The cold weather is officially over and tri season has begun. When you sign up for your next triathlon event, it's a good idea to formulate a clear, accessible training plan and remember to have fun! Keeping a log with the Triathlete's Training Diary will help you along the way. Incorporating free core, track and cycling workouts into your schedule will get you fit for free!

The Splash 'n Dash is a great way to warm up your swim, transition and run skills and you can join a friend at the Couples Tri. Remember that you'll need to schedule a tune-up ahead of time during race season so don't forget to call our friendly mechanics to get your bike tuned up well before your next event.

We at J&A hope you have a wonderful and busy tri season. Stop by the shop or call if you have any questions about the events that lie ahead or your preparation for them.

The Rookie Triathlon is this weekend and the first of our Splash 'n Dash series for 2010 made a big... well... splash! But don't worry if you're a procrastinating triathlete, plenty of spring and early summer events remain to participate in.

Ladies, the Skeese Greets Tri on Sunday May 16th is a great way to race the Rookie Tri course in a supportive, all-female environment. The Splash 'n Dash series occurs on the third Tuesday of every month through September - just remember to sign up early since spaces for this event will go fast. You can even volunteer for the Rookie Tri and gain points toward completion of the Texas Tri Series!

No matter when you decide to start your season, it's a good idea to be prepared. J&A's free workouts can help you get fit for free. If you want to save money, participate in Bike to Work Week/Month. You'll fill up your car's tank less, get in shape during your daily commute and inspire others to do the same. We want everyone to ride safe, so click the coupon, print and bring it to J&A for 20% off all helmets!

On July 11th, J&A and High Five Events hold one of the most unique triathlons of the season and it's definitely one you will not want to miss. In the Couples Tri, each competitor races individually, but their scores are combined with a chosen partner. Don't be misled by the title of the event; 'couples' can be friends, family members - or even complete strangers - not just a significant other. You can even race individually if you want!

The race is held in Walter T. Long park, a beautiful site minutes away from downtown Austin. Competitors will finish an 800 meter swim in Decker lake, an 11.1 bike around the lake, and an awesome, traffic free, run entirely within the park. This sprint-distance triathlon is also a perfect goal to build your endurance after the Rookie Tri!

Whether you're training for an Ironman or the next sprint race in your area, devising and following a detailed training schedule will always help you be more prepared for triathlon events. Keeping a training diary not only helps you keep track of your planned schedule but also discover what training methods most help you improve or what causes injury.

The Triathlete's Training Diary by Joe Friel is an incredible tool for tracking the details of your daily workouts. Noting important details like heart rate, weather conditions, time and distance will give you a keener insight into the changes and progress your body makes as you undergo training. Friel gives a thorough introduction to the essentials of keeping a training log and the diary comes with enough space to log a year's worth of training.

If you have questions about training programs or logging your workouts, feel free to ask anyone on the J&A staff. We're happy to share our own experiences with training and keeping logs. And if we don't know the answer to your question, we'll find it!

By Derick Williamson, M.Ed.

It's in our nature, we're triathletes, we like to run bike and swim, often times we like to do these things fast or hard because it feels like it's providing us the greatest benefit. During the week we can find ourselves strapped for time and the time we have to train turns into a race effort instead of a well thought through workout. Sure it feels good when you are done but are you really getting the most out of your time and is your fitness really going to improve? Moreover this practice could lead to an overuse injury, staleness or unnecessary fatigue leaving you in a cycle of never training hard enough to really get better because you never really train slow enough to optimally recover. Many triathletes can better prepare themselves for this season by training slower, that's right I said it, train slower.

Sounds too good to be true, eh? Train easier and get faster, well it's only part of the equation (but it's a big part) as by training easier on those recovery days you can then train faster on your hard days. It's that ability to push harder on your key workout days and then adequately recover, that will push you beyond a plateau and onto a new fitness peak.

Begin to look at your training weeks as a series of overload and recovery days. Overload days are what we consider to be those hard workout days, these are the key workouts that we do such as long runs or rides, hard masters' sets, tempos, Fartleks, hill repeats, threshold intervals, etc. Even the most elite triathletes can only handle about 2-3 of these type of overload blocks in a week. For the most part, the remainder of the week should be centered around maintenance of volume and recovery, both from the previous workout as well as in preparation for the subsequent workouts. If doing double workouts, try making both of those workouts an overload workout so that the next day can be devoted to a recovery session.

To continue reading, click here.

Since we are now in the busy part of the Tri season, we want to make sure that everybody that needs work on their bikes gets it done when they need it. We do all of our repairs on an appointment basis. Usually this time of year we are scheduled about a week in advance with appointments, so if you know that you have a race or event coming up go ahead and call us so we can get you on the schedule.

If you need a tune up but do not want to leave the bike at the shop just come by and we can do a couple of quick adjustments to keep you going so you do not have to suffer with a poorly functioning bike while you wait for your appointment. (Try that at a car dealership!)

We also have a couple of new mechanics at the shop now so come by and meet Geoff and Bryan and get to know the guys that will be working on your bikes.