SA’s top tri coaches share their hard-earned wisdom on how to train so that you perform at
your peak, save time and, importantly, have fun.
GLEN GORE
Team Tri-Lab Multsiport | Durban | trilabmultisport.co.za
A multiple elite tri champion over all distances, Glen has been a coach since 2004. He’s also an event organiser and chair of TRI KZN. His coaching mantra is keeping it simple – plus old school – as it’s more fun when it’s less complicated. Here are his tricks for time-poor swimmers.
• The correct dry-land training methods can contribute to a stronger athlete, which in turn will contribute to faster swim times when racing.Stretch cords (rubbers) are the easiest and most economical method to enhance one’s swim performance standing on terra firma.
• Swim more butterfly. It’s great for building your endurance and will most certainly improve your swim times on less training mileage.
• Hit the pool and swim hard and swim fast. A quick warm-up and then some high intensity repeats ranging from 25m right up to 400m will boost your performance on less training time.
You still need a base, and swimming long has its place, but you’ve got to mix it up a little and swim faster to maximise the gains.
• Provided you have access to a swimming pool nearby work or home, swimming more times per week but less miles per session will boost your performance. For example, swim 5
times per week and do 1-1.5km per session rather than swim 3 times per week and do 2-2.5km per session.
Similar mileage but the consistency and frequency will enhance your performance over the long term.
• Invest in some toys. Fins are a must for the novice and can also add some essential drills to your program, like kicking to boost the overall swim stroke. Paddles give you a greater reach in the water through the arm pull stroke and assist in your technique.
A snorkel allows you to watch your arm through the pull motion by keeping your eyes looking ahead as you don’t need to rotate the head to breathe. A still head also improves your posture and body position in the water.
RAYNARD TISSINK
Team Tissink Triathlon | Port Elizabeth | teamtissinktriathlon.co.za
Raynard, an eight-time IRONMAN champion and top-five finisher in Kona, and his wife Natalie, a past SA national swimming champion, Springbok lifesaver and triathlete, offer in-person and online coaching.
• Triathlon is mostly an endurance event. The majority of your training should be easy aerobic work. Get comfortable with going long before strong.
• Everybody adapts differently to training. Some will respond quicker than others.
Patience and consistency is the key to success.
• There are no short cuts to peak performance. If you want to perform, you need to put in the work.
• Rest is as important as training. Sleep is your number 1 performance enhancer.
• Racing is the best form of training.
• If you want to be a stronger cyclist or runner, head to the hills.
• You cannot run fast if you do not know how to run slow.
JOHN MIDDLEWICK
Carbon Endurance | Johannesburg | carbonendurance.co
John is a TriSutto certified endurance coach for beginners through to elites. Being a part-time endurance athlete himself, he fully understands the challenges of balancing work, family and sport, and endeavours to help people achieve both athletic success and balance
in their lives.
• Don’t be limited or burdened by the training numbers – learn to use what your body has on a given day within the context of your life – ie, energy, fatigue, stress, work, kids, enjoyment.
• Use perceived effort targets more often. You may be surprised at how much harder you can push than your power meter targets on a certain day, and how much easier you need to go on others.
• The sport of triathlon should compliment and benefit your life, not take away from it.
• Get your blood work done with a sports physician and check for areas of deficiency when it comes to vitamins/minerals/electrolytes that can affect your performance and recovery.
• Preloading with sodium before races using the correct individualised product will ensure your body’s natural sodium stores are topped up. Avoid over drinking plain water days before races, which will just flush your body of sodium and have you starting on the back foot when it comes to electrolyte balance.
MAGDA NIEUWOUDT
Trivium Triathlon | Pretoria | triviumtriathlon.co.za
Pro triathlete Magda offers online and hands-on coaching. Trivium aims to encourage athletes to build a community with like-minded athletes. It also manages each athlete’s workload and training load individually. You won’t see crazy weekly hours from its athletes.
• For swimming, one key piece of equipment in your bag should be a rubber band that you can use to wrap around your ankles and drag your body through the water.
• To avoid your goggles fogging up, use baby shampoo, just a small drip, and wipe it out.
• Cycle your bike downhill and not just uphill. Also train on flat routes, which makes you super strong. Most people can climb or freewheel down a hill, but can they sustain the power on even grounds for long?
• Knowing the size of your chainring, cassette and different gears on the bike does make a difference. Girls, please read up about this or ask your coach.
• For running, remember power always converts to speed. Add in hill-reps, long runs in a hilly area and some gym work into your program.
• Lastly, find your why before you start, and always chase impossible goals. Don’t be scared of failing because triathlon is a sport where you almost cannot fail – you should just be able to endure anything that comes your way.
RICHARD LAWRIE
Matrix Multisport | Port Elizabeth | matrixmultisport.com
Richard believes in balancing your training around your lifestyle and not your lifestyle around your training. Having structure, balance and consistency are important for success.
