Any suggestions for Triathalon?

Gary said:

I'm thinking of doing a triathalon next month. Currently I run Eight
Miles a day and bike about once a week for a couple hours. I'm on a
swim team in the summer and winter and have found it has become easy
for my to jump into swimming. Should I be fine or should I add
another workout?

What distance triathlon? and goal - to finish or compete?

For sprints, you're probably fine, even for something above just
finishing. The bike leg is usually the longest duration. You might put
some current swimming in there. (wasn't sure if you considered "next
month" to be summer or winter or in between and hence whether you were
doing any swimming at all right now)

You might want to practice bricks, esp. the transitions and having
everything setup. Transitioning the bike to run may take some practice.
There's also techniques to getting on the bike after swimming. (I used
platform pedals, and my running shoes since that works for me.)

You might check for specifics about the course, like hills, as well as
formality of transitions. I've only done a winter one, and we just
dropped our bikes (or someone grabbed them and put them up against
fence) and we started running. (Swim was last leg and pool locker room
was transition. We did bike, run, swim. My duathlon was also
non-standard.) In more formal ones, I think there's places setup (at
least I've seen pics like that).

You might check http://www.trinewbies.com/ for more info, and Cam
(onemarathon) may be able to give you another tri web page. There's at
least one other that's escaping my mind at the moment - probably many
more as web-based groups expanded over the last few years. I've noticed
over the last year or so that rec.sport.triathlon is hardly a shell of
what it used to be. Our IM seem to have abandoned this ng as well as
r.s.t, although googling both archives may turn up some stuff.

Remember to have fun.

Dot

--
"The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury."
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml

Quoted message said:

What distance triathlon? and goal - to finish or compete?

1/4 mile swimming (I've been able to do this since 6th Grade), 11miles
biking (I did close to this all summer), and a 5k running) During the
summer I'd bike 10 miles to practice, run practice, then run home. I
do run once a week and I'd like to start biking to school once the
weather gets better.

Quoted message said:

For sprints, you're probably fine, even for something above just
finishing. The bike leg is usually the longest duration. You might put
some current swimming in there. (wasn't sure if you considered "next
month" to be summer or winter or in between and hence whether you were
doing any swimming at all right now)

I just finished my swimming season, next month will be spring.

Quoted message said:

You might check for specifics about the course, like hills, as well as
formality of transitions. I've only done a winter one, and we just
dropped our bikes (or someone grabbed them and put them up against
fence) and we started running. (Swim was last leg and pool locker room
was transition. We did bike, run, swim. My duathlon was also
non-standard.) In more formal ones, I think there's places setup (at
least I've seen pics like that).

Do I need more than one person for the transitions?

Thanks for you help,
Gary

You'll be fine Gary.

Every race needs a last place.

On Apr 15, 7:22 am, "Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote:
1/4 mile swimming (I've been able to do this since 6th Grade),
11miles

Quoted message said:

biking (I did close to this all summer), and a 5k running) During the
summer I'd bike 10 miles to practice, run practice, then run home. I
do run once a week and I'd like to start biking to school once the
weather gets better.

sounds like you are physically ready for the race. just practise some
transitions, as Dot had mentioned. practice prevents silly time-
wasters once you are in the race.... i've seen people put on their
bike helmet THEN try to put on their shirt! 🙂

Quoted message said:

Do I need more than one person for the transitions?

no outside help is allowed in the races. *IF* someone will take your
bike for you, it'll be race staff. for all my tri's, i had to park my
bike myself. get to know the race's rules and regulations.... the bike
mount and dismount line, helmet must stay on til the bike is racked,
if drafting on the bike is allowed (often a penalty for doing so),
etc.

also make sure you will be ready nutritionally for the race, esp. if
it's a sprint or longer. have a water or sport drink bottle on your
bike, maybe a small snack for the ride too, to be well-fuelled for the
run.

i can't think of other tri websites to mention at the moment. it's
been a while since i've used the web for tri research, but you can get
good info from experienced and fellow newbie triathletes at
rec.sport.triathlon. i swear by the book Triathlon 101, and also found
Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals very useful.

best of luck and, above all, have fun!

