How To Keep Your Sanity While Training For a Triathlon

By Lily Jones | The Vegan Triathlete

Training for a triathlon is certainly not for the weak-willed. It takes determination, resilience, and compassion for yourself. It can be tempting just to give up or throw in the towel, but something in you keeps you going and makes you show up for that 5 AM swim. It can be difficult to stay motivated, especially when it’s that third mile of the run and you feel like you’re dragging along the pavement. What keeps you going? What’s your why? That’s what you’ve got to figure out. I’ll even give you a hint:

it’s got to be for yourself.

You can’t do this for your family, to show off to your friends(but you can do that too), or to add a shiny star to your resume. That drive comes from within you, and it’s there, somewhere, you just need to wake up the beast. 

Make a Plan and Stick to It 

Having a solid training plan is essential for your success. It will ensure you won’t get burnt out by running five days in a row or struggling to swim 100 yards on race day when you realize you haven’t been in a pool in two months. Triathlons require you to balance three separate sports(along with strength training, which I consider the fourth discipline). This is incredibly hard to do without some sort of plan.

For my first triathlon, I loosely followed a plan I found online, and it worked! I felt prepared, fresh, and ready to race. I crushed my race(in my humble opinion) and placed third in my age group. I still had a long way to go and many areas that I could improve, but I started, and got the ball rolling, and that is essential. No fancy coaching, no high-tech training gear, just a free plan online. 

Look for a plan suited for your expert level, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned athlete, and suited for your race distance. More seasoned athletes have the benefit of having experience, which is practically liquid gold in the sport of triathlon. The experience allows you to know what works and what doesn’t. Therefore, most seasoned triathletes will have a better idea of what kind of training plan will work for them, or they may even be at the point of investing in a coach. For your first triathlon, I’d advise you to avoid the coaching(unless you really want it), simply because your first race likely won’t be your best, it will be riddled with mistakes, and you are still a little triathlon baby trying to figure out what you like. Your first race, or even your first few races, should be fun. If you aren’t enjoying it, it might not be the sport for you, or maybe you need to switch up your training. 

I’m not saying you have to stick to the first plan you find, but it is a good idea to stick to some sort of plan or routine. Not having to think about what I’m going to do in the gym always makes it easier to actually get my butt up and go. That’s because I follow the same general sequence nearly every time I go(for my offseason training right now): dynamic stretches, deadlifts, chest presses, squats, back rows, bicep curls, tricep extensions, abs, and finally, static stretching. Now, I know, I should probably be splitting up my upper and lower body onto different days, but at the moment I can’t go often enough to justify that.

The gist of this is: that you need to find what works for you and stick to the routine. 

Keep it simple. 

You don’t have to have every piece of the latest training technology or a $900 dollar watch to train for a triathlon. Those things can be fun(and make great gifts), but those things are like the icing on the cake. First, you need the base, the actual cake.

The cake is a solid training plan, intrinsic(meaning coming from yourself) motivation, and the bare minimum gear to finish your race.

You need a swimsuit or trisuit, a bike(used bikes on eBay or Facebook Marketplace can be hidden gems, that’s where I got mine), and some running shoes. You can get all or most of these on sale, repurpose things you already have, or get them used. The point is: you don’t have to have anything fancy or expensive. The most important part of your training isn’t things, it’s you. It’s your training, your knowledge, and your will to complete it. 

Have empathy for yourself. 

Despite all of the hard work and willpower required to train for and complete a triathlon, one of the most important things, in my opinion, is having empathy for yourself. You are doing something very hard, it is going to be very taxing on your body, and it is a trail that can be riddled with obstacles, such as injuries. Injuries are unfortunately an often necessary component of learning how to train while taking care of your body.

To prevent them, always do dynamic stretches before a workout and static stretches after, and try to correct your technique as much as possible, but it is difficult to do on your own. I’d recommend using YouTube videos to try and learn how to correctly swim, bike, and run. Sometimes watching someone else do it can help you to replicate it.  

Also, if you are sick, allow yourself to rest. Resting is an essential part of training. Make sure you sleep at least seven or eight hours if you can since your muscles need that time to recover.

 A day or two off each week isn’t a bad idea either. Personally, I try to have at least one day off every week to tend to the other areas of my life, usually on Saturday, for cleaning, writing, and doing homework. Having this day off helps me reset and makes me more likely to train well the following week. 

Begin with the end in mind. 

Go ahead and pick out what race you are training for at the beginning of your training. This will help you to know the endpoint and ensure you phase your training well. If you train hard all year long, you’re more likely to burn out. Most triathletes train in phases, with an off-season phase(usually focused on your weakest discipline + strength training), then into a building phase(focusing on long and slow), and then a short taper/speed phase(focusing on race preparation). There are a lot of varying opinions on how to structure your training, so I won’t tell you one way or the other how to train, I’m still figuring it out myself, but that is a general overview of it.

The point is, you don’t want to train super hard all year long. Variety is good for your body. 

So, pick out a race, and structure your training around that.  A good exercise to do is to plan out(on paper or online, like on Google Calendar) your ideal week. This includes your training, work, school, personal activities, hobbies, responsibilities, relationships, and everything. This forces you to decide what your priorities are and how you are going to spend the time in your life. I’m not suggesting you try to follow this exactly, because that is likely to end in frustration. But simply writing out a general idea of how you’d like to structure your life can help you to see when you should train, and ensure training isn’t taking over your life. You don’t want to let a triathlon ruin your relationships or tank your school performance. 

Fuel your body well. 

Nutrition, rest, and recovery are what I consider the key pillars of triathlon training, besides the obvious swim, bike, and run.

Nutrition is essential for all of your hard work to translate into results. Protein, carbs, and healthy fats are important. I’m not here to give you a detailed diet plan, there are plenty of those on the internet from far more qualified individuals, but having some sort of solid plan, that aligns with your beliefs and values, is important. For example, as a vegan, I take a B12 vitamin supplement since that is commonly lacking in a vegan diet. And I ensure I have plenty of protein in each meal to allow my muscles to grow.  I’ll write more detailed descriptions on my blog soon to help guide fellow vegan athletes and those who are simply interested in more plant-based foods. 

Adequate water intake is also necessary for athletes. A general rule of thumb is to intake half of your body weight(in lbs) in ounces. So if you weigh 200 lbs, you need roughly 100 ounces of water a day, plus around 15 ounces for every 30 minutes of exercise. So if our 200-pound individual, let’s name him Kyle, exercises for an hour every day, he needs roughly 130 ounces of water each day. This is a rough estimate, so go with what you feel best with. 

For example, I have dysautonomia which requires me to hyperhydrate and take in additional electrolytes to assist my medicine to allow me to walk and train without passing out. Sometimes the general advice doesn’t apply to you, and that’s okay. Just figure out what works and go from there.