tip number four for racing your first sprint triathlon is have the essential equipment and know how to use it. Coach Ben?

Ben Sommerville: Yes, and I want to make a really, really important caveat, here. We use the word essential, and we absolutely mean the absolute essential, bare bones equipment. What we are not saying here is you need a $10,000 time trial bike--

Andrew Harley: Do not complicate your first triathlon. Do not complicate it.

Ben Sommerville: 100%. You just need some equipment that you can swim in comfortably and that doesn't breach any rules. You need clothes that you can wear on the bike that you're comfortable and you're confident wearing, and you need clothes that you can wear on the run. And so if you really boil down to it, you're doing a sprint-based pool triathlon on an open road. You need a pair of swimming goggles. And I generally recommend all beginners wear a triathlon-specific suit, rather than wearing swimming costume and then putting clothes on top. These days, full long-, short-sleeved to the elbow tri suits are more and more common, just by default. And so I always recommend to beginner athletes, get yourself a sleeve tri suit.

Andrew Harley: There are budget versions of them now. Whereas when I started, any of that was expensive, and so I just did swim trunks and threw on shorts and a T shirt. But these days it's a no-brainer to get an entry level kit.

Ben Sommerville: Yeah. Because then your, effectively, your clothing is one thing that you can wear for the entirety of the event. Now, if, for the bike, you choose to wear anything else as extra, great, you can put on an extra jacket, you can put on gloves, you can put on socks. The socks is a huge point of debate in triathlon at all distances. And so if you can swim in what you're wearing with a pair of goggles, generally, the race organizers will provide you a race-specific swim cap. If they don't, just bring your own if it's required. If it's not, don't wear a swim cap. I prefer wearing a swim cap, whether I'm required to or not, whether it's mine or whether it's one that the event gives me. I just prefer it. I just don't like my hair getting in the water, flopping around all over the place, even when I have particularly short hair. Still annoying. For the bike, you need a helmet that is secure, it fastens well, it's roadworthy, if it's not broken already-- like if you've crashed it, please don't wear your helmet. Even if it was a little crash, please don't wear a crashed helmet. Wear a helmet that is in good working order, fits well, is comfortable, and will fasten securely, correctly. Any adjustments that need to be made, if a technical official spots it when they check you into transition, they'll provide that recommendation, and they can help you if you're not sure. If your strap is a little bit loose under your chin, they'll just adjust it for you. They won't hold it against you if your helmet's a little bit loose, they'll just help you adjust it. And then you just need a road-worthy bike. Now there are, again, there are some rules related to what kinds of bikes, and attachments, and accessories you can have, but that can get very, very complicated. And I get, at risk of being boring, I'm not going to read you all the rules on what kinds of bikes you can have for various different events.

Andrew Harley: For most new triathletes, it's rolling with a bike that you got, or can get, or can borrow, or can buy and have a water bottle on it. Like that's--

