A big part of the success of your race comes from planning and preparation. For months you look after training, life details, nutrition and recovery. After managing all that, a piece of the success puzzle that is often overlooked is your plan for travel to your race.

It's key to map out your plan with your travel and logistics to have things run smooth leading up to race day. Being prepared with this will allow you the time to really recoup and be ready for your event.

You've made it through the holidays and into the new year. You're fired up looking at the 2012 races; scheduling, planning and getting into your training plan for 2012 summer events.

Triathlon is an endurance event, no matter what distance you choose. From a one-hour to 17-hour race, you are asking yourself to race for a long time. This kind of racing take strength, it takes endurance, and most of all it takes a lot of conditioning. If you've frequently raced long and for a number of years it's easy to get sidelined into only going slow, long, easy.

If you find yourself getting "slow," remember there needs to be a certain amount of speed and power in your plan all year.

I have been thinking a lot as I chat with friends and athletes about new year goal setting. There needs to be a direct responsibility for your results. Reaching goals doesn't come by accident. It comes from clear planning and a real connection with what it takes to achieve those goals.

As you face the winter you might be starting to look at areas you can work on that you aren't able to target during your race season.

Through my 20s I spent many hours in the gym learning all kinds of dynamic strength programs for different sports. Most of them were explosive sports, but as I ventured into the endurance world I took the time to learn the value of gym strength in training for the long stuff.

Many of us are starting to look at the race calendar for next season. With are so many great choices available year round -- especially if you are willing to travel -- there are a number of ways to approach your season and no way is right or wrong. You just need to know what works for you.

A lot of us are starting to see the weather change and are starting to think about climbing back on the trainer for the winter months. A combination of good trainer sessions to keep you motivated while stuck inside is key.

I've never been a believer in just sitting on an indoor trainer and riding easy for three to five hours. I think an athlete would be much better off heading out for a snow shoe, skate ski or hike. I believe every time you get on the trainer in the winter months you should have a purpose -- a session written out with some focus in it.

One of the most common questions I get asked is about nutrition: "How do I get as lean as I possibly can, live in my hectic life and have the energy I need to train and recover?"

The answer is slightly different for each athlete, but the key points stand true for nearly everyone.

It's all about finding out how you are not being true to yourself.

Do you remember being a little kid and sitting glued to the TV or magazines and thinking, “I wanna be just like them when I grow up?”

We all have heroes -- we have people and icons throughout our life that we admire and aspire or dream we could be like. As we grow older these heroes change and help mold who we are. We use those images in our heads to help guide us and motivate us.

If you are still racing and heading to some of the fall half IMs and IMs you still have some work to do. You've likely been racing for a number of months now and dragging out more long miles may only leave you flat. The months of racing, tapering and long sessions can see you losing some strength by this point in the year.

I recommend focusing your energy on quality for your event and keeping strength and power up. You want to prevent the feeling of "getting slow" from the year worth of long training and hard racing.

This month’s theme on EC is what it takes to be fast. Because my husband, most of my close friends and I all train full-time to try to win races, I have close exposure every day to what it takes to be fast.

We've all seen them, those infomercials that yell out, “Just do this machine for 20 minutes, three times per week and you'll lose 100lbs,” “Take this magical formula and whammo, you'll be 60lbs lighter without changing anything you eat,” or, “If you rub this lotion on or wear this garment you'll have the tightest butt in the world.”

As humans today we love those options: get to where we want to go with no effort, as quickly as possible. Everything is a touch this, click that, do it for you gadget. We barely even need to think anymore or ever consider being creative; it's all done for us.

But here’s the beauty of sport, and especially a sport as hard as triathlon:

THERE IS NO SECRET TO BEING FAST!

Nobody likes to hear that the person winning his or her age group only works 10 hours a week, takes a summer sabbatical to just train and race, and has no family commitments. But the truth is, more than not, this is the case. The people winning their age groups at Worlds have this option. They have situated their lives 100% around this one goal. 

If you don't have this option I can offer some guidelines.

I recently completed my second half IM of the year and am looking forward to another one in a few weeks. I never forget the road I've been down the past three years when I'm out there racing.

I recommend that you consider two sessions within your week as the season builds on:

• A sport specific strength session
• A neuromuscular speed session

Both of these sessions prepare you for the work that needs to be done, but don't leave you feeling tired or require a lot of recovery. These sessions are the work that keeps you from falling flat and getting slow from the big miles, and set you up for the quality training required to race.

When looking at your gear setup you should be really looking at a few different things as you make your decisions on what is best for you and your event.

I've spent time with squads where gear was put very low on the priority list for performance, I've spent time in the bike racing scene where gear is everything and I've spent a bit of time in between where finding the balance for the individual and the needs of the event is leveled out.

I get a lot of questions from triathletes about my thoughts on group riding. Every community has their local group hammerfest and many communities even have options to just get together with a small group of fellow peers to share the riding fun.

