Dr. John Gross discusses how to develop a safe training plan for first time triathletes.
BayCare offers both family medicine and sports medicine. Interested in a triathlon? St. Anthony's Triathlon has something for everyone - from the St. Anthony's Olympic Triathlon to the Sprint Triathlon and the Meek & Mighty Triathlon.
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Developing a Safe Training Plan for First Time Triathletes
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Learn more about John Gross, MD
John Gross, MD
For over 13 years, Dr. John Gross has been a Family Physician serving the community of St. Petersburg, Florida. Dr. Gross holds a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, after which he attended The Ohio State University where he earned his medical degree. He then completed his residency in family medicine and fellowship in sports medicine at Bayfront Medical Center. Dr. Gross an employed physician with BayCare Medical Group. He was previously medical director for Florida Ironman for 10 years, and is currently the medical director for the St. Anthony’s Triathlon. Dr. Gross is also the head team physician for the Tampa Bay Rays. Dr. Gross is board-certified in both Family Medicine and Sports Medicine by the American Board of Family Medicine.Learn more about John Gross, MD
Transcription:
Developing a Safe Training Plan for First Time Triathletes
Melanie Cole (Host): Welcome. This is BayCare HealthChat. I’m Melanie Cole and today we’re discussing developing a safe training plan for first time triathletes. I was one once and if you’re interested, then this is the podcast for you. Joining me is Dr. John Gross. He’s a Family Medicine and Sports Medicine Physician with BayCare. Dr. Gross, what a great topic. Thank you so much for being with us today. A beginner, you know you’re thinking about things you want to do, stuff you want to start; how does a beginner start to decide about training for a triathlon?
John Gross, MD (Guest): Well first of all, thanks for having me. It’s actually my pleasure to speak to you about this because I’m very enthusiastic about triathlons. I’ve been known to do a couple myself. And being the Medical Director for Ironman and for St. Anthony’s Triathlon, I’m endeared to the triathlete and so anyone that wants to start the sport, I want to encourage them. I like to say that triathlons are in general, very safe and very fun because they are an extension of play. You think about when you were a kid, in the summertime, what would you do? Go swimming, you go out and ride your bike, and you would run around. You essentially did triathlons when you were a kid. And so this is more just the adult way of simmering down to what you did as a kid in an organized fashion.
So, I will say from the very beginning, if you are considering doing a triathlon, check with your doctor first. Your physician will be able to put the context of your health in focus as to whether or not it’s a good idea to even start doing an endurance event like this. In general, triathlons are just glorified cross training. And so anyone that has any experience with cross training where they have a sport that they do that’s very specific and then they do another sport to strengthen their core or to build endurance in one way or another; that’s essentially triathlon. And I’m sure there’s a number of triathletes that are listening to this and kind of rolling their eyes but to keep it simple, glorified cross training is a good way to think about it as you start your training for your first triathlon.
The first thing I would say, in developing a safe training plan, is to give yourself time. Way too often, I’ll see patients come in and they are trying to get ready for a sprint triathlon that’s next week and ultimately, are setting themselves up for injury or possibly even a bad experience and we want everyone to have a good experience when they do these triathlons because they are supposed to be fun. In general, for a sprint triathlon, for a beginner who is otherwise in shape but has never done a triathlon; I recommend 12 weeks of training to get into form and be able to practice the sport specific things that are necessary to do a triathlon in a safe way.
Most people that start out doing triathlons are runners. And so, another big mistake that I’ll see people do when they are training for their first triathlon is, they’ll neglect the swim. They will not like swimming. They will see swimming as a necessary evil just to get through it to get to the bike and then their beloved run at the end. But those that are able to get comfortable with the swim and even have a good amount of proficiency with the swim will do better in those second and third parts of the race and also have the potential to place well. Because I always like to say that triathlons are won on the swim, not that anyone is trying to win a triathlon in their first race but if you can do well in the swim, then you set yourself up for success later on.
