Triathlon advice

MassiveDelta

I am going to do a Sprint Triathlon this spring. Yay! I am 1 sesion away from completing C25k and have completed in three 5k races and a 3k trail run over the summer. I regularly do 12-18 mile bike rides on a stationary bike and as much as 6- 8 miles on my Mtn bike around town. Lately I have been riding the 3.5 miles to the Y and running 30 minutes on a treadmill and then biking the the 3.5 miles home. Im relatively confident I can do a sprint right now.

I have 2 questions.
Im going to continue to work on my speed and endurance on my biking and running but I feel really slow in the water. I think the last time I checked I did 500 meters in about 15-20 min. I feel like I cant ever catch my breath while swimming. I know how to swim and can mix a freestyle crawl, side stroke, and backstroke but I need to get good enough that I can do freestyle for the whole thing. what can I do to improve?

I have realized how slow I am on my big mtn bike with its wide aggressive tires and full suspension. I have found a Trek Hilo 1000 bike for sale about $600. I cant really afford to drop $1000 on a something right now. I know I could do the sprint on my mtn bike but I dont want this to be my only Triathlon I plan to do at least one other sprint and hopefully an olympic. Pending on how my training goes and how I feel I may skip the 2nd sprint and do 2 olympics and I feel on top of things maybe a half iron man in the fall. Do you know anything about this bike I mentioned above is it a good deal? What do I need to look out for? Im bike stupid.

groucherella

Are you exhaling underwater or do you find that you're holding your breath while your face is underwater.....

MassiveDelta

Holding my breath...and until you said that I didnt realize it.

groucherella

I use to swim competively - I just sent you an email with some tips that might help.

MassiveDelta

Thanks Ill give those tips a try.

RunRideRay

Good luck.

Trek HiLo is there "starter" tri bike and $600 would be a good deal if everything is in good order. Personally I would check the wheels/rims mostly, as the shifters and other mechanicals should be durable. It will be a stiff ride with AL chassis, but that's everything in that price point.

Fit is tricky too, so if you can provide inseam, height, and the size of the bike I can see if it's in the ballpark. This will save you on back fatigue etc...

Ok?
Ray

MassiveDelta

Good luck.

Trek HiLo is there "starter" tri bike and $600 would be a good deal if everything is in good order. Personally I would check the wheels/rims mostly, as the shifters and other mechanicals should be durable. It will be a stiff ride with AL chassis, but that's everything in that price point.

Fit is tricky too, so if you can provide inseam, height, and the size of the bike I can see if it's in the ballpark. This will save you on back fatigue etc...

Ok?
Ray

31" inseam 223 lbs 56 cm bike

What am I looking for on the wheels and rims?

RunRideRay

Thanks....

56 should be fine, and you can easily make adjustments with a different stem and fore/aft adjustment in the saddle, no worries on size.

Wheels, flip the bike upside down and give the wheel a gently roll, and make sure the wheels roll super smooth, and a loooooong time. You are checking the hubs and bearings, it there is a slight hesitation, where it rolls but will pick up speed or slow down based on rotation, you've got uneven wear on bearings. Also, if it slows down quickly the hubs are simply wore out. If there is a slight wobble side to side then the needs to be trued, which is ~$20/wheel at any LBS (local bike shop).

The only other thing to look for is excessive wear on braking surfaces, a bend in the rim wall, or something like that.

New wheels are about $200 to whatever you care to spend, and if they suck I'd cut the price to $400 to $500.

Also, grab all the extras you can in the deal. Pedals, cages, etc... They add up quickly and if they don't care, hoard em.

Good Luck, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Ray

zakkthebear

try to get an open water swim under your belt. once you get tossed in the washing machine, along with a new body of water, it can be overwhelming to some.

Any road bike in decent mechanical shape will do, let's face it: you're going to finish. If you've been training for a while, dropping bit money on some wheels and positioning, etc would be worth it. at the sprint level, working all three together for the full 60-120 minutes will be harder than it sounds, trust me. I did my first full sprint on a MTB and just put slicks on it. you see all kinds of bikes in sprints, I'd lock out the rear suspension (if possible) and go for it.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/ is also great resource, suck up a lot of that info. Stay away from slowtwitch.com.

MassiveDelta

Thanks....

56 should be fine, and you can easily make adjustments with a different stem and fore/aft adjustment in the saddle, no worries on size.

Wheels, flip the bike upside down and give the wheel a gently roll, and make sure the wheels roll super smooth, and a loooooong time. You are checking the hubs and bearings, it there is a slight hesitation, where it rolls but will pick up speed or slow down based on rotation, you've got uneven wear on bearings. Also, if it slows down quickly the hubs are simply wore out. If there is a slight wobble side to side then the needs to be trued, which is ~$20/wheel at any LBS (local bike shop).

The only other thing to look for is excessive wear on braking surfaces, a bend in the rim wall, or something like that.

New wheels are about $200 to whatever you care to spend, and if they suck I'd cut the price to $400 to $500.

Also, grab all the extras you can in the deal. Pedals, cages, etc... They add up quickly and if they don't care, hoard em.

Good Luck, and let me know if you have any other questions.

Ray

Took it for a test ride last night. It rode like a dream. Very fast a super light. I was a amazed at how powerful my legs felt on it. Everything looked to be in good shape. Im trying to round up the last little bit of money.

I know I could ride my mtn bike on a sprint but I really want to do more than a sprint and If I can get to an Olympic or a half ironman I'm going to need a good bike.

Swimming is something I plan to focus on over the winter while I shed the an additional 25+ pounds and really begin to improve my running speeds/distances.

Whats wrong with Slowtwitch.com?

rickgetfit

Good luck with your race training. If you're not ready to spend the $ on a new bike or you want to wait for a fit at your final weight consider putting some slick tires on your MTB. I did this for my 1st race and found it dropped about 2 mph off my regular tires. $40 on tires in not as fun as a new bike, but it may be a tempory solution for you.


I agree with the other post, www.beginnertriathlete.com is a good resource for info.

dinos

Tagging this for later. I'd also like to do a sprint tri next spring.