I have put together some simple triathlon travel tips. Are you racing overseas?
Perhaps for your first international triathlon or even if you are a seasoned racer, Here are some simple triathlon travel tips that will enable your experience to go a little smoother and with a little less stress.
Travelling is stressful. Triathlon travel can have a huge effect on your performance on race day. Even experienced travelling triathletes have come undone with some of simple mistakes when traveling abroad.
My number one tip! Be early... don't arrive at the race the day before the event if you can help it.
Its not always possible with age-group triathletes to get there early enough. Athletes have families and work commitments. However, if you can get to your race in plenty of time it makes life so much easier in the lead up to your big race.
If you are flying up to a couple of hours to an event, perhaps in Europe then, I definitely suggest that you get to the race town or city at least a minimum of three days before the race. If your race is on Sunday, you need to be in your race hotel or Airbnb on Thursday. This leaves you plenty of time to get ready for the race.
If you are racing further away, basically anything over 3 hours flying, you need longer to recover before the race. This helps get rid of jetlag and also enables you to prepare the body for the race.
Make it a holiday. I encourage athletes to turn their triathlon travel race trip into a holiday. It helps with buy-in and support from the family and ensures you take some downtime after the event, which is critical to help the body and mind recover, particularly from an iron-distance event or middle distance (70.3) event.
Travelling with a bike
Always take some cash in the local currency with you.
Don't assume the local taxi driver will take credit cards! I would recommend having a couple of hundred pounds worth of the local currency before you leave. Again, its one of those things that can reduce stress. If the taxi driver takes debit cards... ace. If there is an ATM in the arrivals hall... too easy. If there isn't... you've got it covered!
Oh and one other thing, make sure you tell your bank, before you go, that you are travelling to this country... or you will find that your credit cards / debit cards etc get frozen!
In Europe, especially, don't assume that everyone will speak English. After all if a French person came to England, would you expect them to talk French or English to you?
Learn a few words, make a little effort. Simple, "Hello" "Please" "Thank you" will go a very long way to encouraging the locals to help you.
Travel light, fast and safe!
Paul is a Professional Triathlon Coach. Passionate about the sport of Triathlon. Paul empowers athletic achievements with quality individualised bespoke triathlon coaching.
Coach Paul is a British Triathlon Federation Level 3 High Performing Coach, an IRONMAN Coach and a Triathlon Australia Performance Coach.
F4L Triathlon Coaching offers triathletes and other endurance athletes a full coaching and training service that caters to all levels of triathletes. F4L offers professional triathlon and endurance coaching and the reliability triathletes and endurance athletes require. Each athlete is an individual, every athlete has different needs.
