Jargon for a TriDiva

Happy New Year!

For some of you, the new year means starting fresh on well established goals or creating new ones.   When embarking in a new direction it can be a bit like visiting a new country with a foreign language.  How do I get going if I don't even speak the language?  Should I get a translation dictionary or an interpreter?  These are all viable options but I thought I would get you started with an initial list of some common terms used in multi-sport:

Transition  I start with this because it sets multi-sport apart from others athletic endeavours.  It refers to the part of the race between each segment.  In triathlon, T1 is after the swim and before the ride and T2 is after the ride and before the run.  In most races (those with chip timing), a time will be given for your time spent here.  Take it from me, you can burn a lot of time in transition (look for future blogs on everything you can do wrong at a triathlon)


Split  This is a wide reaching term referring to different aspects of a race or training.  A split is a time attributed to a portion of the distance.  For example, in swim training, your may be asked to swim 400 m but your coach (if you are lucky to have one) may take your time at 200 m and 400m.  A split will give you a good idea about your pacing which is important in any endurance event.

Negative Split  No . . .  this is not when your coach is disappointed with your time!  It is a specific type of split time where you try to go faster in the second half of the distance than you did in the first half.  The idea is to not bust a gut in the beginning so as to have enough in the second half to go as fast or faster.  Sounds easy . . .right?  It is not and, unfortunately, it is a necessary skill in Tri.

Intervals  Another training term referring to either the distance or time required in a set.  Here are a few examples:
       Swimming:  6 x 100 m swim on 2:15  This means you swim 100 m and if that takes you 1:55, you get 20 seconds rest (yippee!)
       Riding: 15 minutes as 5 x [2:45 90 RPM - 15 seconds sprint] Here you simply follow the directions and the "interval" part is the time.
        Run: 20 minutes tempo as 30 second per mile slower than race pace  For this run, you would add 30 seconds per mile onto your race pace (a 8:30 per mile pace means tempo at 9:00 per mile)
Who knew you had to specialize in differential calculus to do triathlon!!!  Don't worry. . . if you are not sure, just don't lead the lane :)

I could go on and on but I don't want to bore you or overwhelm you.  I will include a few terms each month to help you look cool at your next triathlon social event (do we even have social events?).  Please send me any vocabulary terms that caught you off guard and I will do my best to illuminate.