A New Year’s Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous.

The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year's Day and remain until fulfilled or abandoned.

Statistics show that the most popular New Year’s Resolutions are:

Lose Weight

Pay Off Debts

Save Money

Get a Better Job

Get Fit

Eat Right

Get a Better Education

Drink less Alcohol

Quit Smoking

Reduce Stress Overall

Reduce Stress at Work

Take a Trip

Volunteer to Help Others

Resolutions Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a New Year's Resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals.

Two interesting things worth noting from this study:

1.  Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, a system where small measurable goals are used (lose a pound a week, instead of saying “lose weight”)

2.  Women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.

Following are some tips for coming up with New Year's Resolutions that could help you to become a better triathlete...

With so many winter and early spring marathons these days, it’s a perfect way for the off-season triathlete to build and maintain aerobic endurance for the next season.

Even for those who haven’t ventured beyond the sprint or Olympic distance triathlon, training for and completing a marathon this winter or spring will pay great dividends in your long-term conditioning. Marathon training will establish a solid running base, which is necessary anyway in the typical year-round triathlon training plan.

Completing a marathon (as well as biking a century) is especially helpful for triathletes aspiring to complete in an Ironman triathlon. These long-distance running and cycling events help familiarize you with the demands of the Ironman distances. If you can’t run a marathon or bike a century, how do you expect to do both of them together after a long swim?

So, let’s start first with completing in a marathon. How can a triathlete best train for a marathon?

I am the first to admit that it took me a long while before being convinced of the benefits of stretching.

Many amateur athletes don’t place a lot of value on stretching. In some respects, it’s understandable. Time is a precious commodity, and stretching is often the first thing to go.

When you are doing speed drills in the pool, or cranking out mileage on your bike, or running hills, it feels like you are doing something worthwhile in your training. All that effort and sweat feels like work. Comparatively, stretching seems quite melodramatic. Heck, you hardly break a sweat, and it seems like you could be sipping your Caramel Macchiato while you do it! It doesn’t seem very Ironman-ish.

But stretching is not just for wimps!

Notice I said “amateur” athletes don’t value stretching.

Professional athletes know how critical stretching is, and they make it a vital part of their training regimen year round.

There is no sport where stretching is more important than the sport of triathlon.

Something that is “systematic” is characterized by order and planning. A systematic approach means methodically following a fixed plan step by step.

For the triathlete, a systematic approach to training will best enable you to accomplish your goals, while minimizing the risk of injury.

Yesterday was a long run day for me, which meant 15 miles. Afterwards, I felt it mostly in my feet; a mild flair up of Plantar Fasciitis.

Whether it’s maintaining the proper energy-saving freestyle kick, climbing hills on the bike, or pounding the pavement on your run, triathletes put a lot of demands on their feet. Out of the 3 components of triathlon, running is the hardest on your feet.

Choosing running shoes can be difficult, as well. Here are some things you should know about running shoes for triathletes.

Every triathlete dreads the ‘c’ word: cramps!

In addition to being excruciatingly painful, a muscle cramp could feasibly prevent you from finishing a race you have trained a long time to compete in. I’ve experienced cramps in my feet and toes while swimming, my groin while biking, and my calves and hamstrings while running.

Though cramps can come during the swim or bike portion, they are more common during the run since a person is more susceptible to fatigue or dehydration nearing the latter states of a triathlon.

#1  Do I wear underwear?

Okay, here are a few things on the underwear issue.

As you do your bike training, on rides over 50 miles I suggest wearing cycling shorts or bibs, which have pads in the seat to save your rear end. As you can see, they are not cheap. No, you don’t wear underwear beneath the cycling shorts or bibs.

Tri shorts are shorts you can swim, bike, and run in. The seat pads aren’t quite as thick as the cycling shorts, and I often use them on rides under 50 miles. You don’t wear underwear beneath the tri shorts either.

I use running shorts in my training, and most running shorts have an underwear-like liner within them. Most people still wear underwear beneath them.

For a female transitioning from swim to bike in a triathlon event, most females pull their bike/run gear over their suit, as opposed to changing out of their swimsuit. For female triathletes, sometimes the women's swim suit offers very little in the way of chest support. As a solution, some people wear a 2-piece swimsuit with support or wear a tank top that has a built-in bra over your swimsuit during the bike and run.

While we’re at it, I might as well mention Udder Cream, which comes in handy for long bike rides.