40/30/30 - Ratio of carbohydrates (40), proteins (30) and dietary fats(30). This ratio is designed to maximize your body's ability to burn stored body fat for energy; therefore this ratio maintains or increases your lean body mass. This type of diet is believed to be the very effective for endurance athletes.

Aerobars - Made famous by famous cyclist Greg Lemond, these are handle bars which face forward (sometimes shifters are placed here) with places to put your elbows. These bars allow triathletes to maintain a very comfortable aerodynamic position.

Aerobic Heart Rate - zone used to describe training that efficiently uses oxygen. Use: helps with base building, muscle efficiency, energy metabolism and long course racing.

Aerobic interval training - Training with repeated sessions of moderate to high-intensity activity separated by brief rest periods. Also called Fart-leg training.

Age-grouper - an Athlete who races in triathlons within their age group and compete against others who are of same age and sex. Age-groupers make up over 90% of all triathletes and are (because of their large numbers) vital for events.

Anaerobic - In the absence of oxygen.

Anaerobic - Definition: Sprint pace you can hold for under a minute.

Anaerobic threshold - The point at which the metabolic demands of exercise can no longer be met by available aerobic sources and at which an increase in Anaerobic metabolism occurs, reflected by an increase in blood lactate concentration.

Anaerobic training - Training that improves the efficiency of the Anaerobic energy-producing systems and can increase muscular strength and tolerance for acid-base imbalances (lactate in your blood) during high intensity effort.

Blood doping - Any means by which a person's total volume of red Blood cells is increased, typically via transfusion of red Blood cells. This type of "cheating" is rumored to be quite common in professional cycling circles.

Boards / kickboards - A crucial piece of swimming equipment for swim training. The board allows athletes to focus on their swim kick. Usually made of Styrofoam, athletes hold this piece of piece of Styrofoam out in front of and kick.

Bonk - The same thing as hitting the wall. A slang term to describe basic body shut down - your body can no longer propel you forward. A loss of fluids, and/or electrolytes can cause a drop in blood pressure causing an extreme decrease in performance. Avoid bonking by keeping hydrated and replenishing electrolytes.

Borg scale - A numerical scale for rating perceived exertion. It is numbered from 6 to 20 with 6-7 being very, very light and 19-20 being very, very hard.

BPM - Stands for Beats Per Minute. Used when measuring how many beats (or pulses) your heart produces in one minute.

Brick - doing two (or more) different exercises (one after another) with little rest between each. (e.g., bike and then as soon as your bike workout is complete go for a run). Bricks are usually bike-run but can be any combination.

Burnout- A frequent occurrence among triathletes, it basically results from training too much. As a result of high training volumes the athletes performance starts to drop off. More training is not always better. Mental burnout can also occur. The athlete starts to dislike training as a result from training to much.

Buoy- Large floating manmade landmark anchored to the bottom of any body of water. Used to mark the swim course of a triathlon.

Buoy - pull (or pool) Small (usually Styrofoam) piece of pool equipment. A swimmer places this item between their legs and swims without kicking. The Buoy keeps the swimmer's legs from sinking and promotes a strong pull during the swim stroke.

Circuit resistance training - A combination of Circuit training and resistance training, typically involving working at 40% to 60% of your maximum strength for about 30 sec, with 15 sec rest intervals between work bouts.

Circuit training - Selected exercises or activities performed rapidly in a sequence.

Cross-training - Training for more than one sport at the same time, or training multiple fitness components (such as endurance, strength, and flexibility) within the same period.

Dehydration - Loss of body fluids.

Drafting - This refers to swimming and biking in the sport of triathlon. It is a process by which one athlete follows directly behind another athlete. The athlete that is drafting gains an advantage (roughly 20%) by doing less work, but still travels at the same speed as the lead athlete. In most triathlons drafting is illegal on the bike, but it is never illegal during the swim. There is a lot of debate over how drafting is helping/hurting Triathlon. All world cup triathlon events and the Olympics are draft legal.

Electrolytes - Molecules in your Blood that can carry electric charges. Electrolytes in your Blood are acids, bases and salts (i.e., sodium, calcium, potassium, chlorine, magnesium and bicarbonate). To avoid "bonking" try eating foods and drinking fluids which have a high concentration of these ingredients.

Ergogenic aid - A substance or phenomenon that can improve athletic performance.

Fingertip drag - a swimming drill where you drag your fingertips across the top of the water during the recovery phase of the stroke.

Glycogen - The storage form of carbohydrate in the body, found predominantly in the muscles and liver. .

Half-Ironman Distance Triathlon - This is a standard distance for a race; here the swim is 1.2m, the bike is 56m and the run is 13.1m.

Hammer - means to go hard.

Heat cramp - Cramping of the skeletal muscles as a result of excessive dehydration and the associated salt loss.

Heat exhaustion - A heat disorder resulting from an inability of the cardiovascular system to meet all of the body's tissue needs while also shifting blood to the periphery for cooling, characterized by elevated body temperature, breathlessness, extreme tiredness, dizziness, and rapid pulse.

Heat stroke - The most serious heat disorder, resulting from failure of the body's thermoregulatory mechanisms. Heat stroke is characterized by body temperature about 105 F (40.5 C), cessation of sweating, and total confusion or unconsciousness and can lead to death.

