Triathletes - Two Special Requests for 2015!

Two time Olympic triathlon medalist, Simon Whitfield now encourages others to experience triathlon. Here's he's helping out para-triathletes at the Toronto Triathlon Festival. Picture - Bob Hatcher

No New Year resolutions for me. However I do have some requests for you.

Are you a triathlete? Have you been at it for a few years now? If you have, and you know the ropes, I have a couple of special requests for you for 2015:

1. Encourage two people to do their first triathlon this year! Help them out. Be their mentor, and make sure that they get to a starting line of a triathlon race sometime this year. Don't drone on and on about all of YOUR training, the 50 hours a week you train, and the 200 Ironman races you have done! That's most likely to discourage your recruits. Keep it simple, for them.

Many small local races ( read on to #2) have basic entry level triathlons, that are very short. You barely need to train for these things. A decent level of fitness, commitment and an open mind, is all that is required. The ReCharge With Milk  triathlon series run by Multisport Canada in Ontario has races called a Give-It-A-Tri (See - the name is perfect for first timers!) at many of their events. The distances are: 400m-swim/10K -bike/2.5K-run. This is something anyone can do, with a basic level of fitness and training.

2. Race More! There's a movement in the food business of eating local. It's better for you. It's better for local businesses and farmers and it's better for the environment. I'm saying - Race Local. It's better for you. It's better for local race organizers and businesses and it 's better for the environment!

These races don't have to be big, long, "world championship" type of events. It can be a local 5K, or perhaps a local sprint triathlon. Don't discount the 5K - 5K run fitness is the foundation of all other running performances! That 18 - 30 minutes you stay right at the edge, will tweak ALL of the key physiological parameters to make you faster at ALL races distances!

Finally, we do all this training so that we can race - that's where the thrill, emotion and the fun is. Don't you want to experience more of that, and be better/faster? Years ago there was saying, that seems to have been lost in the mists of training time  - "Racing IS the best training" It's true!

Change things up this year!

Get more people into this great sport of triathlon and get out and race more yourself.

See you at the finish line!

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