Does anyone here tri?

"Gwendal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking of doing a sprint triathlon next summer. I'm an old fogey,
non-competitive, but I enjoy race-day and like the training goals of 5K
races.

Adding swimming and biking to it is new for me, though. Is that something
anyone else here does?

There are both people here who enter at least the odd triathlon
as well as a few who regularly enter full Ironman events. As an
aside though, there are the swimming and cycling newsgroups to
consider as well as rec.sport.triathlon.

cheers,
--
David (in Hamilton, ON)
www.allfalldown.org
www.absolutelyaccurate.com

Gwendal said:

I'm thinking of doing a sprint triathlon next summer. I'm an old fogey,
non-competitive, but I enjoy race-day and like the training goals of 5K
races.

Adding swimming and biking to it is new for me, though. Is that
something anyone else here does?

G.

I'm planning on my first sprint triathlon in May, a month before my 50th
birthday (it's local, otherwise I might wait until I was in the next age
group). I just hope I can finish before they close the course.

I did bicycle touring (and was on the sailing team) in college, but
since then I have just been a walker. Last May I got interested in more
intense exercise and tried running, but quickly had hip pain so I went
back to bicycling. I've had a lot of fun with the bicycling and worked
my way up to a 100 mile organized ride in December. Back in June I
picked up a book: Slow Fat Triathlete (excerpts at:
http://www.slowfattriathlete.com/excerpts.htm). It talked about
embracing being a beginner and not being self-conscious--things I
realized I wanted to learn. I realized part of the appeal of running
was that I had never done it before.

So I started tentatively working towards the idea of doing a triathlon.
I patiently started building up my running extremely slowly--I'm
currently running a mile and a quarter three times a week (it takes me
13 minutes to run a mile). I've seen definite improvement in my hip
problem, though it still tends to get sore.

This past week I started working on my swimming, after getting a little
practice in the ocean on vacation after Christmas. One of the reasons
that dreaming of a triathlon made sense to me was that I've long enjoyed
open water swimming. But hadn't had any instruction in swimming since I
was 10 years old and I knew my swimming was not only slow but all wrong
(I swam with my face out of the water). I live in a small town that has
a kids' swim team, and that swim team has a masters (adult) group that
swims at the community pool Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 5:45 to
7:15 am. The first day I showed up there were only 3 other swimmers (4
the second day) and the coach was very patient with telling me what to
work on. Apparently most of the people who participate in the adult
swim group are training for triathlons.

Since I had previous experience with bicycling I can't tell you much
about starting out from the beginning at that. The equipment questions
are most complicated there, but you don't need a fancy bike to finish a
sprint triathlon. A lot depends on how hilly the course will be. I
have a road bike (drop handlebars) and the special shoes that attach to
the pedals, and I think those things make riding far and/or fast much
smoother. But a mountain or upright bike would work if you aren't
trying to be competitive--if you have knobby tires replace them with
smooth ones.

I've been writing some about my experiences with turning myself into an
athlete on my blog at: http://deeplanguage.blogspot.com/

Pam

In article <[email hidden]>,

pam_in_sc said:

Since I had previous experience with bicycling I can't tell you much
about starting out from the beginning at that. The equipment questions
are most complicated there, but you don't need a fancy bike to finish a
sprint triathlon. A lot depends on how hilly the course will be. I
have a road bike (drop handlebars) and the special shoes that attach to
the pedals, and I think those things make riding far and/or fast much
smoother. But a mountain or upright bike would work if you aren't
trying to be competitive--if you have knobby tires replace them with
smooth ones.

FWIW, I did my first tri on a borrowed touring bike with a bent crank.

You might want to check out slowtwitch.com and trinewbies.com

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Gwendal said:

I'm thinking of doing a sprint triathlon next summer. I'm an old fogey,
non-competitive, but I enjoy race-day and like the training goals of 5K
races.

Adding swimming and biking to it is new for me, though. Is that
something anyone else here does?

G.

FWIW, my first event of any sort (exept maybe potato sack races on July
4 when a small kid 😉 was at age 54 - a winter road tri at +1F (bike,
run were on snow/ice; swim was last leg - indoor pool to defrost us at
end). Think about it, swim suit is base layer - and how many swim suits
are wicking? 😉

If I can do it, anybody can 🙂 (although open water might be an issue
for me and others) It was a local fun event during Christmas
celebration, and they just keep the course open for as long as the
slowest person takes (usually around 2 hr or so).