Ben Sommerville: As long as it's safe to ride and you're confident and comfortable riding it, you will be able to complete your first ever sprint triathlon on that bike. It makes absolutely no difference at all whether or not it's a $200 hand-me-down bike or a $10,000 Canyon Time Trial bike. It makes zero difference in the grand scheme of things. The most important thing is you and your legs. The bike is secondary, to be honest. Sometimes the biggest watt-saving improvements can actually just be in the type of socks you wear, not even the bike that you choose to ride. That's how ridiculous some people's attitude towards bike choices is. It's not an essential item, to have a very expensive and very cool-looking bike. And then again, you can complete a triathlon on flat pedals wearing a pair of trainers. You don't have to have cleats, you don't have to have clip on shoes. Provided you're comfortable on the bike, you can complete the distance in your own time and your own effort, go for it. I don't want to be the person to say you need X over Y. And the same thing for a run. A good road-worthy pair of trainers. Take into account if you've got some off-road sections on your course, maybe you want some off-road specific shoes, but that's entirely up to the event that you're choosing to do. You can make those decisions. If you train in a particularly wooded, or forested, or off-road environment, you've probably got a pair of trail shoes anyway. In which case, your triathlon might also be taking on those sort of terrains. Cross triathlon, off-road triathlons becoming more and more popular now, at all distances. And so, I certainly want to say this out there, if you are doing an event that has some off-road sections, maybe wearing a very high-stack, carbon-plated shoe isn't a good idea, because they don't often fare particularly well on things that aren't flat and tarmacked. No hate to all the big running shoe brands and their carbon shoes. I love a carbon shoe, but there's a time and a place. And that's also not an essential item, either, as a really important point to make. You don't need a pair of $300 Nike Alpha Flies to do your first triathlon. If it's just a pair of off-the-shelf trainers, and that you're comfortable in and you can wear, you're good, even if you have to stop to lace them up. You don't need elastic laces either. You'll see all the more experienced athletes with elastic laces so they don't have to tie their laces. And then yeah, the thing I always say for beginners is put a pair of socks on, it's not worth it. Just put a pair of socks on. It's not worth the discomfort for either the bike or the run. I learned this lesson moving from the sprints to the longer, more middle-distance triathlons. I wear socks for the run now, because my feet will absolutely get destroyed if I don't wear socks for a half marathon run off the bike. I can cycle for 90k without socks, but when I was doing sprint, I didn't wear socks. That was a personal preference. But just put socks on, it's not worth the discomfort. And so, I often see a lot of sort of neutral athletes, they're not confident on their bike, and this is where ‘have the essential equipment and know how to use it’ becomes really, really key. Because if you don't know how to use your gears, use your brakes, turn around corners, that's when cycling can become quite dangerous. And so again, rely on trusted friends, people you know can ride bikes, people in cycling clubs, triathlon clubs -- get them to give you as much help as they possibly can for you in the run up, so that you are confident on your bike, you are able to handle different situations as they happen out on the road. If you're doing a closed-road event, obviously there's no cars, so there's less risk there. But if you are doing an open-road event, most sprint triathlons here, in the UK, are unfortunately open-roads. We can't close the roads. It's either too expensive, or it's not possible because cars still have to go about their daily business. Those bike skills become more and more important the minute the roads stay open because it's just, the risk is higher. I'm not trying to put anyone off. Cycling is not dangerous. Bad drivers are dangerous. Maybe that's a controversial opinion. I may get a lot of hate for that, but I'm just putting it out there. Cycling is not dangerous. Bad driving is. And so, know your limits, ride within those limits, don't chase people, and don't feel any pressure to overspend. In the same way, in tip one, don't overextend yourself physically in terms of your fitness capacity, your fitness limits -- don't overspend. It's really not worth it, because you may do one triathlon and never want to do one again. And if you've got £10,000 worth of kit, what on earth you going to do with it?

Andrew Harley: Yeah, I'm going to tack onto the ‘knowing how to use your gear’ part of this, because having the essential gear is one thing, and then knowing how to use it, that's kind of what we're going to before. It induces confidence, knowing, “Okay, I know what my equipment is, and I know how to use it. I've used it before.” And if you roll into race day -- we have the old mantra, nothing new on race day. If you have a piece of gear that maybe a triathlete friend of yours has offered to let you borrow, or something that you – Ben, I bought my road bike the day before my first sprint triathlon.

Ben Sommerville: Oof. Wouldn’t recommend that.

Andrew Harley: I rode it about, I rode it two or three miles around our apartment complex the night before the race. And then race day was my second ride ever on that bike. And I knew how to ride a bike, but I hadn't ridden a proper road bike with the super thin tires ever. And so I was pretty, fairly wobbly. I got it done, but I was wobbly. And then my legs, as a runner, were freaking out because they just had not done that motion, and put power in the pedals in that motion, and my calves were cramping. Anyway, so I, in my newness, I just didn't get a bike prepared further out than that. And then the other thing I think of is when I went to tackle my first 70.3, I did 70.3, or I did the half IRONMAN in New Zealand, and all of a sudden, I'm like, “This is my first big, longer event. Everybody talks about how important power meters are. Let me get a power meter.” And so I kind of panic-bought a power meter for my bike right before the race. I am in Topa, New Zealand, the day before the race, fiddling with a power meter, trying to figure out how to install it, trying to figure out how to sync my Garmin to it so I have a power number on my bike. And I finally figured out like, you know what, I think I've got this thing working, but I'm not confident I had this thing working. I don't know how to use this number anyway, when I get on the race course, and thankfully, the day before, I kind of had the realization of this is a bad idea. I'm not going to try this. So don't roll in, even if there's a piece of tech or a piece of gear that could be a good idea to use on race day and could be helpful, if you're not familiar with it for your first triathlon, don't employ it. Just stick to the things that you have to use, and keep race day just logistically that much simpler. So all good stuff. And tip number four, we got -- I'm looking at the clock, we got four tips left, and we're going to blow through these, Ben. We're going to blow through them. You and I can say plenty. But tip number five for racing your first sprint triathlon is have a pre-race plan. Mainly breakfast, transportation, and parking. Again, going into the race day with confidence, going in feeling like you've taken out some of the points of anxiety. Talk to us about what you want an athlete to think through in their pre-race plan.

