Question:
I am going to be teaching a triathlon
training course this spring at my
college. Being male, I don't have
first hand experience in women's
needs when training for such an
event. Can anyone direct me to some
useful information on triathlon
training for women that I can share
with my female students?
Answer:
I don't think there are many gender
issues when it comes to Tri's-there
are as many different ways to train
as there are people, not males and
females.
The only
thing I would maybe suggest is to
not bring up gender at all-teach
the class as a whole and only focus
on individual differences. The only
"gender" difference that
I can think of is that females,
especially teen agers and college
age, tend to have very poor nutrition.
Combine this with training and you
might have problems with amenorhea,
low iron, low calcuim, or other
nutrition related problems. I think
some focus on nutrition would be
particularly helpful for this age
group of women.
I think some
women are intimidated by training
with men. Make them feel a part
of the group and don't single them
out. I do running intervals with
a fairly large group and we often
split into three smaller groups:
fast, faster and fastest! Everyone
feels great! I don't think there
are any great differences between
mens and womens training...good
nutrition and rest is important
for any training program.