I was clueless about many, many things - part of which was artifact of
things being different in Alaska. I already biked to work and swam for
physical therapy, although I did increase the amount of each before the
tri and practiced transitioning (we don't have transition stations). But
that's about the level of training I used going into the event.

The others have already given you good links for more normal tris,
including rec.sport.triathlon.

Good luck!

Dot

--
"After 26 hours 38 minutes, we accomplished our mission, and the next
day were fortunate to read about our adventure in the sports section of
the local papers rather than the obituaries."
-Dean Karnazes recounting their running of the WS100 trail in winter.

I did a few tri's. Which combo do you guys do? Man/woman/woman? Or
woman, woman, man? Or three of one sex?

SwStudio said:

"Gwendal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking of doing a sprint triathlon next summer. I'm an old fogey,
non-competitive, but I enjoy race-day and like the training goals of 5K
races.

Adding swimming and biking to it is new for me, though. Is that something
anyone else here does?

There are both people here who enter at least the odd triathlon
as well as a few who regularly enter full Ironman events. As an
aside though, there are the swimming and cycling newsgroups to
consider as well as rec.sport.triathlon.

I've been lurking and googling there, but it doesn't have the traffic
rec.running has. I've been here before and like [most] of the people.
Even misanthropes.

Gwendal

pam_in_sc said:

Gwendal said:

I'm thinking of doing a sprint triathlon next summer. I'm an old
fogey, non-competitive, but I enjoy race-day and like the training
goals of 5K races.

Adding swimming and biking to it is new for me, though. Is that
something anyone else here does?

G.

I'm planning on my first sprint triathlon in May, a month before my 50th
birthday (it's local, otherwise I might wait until I was in the next age
group). I just hope I can finish before they close the course.

Wow, that's great! I'm doing one of the Danskin women's series. They
seem like they're pretty open to beginning triathletes, i.e., hold the
course open longer. In fact, I recall hearing that they start people in
waves so that the slower folks start first (after the elites) so that
they can be on the course longer and still be able to close the race
eventually. :-)

Quoted message said:

I did bicycle touring (and was on the sailing team) in college, but
since then I have just been a walker. Last May I got interested in more
intense exercise and tried running, but quickly had hip pain so I went
back to bicycling.

It's great to hear you come from the cycling end of it. I'm coming from
the injured-runner-who-started-swimming-instead end. I have no
experience with cycling.

Quoted message said:

I've had a lot of fun with the bicycling and worked
my way up to a 100 mile organized ride in December. Back in June I
picked up a book: Slow Fat Triathlete (excerpts at:
http://www.slowfattriathlete.com/excerpts.htm). It talked about
embracing being a beginner and not being self-conscious--things I
realized I wanted to learn. I realized part of the appeal of running
was that I had never done it before.

Thanks for the great link!

Quoted message said:

So I started tentatively working towards the idea of doing a triathlon.
I patiently started building up my running extremely slowly--I'm
currently running a mile and a quarter three times a week (it takes me
13 minutes to run a mile). I've seen definite improvement in my hip
problem, though it still tends to get sore.

I like the coolrunning idea - I go out running for a set amount of time
and walk when I need to and start running again as soon as I can. It
really only takes a few weeks to get up to tempo that way. (I'm a 10
mile/week jogger when I'm not injured - not exactly 5K race material,
but I run them anyway.)

Quoted message said:

This past week I started working on my swimming, after getting a little
practice in the ocean on vacation after Christmas. One of the reasons
that dreaming of a triathlon made sense to me was that I've long enjoyed
open water swimming. But hadn't had any instruction in swimming since I
was 10 years old and I knew my swimming was not only slow but all wrong
(I swam with my face out of the water). I live in a small town that has
a kids' swim team, and that swim team has a masters (adult) group that
swims at the community pool Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 5:45 to
7:15 am. The first day I showed up there were only 3 other swimmers (4
the second day) and the coach was very patient with telling me what to
work on. Apparently most of the people who participate in the adult
swim group are training for triathlons.

I just hooked up with a group that swim in open water. It being January
in cold-weather-climate I think I'll wait to join them. :-) (I don't
intend to buy a wetsuit.)

Quoted message said:

Since I had previous experience with bicycling I can't tell you much
about starting out from the beginning at that. The equipment questions
are most complicated there, but you don't need a fancy bike to finish a
sprint triathlon. A lot depends on how hilly the course will be.

