Do you know any runners who have had a running-related injury? The easier question to answer is, do you know any runners who have not had a running injury? According to the authors below, in any given year, up to 70 percent of runners sustain an injury serious enough to stop them from running. [ref]

It's not often I can do this but the following is an excerpt from an upcoming book (currently only available as a pre-order), Triathlon 101 (Human Kinetics, due out March, 2009). In this updated edition reprinted with permission from Human Kinetics, Triathlon 101, you'll learn the five training phases for triathlon success.

In this terrific excerpt reprinted with permission from Human Kinetics, Championship Triathlon Training, you'll learn a few techniques to keeping your mind sharp and on task, a DEFINITE skill used by top athletes.

Psychological Skills
Many areas of life can produce psychoemotional difficulty or anxiety. Whether

Ever ridden at 5:00am on a cold morning? Ever wonder why? Ever feel way out-classed at the starting line? At some point I think every cyclist and triathlete has done both. This except from Bike Racing 101 (by Kendra Wenzel and Rene Wenzel reprinted with permission) will help you walk through and prepare for that inevitable feeling.

"You can make use of tactics successfully even in your first race if you use the building blocks of strategy we call the four Cs: course, competition, conditions, and confidence.

Just as every bit of preparation you do should focus on the goals you set up for yourself in chapter 3, the races you choose and the way you conduct yourself in those races must further those goals. Applying the four Cs to each race you enter will go a long way in ensuring that you move closer to your goals with each race. In chapters 15 through 18, we apply the four Cs to each type of road racing, pointing out the nuances of each race and the preparation, skills, and practice you need to be successful.

Course
The course is one of the most important factors in how you perform in a race. Knowledge of the hills or gravel sections is strategic information. Even choosing to do the race (or not) based on its terrain is a strategic decision in your race season. Relate your strengths and weaknesses to areas of the course. Does the course have hills, flats, or windy sections that favor your strengths? In which areas might you be vulnerable and have difficulty following stronger riders?

All riders should study course information ahead of the race, but many don’t bother. Knowing the course well can go a long way in improving tactics and

When you are drilling, and you should add some drills to most every swim workout, swim-golf is a great way to track your progress. Essentially what you do is combine your stroke count per 25 or 50 y/m with the time it took to complete. It is a proxy measurement for technique efficiency and you should try to bring that number down over time.

Here's a great excerpt from excerpt from Swimming Fastest by Ernest Maglischo reprinted with permission.

"One of the most common drills for increasing stroke lengths is to count strokes for one pool length and repeat the drill while attempting to cover the distance with fewer strokes. All of this is done at a slow speed. This is a good drill for young and inexperienced age-group swimmers. The efficiency of their strokes and their performances will improve when they attempt to cover each pool length with fewer strokes, regardless of the speed of their swims.

Although a drill like the one just described is excellent for inexperienced swimmers, it has limited value once athletes can swim with good