air but I'm focusing so hard on trying to keep my head down and my body flat that I keep forgetting. In any case the last time I tried it I caught a mouthful of water and I'm anxious not to repeat the experience. If they ever introduce a triathlon race

reach exhaustion more easily, often eat too much and end up overweight rather than properly fuelled.Even triathlon coach Joe Friel, who relentlessly and passionately advocated carbohydrates in his influential Training Bible series of books, has done

What to look for in a trail shoeThere are a lot of similarities between your normal training shoes and a model designed for off-road use, but don't confuse the two. On a firm, well-groomed trail, your road shoes should survive. Add mud, moisture

the simplest actions, such as standing up, and challenging activities, such as, well, triathlons. But it also needs nutrients to keep it in the best shape possible. So you need to be eating good food, not any food. The right amounts of vitamins and minerals

- and sometimes even in the pool when you're training. However, he's right: making friends with water could be the difference between loving every minute of a triathlon and metaphorically holding your breath until you exit the water.Triathletes from a non

have enough energy for those tasks you have to squeeze in around triathlon.The first thing you need to remember is that fuelling your body for training and recovery is not an exact science - a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. There are a huge

Chances are you wear a heart-rate monitor on the bike and run but rarely in the pool. So how do you know you're training at the right intensity? One alternative to using a monitor is to measure the intensity of your training using your rate

"There is nothing like pink toilet paper or a floating plaster to come at you from the deep to make you swim faster!" says Duncan Hough, vice chair of the Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club (www.bratclub.co.uk). But your first open-water swim

It's a familiar story: you return to training after injury aiming to be faster and stronger than before. Then reality kicks in as your decreased fitness becomes apparent. You begin to wonder if you'll ever be able to repeat your pre

Jumping in the Thames or heading for the beach aren’t always possible when you’re training for a triathlon but there are some open-water swimming skills you can practise in the pool. By spending a few minutes every week honing your ability, you