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Triathlon Training With a Coach

By Gaelle Abecassis | Jan 2, 2024

Triathletes come in all shapes and sizes, and so do triathlon distances. From sprint triathlons to Olympic triathlon distances up to Ironman distances, the multisport event challenges participants in ways few endurance sports do. Triathletes should be strong swimmers, relentless cyclists, and determined runners on any given day during their training. On race day, they need to be all of them.

Triathletes also need to be experts at time and energy management. If you’re training for a tri, a typical week of workouts could see you swim in the morning and bike in the afternoon multiple times a week. Those other days will be for more cycling followed by a run immediately after or later in the day. As you can imagine, a triathlete’s program will look much more complex than a cyclist’s or runner’s plan. And the more complexity you bring to a program, the higher the risk that things will go off the rails. You could burn out from over-training or struggle to find the time (and energy) to complete all the workouts after managing your job and family.

This reality makes hiring a triathlon coach a worthwhile investment, especially considering the investment in gear needed to compete. A wetsuit, access to a pool for practice, a tri-bike (and all the cycling gear that goes along with it), running shoes, and a running kit. If you’ve already spent all this money on gear, wouldn’t you want to invest in a coach to guide you to a successful finish rather than hope for the best? You can start with Humango’s AI-powered coach. The monthly cost will be less than you spend on sports gels and drinks each month. 

Benefits of Triathlon Coaching

From the start, a coach can help you see what’s possible. You may be looking to do your first triathlon and wondering if you should start with a sprint or go ahead and try an Olympic distance race. A coach can look at your fitness and endurance sports history and give you an informed recommendation on where to start. Conversely, you might be an experienced Olympic distance competitor who’s always wanted to race in an iron-distance event but never thought you had the time to train for it. A coach will show you how you can. Even Humango’s digital coach, Hugo, can do this. Plug in your goal event, and Hugo will show you your complete training schedule. If it looks like too much time to commit, simply ask it to reset your goal to a shorter distance event.

Unlike a one-size-fits-all training plan pulled from the Internet, your coach will build a program unique to your fitness and experience level. A coach will also factor in the times available to train each week. Next, a coach will address your weakest sport (Every triathlete has one, whether it’s the swim, bike, or run.) and work with you to improve your technique, form, and strength in that sport. The sport you’re best at can be used to build your overall stamina and endurance. 

The Human Coach, AI Coach Connection

Empower a triathlete coach with the automatic flexibility and adaptability of an AI coach, and you get the best of both worlds. You get a human who can easily monitor your progress in real time and use AI to help you overcome adversity and push you, likely, harder than you thought you were capable of performing. The human coach can see a missed workout or two in a given week and know that you had to care for a sick kid or travel for work, not that you were sick. And if you are ill, they can adjust your training to allow for you to recover.

Race day is when a coach — real and digital — in your corner makes a confidence-boosting difference. Thanks to your training journey and data collected with Humango, the app will inform your race-day strategy. Humango can tell you if you’re 100% ready for peak performance or short of your potential. From there, you’ll get a good sense of what you’re truly capable of, whether that’s a PR (Personal Record) or not.

In the end, the satisfaction of working with a coach is knowing that every workout will maximize your gains each day. No effort is wasted. No workout is too easy or impossible (though it may feel like it). Don’t be surprised to find yourself no longer content to simply finish the race. Instead, now you’ll find that you’re ready to compete.