Single sport events

By simple necessity, multi-sport athletes are competent in many disciplines but masters of none, and it's only when they put the various sports together do their full abilities become apparent. Accepting that you "only" need to be good rather than great in each sport gives some comfort (and complacency?) compared to single sport athletes for whom the margin for error, and the difference between competitors is so small. But that doesn't mean that multi-sport athletes should not strive for some greatness in their disciplines...which is where competing in single sport events provide great benefits, both physically and mentally, and is something every multi-sport athlete should do.

Traditionally multi-sport athletes might compete in single sport events for variety, for off-season conditioning and other reasons, a little like footy players who play cricket in summer...or vice-versa. While I agree these are great reasons for doing single sport events, I'd go further and say in order to get the most from the effort of immersing yourself in those races you need to become "one" with your single-sport competitors and not just be, for example, a "triathlete doing a running race". You should aim to be like a "runner doing a running race" in both the race preparation and execution.

I should note that this approach is not at the expense of "training like a triathlete", about which I've written before, rather that any planned foray into single-sport events should be executed to get the most return from it. Let me explain further.

One very good reason for doing a single-sport event is that it can take you out of your comfort zone in terms of effort and intensity, to reach new levels of performance. However unless you're ready and prepared for this, physically and mentally, then you'll miss these benefits and might as well have stayed home. For example, if you're triathlete and consider a 5km running race to be too short / easy and not challenging enough, then you've obviously been going sub-max for too long and haven't really raced it because a 5km race hurts...a lot!!! In this case, you have the opportunity to re-set your calibration of what max performance is, which will then carry over to the benefit of your triathlon performance.

The same applies to swimming and cycling races, to really race them like the single sport events they actually are and not be thinking about having to transition to the next discipline, and not fall back on the tired old excuse like "I trained too hard yesterday / last week / last year / blah, blah, blah, to do this (pi**y) little race hard." If you're going to make the effort of doing a single sport event, then give it the effort it deserves otherwise you might as well not interrupt your training...where in actual fact it usually is worth interrupting your training for a quality single sport race.

Another little (personal) tip on competing in a single sport race...dress at least a little like a single sport athlete. Nothing stands out more than a triathlete in a full lycra clad outfit in a field of runners!!!

As far as preparing for a single sport race, there is a lot to be said for having a focused block of training targeted towards achieving a single sport goal, in any discipline. Whether it is an open water swim event, bike TT, running race or otherwise, the benefit you get from immersing yourself in an emphasised training block...including doing some sessions with single sport athletes...will open your eyes to the effort and focus required to really lift your performance in that discipline. Of course, this should be done in a structured way within a year-round training plan - there's many ways of achieving it - so that your single sport focus is not at the complete expense of your performance as a multi-sport athlete.

In completing a single sport block you'll also develop respect for single sport athletes who you might have thought of a lesser mortals because they only specialise in one event, whereas every single sport is worthy of it's own respect from the intricacies associated with quality performance. And any single sport athletes you might train with may also develop some respect for you as a multi-sport athlete rather than seeing you as an obsessive freak show!!!

So when it comes to looking for ways to improve your multi-sport performance, give some serious consideration to the value of doing some single sport events, just be sure to approach it with the aim of doing those single sport events to really gain from the experience, and to give a boost to your performance across the board. You might even find you actually excel as a single sport athlete!!!