Even if you already enjoy each of the sports and are comfortable racing or training for a single-sport endurance event, when you train for a triathlon, you’ll save energy and improve performance by focusing on the fine points of efficient strokes, spins, and steps:
- Swimming: There are five basic steps to an efficient and powerful swim stroke: hand entry, catch, pull, push, and recovery. we have to see 
details on proper form and body position in the water.
- Cycling: If you remember riding around your neighborhood as a child, you may be surprised to know that there’s a technical aspect to riding that can make your journey around the block easier and more fun.
- Running: Most first-time triathletes are anxious about at least one of the sports. If swimming isn’t your fear, odds are, it’s running.
Relaxing in the water
The first step to swimming effectively is relaxation. You need to get comfortable in the water. Breathe. Feel how your body moves. Tension in your body will prevent you from floating and propelling forward properly. In order to swim well, and conserve energy while doing it, you must first at least feel safe in the water, if not completely relish it.
If you’re new to swimming, before you even begin to work on form or to swim laps, spend a few 20-minute sessions in the water to build your confidence level. If you’re afraid of the water, try this exercise until you feel more comfortable:
1. Hold a foam swimming noodle in front of you or at your waist for\ buoyancy.
2. Gradually release control of the noodle, allowing it to support your weight in the water. As an alternative, you can ask a friend to hold your hands while you float, supported by the noodle under your arms or at your waist, with your legs extended behind you. Your friend should continue holding your hands until he feels you relax.
3. Slowly work up to floating, independent of help. Ideally, before you begin your swim training, you should be comfortable enough to float on your stomach with your face in the water for a count of ten.
If you’re still anxious about floating in the water, try floating in the fetal position. Take a breath, lower your face into the water, and pull your knees up toward your chest. Your back will rise to the surface. Hold this position for a count of ten and release.
The flutter kick
Your goal should be to develop an efficient straight-leg flutter kick. Your kick is not what powers your movement — instead, think of your feet as 
the rudders that will help lift and balance your body in the water. In order to do this, though, you need to establish a kick that’s powered by the hips and not by bent knees.
When you’re swimming a freestyle stroke, only your heels should break the surface while you’re kicking. Keep your legs relaxed and straight out behind you and point your toes. A powerful flutter kick is a shallow and fast-paced kick, as well as a relaxed and fluid movement. A good way to test what kind of kick you have is to kick while swimming on your back. Glance down as you kick to see if your knees are coming out of the water as if you were riding a bike. A correct flutter kick on your back should not expose your knees. Instead, you should only see a small amount of white water being kicked up by your toes.
Breathing
As you swim the freestyle stroke, your face will be submerged in the water. You’ll need to turn your head with your shoulders on occasion to take a breath. We recommend learning to breathe to your right and your left as you swim; this is called bilateral breathing, and its advantage over breathing to one side only is that, when you swim in open water, you’ll be better able to look up to either side to position yourself on the course.
An efficient breathing cycle is one in which you’re either breathing in or blowing out. Don’t make a habit of holding your breath in the water — this will deprive your muscles of much-needed oxygen and drain you of energy. Ideally, you want to take a breath every third or fourth stroke.
As you enter Step 5 of your stroke, turn your head enough to allow yourself to take a deep breath through your mouth. Return your face
to the water and release your breath through your nose, keeping your mouth closed until you’re ready to take your next breath. On your third or fourth stroke, when your opposite arm is in Step 5, pulling back, turn your head to that side and take a breath.
Sighting is what helps you know where you’re going in the water. To see where you’re going, you need to be able to fix on an object. In the pool, you’ll use the black lines down the center of each lane to make sure you stay straight. In open water, though, you won’t find a black line on the ocean floor. Buoys will mark the course in open water. As you take a breath, before you put your face back in the water, look up and forward slightly for the next marker.
Some swimmers like to incorporate one breaststroke into their freestyle strokes every five to seven strokes to look for course markings. If this style works best for you, feel free to do this and give yourself a small break from the harder freestyle stroke. Most of your training will be in pools, but you can still use this technique in the pool to help you practice sighting as you would in open water. Choose a day when you’re alone in your lane and close your eyes as you swim. Every four to eight strokes, open your eyes and look up at a fixed object (such as a chair at the side of the pool or a clock or object on the wall) to keep yourself on track or to get back into position.
If you live in a warm climate, your possibilities may be endless — indoor pools, outdoor pools, or open water. In milder climates, though, you’ll be limited to indoor pools. For most people, the idea of swimming back and forth in a straight line has about the same appeal as spinning on a trainer or running on a treadmill, but pool training has distinct advantages.