Ben Sommerville: This is where I'm going to have to really rein myself in. Otherwise, I could do an entire podcast -- and I think I actually did a episode of the RunDot Podcast very recently, with Carrie, where we talked about what that pre-race routine is. What does race morning look like? And we spent an hour talking about what a race morning looks like. So if you want to listen to an hour on that, go over to the RunDot podcast. It's very easy to find, wherever you find your podcasts. But for the purpose of this, I keep it really, really brief. This is just an extension of tip number three. It's about knowing the course, knowing where you're at, knowing your own schedule, and just reducing any barriers to you enjoying your experience. If the process can just take care of itself because you've done that preparation, you can then just fully immerse yourself in the triathlon and enjoy yourself. So again, never do anything new on race day, or even in the sort of the final days before race day. And so this is where your training, and your lifestyle, just becomes a really intuitive process of, if you like to have a banana, or a piece of toast, or a bagel in the morning, do that. If you don't, don't just do it because you see some influencer on the Internet doing it. Because if it works for them, it doesn't mean it works for you. And I've been victim of this before, where I've just kind of gone from trend to trend, fad to fad, because I'm just like, oh, I've been doing this a long time. This almost feels boring, but maybe if I do it differently, it'll be better. Sometimes different isn't better. Consistent and comfort for you is going to be better than anything else. And if you've already scoped out the course, then you know how you need to get yourself there. You know where you need to park, and you'll know when and where you need to be doing those things. And it's just about keeping the race morning as simple as you possibly can. If you're not having to travel a great distance on race morning, that makes it easier, because you don't have to get up as early. You don't have to eat at stupid o' clock in the morning. And so have a good breakfast that you know you enjoy. Food should be fun before it's useful, in my opinion. If you don't enjoy the food you're eating, you're not going to get any benefit out of it anyway. And so for me, most race mornings I have some porridge, some oatmeal, maybe a bit of banana and an energy gel with the final 20 minutes before a race. I've been doing that for 10 years. I've never changed it, and I never will, because it works. And it's also relatively cheap, which is always a great thing, as well. I don't need a three-course continental breakfast to do a triathlon. It's just, there's a time and a place for that, and that's after the event. And it's all about planning, planning, planning. Preparation, preparation, preparation. The three Ps. I think I've said this on a podcast, or in other formats before, the three Ps of triathlon are preparation, preparation, preparation. If you do that correctly, the process takes care of itself. You've controlled the controllables. The rest is just you doing the sport, you enjoying having that experience. So I don't want to overcomplicate this too much, because otherwise it gets very overwhelming, very technical, very detailed. But stick to what you know, practice it well in advance, so then it's almost just muscle memory. It's like a habit. You can't not do it, because it feels wrong to then not do it. And then get yourself to the start line in good time. Just give yourself time. For all of these things for tip five, here -- for your pre-race plan, for your breakfast, for your transportation, for your parking -- give yourself a buffer just in case. Because something might happen. A road might be closed, you might forget something, you might not be able to eat all of your food in one go, so you might have to then spread it out a little bit. And that takes more time. So just give yourself the time, give yourself the space, and don't rush or overthink it, because then you'll just panic.

