Courtney Atkinson's Noosa Tips

What pain?

The first and most important tip for training is to remember all the pain caused in training during the lead up is forgotten when you are out there with the thousands of other competitors on the course having a ball (or so they tell me).

Swim tips: stay calm

The most important race tip is to keep your breathing under control. When there are so many other people swimming and bashing around you it is easy to panic at the start of the swim or when trying to swim around buoys with competitors so close. This wastes a lot of energy that you are better saving for the next few hours. Just relax, keep in clear water and keep one eye out for the sharks!

Cycling preparation

It’s important to be comfortable on your bike. It is also crucial to be able to get off the bike and run as free as possible. A good start is to get set-up on your bike by a professional or local bike store, but from there think about how you feel on the bike while training and whether you will be comfortable in that position for over an hour in a triathlon. Likewise, if you are going to use aero bars in the race, you know how the old saying goes practice makes perfect. Use the bars training otherwise when you race you will feel 50 years older in the back.

Running off the bike

Running off the bike never feels natural. That's the challenge of competing in a triathlon compared with something like City 2 Surf fun run. Running off the bike in training at least once a week will make it feel less foreign when you go to race, but the best advice I can give is take your time at the start of the run to find the right pace to run at that you will be able to run for 10kms. Then when it starts to get really hard in the second half of the run grit your teeth and enjoy! That's what you and the other few thousand are signing up for.

And finally...

Final tip: You really want to wake yourself up early on race morning!

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