61 triathlon training tips from the ROUVY team

Bike

17. Sort your contact points early. Get a bike fit, find a saddle that works, and make friends with chamois cream.

18. Fit aero bars, then learn to ride them. They make a huge difference to your speed. They also make turning tricky, so stay on the hoods for anything technical and save the extensions for the straights.

19. Helmet, glasses and cycling shoes, every single ride. No discussion on the first two. If you can't ride clipped in yet, learn now.

20. Pace the bike leg on power, not on feel. For a first 70.3, somewhere around 70–75% of your FTP is the zone that leaves you with legs for the run. Feel lies to you in the first hour; a power number doesn't.

21. Ride the course before you ride the course. Knowing where the climbs sit and how long the false flat drags on changes how you pace it. You can ride the real roads on ROUVY months before you fly out.

22. Turn your bike into a mobile buffet. Tape your gels to the top tube so you can snap and eat without digging through pockets at 30km/h. Bin the wrappers in the marked litter zones only; anywhere else is a time penalty.

23. Learn to fix a flat. Nobody is stopping to help you. Practise it in your kitchen until you've mastered it.

24. Service the bike now, not on race week. Check your chain, cassette and chainrings today. Finding out your chain is stretched seven days before the start is an avoidable stress.

25. Remember it's a triathlon, not a bike race. Especially if you've come from cycling. Every match you burn on the bike gets billed to you on the run, with interest.

26. Spin easy for the first ten minutes. You come out of T1 with your heart rate in the red. Catch your breath, take a drink, and let it come down before you start working.

27. Keep 12 metres back. Drafting is prohibited, and the referees on motorbikes see everything. A penalty hurts more than any hill.

28. Spin out the last 5km. Shift to a lighter gear and shake your legs out before you hit the tarmac.

29. Roll through the aid stations. Only stop for the toilet. Drop the empty bottle in the marked zone, slow down, take a fresh one from the volunteer and go. If you get a cup, squeeze the top into a beak so you can drink at 30km/h without wearing it.

Run

30. Back off the moment something twinges in training. Most long-course triathlon injuries come from running, and trying to kill it two months out is how people end up spectating. Skip a session rather than the whole race.

31. Buy the comfortable shoe, not the fast-looking one. Injuring your Achilles because the shoes looked quick in the shop is an expensive way to bruise your ego.

32. Do your brick sessions. The first 500 metres off the bike feel like running on stilts with concrete where your thighs used to be. Your body needs practice at the switch, so give it some.

33. Start slower than the people around you. The ones who sprint for the first kilometre are usually walking by the tenth.

34. Break 21.1km into pieces. Don't think about the half marathon. Think about the next aid station, then the flag after that.

35. Walk only for a good reason. Aid stations and hills, fine. Just know that once you stop, starting again is properly hard.

36. Cool the engine. If it's hot, stuff wet sponges into your jersey. Staying cool is a performance decision, not a comfort one.

Transitions

37. Find your landmark at bike check-in. Stand by your bike and look towards the swim exit. That blue bin, that inflatable arch, that's your lighthouse. Tomorrow you'll come out of the water at 170bpm with no working brain, and you need to know you turn left after the third pillar.

38. Let some air out overnight. If your bike sits in the sun all afternoon, tyre pressure climbs. You don't want a blowout. Pump them back up in the morning.

39. Check your bags before transition closes. Cycling shoes in the blue bag, running shoes in the red one. This is your last chance to swap them.

40. Rack the bike in an easy gear. The mount line is no place to discover you left it in the hardest gear on the cassette.

41. Start the strip as you leave the water. Goggles onto your forehead, unzip, wetsuit down to the waist, all while you're running. The clock doesn't pause for tidiness.

42. Helmet on and buckled before you touch the bike. Get it tattooed on your forearm if you have to. Helmet first, strap fastened, then the bike. Any other order is a penalty.

43. Wear socks on the bike. Sand from the swim turns the inside of a cycling shoe into sandpaper, and your foot into something you'd rather not look at by the first aid station.

44. Use dial closures on the bike and elastic laces on the run. Classic laces cost you 30 seconds you'll never see again. A dusting of baby powder in each shoe and your foot slides in like a slipper.

Fuelling and gut

45. Nothing new on race day. Every gel, every bar, every tablet gets tested in training first. Race day is not a tasting menu.

46. Train your gut like a muscle. Ride shortly after eating, take your carbs mid-session, and teach your stomach to keep working while your legs are demanding all the blood. Skip this training, and your food just sits there like a concrete slab.

47. Count grams, not gels. Work out what you can absorb per hour. 60 to 90g of carbs is the standard range, and 60 is the floor. Then build your race plan around that number, not a vague handful of packets.

48. Eat on the bike, before you're hungry. Hunger means you're already behind. Set a timer if you have to.

49. Take a gel 15 minutes before the gun. Call it the nitro boost that gets you through the swim and back to your bike without seeing stars.

50. Plain water is for showers. Work out how much sodium you need per hour and plan around it. Sugar and caffeine will do more for you than any motivational quote.

51. Take your last gel around kilometre 12 of the half marathon. If your stomach is still cooperating by then, that's the last one that will help. After that it's morale.

52. Eat boring food. Pasta or rice the night before, oats about three hours before the start. Leave the spicy food, the eggs and bacon, and the high-fibre wholegrain bread well alone unless you fancy hunting for a Portaloo five kilometres into the bike.

Race week and mindset

53. Feeling heavy and useless means the taper is working. Everyone goes through it. The fitness is in there.

54. Ignore the ghost pains. Suddenly your knee hurts, then your heel, then possibly your ear. That's your head, not your body.

55. Change nothing on race week. No new position on the bike, no new gel brand, and definitely not the week you shave your legs for the first time.

56. Bank your sleep early. Catch up now, because you won't sleep much the night before your first race. Nobody does.

57. Make a list and pack in three piles. Swim, bike, run, laid out on the living room floor. Without a list you'll forget something, and it's usually the most expensive thing you own.

58. Vaseline everything. Around the neck, don't be shy. Wetsuits meeting salty skin is brutal. Ankles and wrists so the wetsuit slides off in transition. Armpits, groin, anywhere you suspect might rub. Do it before, not after.

59. Get into the wetsuit like a pro. Putting it on is a cardio session in itself. Put plastic bags over your hands and feet, and you'll slide in without tearing it with your nails. Check that the zip is at the back. This happens more often than you'd think.

60. Ignore the calves. On the way to the start, you'll walk past people who are leaner than you and better defined than you. It means nothing about your day.

61. Plan your finish-line photo. When you see the red carpet, forget the pain. Straighten your jersey, zip it up, put your glasses on your forehead, and make sure nobody's near you so the gate is yours. You want a photo where you look like a finisher, not like someone who's just been hit by a truck.

Final word

At the start of his presentation, Marek offered us a sage piece of wisdom: past training is not indicative of future race results.

In other words, any number of unfortunate events can happen on race day, no matter how well you've prepared, so don't be harsh on yourself if something goes wrong.

Finally, professional triathlete and ROUVY ambassador Steph Clutterbuck offered us advice on how to finish your first race.