Benefits of Cycling
When you ride your bike to a destination that’s 50 miles away, you feel as if the world is within your reach. And when you ride that far, you see roads and scenery that you would have missed in a car, exposing you to a broader view of the world around you.
As you explore the countryside, you experience your surroundings in a way that driving a car doesn’t allow. And while you’re enjoying yourself, your body gets stronger — your heart pumps more efficiently, your lung capacity increases, and your leg muscles grow stronger and more toned. All the while, you’re burning calories and losing excess body fat. You can ride your bike for life. As a low-impact sport, riding a bike is gentle
on your joints. Don’t be surprised to see cyclists in their 60s and 70s out for a Saturday-morning century — and passing you on the hills.
You are the engine of your bicycle. You pedal to power the movement in your wheels. Just as we talk about an automobile’s efficiency in terms of gas mileage (how far you can travel on a single gallon of gas), you need to maximize the efficiency of your pedal stroke (how far you can travel on your leg strength and endurance). Refueling your body’s engine isn’t as easy as refueling your car’s engine.
Spinning is to cycling what cruise control is to driving. The rate at which you spin, or rotate your pedals, determines how much fuel you burn. Ideally, you’ll spin your pedals between 80 to 100 revolutions per minute (rpm), with a preferred cadence of 90 rpm. A revolution is one complete circle, and the number of revolutions per minute is called your cadence.
In the 80- to 100-rpm range, your body works at the most aerobically efficient rate and can continue for extended periods of time without burning quickly through all its fuel.
Many beginning cyclists believe they go faster if they “mash” on their pedals in a high gear and a low rpm, meaning their legs push hard on the pedals and move more slowly around than 80 to 100 rpm. Sure, you’ll go fast, but not for long. Constantly pedaling in a high gear puts strain on your knees and requires more of an up-and-down piston-like motion than a smooth circle. All this will cause you to wear out quickly. Professional bike racers in the Tour de France operate within a 90- to 100-rpm cadence range for 23 days every July. If it works for them, it’ll work for you, too.
Finding your cadence
You can prove the effectiveness of an ideal cadence to yourself by first practicing pedaling at 90 rpm on a flat road until your legs are accustomed to the feel of this spin rate (see the “Measuring your cadence” sidebar). Then pedal up a hill, shifting the bike to successively lower (easier and smaller) gears in order to maintain that 90 rpm. Success! You’re at the top. Next time, pedal up that same hill, but don’t shift to lower gears. Your cadence will drop to 70 and 60 rpm and then 50 (even lower if it’s a steep hill), and your leg muscles will develop a burning sensation, signaling the buildup of lactic acid. If you keep pedaling at this rate on a long hill, your legs will tire, and you might even need to stop.
If your revolutions per minute reach beyond 100, you’re riding in a gear that’s too low (and it’s likely you’re bouncing slightly in your seat, too). Adjust your gears (after all, you have as many as 30 of them) until you find the combination that allows you to spin comfortably at least at 80 rpm. You’ll most likely not be able to maintain 80 rpm when climbing a hill in the same gear you used to approach the hill. And it’s easy to spin well over 100 rpm on a downhill. That’s why you have so many gears on your bike. An experienced cyclist changes gears often. Not only is it acceptable to shift and reshift as you ride a road with rolling hills, it’s expected. Your goal is to use your gears to maintain the same cadence, regardless of terrain.
Benefits of Running
Exercise of all types relieves stress, but running has long been associated with this high. Completing a run can put you in a better mindset. Plus, as you run and find a rhythm, all the worries of the day disappear. You let your mind wander, or you can focus on something specific — like your breathing or, well, your pain — and everything else melts away. Whether you’re enjoying the runner’s high or struggling through a painful low, your body is still reaping the rewards of your efforts, and when it’s all done, running leaves you with a feeling of satisfaction. It can bring perspective and peace that stays with you all day long.
Here are more of our favorite reasons to run, selected from a long list of the many benefits of running:
- Running is inexpensive. We list this first because it’s a nice change from all the equipment and resources you need for cycling and swimming.
For running, you need you, the road, and a good pair of shoes. It’s simple. It’s visceral. It’s cheap.