Coaches, in general, are worth it. Especially if you get the bug. So, if you do your first triathlon and you’re like when is the next one, I can’t wait to subject myself to this again; then I would say, look into a coach and work with a coach. A lot of times, the coaches can take your training to the next level so that you can consider longer races. I should say that sprint triathlons for those that don’t know, are generally shorter in distance triathlons where the swim is anywhere from .25 miles to .75 miles, the bike is anywhere from 5 miles to 15 miles and the run is generally a 5K, although on occasion I’ve seen a 10K as part of a sprint triathlon. But it can be any of those combinations and it is generally more accessible to the novice triathlete or the beginner triathlete. So, you always want to start there.
They are usually a lot of fun and usually pretty laid back and the people that do these races are either weekend warriors or beginners like yourself. So, when you are training, you want to – I mentioned the 12 week minimum. There is a method to building up. You want to either work with a coach or even online there’s very basic workouts that you can download and look at and use and train on your own to build up to what we call the peak phase. The peak phase is a very sport specific to the triathlon where you are in good enough shape to do something called a brick. A brick is what triathletes call a workout where you do two or more of the exercises in a row. So, either swim bike or bike run, and which isn’t as helpful, but swim run and the idea there is that you develop a transition. There is a transition between the swim and to the bike and your body has to get used to going from putting your arms up over your head and swimming to the repetitive motion of cycling and there is a lot of wisdom to training your body to have the muscle memory to do that transition.
I would argue that bricks do work. A brick works if it’s done in a smart way. And what I mean by that is in general, athletes will push themselves a little too hard. I mean I have to say it does keep me in business when they push themselves too hard. That’s why I’m here to do this to help them when they do, but ultimately, that can be avoided and if you do bricks in a smart way, they will pay off for you in the end. But you want to be smart about avoiding injury when it comes to that.
You’re not alone. There are a lot of people that are looking to do their first triathlon and I think it’s much more fun to go through what can sometimes be a miserable workout with a training buddy. And so, whether it be one of your friends or down here in St. Petersburg, we actually have the largest triathlon group in the world, the Mad Dogs. And they are always looking for new members and so if you reached out to the Mad Dogs, I promise you, you’ll find someone that is looking to do the same amount of training that you are doing, and misery loves company in that regard.
Now, the last point that I would make is to beware of what I call the terrible “toos” where you do too much or you do it too fast or you do it too early or you go back too soon. Okay. And so, most athletes know how to train through pain and that’s not something that you want to do. Listen to your body. And if you are dealing with pain, you don’t train through it. Short of a professional athlete, if you want to make sure that you’re not setting yourself up for further injury by either taking on too much in the name of efficiency possibly or doing things too fast or going back to activity too early after an injury. And so, hopefully I’ve run through a number of points here. Hopefully you can take something from this talk as far as trying to develop your own training plan for your first triathlon and get out there and have a lot of fun with it.
Host: Well that is all such amazing advice and you just answered every single one of my questions before I even asked them, Dr. Gross. So, that was just amazing. The one thing you didn’t touch on was nutrition. And you mentioned injuries. But first nutrition. Is there anything you want them to know about nutrition while training and for that night before, the new triathletes don’t really know what they are supposed to eat the morning of. Speak a little bit about that.
Dr. Gross: So, I will tell you that when it comes to nutrition, it is individualized to the context of the person and so that’s where a conversation with your physician is actually, that’s one of the questions you want to ask is knowing my medical history, what nutrition advice would you give me. In general, I tell my patients don’t forget to fuel the furnace. So, as you are training, you’re going to need those complex carbohydrates. These days, carbs are kind of a bad word or a nasty term. And for you that are trying to increase their endurance, try and keep your stores of available energy up; carbs are tantamount to your success. So, the ketogenic diets, anything that pushes away carbs probably isn’t going to be the best thing for someone who is training for an endurance event.
Host: Well thank you for clearing that up. As we wrap up, best advice and you could tell us also a little bit about the St. Anthony’s Triathlon. It has something for everyone from the St. Anthony’s Olympic triathlon to the Sprint Triathlon and Meek and Mighty Triathlon. Tell us a little bit about that.
Dr. Gross: It is a great event held of course here in St. Pete and just has the most scenic run bike and swim out there in the bay, the best volunteers. Everyone is just so excited for this race because it just brings out a lot of good in people. It’s the second largest Olympic distance race in the country and people come from all over the world to be in St. Pete and St. Pete, I have to say just is welcoming with open arms for this event and I would argue that if you are a first time triathlete; the St. Anthony’s Triathlon is a goal to train for because as far as events go, it’s top notch.
