Your first triathlon season is over – now what?
If you’ve just completed your first triathlon season, and are wondering what to do now, Coach Denise has been looking at this very topic. From reflecting on the season to planning for next year and the preparation to deliver your best, there is still a lot going on in the off race season.
We all know that feeling – you’ve set yourself a goal, worked hard to get ready for it, and the race is now done and dusted. It might be a recent race or maybe it was earlier in the season. You started out wanting to know if you could achieve this, whether that was a sprint distance pool based race or you went long, completing a full ironman or similar event. At this point in time, it can all start to feel like a bit of an anti-climax. The goal has been achieved so now what to do with all that free time, when you’re not training, getting meals ready, or washing the enormous amount of kit that you get through in a week. It can initially feel fabulous to get a few extra hours in bed, have a beer in the evening or see friends a lot more, but as time goes on there starts to build a feeling that you could do more. You’ve been used to filling time and being active, what can you achieve next?
Whatever you have been training for, and achieved this year, taking some time out to recover physically, mentally and emotionally is great. Using the time to reconnect with friends and family, pay back the huge number of favours you’ve had to ask for as your time and focus is elsewhere, and doing activities for fun is all great.
The big question then is – what about next year? For some people there is a desire to do a triathlon, to know if they can achieve it, and have the satisfaction of proving to themselves, and others, that they have what it takes. In this case, they feel like they have set out to do what they wanted and may move onto a completely different challenge – climbing Kilimanjaro, learning to juggle, or whatever they fancy next.
For others, this is the start of a longer journey in the world of triathlon. Having achieved that first race, then the thoughts come in – can I go longer, can I go faster, can I try a harder course with an outside swim and so on. So how to decide what to do next?
At this point it is good to go back to basics. Remembering that we all do triathlons for fun, it is worth taking some time to understand your own motivation and what you want to achieve. Think about what you really enjoyed this year. Was it one of the disciplines in particular, do you love or hate hills, like to race in cities or the countryside? Enjoying the training as well as the race itself is important so work to focus on what will keep you training through a long dark winter.
Now think about the distance you want to race at. Are you happy with shorter races but think you can go faster now you have more of an idea about what is involved? Or are you looking to increase the race distance to test your endurance? This will help to identify what distance you want to race at.
Thirdly, give some thought to what else is going on in your own life, as well as those around you. Planning to race three weeks after a major family holiday, for example, is probably not a great idea. On the other hand, racing somewhere that the family can join you at, and have a holiday after the race, may help to keep everyone happy. Think about the best time for you to have your main race, fitting in training and racing around other important diary commitments.
These factors should help you to narrow down on what races seem attractive to you. On top of that, there is often a positive ‘gut feel’ to a race which you should not ignore. Sometimes when you read a race description the first thought is, that looks like fun, with the second thought being – I want to do that. In that case, this event should be on the shortlist at least.
This is also where a coach can come in to help, not just with writing a training plan to get you to the start, and the finish line, but in being a sounding board and offering suggestions and advice, for the next season’s events. If you’ve been working with a coach they should have a good idea of what events you might enjoy, as well as understanding what other considerations there are in your life. A discussion can help to crystallise your own thoughts about the best challenge for you, and they may have more knowledge of options out there to look at.
Once you have got the A race in mind then getting a training plan in place, with the help of a coach, can really get the motivation and focus level up. If resources and time allow then a triathlon camp can be a huge help in preparation, especially in off season. Having some time to focus on kick-starting your training while getting direct input from your coach is a perfect way to boost your own performance and confidence.
It is also worth considering that the real gains in triathlon can be seen when a plan is longer than the next race or next season. A multi-year plan can help to provide a long term focus for areas of improvement and growth alongside a coach, providing you with the guidance and support you need to get the most out of your time training and racing.
Whatever you decide to go for next year, set audacious goals, train hard and have fun both racing and training. Good luck!
Denise has been coaching triathletes since 2019 as a coach at her local triathlon club in West Lothian. Between 2019 and 2022, Denise was the Head coach in the club, working with a team of coaches to support and develop triathletes with a wide range of capabilities, completing her BTF Triathlon Level 2 coaching qualification in 2021.
Denise joined Tri Training Harder as a coach in 2021, building on the qualifications through the experience and knowledge passed on by the coaching team.
In 2019 Denise set up and continues to run her own Jog Scotland running group, a mixed ability group of runners who meet weekly. This delivers on her passion for helping people to do much more than they think they can.
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Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.
The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.
If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.