Tips for Triathletes

It is important to warm up properly before you perform any exercise, especially training for a Triathlon. A proper warm-up routine should last for a minimum of 10 minutes and is the most useful cause of helping prevent injury.

  • Start with a few minutes of gentle exercise, such as walking or jogging, to get the blood flowing to your muscles.
  • Steadily increase the pace until you are running briskly.
  • Once your muscles are warm, do some gentle stretching exercises, paying particular attention to the muscle groups that you will be using. With Triathletes, focusing on your legs and back is a good start. During the running and cycling stages, these will be key to your injury prevention. Make sure you warm your legs by the above process and then make sure all hamstrings, quads and calves are stretched well. You must only begin more vigorous activity after you have warmed up and stretched thoroughly.

 

Also to recognise:

  • Always drink plenty of water when you exercise to prevent dehydration. If you become dehydrated, your physical and mental fitness will be altered.
  • Make sure you wear the proper attire for training and during the event. Lightweight breathable clothing can help prevent water retention in clothing creating more weight on the body.
  • Correct and secure footwear is also essential. Inspect the footwear before running, if worn in a particular angle, get new shoes. Continuing to run with this footwear can cause pronating or supinating of the angle. This could then lead to an ankle injury or potential ligament damage of the ankle.
  • Correct thickness and fitted socks to avoid blisters

 

When you have finished exercising, cool down properly with 5–10 minutes:

  • Light aerobic activity, such as easy running, jogging or walking for a period of time
  • A gentle cool down will help remove the waste products that have built up in your muscles, leaving you with less muscle stiffness and soreness afterwards.
  • Some gentle stretching, focusing on the muscle groups you have used during exercise.
  • If you have exercised for a while a sports massage within 5 days after a vigorous work out, will help to remove the lactic acid (waste product) and prevent muscle stiffness and prevent injury or cause scar tissue on any affected areas of the body that could be in pain after a triathlon.

Related Posts

  • What are postural muscles?

    Postural muscles are also referred to as core stability muscles, are found deep in the body. The first muscles that typically come to mind with posture are the muscles along the spine. The erector spinae muscles run along the bones of your spine, the vertebrae, from your neck all the way to your tailbone. These muscles hold the spine in extension or upright, counteracting the pull of gravity. Abdominal muscles support the structures at the front of your trunk, balancing the pull of your back extensors. The quadratus luborum muscles at the top of your pelvis help stabilize the pelvis and spine in the lower back in an upright position. The purpose of postural muscles is to keep good posture in the field of gravity. These muscles consist mostly of slow-twitch muscle fibres and have a greater capacity for prolonged use but are prone to over working. This means if you have poor posture or you have long periods of sitting immobile your postural muscles get tired and they become weak and less efficient. The longer the situation continues the more likely you are to develop postural imbalances and they finally you get knots and pain!

  • Is the way you breathing causing your neck pain? – Part 2

    In my last post, I explained how both your scalenes and sternocleidomastoid can become both tense and painful from shallow breathing.   Obviously deep breathing will help as it will address the cause.  But what if you have a bad habit of shallow breathing, and know its causing tension in your neck muscles? First there are some stretches that will help.

    • Sternocleidomastoid Stretch
    scm_stretchThe sternocleidomastoid muscle runs like two long strap-like muscles on either side of the front of the neck. To stretch it, rotate the head to one side as far as is comfortable. Then tilt the head to the same side, as if trying to reach the ear to the shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds and then repeat on the other side of your neck.
    • Scalenes Stretch
    The scalenes muscle groups is made of three muscles; anterior scalene, middle scalene & posterior scalene.  Due to the location of these muscle tightness can contribute to tension headaches & can refer pain both to the chest and shoulder.  In addition the brachial plexus a network of nerves that supplies signals to the shoulder and arm.  Therefore tension within these muscles can also restrict these nerve signals, causing pain and pins & needles (paraesthesia) down the arm to the hand. Stretching the scalenes is relatively easy. Start by sitting in a chair. Put your right hand under your bottom and sit on it. This pins the shoulder down so that your neck can stretch without raising the shoulder. Tilt your head directly to the left bringing your left ear towards your left shoulder. If you don’t feel much of a stretch, bring your left hand up to Gently pull your head down towards the left more. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat this stretch tilting the head slightly in front of and behind the shoulder as well. This stretch can also be done lying down. See picture below. scalenes_stretch
                  Finally you can book a Seated Acupressure Neck & Shoulder massage.

  • Is a 15 minute Neck & Shoulder Massage beneficial?

    Fifteen minutes is a very short space of time, so I am often asked by potential clients if they will receive any benefits from such a short massage. Well the good news is that you do receive benefits, and its not just me saying that, or the subjective experience of other clients there is scientific evidence too.

    • In 1996 Shulman, K.R. & Jones, G.E. in the Journal of Applied   Behavioural Science, looked at the effectiveness of chair massage in reducing anxiety in an organisation. An on-site chair massage therapy program was provided to reduce anxiety levels of 18 employees in a downsizing organization. 15 control group s participated in break therapy. Subjects’ stress levels were measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, which was administered twice during pretest, post-test, and delayed post-test to achieve stable measures. The study concluded that significant reductions in anxiety levels were found for the massage group. 1
    • In 1996 Field, Ironson, Pickens et al. in the International Journal of Neuroscience concluded that chair massage therapy offers benefits in not just alleviating the physiological effects of anxiety, but also in improving mental alertness.2
    • In 1997 Cady et al. in Perceptual & Motor Skills evaluated the effectiveness of a 15 minute chair massage on reducing stress as indicated by blood pressure. 52 employed participants' blood pressures were measured before and after a 15 minute massage at work. Analysis showed a significant reduction in participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure after receiving the massage. High Blood pressure is associated with anxiety and stress, this study supports the conclusion that chair massage is relaxing and reduces stress. 3
    There is solid scientific evidence of the benefits of a 15 minute seated acupressure massage, so why not book now. References
    1. KR Shulman and GE Jones, 1996, The effectiveness of massage therapy intervention on reducing anxiety in the work place, Journal of Applied Behavioural Science (32), p160 – 173
    2. Field T; lronson G; Scafjdi F; Nawrocki T; Goncalves A; Burman I; Pickens J; Fox N; Schanberg S; Kuhn C, Sep 1996, Massage Therapy Reduces Anxiety and Enhances EEG Pattern of Alertness and Math Computations, The International Journal of Neuroscience, 86 (3-4) p197-205Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/00207459608986710
    3. Cady SH and Jones GE, Feb 1997, Massage therapy as a workplace intervention for reduction of stress, Perceptual & Motor Skills, (1) p157- 158Read More: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9132704