Host: Well thank you so much, Dr. Gross, for giving us such great usable information for first time triathletes and if you are interested in a triathlon, you can always look up the St. Anthony’s Triathlon at www.satriathlon.com or you can head on over to our website at www.baycare.org for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. That wraps up this episode of BayCare HealthChat. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other BayCare podcasts. I’m Melanie Cole.
Developing a Safe Training Plan for First Time Triathletes
Melanie Cole (Host): Welcome. This is BayCare HealthChat. I’m Melanie Cole and today we’re discussing developing a safe training plan for first time triathletes. I was one once and if you’re interested, then this is the podcast for you. Joining me is Dr. John Gross. He’s a Family Medicine and Sports Medicine Physician with BayCare. Dr. Gross, what a great topic. Thank you so much for being with us today. A beginner, you know you’re thinking about things you want to do, stuff you want to start; how does a beginner start to decide about training for a triathlon?
John Gross, MD (Guest): Well first of all, thanks for having me. It’s actually my pleasure to speak to you about this because I’m very enthusiastic about triathlons. I’ve been known to do a couple myself. And being the Medical Director for Ironman and for St. Anthony’s Triathlon, I’m endeared to the triathlete and so anyone that wants to start the sport, I want to encourage them. I like to say that triathlons are in general, very safe and very fun because they are an extension of play. You think about when you were a kid, in the summertime, what would you do? Go swimming, you go out and ride your bike, and you would run around. You essentially did triathlons when you were a kid. And so this is more just the adult way of simmering down to what you did as a kid in an organized fashion.
So, I will say from the very beginning, if you are considering doing a triathlon, check with your doctor first. Your physician will be able to put the context of your health in focus as to whether or not it’s a good idea to even start doing an endurance event like this. In general, triathlons are just glorified cross training. And so anyone that has any experience with cross training where they have a sport that they do that’s very specific and then they do another sport to strengthen their core or to build endurance in one way or another; that’s essentially triathlon. And I’m sure there’s a number of triathletes that are listening to this and kind of rolling their eyes but to keep it simple, glorified cross training is a good way to think about it as you start your training for your first triathlon.
The first thing I would say, in developing a safe training plan, is to give yourself time. Way too often, I’ll see patients come in and they are trying to get ready for a sprint triathlon that’s next week and ultimately, are setting themselves up for injury or possibly even a bad experience and we want everyone to have a good experience when they do these triathlons because they are supposed to be fun. In general, for a sprint triathlon, for a beginner who is otherwise in shape but has never done a triathlon; I recommend 12 weeks of training to get into form and be able to practice the sport specific things that are necessary to do a triathlon in a safe way.
Most people that start out doing triathlons are runners. And so, another big mistake that I’ll see people do when they are training for their first triathlon is, they’ll neglect the swim. They will not like swimming. They will see swimming as a necessary evil just to get through it to get to the bike and then their beloved run at the end. But those that are able to get comfortable with the swim and even have a good amount of proficiency with the swim will do better in those second and third parts of the race and also have the potential to place well. Because I always like to say that triathlons are won on the swim, not that anyone is trying to win a triathlon in their first race but if you can do well in the swim, then you set yourself up for success later on.
Coaches, in general, are worth it. Especially if you get the bug. So, if you do your first triathlon and you’re like when is the next one, I can’t wait to subject myself to this again; then I would say, look into a coach and work with a coach. A lot of times, the coaches can take your training to the next level so that you can consider longer races. I should say that sprint triathlons for those that don’t know, are generally shorter in distance triathlons where the swim is anywhere from .25 miles to .75 miles, the bike is anywhere from 5 miles to 15 miles and the run is generally a 5K, although on occasion I’ve seen a 10K as part of a sprint triathlon. But it can be any of those combinations and it is generally more accessible to the novice triathlete or the beginner triathlete. So, you always want to start there.