Andrew Harley: And that's exactly what I was going to add. Be aware the first time you go to a triathlon, the transition, there's a certain block of time where you can set up your transition area. And they will post in the race guide, and they will let everybody know in multiple ways, this is when transition opens, and this is when transition closes. And you have that block of time to get there, set up your transition, get ready for the race, whatever, whatever. And I've been -- I'm a sleepy-head in the morning. I like to sleep as long as humanly possible, even on race mornings. And so I'm always doing the math on how late can I show up and still get everything done before transition closes. And that's the way I roll, particularly to events that are like a B-race, a C-race, a local race down the road. If it's an A-race, okay, I'm going to get up. But the first time I was doing a triathlon with my dad -- and my dad listens to the podcast, shout out to my dad. He actually told me yesterday he is fully caught up. He has now listened to every episode of the TriDot Podcast, because he's a champion and a supportive, loving father. And he's a triathlete. And the first time I was doing a race with my dad -- he is an engineer, he is very, “I'm going to do things by the book. I want to tick every box. I want to check off my checklist.” And so on his first race, he wanted to roll in, and he wanted to be there the minute transition opened to give himself proper time to go through the checklist, and do all my things, and make sure I'm ready to go. And so guess what? We woke up, and we were there the minute transition opened. And that, if you're new to it, or if you're not new to it and you just don't want to stress on a race morning, be like that. Be like my dad and not like me. Give yourself plenty of time. Tip number six for racing your first sprint triathlon is be friendly, and ask for help if you need it. We don't need to camp out on this for long, because I think we've already said it a little bit. But Ben, why is this especially key for a new triathlete?

Ben Sommerville: I think this is so key, because unfortunately, our sport sometimes gets a bad rap for being overly serious and overly competitive. And in doing so, it becomes quite intimidating, and quite off-putting, for beginners to come in, for people to experience it in different ways. And so there really isn't much we can say here. There are a lot of friendly -- most triathletes are friendly. And at every stage of this process, before the event in your training, before the event on race morning, during the event, just ask for help at any possible stage. Because I don't want any beginner, or even experienced athlete out there, having a moment's hesitation going, “What if? I'm a bit unsure. I'm a bit uncertain.” Uncertainty leads to panic. Panic leads to stress. And stress equals poor performance and poor enjoyment, because you start to physically tense up. You emotionally just go here, and there, and everywhere. And so just ask for help. I don't want anyone to feel embarrassed or ashamed that they're asking for help. I, Andrew, started somewhere. We all started somewhere. We all started right at the beginning. So really, I really want to emphasize here, just ask for help. It is the most important thing. There are people out there who will help you. And so this, as you said, there's really not much more I can say. I'm trying to be as friendly as I can in saying it, but just, please, just ask for help. It's just very simple thing to do.

Andrew Harley: If you have a question, ask somebody who looks like they know what they're doing, and they're going to be more than happy to help you. That's just the way triathletes are, right? It's the way runners are. In terms of being friendly, I'm an introvert. I hate going to a party and having small talk with people. I like meaningful conversations and small groups of people that I usually already know or I'm getting to know. And so my default mode on a race morning, if I'm standing in a queue to hop in the water, is to not talk, be in my own head. And a lot can happen when you're in your own head in a stressful environment. And I will never forget my first sprint triathlon. I'm standing in the line in the pool area, just waiting for my turn to hop in the water. I'm obviously nervous. It's my first triathlon ever. And there was an older gentleman in front of me who just started talking to me. Clearly an extrovert, clearly gregarious. Heard it was my first. And we talked, I mean, it was probably a 10- to 20-minute wait, as we just got closer and closer and closer, that, instead of me being in my head, freaking out about this race -- I had done everything I could do. I'm on the pool deck with my goggles. I'm ready to hop in. And it really took my mind off of that area, where I could have gotten really freaked out. And it just kept me occupied, and I'll still never forget, he was telling me a story. I think he had, age 67, 65, 66, something like, that was written on his calf. This is like a local event where they write your age on your calf. And he was telling me, he was like, “I don't mind being passed on the race course, except if I see somebody pass me, and they have an older age on their calf, I grit my teeth, and I pass them right back.” I still remember that interaction, because it was humorous, it was funny, it set me. And now, every race I do, I try to find somebody just to chat with, because I found it just, it takes my mind off of it, it puts me in a good place. It's a good way to meet people. The only time, I think, I shut myself down and didn't talk to a single soul before getting in the water was my first IRONMAN. But that's a different story. So be nice. I, and Ben, I'm sure, the same way. Like, I have so many fond memories from the race course, both pre-race and in the middle of the race, from being friendly and chatting with competitors around me. And those interactions can become really nice memories long after the race is done. Two more tips. Ben, tip number seven for racing your first triathlon is to train for it. Even if it's just a little bit.