High-intensity continuous training - A form of continuous training performed at work intensities of 85% to 90% of an athlete's max HR.

Ironman Distance Triathlon - This is a standard distance for a race; here the swim is 2.4m, the bike is 112m and the run is 26.2m.

Lactate Threshold Heart Rate / also called Anaerobic Threshold (AT) - Definition: the specific HR where our muscle begins to create more lactate acid than we can dispose of or recycle. Use: helps our bodies discover; race pacing, how to efficiently flush lactate acid out of our muscles, and how to go faster.

Long, slow distance (LSD) training - A form of continuous training in which the athlete performs at a relatively low intensity (60% to 80% of max HR), with the main objective of distance rather than speed.

Marathon - a 26.2-mile running race.

Maximum heart rate (HR max) - The highest heart rate value attainable during an all-out effort to the point of exhaustion.

Muscular endurance - the ability of a muscle to avoid fatigue.

NATS - North American Triathlon Series (formerly USTS). This triathlon series is usually sponsored by Bally's Total fitness.

Negative Splits - Completing a distance more than once taking less time to complete each addition cycle.

Olympic Distance Triathlon - This is a standard distance for a race; here the swim is 1.5k, the bike is 40k and the run is 10k.

On the bottom - In swimming, this means to start swimming when the second hand of the pool clock is pointing at the 30 (the bottom).

On the top - Used in swimming. Refers to the large timing clock in the pool; start swimming when the second hand reaches 60.

Overtraining - The attempt to do more work than can be physically tolerated and is characterized by performance decrements (slow times, insomnia, lethargy).

Paddles - Used in swimming. These are thin plastic oars strapped to your hands. Primarily used for pulling drills.

Periodization - Varying the training levels over discrete periods of time to prevent overtraining.

Plyometrics - A type of dynamic action resistance training based on the theory that use of the stretch reflex during jumping will recruit additional motor units (Box jumps, bounding).

Pull - When swimming only your arms are used, no kick.

Pull - Take a pull - The person at the head of a draft line pulls other cyclists and/or runners or swimmers.

RPE (rate of perceived exertion) - A person's subjective assessment of how hard he or she is working.

Run or ride belt - a belt worn around your waist with several pouches to carry small bottle of sports drinks, gels, or water in and race number.

Split - a time interval. For example, if you are doing a track workout and you are doing an 800m interval, your 400 "Split" would be your time as you cross the 400m marks on the track.

Sprint Triathlon (Short Course) - This nonstandard distance triathlon is shorter than the standard Olympic distance race, typically half the distance of an Olympic race (e.g., 0.75k swim, 20k bike, 3k run).

Stitch - a pain that you get in the side of your abdomen usually during a run. It is caused by cramping of the diaphragm. It often occurs when you are out of shape or have recently eaten before working out.

T1 - First transition. The act of or place where a triathlete first enters the transition area during a triathlon. Here, a triathlete moves from swimming to cycling.

T2 - Second transition. The act of or place where a triathlete enters the transition area during a triathlon for the second time. Here, a triathlete moves from cycling to running.

Tempo - Definition: Heart rate at which you feel breathing is rhythmic but the burning in your legs that neither gets worse or goes completely away. This heart rate is very near, but not quite at your Anaerobic threshold. If you had to you could hold this pace for 90 minutes. Use: Great for working on leg speed and training for the 10K up to Half Marathon race, 25-50 mile bike race or Olympic distance triathlons. Example: I can hold a heart rate between 165-172 bpm for an entire half Marathon

Threshold - Definition: When breathing is hard and that burning feeling gets worse as you progress through your workout. Use: Helps your body learn how to get rid of lactate acid. Gets you ready for racing distances like 5K and 10K races, sprint distance triathlons. Example: If I get my heart rate above 172 bpm my race better be done in less than an hour or else I will bonk hard!

Transition area - Place where a triathlete keeps belongings (i.e., bike, wetsuit, running shoes) during a triathlon. This area is part of the race course. After a triathlete finishes their swim, they run to the transition area where they mount their bike. After the bike leg of the race is completed, the triathlete dismounts their bike (in the same spot they retrieved it) and begins the run portion. The race always ends at the finish line (usually near the transition area).

"geek" or "tri-geek" - one who is obsessed with triathlons and all the toys that go with it. He/she lives for the sport, loves to talk about triathlons, train for triathlons, and is involved with anything having to do with the sport. Cyclists love to call triathletes this name -they often call this out as triathletes pass them on a training ride.

Tri-bike - a triathlon specific bicycle designed to for riding in the aerodynamic position. This bike features aero bars, a steep seat tube angle to put you farther over the cranks and allow for a comfortable aerodynamic position, and it is very lightweight.

USAT or TRIFED - Governing body of the United States Triathlon Federation. United States of America Triathlon - USAT. Triathlon Federation - TRIFED.

USOC - United States Olympic Committee.

VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake) - The maximal capacity for oxygen consumption by the body during maximal exertion.

Weight rack - In swimming this rack with weights and pulleys is placed at the end of a lane. A harness is placed on the swimmer. Pulling different weights, the swimmer pushes off the wall and swims until the weight has been lifted to the top of the rack.

Xterra / x-terra triathlon - Also known as a mountain bike triathlon. In an xterra race, the bike portion is completed on a mountain bike on single-track or other non-paved surface. Running is typically done over a cross-country route (i.e., off road)