an Ironman in Hawaii. "It's better to get out there than to hide away," says Simon Ward of www.thetriathloncoach.com. "Be sensible. You should be tapering your training before a race, so walking around in the heat is often enough, combined with light training

1. Super sprintThe shortest triathlon distance is all about speed, and brick sessions are important for building pace. "Recreate race conditions," says coach Simon Ward. "If you're doing the race in a pool you won't need a wetsuit, and you should

; and even improving strength by training on hills. The sessions are always useful for developing speed in transition too. The closer you are to race day, the more often you should perform brick workouts until you start to taper for your race - when