• Make it about living a healthy lifestyle and not just about your next race.
• Set micro and macro goals to stay motivated.
• Be patient and trust the process.
• Don’t forget your sunscreen and anti-chafe.
• Train smart, not hard.
• Easy means easy, hard means hard.
• Consistency is king – a cliché I know, but I also know that there ain’t no success without a huge focus on consistency.
• Practice race-day nutrition and conditioning your gut for race day.
• There is no luck in triathlon – what you put in is what you get out.
VIVIENNE WILLIAMS
SCR Academy | Cape Town | swimcyclerunacademy.co.za
A former elite competitor, Viv is now a World Triathlon Level 2 Coach and Coach Facilitator who has a ‘personalized coaching for performance’ approach, both in training squads and online.
• Having a positive and working coach/athlete relationship is vital to meeting your personal and athletic goals. Not every coach will suit your needs as an athlete, nor will every athlete/coach relationship necessarily work. Besides the coaching relationship, the coach’s
personality, coaching philosophy and style of coaching is also important when looking at your options.
• First and foremost, make sure you know your personal needs when looking for a coach. How much contact will you require with your coach? Will a generic online program be enough, do you need a friendly squad with which to train, do you simply want to tick the box and do a triathlon, or do you feel the need to meet up with the coach regularly for feedback on your progress? There is no right or wrong answer to this, as we are all individuals.
• Some coaches offer a squad training set-up with is simply ‘training with others’ as opposed to ‘coaching’. Meeting up to train with other athletes can be useful with finding motivation. However there are pros and cons. If not of similar mind or ability it can turn out to be damaging physically and/or psychologically.
• Are you self-motivated and prefer to do most of your training alone? Perhaps you require more personal attention from your coach – one who can analyse your technique and performance, and who can knowledgeably oversee key sessions.
• Are you looking for performance gains and goals? A personalised training plan that will suit your needs as an athlete? This program would take into account your strengths and weaknesses in the various disciplines, suit the time you have to set aside for training vs family, work, vacations and any other happenings.
RIANA ROBERTSON
Dinamic Coaching | Pretoria | dinamic-coaching.com
Riana has more than 20 years of experience in triathlon as an athlete and coach. She believes in coaching the individual and emphasising that there are no short cuts.
• Putting down a training goal does not always need to be about tackling big races. It could
be as simple as improving a technique or setting a new PB in one of the disciplines.
• Have fun. Yes, triathlon is a individual sport, but schedule in a group meet-up with some
like-minded friends every now and again.
• Get a bike fit. A poor bike position can not only influence your performance but could also
cause injuries. A recreational triathlete will be faster on a correctly sized and well set-up
entry level bike then they will be on an ill-fitting and incorrectly sized top-of-the-range one.
• Sometimes the most basic training sessions like bike skills, mounting, dismounting,
changing gears, turning with your bike and drinking from a water bottle are exactly what
you need to improve your performance.
• Take your rest days. Don’t use this time to catch up the sessions that you missed. It’s not only a physical break from training but a mental break as well. Training is not like cramming for year-end exams. You cannot gain that extra little bit of fitness by trying to cram missed sessions from the previous week into the new week.
• Stop comparing yourself to other athletes, or to a previous version of yourself. Accept where you are now and work with what you have.
• Expect to make mistakes and don’t be too hard on yourself if you do. Get over it and, most importantly, learn from it.
LUCIE ZELENKOVA
Trifactri | Gauteng | trifactri.co.za
Lucie knows what it takes to get to the top as she’s done it herself – she’s an Olympian and multiple IRONMAN winner. Her coaching philosophy is fairly simple: for longevity in the
sport you have to have balance, and to perform your best you have to have consistency.
• Never neglect your recovery. Massages, foam rolling or a day off helps your body recover,
stops you from burning out and will in the long run make you a better athlete.
• Nutrition is the fourth discipline of triathlon. Even the best car can’t drive without fuel. Fuelling throughout the day is very important and will stop crashing during training sets.
• Glute strength and strong hip flexors are very important for your cycling and running. It is
important to try and do 1-2 days per week of strength training or discipline-specific training – like hills to make them strong.
• Swim technique is very important. It is essential to get stroke correction so you don’t pick up bad habits. Swimming in open water is different to pool swimming and it is important that you know how to swim correctly in open water.
• Swimming with hand paddles and a pull buoy is a great way to build your latissimus dorsi muscles and shoulder strength.
• Make sure that you have your bike fitted to you personally. Everyone’s body is different and there is no one-size-fitsall. Correct fitting will help prevent injuries and increase your performance. It is also important to know your equipment.
• Running is a lot about everything. Your stride and correct foot landing will not only make you a faster runner but will also prevent injuries.
• Find a group of like-minded people. Even though triathlon is an individual sport, your
friends, teammates and coach will make you more accountable.
• Having a glass of wine now and then doesn’t make you a bad athlete. It just makes you
human.