- Running is flexible and fast. You can run just about anywhere at any time. Put your running shoes on and hit the road or the trails. No tires
to pump and no equipment to check. And after 30 minutes of running, you’ll return feeling refreshed, energized, and clear-headed. So, why
wouldn’t you run? (Okay, we’ll get to that in a bit.) And when you travel, running is easy to fit into your schedule — and your suitcase. Just bring
your running clothes and your shoes and enjoy the new surroundings.
- Running brings you cardiovascular fitness faster than any of the triathlon sports. And few sports burn as many calories as quickly as a good run.
- Running helps you maintain bone density. And bone density matters. Even if you’re not training for a triathlon, you should include weightbearing exercises in your fitness routine. It’s that important. During a weight-bearing exercise such as running, walking, or any sport where you’re on your feet, you support your body weight while exercising, which in turn maintains and can even increase your bone density, reducing your risk of bone breaks or osteoporosis later in life.
- Running lets you see the world. Well, the part you’re in, anyway. Running gets you out on the road or into the woods, where you experience
your surroundings in a new way, catching sights and smells you may have missed while driving quickly in a car. And running gets you on roads you may never be on during your daily commute or drive to the grocery store.
- Running lets you meet new people. Running clubs are everywhere — you can find them online or ask other runners or triathletes if they belong to them. Club runs are a great way to train with other people at your level or to improve by running with slightly more experienced or faster runners.
- Running makes your legs strong and your lungs healthy, giving you more strength and stamina for cycling.
You ran just fine as a child without thinking much about mechanics — why start now? Because sometime between second grade and adulthood, many people forget how to run. Running should come naturally, but stress and pressure to pound the pavement can strip the joy and ease from the sport. Even your choice in running shoes can affect your running style. Running shoes with heavy cushioning and hi-tech shock absorption, while reducing stress to your joints and spine, promote heavy heel striking. When you lead with your heel and it’s the first part of your foot to hit the ground, you must then roll to the front of your foot and push from your toes.
All this takes time and sacrifices momentum. But cushioned shoes greatly improve your ability to run for longer distances comfortably, as long as you practice running like a child — easy and light and striking with your mid or forefoot. Before you begin your training, take a minute to run just for the sheer joy of it. Kick off your shoes and chase your child across the grass. Toss your flip-flops and run hard for the surf the way you did as a child. Remind yourself that running is fun!
Breathing and pacing
You breathe throughout your day without even thinking about it. Set out for a run, though, when your body needs the extra oxygen the most, and suddenly you may forget to breathe or how to breathe. Your muscles need oxygen, and if you don’t breathe, they can’t get it. Then you have no choice but to walk because your legs are out of “air” and don’t move you forward quickly.
Your breathing will naturally become labored during your run. Don’t panic. And don’t worry that you’re not doing it right. Just breathe. Let your breaths be relaxed. The only way to prevent labored breathing during a run is to slow down. Follow the “talk test” to determine the appropriateness of your pace: Talk to your running partner — or to yourself if you’re alone. If you can’t find the breath to hold a conversation, even if it’s one-sided, slow your pace. If you’re just starting a running program, you need to build up a base of fitness, which you can achieve by running at a pace that’s comfortable for you, and then gradually increasing your mileage.
Focus Your Training
Focus first on fun. If you’re enjoying your training, you’ll be eager to get back out for the next session. And when you’re meeting all your training goals, you’ll cross the finish line of your event with a smile on your face. Although we’re all talk about how you should be having fun, we’re sure there’s a sport you’re absolutely dreading. And we know most people tend to avoid training for the sport they like least. Before you start your training program, spend some time focusing on the sport you like the least or that makes you feel the least confident. During this pre-training period, your main focus will be on the sport you don’t like.
If the swim causes you anxiety, then get in the water as much as possible and enlist the help of an experienced swim coach. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much easier swimming is when it’s done correctly, using proper form. If it’s running you dread, begin with an alternating schedule of walking and running. Gradually increase the time you spend running, with shorter recovery walks in between until you’re comfortable running for 20 minutes without walking. Then begin your training program.
If you aren’t comfortable riding on the roads and are putting off your cycling training, join a beginner’s cycling group or ask a friend to lead you on a few rides on quiet roads to help get you more comfortable. Continue focusing on your least favorite or your weakest sport throughout your training program. If you’re an experienced cyclist and you have to choose between a cycling workout and a swim, choose the swim.
Disclaimer: This website is for information purposes only. By providing the information contained herein we are not diagnosing, treating, curing, mitigating, or preventing any type of disease or medical condition. Before beginning any type of natural, integrative or conventional treatment regime, it is advisible to seek the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.