Apparently our course has a mountain at mile 6. It's not only steep
going up, it's winding going down. I've got a lot of technical skill to
pick up.

Quoted message said:

I have a road bike (drop handlebars) and the special shoes that attach to
the pedals, and I think those things make riding far and/or fast much
smoother. But a mountain or upright bike would work if you aren't
trying to be competitive--if you have knobby tires replace them with
smooth ones.

Do you think the clips are necessary? And what's the latest on choice
of seats? (I'm a "fat-bottomed girl" if you know Queen, or perhaps
"baby got back" describes me in the current lexicon.)

Quoted message said:

I've been writing some about my experiences with turning myself into an
athlete on my blog at: http://deeplanguage.blogspot.com/

I'll check it out.

Gwendal

Harold Buck said:

FWIW, I did my first tri on a borrowed touring bike with a bent crank.

That certainly lowers the bar!

Quoted message said:

You might want to check out slowtwitch.com and trinewbies.com

Thanks. I have already discovered "beginnertriathlete.com". Perhaps
web activity has overcome usenet in this instance, being aimed so much
more towards youth versus us old fogeys.

Gwendal

Dot said:

If I can do it, anybody can 🙂

You don't know my name, but I know yours. I think you underestimate how
extraordinary you are.

Gwendal

Ted said:

I did a few tri's. Which combo do you guys do? Man/woman/woman? Or
woman, woman, man? Or three of one sex?

I believe this one will be womam woman woman. While swimming, biking
and running. It should be very sweaty and wet. And probably more
satisfying than what you're thinking of.

Gwendal

Gwendal said:

Apparently our course has a mountain at mile 6. It's not only steep
going up, it's winding going down. I've got a lot of technical skill to
pick up.

If you are buying a bike make sure you get one with a triple chain ring
in front, which gets you lower gears for going up the mountain. I don't
know a thing about daring to go fast downhill--I've never pushed it more
than whatever I felt comfortable with. It may make sunglasses that keep
the wind out of your eyes important. Is the road closed to cars during
the race?

Quoted message said:

Do you think the clips are necessary? And what's the latest on choice
of seats? (I'm a "fat-bottomed girl" if you know Queen, or perhaps
"baby got back" describes me in the current lexicon.)

The old kind of pedals that held your feet were called toeclips--they
had a cage that held the foot in position and a strap that could be
tightened. The new kind is called clipless, and the way they work is
that there is a cleat on the bottom of the shoe that clips onto the
pedal. To disconnect you rotate your heel to the side. They make
pedaling more efficient in several ways--the stiff sole of the shoe
transfers power effectively to the pedal, you don't have to worry about
your foot slipping off the pedal, and you can pull up as well as push
down (I've seen arguments about whether people really do that or not--I
don't). It takes a little getting used to clipping out when you stop,
but I find when riding it feels much more like the bike is an extension
of me because my foot is securely connected to the pedal. If you are
going to push yourself to go fast at all I think you want them.
Besides, they will get you automatic respect at your local bicycle club.

I have wide sit bones (had a 10 lb baby pretty much by natural
childbirth) and the modern saddles I tried were mostly too narrow, even
the women's models, and too rigid--by the end of the ride I felt I had
been sitting on a rock. I got a Brooks
(http://www.wallbike.com/pros.html), which I love. The trouble is, it
is a leather saddle and will be ruined if it gets wet, so it is a lousy
choice for triathlons. The two other saddles I tried were so much worse
that I think I will just put a plastic bag over it.

Saddles are a pretty individual matter, but you definitely want to make
sure you find one that supports your sit bones so those bones are what
take your weight.

It sounds like your are psyched. What I'm very entertained by, now that
I have started swimming, is that three different sports make for an
awful lot to keep track of. I rode my bike 40 miles today after not
riding since Tuesday and I felt "I need to remember how this goes." At
it wasn't so much the different muscles as a different pattern. I'm
trying to do three workouts a week in each sport, which takes juggling.
I'm a college professor, so I have a flexible schedule, at least.

Pam

Quoted message said:

Is the road closed to cars during
the race?

Lets hope not! That'd take all the fun out of my wild ride during the race, in
my 4x4 monster truck, with spiked tires...

Quoted message said:

I believe this one will be womam woman woman. >

That's HOTTTT!

Quoted message said:

While swimming, biking

and running.>

....and I thought my last GF was talented?

