How to keep up your tri training in the face of Coronavirus

Right now, it’s easy to feel as though your whole life – and particularly your sporting one – is on hold.

While there has been no formal announcement from the UK’s triathlon federations on the official start of the new race season at the time of writing, the statement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging people to immediately stop all non-essential travel and social contact is sure to play a big part in their next move.

So if – as seems highly likely – the race calendar is scrubbed for a number of weeks, your attentions will almost certainly turn to how you can keep your preparations for the new season on track.

With another season just around the corner, many of you will be entering the later stages of a training programme which has probably been taking up an increasing part of your life over quite a few months.

So breaking your training pattern now, while you wait for a definitive answer as to whether your chosen event/s is/are going ahead, is likely to be a bad move.

Besides, staying up to speed with your training will at least give you some consolation that at least you were on the right road if/when any official announcement of a race’s cancellation comes.

With the prospect of nothing to train for, how do I keep my motivation?

This is a big question, but part of that motivation must be to use training as a consolation for the fact that you might not actually be racing.

In other words, set out to do it for the enjoyment. Instead of focusing laser-like on trying to get faster, go back to basics.

The best starting point for this is to ask yourself which areas of your race and your techniques in each part of it are you least happy with.

You can wisely use the time while you wait for news of your event to put these elements of your race under the microscope. Slowing down your run, or on the bike, for example, will save you energy that you can instead use wisely in analysing your performance.

Expending less effort on swimming, cycling or running will also mean you have more energy to step up your strength and conditioning work. It’s very common for many triathletes, once the season starts, to overlook these aspects as they get completely preoccupied with the three disciplines.

So get back on the weights, and double down on creating a firm foundation for success in all three disciplines, in the shape of your own strength and endurance.

A perfect excuse to escape to somewhere healthier

Above all, remember that the most successful sportspeople, and people who do well in life in general, can always turn what seems like a problem into an opportunity.

For a triathlete, that opportunity could be to take a break from being indoors – which, after all, is where COVID-19 thrives and can easily be transmitted – and hitting the road, or even the water.

Because, although many indoor swimming pools could well begin imposing restricted opening times soon, the upcoming start of the open water swimming season will mean that lots of locations which cater for this will soon be opening up again – all being well.

Provided you take sensible precautions – getting changed in your car when you arrive at your swim site, and keeping your distance from your fellow swimmers both in and out of the water, for example – you should still be able to enjoy the sensation of an open-water swim.

That’s sure to make for good practice, as well as being an opportunity for some welcome socialising with your fellow tri fans. Speaking of which…

Make training a social occasion

While mass gatherings are currently off-limits, there’s every reason that you can use the current situation to get back in touch with the social aspects of your training too. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of zoning in on your performance, and shutting out some of the more pleasurable distractions of running, cycling or swimming in a small group, for example.

That in itself can be useful, in re-introducing an element of competition into your preparation. Also, instead of it being all about you and what times you were hoping to achieve, it becomes more about you as part of a group of friends, all trying to encourage each other along. And who knows? You might all do your times some good by hooking up again and finding out how your individual training has been going.

These clouds will pass

But the biggest motivator of all has to be that, as unexpectedly as this situation has come about, there will also be an end to it one day.

And provided you and your training buddies are responsible, and in particular follow a strict cleanliness and hygiene regimen, then you’ll be well-placed to step it back up when you finally do have something concrete to prepare for.

Don’t forget too – by then, the weather could well be better, and the days longer. So you shouldn’t find it too difficult, time permitting, to make up at least some of the training time lost while it all blows over.

So COVID-19 may well be an ill wind – but provided you respect the restrictions – it could still blow in your favour. And hopefully, it will do so very soon.