In triathlon men and women race side by side. This wise policy engenders a sense of camaraderie that is one of the most appealing aspects of our sport. But there are certain physical attributes and psychological traits specific to each sex
identifies tangible achievements as those things that you have accomplished and that meant something to you - such as completing a triathlon under difficult circumstances, receiving a promotion, delivering a great presentation or meeting a particularly tight
, Great Britain can enter up to 20 men and 20 women for each five-year age-group band. In other words, there are plenty of opportunities to don a GB tri suit."We can take teams in excess of 1,000 people to Triathlon World Championship events," says Howard
20-minute time trial on the turbo trainer and record the heart rate, speed and cadence you maintained.On the run, go to your usual run route or course and try to set a PB for intervals - such as 5 x 1000m - or sustained efforts - such as three miles
. You would be better served doing, for example, two back-to-back 15-minute efforts at your 25-mile time trial pace, or some other planned session that is specific to your Olympic-distance triathlon. It is also important to acknowledge
, and that's something I really care about."To develop mental resilience, Ben Bright suggests occasionally attempting a training set you've never achieved before, such as 15 x 100m front-crawl intervals with 10 seconds' less rest than usual between each. "I
for people with disabilities) shaved two minutes off his time to finish in 1:17; James Smith (Tri 4) improved by nine minutes, with a time of 1:24, and Paul Thomas (Tri 6) slashed more than 15 minutes from his 2008 time to cross the line in 1:47. Something
continuous swim of 750m and the second, a 20K bike followed by a 5K run. For an intermediate, a December target could be a 1500m swim in 32 minutes, a 40K bike in 1:15 and a 10K run in 50 minutes. A good March target would be combining any two disciplines
of running for an hour, you might schedule a track workout for 30 minutes. Do an easy warm-up, and then run 4x400m at your 5K pace, with an easy 200m recovery jog between intervals. You can add a repeat every 1-2 weeks, until you're up to, say, eight. If you
