Your Complete Guide to the California Triathlon Austin 2025: Prep, Race, Recover

September 5, 2025

The California Triathlon takes place in Austin on the 21st of September at Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park, offering a range of races for athletes of all abilities. Whether you’re taking part in the short 5K event or fancy signing up for the full Olympic Triathlon – preparation is key to getting the most out of your race.

At DOC, an orthopedic clinic in Austin, TX, we’ve worked with amateur, semi-pro, and budding professional athletes who often make the same mistakes both pre- and post-race. As orthopedic injury experts, we frequently see how many people don’t understand the best ways to prepare for an event like a triathlon or care for their body afterward. Both are essential for preventing injuries, so here are some key tips to help you before, during, and after the California Tri.

Running Injury Prevention

Many of the most common running injuries revolve around the same joints mentioned previously: the hips and knees. Following the previous tips will help you avoid these injuries – though you also need to consider two other big concerns:

Ankle injuries
Impact injuries

A lot of runners sprain their ankles if they don’t take the necessary precautions prior to a race. Prevent this by doing calf raises to strengthen the muscles that support your ankles. Then, make sure you’re wearing supportive running shoes; they should give you enough arch support to avoid your feet collapsing inwards and causing ankle strains.

Supportive shoes also help you avoid damaging your joints when running through impact injuries. Running is a high-impact activity that sends shockwaves through your ankle, knee, and hip points. Poor shoes can mean you suffer from shin splints and other joint problems. Good ones can soften the impact and save your joints.

Cycling Injury Prevention

The nature of cycling puts your body in a very strict position for an extended period, especially during a triathlon. Sitting on a seat and pedaling away puts a lot of strain on these key areas:

Knee joints
Hip joints
Lower back muscles

Weirdly, the good thing about cycling injury prevention is that you mainly need to focus on strengthening and stretching the muscles around your hip to tackle all three of these problems.

Stretch your hip flexors (muscles at the front of your thigh) using a lunge stretch. Always tense your glutes while doing this, and be sure to avoid arching your lower back.
Strengthen hip flexors by standing up straight and then lifting one leg up with the knee bent at a right angle. Avoid over-arching your lower back and hold for 30 seconds. Increase the difficulty by straightening the leg when it’s in the air.
Strengthen quads, glutes, and hamstrings using general weight training techniques like squats, Romanian deadlifts, and regular deadlifts.
Use the pigeon stretch to stretch your glute muscles.
Strengthen the muscles of your outer hip (these are part of your glute muscles) with lying clamshells or a hip abduction machine in your gym.

Strengthening and stretching these muscles will improve joint stability and mobility around your hips and knees. Moreover, you should consider getting a proper bike seat fitment to ensure you’re in the most optimal position during your ride. Sitting with your body at the right angles can relieve a lot of pressure and prevent these injuries.

Swimming Injury Prevention

Generally speaking, shoulder injuries are the most common for swimmers. This is down to the repetitive motion of each stroke – and it usually results in problems with the rotator cuff or shoulder impingement.

As such, the best way to prevent shoulder injuries in Austin, TX is two-fold:

Strengthen the rotator cuff muscles: Resistance band pull-aparts are great for this, as are lying rotator cuff external rotations. Follow the links to view video demonstrations of each exercise. Both strengthen the rotator cuff muscles and improve shoulder stability to reduce injury.
Improve overhead shoulder extension: Swimmers struggle with getting their arms up overhead. This is known as shoulder extension, and a lack of mobility in this area cause shoulder pain. Work on improving this by stretching out your chest and lat muscles. You should also follow some exercises to improve thoracic spine rotation and extension. Loosening up these tight muscles and boosting upper back mobility helps to improve shoulder extension and give more space in and around the shoulder joint.

Both of these tips put your shoulder in a better position to handle the repetitive load of swimming. Your shoulders should feel more stable and less “pinchy” while you swim.

Injury Prevention During A Triathlon

There’s not a lot you can do during a triathlon to prevent injuries. It’s more about the preparation beforehand – though the only piece of advice is to listen to your body. If you feel like something doesn’t feel right, then slow down and take a moment. Don’t push through the pain, as this is likely to cause more damage in the long run. If it’s a simple niggle, then the pain should wear off after you slow down a bit and give your body time to recover slightly.

What To Do After The California Triathlon

Getting through a triathlon of any kind is a massive achievement, but don’t celebrate too soon—you could wake up the next day with a host of injuries. Proper post-race care is essential to prevent this, and that involves:

A decent cool-down with light physical activity to flush lactic acid from your body and joints, helping to reduce stiffness and muscle tightness the next day.
Stretching and mobility work to maintain flexibility and protect your joints.
A proper post-event massage to increase blood flow, improve mobility, and enhance muscle recovery.

If you need help with pre- or post-triathlon injury prevention, the DOC team is here for you. As a trusted provider of physical therapy in Austin, TX, we specialize in treatments that support athletes before and after competition. From improving joint strength to aiding recovery with professional massage, our experts know how to keep you performing at your best.

We also operate as a convenient orthopedic walk in clinic in Austin, making it easy for both local and visiting athletes to access care without the hassle of long waits. Whether you’re preparing for the race or recovering afterward, DOC is here to help. If you’re in Austin and searching for orthopedic care near you, give us a call today.