Ben Sommerville: You have to train?

Andrew Harley: Talk to us.

Ben Sommerville: No one told me that when I signed up.

Andrew Harley: You don't have to, but we advise it. And why? Tell us why.

Ben Sommerville: Quite simple. Again, this is a whole podcast: why is training so important for completing a sporting event? Well, because it not only physically prepares you, but it mentally and emotionally prepares you. For newer athletes, I like to focus less on the physical progression you're going to make through training. Any amount of training is going to be better than nothing, but it's a confidence building exercise. When the process can just simply take care of itself, because you've got an understanding of you're able to do hard things, then the race just becomes an extension of that. It's not like a, oh my goodness, I'm just going to do a race out of nowhere. You've experienced doing swim, bike, run before, you can do hard things. You've pushed yourself to a certain degree in that training time, in that training period. The race then becomes the easy bit. It's just putting all those puzzle pieces together, and having a really great time doing it. And as I said right at the beginning of the podcast, people's motivations for having a coach, not having a coach, how much time they dedicate to training can very much depend on whether or not they want to complete or compete. And if you are in that mindset of you just want to complete this event for the very first time, you want to experience triathlon, experience multi-sport of any kind. It might not just be triathlon, it might be an aquathlon, it might be a duathlon, it might be an aquabike, it might be a cross triathlon, off-road. Just doing it is the important part. But training, as we always say -- it'd be ironic, it would be sort of, almost nonsensical, if us as a training provider didn't talk about training. But for beginners, it's the bottom of the pile. Everything else we've talked about in these six other tips, and what we'll talk about in the final tip in a minute, is far more important than the training itself, because it's just part of the process. And the race is really where you can put it all together and have a great time. And then you can make the decision, do I want to do another? And then, when you decide to do another one, then you can go, do I want to do the other one and improve? Well then, I'm going to look at my training and find ways to improve. And that's what's kept me in the sport for 15 years, is that process, in that, going, what can I do better next time? I never reflect negatively on any performance, either with myself or my athletes. We always reframe and reflect positively. What can we do better next time? We don't go, “Oh, that was rubbish.” We go, “What can we do better next time?” So we're acknowledging things might not have gone well, but we're going, what can we be productive and positive in that training process, to go, “My second ever sprint triathlon will be X amount of times better, because I'm going to learn this or do this.” And so, if you are beginning your triathlon journey, and you're worried about doing it on your own because you don't want to waste your time, or you don't want to over-train, under-train, go and ask someone. TriDot.com, give us a try. Speak to one of our coaches, speak to our team. We have a training platform there to allow any level of athlete to experience structured training and to be able to progress safely and, to be honest, to progress better than in any other way you possibly can. But don't overwhelm yourself too soon. It’s not that I don't want to get people training, it's the bottom of the pile right now. Do all the other things. Get the essential equipment. Figure out your plan, know your course, ask for help. Training can come later.

Andrew Harley: Yeah. And we obviously believe in TriDot training. We both work for the company. Before we worked for the company, we were both users, we were both athletes using the app, and that's how we got plugged in with the company and ended up working here. But training with TriDot is the most effective way to get ready for a race, full stop. Whether it's a sprint or an IRONMAN, whether it's your first or your 100th, it looks at who you are, what you're racing, and it will have you better prepared than any other possible form of training. I thought, when I was new, Ben, I thought that all the training stuff out there was for people that were just more advanced, better than me, faster than me, bigger goals than me. And now, I look back and I'm like, man, I would have had such a better experience than my first year or two in the sport, if I had gotten on board and done structured training. And it's just, you fire up the app, it tells you what to do, and you go out there and you do it. It's fun, it's enjoyable, it's effective. It keeps you healthy, it keeps you in the sport longer. And so our software team, our product team, works so hard to make using the app as seamless and easy as possible. So if you're new, it is certainly, in my opinion, not overwhelming. You get on the app, you download it, you onboard, and boom, there's your training sessions. Go do them. And so that's definitely, we advocate for that. That said, when you're new to the sport and you're going to your first one, like Ben said, I've told so many friends, do something. Even if all you do is get down to a pool and swim a little bit two or three times. Get out on a bike, on a road, and bike two or three times. Go out to a track, or a running path, and run two or three times. Just putting your body through those motions a couple times will have you better prepared than doing nothing at all. And I told a story about my dad earlier, I'll tell on my brother now. My brother, not an endurance athlete, doesn't love this kind of stuff. He's more of a CrossFit kind of guy now. But he wanted to try one, and so he signed up, he texted me, “What I need to do?” and that's exactly what I told him. His race, he had a couple weeks out. Hey, just don't go full boar, feeling like you have to do something different every single day. Get in a pool a couple times, get on a bike a couple times, even a spin bike at the gym, go for a run a couple times, and you'll be all set. He didn't. He didn’t do a single thing in any of the three sports. He rolls in the race day, and he had a horrific experience. It was a super sprint in Nashville, Tennessee. I had finished the super sprint, and I'm on the sidelines with my wife, and his wife, and our parents, and he comes by on his mountain bike, and we're like, “Yeah, go Bobby! You're doing great, we love you! Woohoo!” And he just rides by and gives us a huge thumbs down and keeps on riding. Horrific experience. Anyway, he's since then done a couple half marathons, and is, as you know, trained for them. Anyway, so just do something, get your body firing in those sports, so that when you get out there – Again, I didn't touch a bike before my first sprint triathlon, and guess what went poorly for me? The bike. My body did not know what that feeling was going to be like. So do something in your training. It's just going to raise your enjoyment level of the day, if nothing else. You'll feel more confident going into the race. Tip number eight for racing your first sprint triathlon is enjoy the sweet, sweet finish line. Coach Ben?

Ben Sommerville: I don't think there's a great deal we can say here, even just what you said right at the end of tip number seven. It's just about doing everything you possibly can, so that the process of doing the event just takes care of itself, so you can simply enjoy yourself. And that is why I'm still in the sport. I'm not in the sport to win races anymore. My priorities have changed. I'm in the sport because I want to enjoy it, try new things, go to new places, meet new people, coach new people, train with new people. Enjoyment is the key, the same thing I said about food. If you're not enjoying your food, it's not going to provide you any benefit. If you're not enjoying sport, what's the point in doing it in the first place? It just becomes a very expensive weekend activity that is almost pointless. Enjoyment is the most important thing. So that finish line feeling, provided you get yourself to that finish line without hurting yourself, physically, causing actual damage to yourself, get to that finish line and enjoy it. I couldn't recommend it enough. I was in agony when I finished my first triathlon. I was like, “Do I really want to do this again?” But when I crossed that line, I thought--

Andrew Harley: I was so tired. I was so tired, Ben.

Ben Sommerville: It’s tiring. It's a hard effort. I used to be just a swimmer, where, you know, swimming’s swimming. For me, I take it for granted how often simple and easy swimming can be for me. Obviously, it's not the case for everyone else, but when I finished that first triathlon, I was like, you know what? I've got a really satisfied, fulfilling sense of wow, I've done something cool. I was inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games. I had aspirations to reach that same level. In due course, my aspirations and my realistic prospects changed. But I always come back to what way can I experience this sport so I'm still enjoying it? And that's why I'm still here. That's why I coach athletes. It's why myself and my partner both do triathlon together. We can go places, we can spectate each other, we can race the same event at the same time. Because it is so fun. It's such a great challenge. Even if you do one, if you just want to do one, to give it a go, say you've done that challenge, by all means, please come to the sport, give it a go. I promise you, you won't just do one, is all I'll say. It will definitely be something you'll do more of, because it's just that kind of experience. It's genuinely life changing. It changed my life for the better, so I've got no regrets. So please experience it, enjoy it. And worry little about all of the technical, you know, nonsense that can become very quickly overwhelming. It's not, not necessary. Just enjoy yourself.

[Transition Sound Effect]

Andrew Harley: On to the cool down for today's show, where we ask our coaches a question from you, the audience. And this question comes from Sunid, who said, “Quick query: I have a one-week cycling trip coming up in Mallorca--” This sounds great. I'm very excited for him. “I plan to get some good bike time in, as most days will be a minimum of 100k—" That's 62 miles on a bike, minimum, each day for a week. And he wants to know, “How do I schedule this on the TriDot app so that my training will adjust? Do I just put each day in as a race or make some other adjustment?” Coach Ben, what would you have an athlete do-- and this obviously is a niche case. But for a lot of us, if we're going to take a week and either do a triathlon camp, or do something different that isn't programmable into the app, how do we let the TriDot app know, hey, I'm doing something a little bit different here with my fitness?

Ben Sommerville: Yes. First of all, where's my invite? I'd love to go to Mallorca and do another training camp. And I've just come back from a training--

Andrew Harley: Plus one? Do you get a plus one?

Ben Sommerville: Yeah, go on. I don't know who I'd bring. It's either you or my fiancé. Don't know.

Andrew Harley: Tough choice.

Ben Sommerville: That's a very tough choice. I've just come back from a training camp, so I'm perfectly placed to help answer this question. The first and most important thing is, what is so great about TriDot is the way that it so intelligently understands training stress. If you do training beyond what it actually wanted you to do in the first place, it will still consider it. And so I often don't make very many changes to my athletes’ weeks training sessions when they're going away on camp. At the absolute most, I may just completely take away any preprogrammed sessions for that week, and just let them just upload all of what they do to TriDot, and it will consider everything that they've done as training stress, and it will make appropriate recommendations and changes in future weeks, because it understands the level of intensity you've just done, even if it wasn't asking you to do that in the first place. But more often not, for athletes who are not working with a coach, just leave your week as it is. If, for any reason, some of them look like they might match up better to some of the things you are planning to do already, move them around, but TriDot will take the training data. It will look at your normalized training stress. It will take that into account, all behind the scenes, to ensure that you are still doing, in the long term, getting from A to B, doing the right training right, less time, better results, fewer injuries. And so I always like to just have athletes just go away, and experience the training camp, and just enjoy themselves. Think little of the prescription that was previously intended, because that's an ideal week when you're back in your normal routine. That's effectively what TriDot is trying to build you to, what you're working with every day, every week, is what you're doing in your home environment, the least amount of possible time. But when you go away on a training camp, you get to experience life like a pro. You get to do more, because you have extra time. You're not having to rush to the shops or go and pick up your kids from school. You're there on a holiday, you've got free time, you can eat, you can sleep, and you can train. And so, provided you're safely applying extra training volume, you're not overexerting yourself too much, and risking injury, and illness and things like that, I recommend not to make minimal changes or try to manipulate your TriDot training in any way. It will still understand, it will still recognize what you're doing, provided you give it the training data. Like anything, if there's no data, it can't manage what it can't measure, right? And so provide it the training data, and it will do all the hard work for you behind the scenes, and you can enjoy Mallorca. It's my favorite place to go on a training camp. I've done five training camps there. Have an amazing time, if it's your first time. If it's not your first time, just go and enjoy it again. And the cycling there is amazing. So just a shameless advert for Mallorca, which I'm not paid at all to do. I wish I was. But please, go to Mallorca. Experience it for swimming, for cycling, for running. There's a great IRONMAN 70.3 event there, as well, which I did last year. And so yeah, there's no need to put each day as a race. There's no need to make any sort of overt changes to your training schedule. Just let your training upload, and it will do all the hard work behind the scenes for your future prescribed training when you're back at home, hopefully in an equally sunny place. Unlike me, when I return home from training camp, I usually go from sun to gray skies, and clouds, and rain.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to the TriDot Podcast. Help us out by leaving a rating and review on your listening platform of choice. For more opportunities to learn from our coaches, check out our YouTube channel and follow @TriDotTraining on social. Ready to train with us? Head to tridot.com and get started for free. Until next time. Happy training.

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