I have always included group riding into my training. The fun and friendships I've enjoyed over the years from group rides is something I'd never trade in.

We are now into the thick of the race season. Your "A" races are here or just around the corner. You've spent months planning your training and planning your life towards this part of the year.

Part of having a successful race is coming up with a solid plan for your event well before your race day.

If you are looking for some kind of direction for the season and are not in a position to hire a coach to tailor things to your needs then I suggest setting up a basic repeatable week.

One hot topic at this time of year is race nutrition -- there is a lot of information out there and learning what works best for you can be difficult.

Here are my tips for figuring out what works.

by Marilyn McDonald

Late last month I was spoke with Bevan and John at IMTalk about my thoughts on swimming, my experience and my personal position on swimming. You can listen to that pod cast at IMTalk.me.

Here are the three key swims I think you need per week as we head into the race season.

People often ask if there is a key session throughout the race season that they should include each and every week. One of those key sessions in my mind is the Brick.

I talked a little in the last few months about the importance of goal setting, mental preparation and looking at more than just your physical training to complete the package for your A races.

I want to share a conversation I had with one of my good friends at the recent EC camp. I use the camps for many different reasons, but one great thing is you get to surround yourself with peers you respect who are growing and learning with you.

by Marilyn McDonald

I talked a little in the last few months about the importance of goal setting, mental preparation and looking at more than just your physical training to complete the package for your A races.

Most of us are quickly approaching the race season. You may be planning a good training camp or may have already attended one in preparation for your race season. Everybody goes to camps for different reasons. Some want to get out on the road after a long winter. Some want to expose themselves to a more challenging environment with their peers to see where they are at. Some simply want to get away and spend a week with no other worry than training. These are all great reasons to be at a camp.

I just had the great pleasure of spending a three week camp with a group of very good professionals and then backed that up with the weeklong EC camp where I was able to share my experience and be a coach. 

One thing I know is you never really know what a person's goals are when they come to a camp. It's best to focus on yourself (when you are a camper) and get the most out of the camp that you can. 

This is where I want to share with you a conversation I had with one of my good friends at the EC camp. I use the camps for many different reasons, but one great thing is you get to surround yourself with peers you respect who are growing and learning with you.

We started talking about what do you do when you reach your goals and what a good coach's job is when an athlete reaches his or her goals.

The single most important lesson I've learned over 23 years of elite sport is to always focus on the process. As soon as athletes becomes results-driven, they start to make decisions that ultimately send them further away from their actual goals.

I'll give you a personal example.

You've made it through the winter, or at least the worst of it. You can almost see spring and the idea of getting out on the road is a motivating one. Some early season races are approaching -- your race season may even be starting in the next few months.

What's one of the best things you can do to get yourself ready? A training camp!

It's finally towards the back half of winter. Spring is right around the corner but if every time you look outside it's still cold and snowy, you know you've got at least one more solid block of indoor trainer sessions on the books.

If you've been following my winter riding articles you have followed the progression. The final step or block I like to see done on the trainer before we head out and let our hair finally rip through the wind is a solid block of maximum aerobic power work. Everybody uses different term for this -- VO2max, Zone 4, Max -- but it all means the same thing: very, very hard.

Most of us are really good at doing all the physical preparation we need to get to a start line. I've seen more elite athletes over many different sports show up to the big dance with the same physical preparation.

Most of us have our physical plans-- our training plans. What is your mental plan for getting yourself to the next level of racing?

Most of the Northern Hemisphere population right now is stuck indoors for at least two more months. That means riding the trainer if you are committed to your 2011 season. Some will say winter is time to build your base... while most are stuck inside. Those two statements don't really go together.

In my opinion, if you've successfully completed a cycle or two of strength endurance work and high rpm neuromuscular work on the trainer or rollers the next step through these winter months is some extended tempo work once per week.

2011 is here and we are looking for your best season ever. That won’t happen by mistake. I'll offer a few things I consider important to putting you in the right direction for a great year.

We've all had a bit too much to eat, a few too many treats and are ready to transition from holiday mode to work mode with our triathlon goals. Hopefully you've kept some frequency ticking over with your running amongst the holiday cheer and kept the weight gain within reason.

Volume, low heart rate and base should all be part of your thoughts and training this time of year, especially with running. Aiming for new volume targets is going to help you achieve some new run performances in 2011. Backing up good consistent volume for many weeks in a row is key.

This is the time of year where most of us are tied to our trainers. It's much too far from most races to be hitting high intensity, yet aimless riding indoors is both mind numbing and butt numbing.

From December through wintery February, I recommend hitting these four sessions each week to come out of winter flying and strong.

Wintertime presents an entirely new set of challenges. We've had our break, we are rearing to get going again and unless we are a desert lizard or flying south, it's normal that it is freezing outside and dark. So where does that leave a fired up triathlete? Dark, cold and ready to go... not an ideal combo.

I think for this time of year different athletes require different road maps.