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Raise Your Game: Why triathlon?

Helen Jenkins: It started off because I wanted a bit of a change. I was swimming a lot until the age of 16, when I realised that I wasn't going to get much further. I wasn't really improving anymore.

There was a girl I was swimming with whose father was involved with triathlons. He was looking to get some youngsters involved and asked a couple of us if we wanted to give it a go. I was one of the faster girls that attended the event and I actually won the race. There weren't that many people doing it (laughs), but it went on from there.

RYG: What's your favourite discipline within the triathlon?

HJ: I enjoy each discipline but it changes from day to day, depending on what session I'm doing.

RYG: How do you go about improving your weaknesses?

HJ: I train pretty evenly all year, across all three disciplines. Some people do it differently and spend certain times of the year working on certain things. In the winter, after a break, we might not do as much cycling, but do more swimming and running.

In the summer months we go to Australia for a bit of winter training or somewhere warm, then you might end up doing a bit of cycling. It depends a lot on the weather and the temperature, but you try and keep things quite consistent in terms of volume.

RYG: How important is it to set yourself goals?

HJ: It's very important. I have goals, even if it's in the training session. Last week my goal was actually to have an easy week. That was quite hard because, after a few days, I was dying to get back into training. I have long term goals and I have smaller goals within those.

I have to do a lot of strength and conditioning work so we'll have goals within that - what I need to do to improve. Goals keep you motivated and they give you a direction. That way you're not just aimlessly training and doing too much of one thing and not enough of another.

RYG: Do you keep records of your training performances?

HJ: I haven't kept a training diary for quite a while because I got injured a few years ago just after I started my training diary. Every time I started my training diary, something else would go wrong. I do have a record of my training, I have a training programme, and my swimming coach keeps a record of training sessions.

RYG: How useful are stats to you when you're training or taking part in events?

HJ: It can be important in training. We measure the power wattage on the bike, how fast we're running and our swim speed. They're useful as a training tool. During races they don't really matter so much. I don't completely live by them. I think some people do that a bit too much, and lose sight of the actual training because they're so worried about the stats.

RYG: Do you ever use maths in a race to work out where you are, and where you need to be?

HJ: When you're on the bike route you're given the times between groups, telling you that you're a minute in front or behind. The bike also tells you your power output so you can work out your averages as you're riding along. That's about it as far as calculating my progress goes.

RYG: How important is preparation when you're taking part in a triathlon?

HJ: It's really important because you need quite a lot of equipment. You don't want to turn up for a race and not have the right stuff. It's important to be organised. I write a lot of lists before a race telling me what I need to take with me. The more races you do, the more automatic your preparation becomes.

I also write a little plan for the day. I write down what time I need to get up to go to the race, just so I'm organised in my mind. That way all I have to focus on during the day is the race, not how I'm going to get there. When you're training it's good to know what you're doing every day. You need to have a plan.

RYG: What have been the highlights of your career so far?

HJ: Probably winning the World Championships in Vancouver in 2008. It was weird. It was so unexpected that it didn't feel real. That's an obvious highlight, but also the first ever podium at a World Cup was great. My first race was in Manchester, in front of a British crowd, and all my family were there, so it was absolutely amazing.

RYG: And the lows?

HJ: I got injured in 2006 for about half of the year, and I thought it had gotten better, but it came back last year. That was a real low. I had no real goals so it was really hard to stay motivated. I could do the swimming and the biking but no running. It was very hard to stay motivated, just to do the other two.

RYG: How do you stay positive at times like that?

HJ: I always had the Olympics in the back of my mind. I always wanted to try and qualify for that, so that kept me motivated to keep up my training. I'd been training since I left school, so if I had stopped because of an injury it would've felt like a waste of a few years. It was just a matter of keeping going and trying to prove that I could compete at a high level again.

RYG: If you're in the middle of the swim and your muscles are aching, what do you say to yourself when you know you've still got the bike race and run to go?

HJ: In the triathlon, because it is a long event, you go through patches where you don't feel good. I try not to think about how much it's hurting. I try to think about the process of what I'm doing. If I'm swimming I try to think about doing long strokes and pulling hard.

I also focus on my breathing, rather than thinking about the fact that I've still got the bike and run to go. You're hurting the most on the run so, rather than thinking 'I've still got three laps to go' I try and focus on the person in front, trying to keep the gap the same or something like that. You need something else to think about, other than how much it hurts.

RYG: Is it about bringing yourself back to the present, rather than worrying about how you might be feeling in half an hour?

HJ: That's definitely important. Try to think about what's going on now rather than the pain to come. If you go into a race really worrying about the outcome, or where you're going to finish, it can be negative. You can only do your best.

Thinking about swimming with a really good technique might actually give you a better result in the end. I always have a goal for the swim, to try and come out in the top five and to think about what I need to do in the transition. Breaking it down does help. On the bike, if you think that you've still got to do seven out of eight laps, it can make it daunting. Break it down instead.

RYG: How important is the mental side of a triathlon?

HJ: It all comes down to how you deal with the race situation and how nervous you get. If you're running in a group and there are three or four of you there, it comes down to mental strength and how much you're willing to put your body through. It all comes down to mind over matter.

RYG: Do you get nervous before a big event?

HJ: I do get nervous. I was really nervous before our Olympic selection race. You have to control the nerves. I used to get so nervous that I couldn't eat, which wasn't really productive. Having goals and a plan is a good way of lessening the nerves.

RYG: What techniques do you use to overcome nerves?

HJ: I listen to music and I focus on my breathing. I listen to the music I listen to when I train, because it puts me back in that training mode. Once you're into the race you switch off and it's as if you're on auto pilot. The worst part is sitting around beforehand, waiting for the race to start.

RYG: What advice would you give to youngsters looking to get started in triathlon?

HJ: If you're already doing one of the three sports, that's always a good start. Joining a local club is a good way of getting started, because you get to practise all the disciplines and you get proper coaching, with people of a similar age.

Triathlon is a very friendly sport. You can make friends quite easily. You don't have to be the most talented person. I was never outstanding at any one of the disciplines, but if you're dedicated and you're willing to put the time in, you can really achieve some good results.