Last week, IMG, the organizer of the AJ Bell London Triathlon hosted a ‘Triathlon Thursday’ training session at the Virgin Active Riverside Club in Canary Wharf, London. With a training run and drills led by UK Athletics Run Coach and author of Tricurious Laura Fountain, followed by course tips and a Q&A from two former London Triathlon winners Emma Pallant and Stuart Hayes, the evening gave much needed motivation and last minute advice ahead of the event.
Taking place on 8-9 August 2015 at London’s Docklands, the international event hosts 13,000 entrants making it billed as ‘the world’s largest triathlon’. Offering a wide selection of race distances, from Super-Sprint, Sprint, Olympic and Olympic Plus, as well as the opportunity to race as part of a team-relay, the AJ Bell London Triathlon aims to cater for all triathlon abilities.
With less than two weeks to go till the start claxon sounds at London’s Docklands, Emma, Stuart and Laura offered some top tips for the AJ Bell London Triathlon:
Emma Pallant, 2014 London Triathlon winner:
- Everything with triathlon is about rhythm and keeping focused. It’s the world’s biggest triathlon but try not to let that phase you on the day. Keep doing what you’ve been doing day in day out with your training but use the buzz of the event to lift you when you need it.
- Don’t change your diet in the next two weeks, stick to what you know and food that works for you.
- Fail to prepare… prepare to fail! The night before you should get yourself as organised as possible, check everything off your packing list and make sure you know what time you need to be there, it’s important you’re as calm as possible on race day.
Stuart Hayes, Olympian and 14-time entrant of the London Triathlon:
- Practice getting in and out of your wetsuit before race day – that’s vitally important!
- Start hydrating yourself more about 3 or 4 days out, it’s been quite hot recently so make sure you’re not waiting till the day to get hydrated.
- Make sure you get to the ExCeL Centre as early as you can, don’t leave it to the last minute and rush yourself – you’ll want to familiarize yourself with transition and get yourself prepared to enable you to have the best race possible.
Laura Fountain, UK Athletics Run Coach, Author of Tricurious:
- When you’re out on the run, think about your form – when you’re tired, the temptation is to hunch your shoulders and lean forward. I always see see a lot of people shuffling along at the end of a triathlon. But, if you can remember to stand up nice and tall, imagining you’ve got a balloon coming out the top of your head it’ll make both a mental and physical difference to your run.
- To maintain power in the run, particularly if you’re doing Olympic distance, think about eating early on whilst on the bike so that you don’t start the run with a full stomach but have enough power to move you forwards.
- If you’re feeling nervous, just remember that so many people are in the same position as you so the key thing is to relax and enjoy it!
www.thelondontriathlon.com
www.ajbell.co.uk