Cam

Gary said:

Quoted message said:

What distance triathlon? and goal - to finish or compete?

1/4 mile swimming (I've been able to do this since 6th Grade), 11miles
biking (I did close to this all summer), and a 5k running) During the
summer I'd bike 10 miles to practice, run practice, then run home. I
do run once a week and I'd like to start biking to school once the
weather gets better.

Quoted message said:

For sprints, you're probably fine, even for something above just
finishing. The bike leg is usually the longest duration. You might put
some current swimming in there. (wasn't sure if you considered "next
month" to be summer or winter or in between and hence whether you were
doing any swimming at all right now)

I just finished my swimming season, next month will be spring.

Ok, sounds like you should be good to go and have already experienced
the bike to run transition. Assuming yours is a semi-normal tri, there's
probably a transition place where you'll have your bike, helmet, shoes,
and towel to dry feet and maybe a water bottle or whatever else. Plan
your arrangement of gear and test things.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You might check for specifics about the course, like hills, as well as
formality of transitions. I've only done a winter one, and we just
dropped our bikes (or someone grabbed them and put them up against
fence) and we started running. (Swim was last leg and pool locker room
was transition. We did bike, run, swim. My duathlon was also
non-standard.) In more formal ones, I think there's places setup (at
least I've seen pics like that).

Do I need more than one person for the transitions?

You might want to check on rules, but most likely you may not be allowed
outside help, as Cam mentions. Our races didn't have formal areas, other
than chalk line around a chunk of ground, so there was no place to rack
bikes. (Race volunteers grabbed mine so runners didn't have to post-hole
in snow to drop their bike.) In more normal tri's, you probably need to
rack your own (they may have bike racks or you might need your own
individual stand or just lay bike on ground). And for the transition to
pool and after pool, people may have dropped their stuff off in locker
ahead of time or had someone meet them there. But, again, that's not
normal for most tri's.

Also, most tri's are probably non-drafting on the bike leg as Cam
brought up.

Dot

--
"The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury."
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml

onemarathon said:

i can't think of other tri websites to mention at the moment. it's
been a while since i've used the web for tri research, but you can get
good info from experienced and fellow newbie triathletes at
rec.sport.triathlon.

You might take a look at r.s.t. It's changed substantially from a few
years ago. I only peek in occasionally, but they don't seem to have
either the frequency or quality of posts they used to have. In fact, one
of the old timers had mentioned that several months ago, but I can't
remember what board it is they all disappeared to. trinewbies is one,
but I think there's another also, but it could be my brain playing
tricks. If it's like the running boards, they probably get
cross-referenced anyway. RW does have a triathlon board, but I just
looked at it for the first time this morning.

Dot

--
"The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury."
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml

Dot dot.h@#duh?att.net said:

Gary said:

Quoted message said:

What distance triathlon? and goal - to finish or compete?

Quoted message said:

1/4 mile swimming (I've been able to do this since 6th Grade), 11miles
biking (I did close to this all summer), and a 5k running) During the
summer I'd bike 10 miles to practice, run practice, then run home. I
do run once a week and I'd like to start biking to school once the
weather gets better.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

For sprints, you're probably fine, even for something above just
finishing. The bike leg is usually the longest duration. You might put
some current swimming in there. (wasn't sure if you considered "next
month" to be summer or winter or in between and hence whether you were
doing any swimming at all right now)

Quoted message said:

I just finished my swimming season, next month will be spring.

Ok, sounds like you should be good to go and have already experienced
the bike to run transition. Assuming yours is a semi-normal tri, there's
probably a transition place where you'll have your bike, helmet, shoes,
and towel to dry feet and maybe a water bottle or whatever else. Plan
your arrangement of gear and test things.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You might check for specifics about the course, like hills, as well as
formality of transitions. I've only done a winter one, and we just
dropped our bikes (or someone grabbed them and put them up against
fence) and we started running. (Swim was last leg and pool locker room
was transition. We did bike, run, swim. My duathlon was also
non-standard.) In more formal ones, I think there's places setup (at
least I've seen pics like that).

