The man lives not alone in the gym. The more diverse the activity, the better for him. That is why swimming, cycling and running are also disciplines that can be practiced as well as every day. The combination of these three sports is created by the world-known powerlifting, or triathlon. What exactly is it? What principles should be followed? How to prepare for it properly? How can a preparation training for a triathlon look like? Check more in the article.
What is triathlon?
Triathlon is a sport discipline that combines swimming, cycling and running. Activities are performed in the right order by the competitor. These competitions are played at different distances and guided by the same rules.
Triathlon - rules
Triathlon is an individual sport in which the result depends on the preparation of a given player and his strength.
The starting competitor begins his journey by passing a specific distance. Distance depends on the length of the selected route. If the water in the given suit does not exceed 25.5 degrees Celsius, the competitor may be dressed in a special foam. Every few meters there are also auxiliary buoys, which you can resist but it is forbidden to push away from them. The swimmer can also stop at any time if the water is shallow enough.
After swimming, the competitor in a special place exchanges his clothes and gets on a bicycle. The cycling stage has two key principles
- First of all - the competitor must have a helmet
- Secondly - he can get off the bike and drive him, but the race must end with him on bike
After the bicycle stage in a specially designated place, he leaves the helmet and puts on footwear. The stage of the runner can finish the way he wants, it can be a march, run back, trot. It is forbidden to run in the help of helpers, crawling, running without shoes or with a helmet on his head.
Triathlon - distances
Depending on the variants, the triathlon competition may have different distances. This allows each practitioner to choose the right challenge for himself.
- Super Sprint 0.6 km swim / 15 km bike ride / 3 km run
- Sprint 0.75 km of swimming / 20 km cycling / 5 km of running
- Olimpic (standard) 1.5 km of swimming / 40 km cycling / 10 km of running
- Long distance 1.9 km of swimming / 80 km of cycling / 20 km of running
- International Triathlon Union (ITU) - long distance of 4 km of swimming / 130 km of cycling / 30 km of running
- 1/4 Ironman 0.95 km swim / 45 km bike ride / 10.55 km run
- Half- Ironman (Ironman 70.3) 1.9 km of swimming / 90 km cycling / 21 km of running
- Ironman 3.8 km swim / 180 km bike ride / 42 km run
- Iron distances close to Ironman
- Ultraman Triathlon 10 km of swimming / 421 km cycling / 84 km run
How to start the triathlon adventure? It is a versatile sport that links the previously mentioned activities. That's why knowledge about your health is the most important thing. Thanks to the fact that there are many distances to choose from, everyone can find something for themselves - that's why one should first know their abilities. Preparatory training should be started even a year earlier. Depending on our financial status, we can train ourselves or hire a trainer.
Swimming - swimming technique is important, not strength. At the beginning, try to swim in the pools, at least 2-3 times a week for 60 minutes. Then it is worth going to open facilities, a lagoon type, a lake, in order to get used to the starting conditions.
Cycling - the most important thing is to have a good and efficient bicycle. You should also take care of the correct position of the body, because it increases the effectiveness of training and helps to avoid injury. An efficient bicycle is a well-chosen frame, saddle height and you should take care of the pedals with hooks.
Running - an important issue is well-chosen footwear, thanks to which we will avoid unnecessary injury and joint pain. It is worth to train on a soft surface and choose the distances for your training possibilities.
Of course, you should remember about regeneration, because it is the body that will allow you to prepare your body for such an effort and will help you maintain your fitness.
Triathlon training - how to prepare for a competition?
How to prepare for a competition? It all depends on the player's individual abilities. We present an example of triathlon training for beginners.
- DAY 1 - swimming at the pool 60 min
- DAY 2 - rest
- DAY 3 - 30 min running + 20 min training in the gym (functional training, military training, station training)
- DAY 4 - swimming at the pool 60 min
- DAY 5 - rest
- DAY 6 - 45 min cycling training + 20 min gym training (functional training, military training, station training)
- DAY 7- rest
Triathlon training - preparation training
Triathlon is an individual sport, so the result depends only on our skills and attitude. It should be remembered that the tasks to perform swimming, cycling and running are hard disciplines, and even more immediately performed after each other. Before we decide to compete, we need to know our capabilities and state of health. It is worth being interested in this topic - completing a triathlon is a great achievement of every human being. It's worth taking part in it and using the training for triathlon, but the most important is health.