First time triathlon

meghan_cr

Anyone have any tips or recommendations for someone training for their first Olympic distance triathlon this July? I'm planning on doing a sprint tri in June to get a feel for it, then the big one at the end of July.

Using BeginnerTriathlete to combine a sprint tri schedule and oly tri schedule for the 8 months of training. I feel okay on the swim and bike. Can only run 2 miles right now, so I"m working on improving my running. I'm just worried about putting it all together--eek!

We'll see how it goes!

BigHeadedBull

Just a bit about me before I give my response. I have been a solid cyclist for decades, an okay runner off and on, and a terrible swimmer from the first frightened strokes as a kid. But, I wanted to tri, so I crossed over from "want" to "do" in 2009 at age 53 with four events. Two sprints (one indoor pool, one open water), one Olympic / International, and one 1/2 Iron Man. My performance reflected my training.

Recommendations:
Buy a copy of Be Iron Fit by Don Fink. Not only does he provide good training suggestions and plans, he provides great advice about life in general. Don't be fooled by the title including "Iron Man". His principles apply to all triathlon training.

Don't over train. And don't train more than two events on a single day. If you aren't using a heart rate monitor, get one that at least shows calories burned and average and max heart rates.

Work on your weakest event and trust your strong event(s) to remain strong.

Swim in open water before your event. Not seeing the line at the bottom of the pool makes it harder to swim in a straight line for a lot of folks. Not seeing bottom or anything else beyond a couple of feet can unsettle even the best pool swimmers.

Train transitions - especially the transition from biking to running. That change is the difficult one as your legs and hips will probably not "open up" easily. You don't have to run far - 15 minutes is enough to complete the change from bike to run and gain the experience of what it feels like and to know you will get comfortable soon enough.

Plan your equipment layout and memorize your transition steps. Walk through them and get it down pat. You don't want the frustration of fumbling for sunglasses, socks, shoes, etc. when you are already cranking from the excitement.

Most of all, ENJOY THE JOURNEY! When you cross that finish line, regardless of where you finish, you will have become a triathlete. Take some time to reflect back on what you did to get there and build on that training and fitness for the rest of your life.

3dogsrunning

The post above was right on. I agree with it all. And definitely, definitely swim in open water first if the event is open water. It is not even the same as a pool.

Our local bike shop had an intro to Triathlon workshop for a couple of hours where they went over everything. One of the things someone talked about was that it is not uncommon to have a hard time breathing when you start the swim. You are jacked up, tight wetsuit, the water can be cold, and you are surrounded by people. One of the women there said she was a life guard her whole life, totally comfortable in the water and she went through this. She just kept reminding herself to breathe. I had a horrendous swim my first Tri. The only thing that go me through was remembering her saying "just breathe" and knowing that she got through it, that I could. I just focused on breathing and kept moving. The next one wasn't bad at all. But my first this year I experienced it again (to be fair, it was my first time open water that year and much colder than the other races I had done. It wasn't as bad and I got through it.

You can do it, trust me. I was not in any shape for my first one. None of the events were my strong suit. I was a very weak swimmer, couldn't run the whole distance alone let alone after biking and swimming. For me, as long as you could get through the swim, you can keep going on the bike and you can walk on the run.

And like the person above said, have fun. Just a warning - it is super addictive.

3dogsrunning

Oh, I can't believe I forgot this. I thought of it today. If you are doing open water and decide to buy a wetsuit, don't even think about doing the cheap suit that is usually used for other water sports. I did that for my first one, which was part of the problem. It was horrible. In the end, I ended up buying on for almost the same price anyway from Xterra (they have a $99 dollar sleeveless one, the shipping and duty hurt a bit, but definitely better than what I ahd)

meghan_cr

Thanks!