3 Best Ways to Use Your Sprint Tri Fitness That's Not a Tri

So you got in shape for your sprint tri and nailed it. Now what? Take that killer sprint tri fitness and use it to crush these three events.

One Mile Running Races

Short but exhausting, running a mile all out hurts your legs and lungs, but leaves you with enough left in the tank for a good post race beer. The upside is that when you push yourself to the absolute limit for speed, going back to your moderate paces in training feel downright luxurious. Too short to be used as a physiology test, these race are still good for working on your leg speed and mental toughness. Here’s a list of seven of the top one mile races in the country to try out.

Cycling Time Trials

Typically 40k (25 miles) or less, a time trial lets you test your bike legs to see what you can do when you don’t have to run off the bike. There’s not a lot of strategy to these races, you just put your head down and go as hard as you can. These types of efforts are critical to improvement as they help your body learn to cope with the lactic acid that builds up during hard efforts. Bonus: these are great races to test any new equipment you may want to use in an upcoming triathlon.

Masters Swim Meet

The US Masters Swim Association has several distances for you to test your aquatic ability. The 400, 500, 1000, 1650 yard/meters are all good options depending on what your goal triathlon distance is, experience in the sport and desire to suffer. During these events, you can really focus on your form since you don’t have to worry about other competitors hitting you or sighting for buoys. Another benefit is that it gives you chance to work on staying calm and collected when the effort starts to get hard. Towards the end of your event, you’ll have to control your breathing and getting comfortable with a lack of oxygen, a skill that will come in handy during the start of your next race.