They are usually a lot of fun and usually pretty laid back and the people that do these races are either weekend warriors or beginners like yourself. So, when you are training, you want to – I mentioned the 12 week minimum. There is a method to building up. You want to either work with a coach or even online there’s very basic workouts that you can download and look at and use and train on your own to build up to what we call the peak phase. The peak phase is a very sport specific to the triathlon where you are in good enough shape to do something called a brick. A brick is what triathletes call a workout where you do two or more of the exercises in a row. So, either swim bike or bike run, and which isn’t as helpful, but swim run and the idea there is that you develop a transition. There is a transition between the swim and to the bike and your body has to get used to going from putting your arms up over your head and swimming to the repetitive motion of cycling and there is a lot of wisdom to training your body to have the muscle memory to do that transition.
I would argue that bricks do work. A brick works if it’s done in a smart way. And what I mean by that is in general, athletes will push themselves a little too hard. I mean I have to say it does keep me in business when they push themselves too hard. That’s why I’m here to do this to help them when they do, but ultimately, that can be avoided and if you do bricks in a smart way, they will pay off for you in the end. But you want to be smart about avoiding injury when it comes to that.
You’re not alone. There are a lot of people that are looking to do their first triathlon and I think it’s much more fun to go through what can sometimes be a miserable workout with a training buddy. And so, whether it be one of your friends or down here in St. Petersburg, we actually have the largest triathlon group in the world, the Mad Dogs. And they are always looking for new members and so if you reached out to the Mad Dogs, I promise you, you’ll find someone that is looking to do the same amount of training that you are doing, and misery loves company in that regard.
Now, the last point that I would make is to beware of what I call the terrible “toos” where you do too much or you do it too fast or you do it too early or you go back too soon. Okay. And so, most athletes know how to train through pain and that’s not something that you want to do. Listen to your body. And if you are dealing with pain, you don’t train through it. Short of a professional athlete, if you want to make sure that you’re not setting yourself up for further injury by either taking on too much in the name of efficiency possibly or doing things too fast or going back to activity too early after an injury. And so, hopefully I’ve run through a number of points here. Hopefully you can take something from this talk as far as trying to develop your own training plan for your first triathlon and get out there and have a lot of fun with it.
Host: Well that is all such amazing advice and you just answered every single one of my questions before I even asked them, Dr. Gross. So, that was just amazing. The one thing you didn’t touch on was nutrition. And you mentioned injuries. But first nutrition. Is there anything you want them to know about nutrition while training and for that night before, the new triathletes don’t really know what they are supposed to eat the morning of. Speak a little bit about that.
Dr. Gross: So, I will tell you that when it comes to nutrition, it is individualized to the context of the person and so that’s where a conversation with your physician is actually, that’s one of the questions you want to ask is knowing my medical history, what nutrition advice would you give me. In general, I tell my patients don’t forget to fuel the furnace. So, as you are training, you’re going to need those complex carbohydrates. These days, carbs are kind of a bad word or a nasty term. And for you that are trying to increase their endurance, try and keep your stores of available energy up; carbs are tantamount to your success. So, the ketogenic diets, anything that pushes away carbs probably isn’t going to be the best thing for someone who is training for an endurance event.
Host: Well thank you for clearing that up. As we wrap up, best advice and you could tell us also a little bit about the St. Anthony’s Triathlon. It has something for everyone from the St. Anthony’s Olympic triathlon to the Sprint Triathlon and Meek and Mighty Triathlon. Tell us a little bit about that.
Dr. Gross: It is a great event held of course here in St. Pete and just has the most scenic run bike and swim out there in the bay, the best volunteers. Everyone is just so excited for this race because it just brings out a lot of good in people. It’s the second largest Olympic distance race in the country and people come from all over the world to be in St. Pete and St. Pete, I have to say just is welcoming with open arms for this event and I would argue that if you are a first time triathlete; the St. Anthony’s Triathlon is a goal to train for because as far as events go, it’s top notch.
Host: Well thank you so much, Dr. Gross, for giving us such great usable information for first time triathletes and if you are interested in a triathlon, you can always look up the St. Anthony’s Triathlon at www.satriathlon.com or you can head on over to our website at www.baycare.org for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. That wraps up this episode of BayCare HealthChat. Please remember to subscribe, rate and review this podcast and all the other BayCare podcasts. I’m Melanie Cole.