A-priority races, B-priority races, training races. This seems to be the time of year when everyone is planning out their racing calendars and deciding what events are going to be the big focal races and which ones are going be “trained through” in order to peak for the main ones. In my experience as a coach, triathletes tend to err on the side of caution when setting up a racing calendar. Sure, we’re all in this for the lifestyle and the general health it brings, but racing is where it’s at, right? So why limit yourself to one or two competitions per month for the duration of your season? Get out there and race more!

I talk to a lot of athletes about losing their insistence upon getting in more volume, instead increasing the amount of intensity within their training. If you want to be faster, you have to train faster, not necessarily longer. So in that vein, what’s faster than a race? Getting out to a local sprint triathlon, aquathon, open water swim, time trial, 5km or even half-marathon can be a great training session that, if planned for properly, can be one of the key training sessions in your week. And it’s more practice getting ready for and competing in a race.

Practice makes perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. However you want to say it, repetition of something will make you better or at least more comfortable at it. How often in training do you spend a couple of hours beforehand getting amped up, preparing mentally and physically, getting properly warmed up, fueling perfectly, and then performing your hardest? If you’re a normal human being, then probably not too often. Racing is a completely different ballgame than training is, and if you don’t practice racing, the odds are that your big races aren’t going to go quite as well as they could have. The more you race, the better you will be at the skill that is racing. You’ll get your pre-race routine set in stone, you’ll be better at your transitions, gear selection will become easier, and you’ll hopefully be able to dial in your pre-race arousal level to that perfect mix of nervousness and relaxation.

I cringe a little when I hear an athlete say, “I’m going to take a few months off from racing to really get ready for my big event.” I think that may not be the perfect plan. Sure, cutting out some extra stress from your life so that you can focus on your goals is a great thing, and if traveling to a bunch of insignificant events risks getting you sick or worn out, then it would be a positive step to omit them. But there are very few training sessions that can prepare you for the feeling of toeing the start line with hundreds of other athletes, or coming to the final half-mile of a fast half-Ironman shoulder to shoulder with one of your competitors. When that situation presents itself, I’d rather have my athletes be ready for it because they’ve raced so many times over their careers and that season that they know what it feels like to be in those shoes and they can respond appropriately.

So plan to race more this year. Absolutely, train hard and prepare yourself physically and mentally for your events, but get out there and practice the skill of racing. Hopefully when the big races roll around, you’ll be battle tested and there won’t be anything that you can’t handle.


Nick White is a professional coach for Carmichael Training Systems and the personal coach of 2007 Ironman Hawaii runner-up and 2006 Ironman 70.3 world champion Craig Alexander. He has been coaching and competing for the past 11 years in all distances and disciplines relating to triathlon. Find out more about White and other CTS coaches at TrainRight.com.