Quoted message said:

Do I need more than one person for the transitions?

You might want to check on rules, but most likely you may not be allowed
outside help, as Cam mentions. Our races didn't have formal areas, other
than chalk line around a chunk of ground, so there was no place to rack
bikes. (Race volunteers grabbed mine so runners didn't have to post-hole
in snow to drop their bike.) In more normal tri's, you probably need to
rack your own (they may have bike racks or you might need your own
individual stand or just lay bike on ground). And for the transition to
pool and after pool, people may have dropped their stuff off in locker
ahead of time or had someone meet them there. But, again, that's not
normal for most tri's.

Also, most tri's are probably non-drafting on the bike leg as Cam
brought up.

Dot

--
"The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury."
- John Hardyhttp://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

i checked the website for rules all it said was here print form $35
for individual and $70 for team

Gary said:

i checked the website for rules all it said was here print form $35
for individual and $70 for team

Sounds like it might be fairly informal, but could be wrong. You might
try e-mailing the RD or if you know of someone who has done it in past,
ask them. With lack of other info, I'd assume there may be a plot of
land to drop your bike on (or use a portable stand), no outside aid, and
no drafting. Many will use a bike loop so that start and finish for bike
are in same place to facilitate logistics, so that means all your
transitions would be in same place. Cam can probably give you a more
relevant generic view since we always do things differently in AK.

When I did mine (my first race of any kind since potato sack races on
July 4 as a kid), I was such a clueless newbie, I didn't even know there
were rules. Heck, I just thought the idea was to get from start to
finish under your own power.

Dot

--
"The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury."
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:51:41 -0400, [email hidden] (Miss Anne

Thrope) said:

You'll be fine Gary.

Every race needs a last place.

Keep in mind you'll be way the heck ahead of those who didn't do the
race. They are truly in last place.
A good resource for beginners is www.trinewbies.com. Good advice and
articles for beginners, help with setting up transitions etc.
Main thing is to have fun. These things are a ball.

Gary said:

I'm thinking of doing a triathalon next month.

I know you've got the running covered already, and it's good to hear
that you've been cycling and swimming too. The only other thing that
comes to mind is, don't just show up in your usual running gear. I'm
pretty sure you need a special triathlon uniform, like these:

http://www.agegroupsports.com/02Tri/02ITUWorlds/02ituHKemper01b.jpg
http://www.foulweather.org/images/kemper.jpg

Good luck.

On Apr 16, 3:27 am, "Charlie Pendejo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Gary said:

I'm thinking of doing a triathalon next month.

I know you've got the running covered already, and it's good to hear
that you've been cycling and swimming too. The only other thing that
comes to mind is, don't just show up in your usual running gear. I'm
pretty sure you need a special triathlon uniform, like these:

http://www.agegroupsports.com/02Tri/02ITUWorlds/02ituHKemper01b.jpghttp://www.foulweather.org/images/kemper.jpg

Good luck.

What on earth are those things for??

On Apr 15, 9:27 pm, "Charlie Pendejo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Gary wrote:

The only other thing that

Quoted message said:

comes to mind is, don't just show up in your usual running gear. I'm
pretty sure you need a special triathlon uniform, like these:

http://www.agegroupsports.com/02Tri/02ITUWorlds/02ituHKemper01b.jpghttp://www.foulweather.org/images/kemper.jpg

heh, don't worry about wearing that kinda stuff in your first race.
those are the pros, and they wear all manner of weird stuff.... mainly
those bra-like tops. yeeesh. i've seen guys do races in their jammers
(long swim trunks) and cotton T-shirts. me - i wear tights/shorts
since they can be worn throughout the race, and a tight running/tri
top that i can swim in. this way, the only clothing change is to add
sox and shoes.

onemarathon said:

On Apr 15, 9:27 pm, "Charlie Pendejo" <[email hidden]>
wrote:> Gary wrote:

