First Official Month of Triathlon Training in 2019

It is exactly a month to the day that I left my off season and started training for triathlon season again. This is also my first training related post of the year so I wanted to take a moment to talk about my partners for 2019.

1. New Balance – I have renewed my contract for 2019 and there will be a lot of great collaboration both with the brand but with running stores. Keep an eye out for events that you can attend, giveaways around shoe launches and feel free to message me anytime with a shoe or apparel question.
2. F2C Nutrition – It was a difficult decision but I have moved my nutrition sponsorship to F2C Nutrition this year. I have all the love and respect in the world for my Hammer Team and I am on great terms with them, I just made a move that was right for me. All of my sponsorships are deep relationships that I take very seriously and I have had long phone calls with the founders of F2C to learn about the product and ensure it was the right fit. I am very excited for an incredible 2019 and you can get 15% off products with the code JESSICAK15. 
3. Altitude Sports – This was a new partnership in 2018 and I am pleased to be working with them again this year. They are the driver behind my Test Run Tuesdays and are an incredible source for anything adventure.
4. Limitless Performance – This is a net new relationship for 2019. I added heavy lifting to my rotation and this has been an incredible community to be a part of and I will be continuing to lift throughout my triathlon training.

Squad goals, right?

I am riding again for the Faction Cycling Team and am working with a new coach this year for triathlon. After 30 full days of work, here are a few things that I have learned and/or continued to tweak in my training.

Chlorine allergy

I have been struggling with congestion, sneezing and itchy eyes for a while now. I finally figured out that it was the cholorine from the pool and have started popping a antihistamine before heading to practice and while it still isn’t perfect, it is better than it was.

Training Tools

As I ramp up indoor training, I am more grateful than ever for programs like Trainer Road and Zwift to keep me focused and engaged with difficult training sessions and I have even started using Zwift on the treadmill to help with the treadmill boredom (which is a very real thing for me).

Heart rate for different power meters

I am training on a few different bikes to get ready for road racing season and triathlon season. It is important to track the difference between power meters. Like GPS watches, it is easy to feel like it is YOUR power meter that is the most correct reading, but when you compare it across a number of them, you will quickly see a lot of variances. I have spent some time figuring out what this difference is on my bikes so I can ensure a similar workout across all my bikes.

Nutrition 

I have been working on my nutrition outside of training, but one of the key elements I have been working on in training is testing out nutrition (namely, incorporating the new F2C program into my racing) and also slowing increasing the number of carbohydrates that I can consume per hour in my workouts. The gut is like a muscle and you need to train it just like you would any other muscle. I am working on getting a crystal clear idea on what works for me, with the highest amount of carbohydrates per hour so I can crush my races!

Swim form

The swim has been a clearly neglected element of my training since day one. I have been swimming 10 KM a week since December and have had a training session with my coach on proper form. Today, I am headed to Guelph for a video swim analysis to break down the issues with my stroke and continue to improve for the race season.

Blind vs data

I did a poll on my instagram stories this week on whether or not athletes do hard intervals blind or by watching their data like pace times or power readings. For efforts like an FTP test which measures your max wattage that you can put out in an hour, I prefer to put my head down and work without seeing numbers. I absolutely use pace times and watts to give me an idea of where I am working, but I prefer not to look at them once I have settled into the work. I want to know what efforts FEEL like and I perform better when I am not looking at my screens. I did find that most athletes preferred the data which is just personal preference. Whatever gets you to those PRs!

Time of date training 

Finally, I needed to rearrange my time of day for hard workouts. I would come home from work physically ready to work but I had used so much brain power at my day job that I was unable to bring the mental edge I needed to my workout. To combat this, I swapped around my workout order and although my muscles aren’t fresh at 5 AM, my mind is so I save the easy workouts for the night time during the week.

That’s my first month of triathlon training for 2019 and it feels a little bit like drinking from a fire hydrant. If you have any questions about any of the topics I posted, feel free to get in touch. I am happy to help!

Happy training!