Female Firefighter Triathlete
19th July 2016
Top 10 tips: Firefighter/Triathlete (female)
Despite only starting triathlon three and a half years ago, Gillian Hislop, a crew manager with the Scottish fire and rescue service, has already competed at the World Championships, the European Championships and recently completed seven triathlons in nine weeks. Read her story here. This is her top ten tips …
1. Join a club or a squad to keep you motivated to train and have people around you to ask for advice and to enjoy the experiences with.
2. Set yourself attainable goals/targets to work towards and keep you focused. This can help you through the harder training sessions, particularly on cold and or wet early mornings.
3. Make sure you get sufficient rest/ sleep and eat a balanced healthy diet.
4. Keep well hydrated, particularly leading up to a race.
5. Follow a training plan that ensures you taper in the few days leading up to a race.
6. Make sure you recce the bike and run route before a race, to reduce the chance of you taking the wrong route during the race.
7. Have a race night before/ morning plan so that you are organized and know where you have to be and when.
8. Ensure you plan in plenty time on race morning to arrive, register, set up transition and warm up sufficiently prior to your race. This can greatly help reduce race day nerves.
9. Always think positively about your ability, and focus on yourself and what you can control during your race, not on your competitors.
10. At some point after after each race is over, think about what went well, and what you could improve on for your next race.