USA 12/21/2009 10:40:19 PM
Triathlon Workout Fun
Fun triathlon workouts to mix things up
Lets face it doing the same triathlon workout routine, day in day out, is about as fun as pulling teeth. Here are some triathlon workout ideas to spice things up. 1. Drained Sprints Here's a good way to ensure that you last strong to the finish, especially in the triathlon races with long or difficult bike legs. Go on your normal long bike triathlon workout, which will be 1 hours up to 6 hours, depending on who you are! After you finish your ride, find a long flat section of road, then stand and sprint for 20 seconds as hard as possible. Recover for 40-60 seconds, then repeat. This is called a "drained sprint" because you're completely devoid of energy by the time you start the series of sprints, and it builds some serious mental and physical toughness. Shoot for 10 sprints total. 2. Beach Bricks You'll need a nice long section of beach for this triathlon workout. With your goggles hung around your neck, run 1 mile at a fairly quick pace, about 80-90% intensity. Then, without any recovery, make a detour and run into the water. Swim for 2-5 minutes at your cruise pace, then get out of the water and start running again. Your goal is 3-5 repeats. The water will feel nice as it cools your core between your harder mile repeats. 3. Open Water Running If you've worn a wetsuit, you know that the buoyancy helps you float quite nicely in the open water. But have you tried water running in the open water in your wetsuit? Next time you're doing an open water swim triathlon workout, finish with 5-10 minutes of vigorously pumping the arms and running in the water in your wetsuit, where you can't touch the bottom! It's a great alternative to teaching your body how to get blood from the upper sections to the lower sections, especially if you don't have time to get on a bike after your swim. 4. Hypoxic Sets Not allowing yourself to breath, or breathing minimally, can teach your body how to be incredibly efficient during a swim set. Here's how this triathlon workout goes: do your normal swim workout, but in between each main set, whether it be a 100, 200, 500, or 800, swim 25-50 meters without breathing or breathing as little as possible. Another option is to finish your workout with 10x25 of "hypoxic" sets, again, breathing as little as possible.