Quoted message said:

It should be very sweaty and wet.>

It already is...

Quoted message said:

And probably more

satisfying than what you're thinking of.>
Not if it's done properly.

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:07:43 -0500, Gwendal <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Harold Buck said:

FWIW, I did my first tri on a borrowed touring bike with a bent crank.

That certainly lowers the bar!

Quoted message said:

You might want to check out slowtwitch.com and trinewbies.com

Thanks. I have already discovered "beginnertriathlete.com". Perhaps
web activity has overcome usenet in this instance, being aimed so much
more towards youth versus us old fogeys.

Gwendal

The guy that runs trinewbies is almost an old fogie. <g> (He's a
friend of mine.) I highly recommend that site. Lots of good
information and a good forum.

Does your specific race have a forum? They can vary in quality, but
some are pretty good.

It sounds like you need to concentrate on your biking to build it up
to a higher level. Many consider it the most critical part of a tri -
not to gain time, but to set yourself up for the run. You have to be
good enough so that you can come off the bike and still do a quality
run.

Now, for your first effort, you shouldn't worry about your run time
too much, just go out and have fun and enjoy the overall experience.
But you'll have a better experience if you don't absolutely die on it.
That means doing enough bike work so you come off the bike still
feeling fairly strong.

Towards the end of your training, you'll need to do a few "bricks."
That's a bike followed by a run. Keep them short, but you need to
experience first hand what it feels like to come off the bike and try
to run. It's probably the hardest thing about them. It takes some
getting used to, physically and mentally.

Sprint tris are fun. They give you a taste of the sport without
requiring the levels of exercise that the longer races require. And
you're not totally wasted after doing one.

I still do a few each year in addition to my Ironman. They're a
distance I enjoy.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Radioactive Man said:

Biking isn't all that much different from running in terms of the
amount and type of training required to perform well. But, swimming
is much different - the trick to doing really well is swim at least
25,000 yds per week for a few years,

14 miles a week? Maybe you need to check those zeros.

For an Ironman, I swim 3 times a week, but rarely over a mile or mile
and a half. The time is better spent working on the bike or run, where
it counts.

I know one guy who goes sub 13 and he doesn't swim at all until just
before the IM, and then just does a few miles.

Quoted message said:

If you're not already a strong
swimmer. That's not intended to suggest you attempt that immediately,
but if you want to see sustained improvements in your swim
performance, you'll need to build your training up to something
significant and swim at least 3 times per week.

Many feel that swimming is the least significant part of any tri, and
I agree. You get through and get on to racing where it counts. It's
the part that scares most newbies, but after the first one, they
realize how unfounded their concerns were.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Gwendall said:

I'm still trying to figure out how to work on my stroke without a coach.
I signed up for adult swim lessons at my Y and got some teen-agers who
were ready to teach me rotary breathing, but couldn't critique my stroke
at the level I need. For example, should I have a glide in there, a
little pause, when the arms are at 180 degrees from each other? Should
I always kick from the hip? Am I getting enough of a push the way I'm
holding my hands? I want to get this stuff right because I'm laying
habits.

Is there a youth swim team in your community that has a masters (adult)
group? That is what I joined and it gets me over an hour of coached
swimming twice a week. The coach is very serious--he treats us the same
way he treats his young competitors. I'm just trying to get comfortable
breathing and he is telling me to make sure to tilt my hand down towards
the bottom of the pool and bend my elbow to protect my shoulder. I feel
inadequate sometimes but I'm sure I will benefit from being taught the
right way now.

Pam

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Tennent said:

I still do a few each year in addition to my Ironman. They're a
distance I enjoy.

Mike-

Which race are you shooting for this year? I'm thinking about doing the
new RedMan in Oklahoma City since the demise of the Pineman.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

Harold Buck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Tennent said:

I still do a few each year in addition to my Ironman. They're a
distance I enjoy.

Mike-

Which race are you shooting for this year? I'm thinking about doing the
new RedMan in Oklahoma City since the demise of the Pineman.

--Harold Buck

Staying close to home - the Great Floridian again. This 'll be IM #9.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"

Harold Buck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Mike Tennent said:

I still do a few each year in addition to my Ironman. They're a
distance I enjoy.

Mike-

Which race are you shooting for this year? I'm thinking about doing the
new RedMan in Oklahoma City since the demise of the Pineman.

--Harold Buck

Staying close to home - the Great Floridian again. This 'll be IM #9.

Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin"