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Advice for triathlon newbies from Vicky Holland

June 2nd, 2010 - Posted by Mike - RKC Owner

Vicky Holland is one of the country’s leading elite triathletes and Red Kite Cycles are proud to be her bike sponsors.  She has just returned to the UK after a  winter training in Australia and the first two World Championship races in Australia and Korea.  Here she provides some advice for those embarking on their first triathlon, in particular  from Liz and Anne who are competing in the the Blenheim Triathlon on 5 June which has an open water swim.

The elite wave  is really the only time you would have to worry about bunch riding. There will probably be a lot of people on the course even if it is an age group non-drafting race, but they tend to stagger the race starts quite well so that it shouldn’t be too bad in terms of crowding and having lots of people around. They will probably find a lot of people not quite sticking to the drafting rules (I believe it is around 10m but this will be made clear to them on race day at the briefing) and getting too close for too long (i.e when they aren’t overtaking) but I would always advise them to try to be as careful as possible with this as if you are caught by a marshall there is a chance they would be immediately disqualified or at minimum face a time penalty (added on to their total time at the end) and t’s always better to finish knowing you didn’t ‘get away with something’ even if others do it.

Other than this I would say just to treat the road as if it is theirs - by that I mean don’t worry about other people around them trying to pass etc. If someone wants to pass you and you are in the way, it is their job to let you know so you can move over, not your job to ride on the side of the road the whole time in case you are in the way. It is much better to take the shortest route, and therefore the racing line so look for this round the corners - and there are a few places where you can take advantage of this at Blenheim.

Blenheim isn’t massively hilly but it s a fairly ‘bumpy’ course so I would advise controlling the pace throughout the first half of the bike and then building through the second half - particularly as the run also has a decent hill in it that has to be climbed twice. Going out too hard on the bike could spell disaster onto the run, but a more controlled approach and building throughout the race means they will probably finish much stronger than they imagine they will.

It is always good to use other people to pace off on the bike - obviously I don’t mean draft off them - but after the first few kilometres on the bike, once they start to settle into their own pace, have a look around, see who is near and who is riding roughly the same pace, or maybe just a little faster and try to stay the same distance from them. It always helps to have a target and someone to work off so this is a technique that a lot of pro long distance athletes use.

It’s really important to remember to drink on the bike - you get a lot more dehydrated than you think during the race and your run leg can suffer hugely if you haven’t taken on enough fluids on the bike so for a short distance race I would advise trying to get through around 600ml on the bike in average conditions (high teens, low winds) but in higher temperatures up to a litre may be necessary. As my race is drafting I tend to need slightly less so I drink around 500ml on the bike in ‘normal’ conditions during a sprint race like Blenheim, but in an Olympic Distance race I’d drink more than double that - at least a litre even in cold conditions and up to 1.5l in hot weather - half energy drink, half water. I don’t tend to use gels on sprint distance races but a lot of people do so if they are used to this then definitely carry on with it on race day. If they haven’t used gels before, during the race is not the right time for a trial!

As for swimming in open water, the most important thing is not to panic, particularly at the start when there will be a lot of people around and it can end up a little bit like a washing machine!! Just stay calm an concentrate on your own stroke - I find you don’t even need to try ’sighting’ in the first hundred metres or so as you just follow all the splash and you can’t really go wrong!! If they are particular nervous about being stuck in the middle of a big group in the water and possibly getting knocked around a bit (which is perfectly normal and if you just ignore it as best you can and try to get on with doing your own thing it isn’t a problem) then starting as close to the edge of the group as possible is probably the best idea.
The swim at Blenheim has always been fairly straight forward in the years I have done it - straight up for around 500m (along a lane rope too so it’s pretty difficult to go the wrong way!) and then a sharp left turn around a large turn bouy into the shore. Taking th inside line around the buoy is a good idea as it’s the shortest route, but your chances of being bashed around are higher s if this is a worry, take it nice and wide and keep out of the ruck. I really think the most important thing is to not panic in open water - it’s a bit mad but just try to enjoy it and settle into your own rhythm!

The likelihood they will have to do a lot of ’sighting’ is slim, but if they are in the situation where following the splash isn’t quite enough then they should always look at both the bouy ahead and also a fixed object that is directly behind it. Try to find something at the start (like a big tree or building) but if the bouy is too far away at this point then the first time you look at the bout during the race is the time to check out the background for something to use. If you only look at the bouy for sighting then it will always look like you are heading in a straight line even if you are wildly off course, so having something else to line it up with is really useful.

The transition onto the bike at Blenheim is up a pretty long hill so just relax and take it steady up there as otherwise you will be cooked by the time you get onto your bike!!

The most important thing is really to just enjoy yourself - what’s the point otherwise hey? - but also to focus on doing your own things right (racing line, fluids, pacing etc) and not get too caught up in what others are doing.

I hope that helps - not sure if this is the sort of advice they are after but hopefully something in there is of use!!

As for my first race, it was a pretty long time ago now but I do remember I made all sorts of mistakes!! It was a pool swim in May 2005 and my first mistake was to completely forget my number belt so I had to run back into transition to get it! That wasted a lot of time! I then ran past my racking position in transition so had to go back to find my bike. Onto the bike and my positioning was pretty awful on the road and I was rubbish at judging distance for the drafting - I was warned by the marshalls once to keep my distance too so was lucky not to come away with a time penalty. I was very unsure of the dismount and ended up getting off my bike about 10m early as I didn’t want to be penalised by riding over the dismount line! As you can see - lots of mistakes, and lots of room for improvement but I still really enjoyed it and was ready for the challenge of an open water race. I can honestly say I have never forgotten my number belt again, nor have I messed up my dismount so badly! I rarely race non-drafting so I’m not sure how my skills at judging distance are but I have on odd occasion (twice in 5 years isn’t too terrible though) ran past my bike in transition. To combat this I normally practice running into transition on race morning and use external markers (such a tree or an advertising banner) to know where my bike is. I like to think I am a fairly established athlete these days but I still struggle with some of the technical elements of triathlon even now and there is nearly always something that I could have done better in any race. A common one for me is fumbling my helmet clasp in T1 when I am trying to get it fixed quickly. I’ll keep working on these small things and striving to get as many things right as I can in every race - ‘ticking the boxes’ as my coach calls it, but let’s be honest, nobodies perfect right?!

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