The only other thing that

Quoted message said:

comes to mind is, don't just show up in your usual running gear. I'm
pretty sure you need a special triathlon uniform, like these:

Quoted message said:

http://www.agegroupsports.com/02Tri/02ITUWorlds/02ituHKemper01b.jpght...

heh, don't worry about wearing that kinda stuff in your first race.
those are the pros, and they wear all manner of weird stuff.... mainly
those bra-like tops. yeeesh. i've seen guys do races in their jammers
(long swim trunks) and cotton T-shirts. me - i wear tights/shorts
since they can be worn throughout the race, and a tight running/tri
top that i can swim in. this way, the only clothing change is to add
sox and shoes.

kk that was what i was planning since its my first and i don't want to
spend a bunch of money on my first race because im trying to keep an
open mind.

Gary:
Don't know if you want or need any more advice, since you've gotten
some decent tips already. You sound, as others have said, physically
ready for this distance race, though I would do at least one workout
where you swim a bit and then hop on the bike---you might be surprised
how your body feels.

Ditto a couple bike rides followed by very short---10-15 minutes at
most---runs, just to get used to the feeling of running after biking.
If you've not done it before it will be both a mental and physical
shock, and it's best to know what that feels like before you do a
race, even a very low key one.

Transition practice is also a good idea, as is getting to the race
site early enough to walk through the transitions while calm
(relatively speaking, anyway) pre-race as opposed to being completely
hyper in the heat of the moment not knowing where your stuff is.

Walk from the swim exit to where you have your bike and gear racked;
know what direction you will be going to get on the bike, and same
with the bike to run transition (also known as "T2"😉---walk that
through before hand so that by the time you get there during the race,
you have some idea of what to expect.

Best of luck to you, and feel free to ask other questions. The
resources you've been pointed to are pretty good ones, so you may
already have all the answers you need at this point...

Mike C

Gary said:

I'm thinking of doing a triathalon next month.  Currently I run Eight
Miles a day and bike about once a week for a couple hours.  I'm on a
swim team in the summer and winter and have found it has become easy
for my to jump into swimming.  Should I be fine or should I add
another workout?

Thanks,
    Gary

Gary said:

I'm thinking of doing a tri next month. Thanks,
Gary

Trust me on this, it's MUCH better with two girls and one guy, rather
than the other way around.

Quoted message said:

Gary said:

I'm thinking of doing a tri next month. Thanks,
Gary

Trust me on this, it's MUCH better with two girls and one guy, rather
than the other way around.

Oh, my goodness. A "player." A player is pimpin' in da house.

--

______________________________________________
Alric Knebel
http://www.ironeyefortress.com/C-SPAN_loon.html
http://www.ironeyefortress.com

Alric Knebel [email protected] said:

Quoted message said:

On Apr 14, 9:28 pm, "Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking of doing a tri next month. Thanks,
Gary

Quoted message said:

Trust me on this, it's MUCH better with two girls and one guy, rather
than the other way around.

Oh, my goodness. A "player." A player is pimpin' in da house.

Well, perhaps if you weren't a middle-aged virgin, living with your
mom, and probably burying the bodys in the backyard, you'd understand
such comments.

Quoted message said:

Alric Knebel [email protected] said:

Quoted message said:

On Apr 14, 9:28 pm, "Gary" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

>I'm thinking of doing a tri next month. Thanks,
> Gary

Quoted message said:

Trust me on this, it's MUCH better with two girls and one guy, rather
than the other way around.

Oh, my goodness. A "player." A player is pimpin' in da house.

Well, perhaps if you weren't a middle-aged virgin, living with your
mom, and probably burying the bodys in the backyard, you'd understand
such comments.

If I were a person of the type you suggest, I wouldn't have the
confidence to say what I said. You're clearly juvenile about woman.
This suggests to me that you're either NEW to sex, or you're not a
frequent participant. With another person, I mean.

--

______________________________________________
Alric Knebel
http://www.ironeyefortress.com/C-SPAN_loon.html
http://www.ironeyefortress.com