So the New Year is upon us, and 2011 looks set to be another big year. Going into this year I believe now is a good time to talk about the ‘gadgets’ I use every day in training and racing.
With all the technology out there and the advancements in coaching and monitoring ones performance, the game has and still is changing. It’s gone from having the speed and cadence on your bike to being able to completely understand ones power on the bike and be able to graph all of this and see it at a click. With this evolution in triathlon and sport in general to be the world’s best it is important to know you a doing the best things for your performance, and in many cases, new technology is helping us to achieve this.
It is also easy to go too far and rely totally on all this technology. It is easy to forget the basics, like how your body is feeling, which is an amazing computer itself and can still tell you the most about your performance. Thus I make sure I choose my equipment carefully and at the end of the do what my body tells me.
Heart rate monitoring has been around for a while now, and widely used. Most sessions be it on my bike or whilst I’m out running I wear a Heart Rate strap to follow where I’m at and to check I’m training in the right zones. My watch also has a stride sensor that I have on my shoe, which can give you running speeds, and cadence, which I have found extremely beneficial information to have while training for the longer distance races. With many races throughout the sport of triathlon coming down to the run, being able to understand what you are doing on the run in training, and where you can improve will result in a better understanding and performance on race day.
More recently, power meters have become a big thing on the cycling stage. I use an SRM on my bike, and train the majority of the time now via my power gauge. As an Ironman athlete, pacing is extremely important and finding the highest possible wattage I can supply on the bike for the 180km in a race is valuable information to achieve an optimal pace. With adrenaline pumping through your body at different stages in a race I find it more reliable to monitor my Power output rather than my Heart Rate at times.
Having these ‘gadgets’ are great, but if you don’t understand what they are for or how they work then they would be pointless to you. They are an investment into your training, so invest time into learning how to get the best out of them. All the above products come with easy to use programmes that are run on your computer and are easy to use to evaluate your training. I find it really useful to compare similar workouts Power, Heart Rates, Cadences and Speeds throughout a training block or even between different training blocks. This gives me a gauge on where my fitness and performance is so I can make sure I am constantly and consistently improving.
Good equipment simply said, is crucial to performance in the sport of triathlon. It can also aid in injury prevention, helping you to understand how your body is feeling and adapting to your training. However as I mentioned earlier do not forget the best computer you have, your body. It can tell you so much if you are willing to listen to it, treat these exciting new products that are revolutionizing the sport as an aspect of your training.
Nothing beats hard work, and goals too strive for.
Happy training,
Terenzo
