The Triathlon thread - Ironman, 70.3, Olympic, Sprint

[nick s]

Rich_W said:

Dorney is a bit featureless with the worst headwind! And is by far the coldest water (it's man made on gravel of course)

If you're not sure about training just emulate what Jan does

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy-8NeoTfeI



And if you can, try and get to the TCR show next weekend. Some of the seminars will be informative. Especially liked Steve Trews 5 second explanation of swimming.

Stand up.
Twist at your hips so left shoulder in front of your chin
Repeat to the opposite side
That's swimming

haha, tell me about it! I went for a bit of speed cycle training at Dorney on Saturday and the headwind was a nightmare!! was taking me 2 mins to whizz up one side, then 7 minutes into the headwind the other way! horrible!!

Not looking forward to the water there either no you've said that! My mate works at B2P tri shop in windsor and has just sorted me out a 2XU entry level wetsuit for 99 quid instead of 260. amazing bargain! So i'll be testing that out soon i think!

I've heard about that tri show! It's in Sandown isn't it? worth a visit then?

[Rich_W]

I think the show is much of muchness. Lots of wetsuits for sale, (the smell of neoprene is heavy in the air) lots of nutritonal thingies. Lots of stuff I don't need but is shiny

But the seminars are what makes it for me.

http://tcrshow.com/SeminarsWorkshops/220TriathlonL...

Not sure I'd travel hours to watch them though. I'm maybe 20-30mins from Sandown

[Vladimir]

I've done three, all shortish, all open water swim.

Endurancelife Sprint, all off road, 1st out of 50ish
St Mawes Nearwater 2010, open water swim, road ride and run - 19th out of 170ish
St Mawes Nearwater 2011 - as above but different course, sliced open foot on swim exit, still did cycle and run, didn't realise how bad the cut was, shoe full of blood, ambulance, stitches, antibiotics, bit of physical shock - came 46th out of 200ish.

So basically, I'm getting worse!!

But my running is getting better - I blame the explosion of cycling leading to better riders doing tris!

[T S Magnum]

Another one here guys

Think I've done most variants over the years: offroad quadrathlon, triathlon, duathlon, rowathlon, aquabike. All good fun.

By no means a runner - too heavy and flat feet - which is a pain as it's only the aquabikes I can really compete in. Not many (any ) of those around these days for some reason so it's pure open water swims for me this summer.

[lenandsons]

Throwing my hat into the mix here, have my first 70.3 coming up in September in Muskoka, Canada - http://ironmanmuskoka.com/

Struggling with an Achilles injury at present though, been stuck in a acst for the last 7 weeks thanks to a partial tear so got a long slow rehab on the cards. Still hope to get a sprint in, in July as part of my 70.3 training.

[2seas]

afternoon gents, another newbie/wannabe here. i have zero experience of triathlons, until recently i had never ridden a road bike and i've never enjoyed nor had any aptitude for distance running.

therefore, the logical thing to do was sign up for Ironman Cozumel - this November.

having foolishly signed up to the above, i then recently expanded my goal from "i want to complete an ironman this year" to "i want to complete 1 of every triathlon distance event this year". i've signed up for a 1/2 ironman (cotswolds classic in Aug) so now i just need a super sprint, sprint and olympic distance to sign up for. please god let there not be another distance i'm not aware of.

so, any recommendations? i live in Hampshire so local races are preferred. i'm going to try and tackle them in ascending order of distance..

[Fourmotion]

2seas said:

please god let there not be another distance i'm not aware of.

don't look here Enduroman

[2seas]

Fourmotion said:

2seas said:

please god let there not be another distance i'm not aware of.

don't look here Enduroman

you bd!

well according to the International Triathlon Union the official distances are sprint, olympic, 1/2 IM and IM. So that throws super sprint out the mix! woo hoo.

[ewenm]

There must be some sprint events coming up at Dorney Lake for you start on. Not far from you but still open water (rather than pool). I'd imagine the British Triathlon website would have an event calendar.

[nick s]

ewenm said:

There must be some sprint events coming up at Dorney Lake for you start on. Not far from you but still open water (rather than pool). I'd imagine the British Triathlon website would have an event calendar.

There is! Check the Human Race website. Load sof stuff on at Dorney!

I'm doing a supersprint there on May 19th.

[2seas]

Could anyone give me some advice on how to prepare for puctures during a race? I was planning to carry a couple of inner tubes and a hand pump, but then I wondered if I should take spare tyres as well?

The context is IM distance so an increased chance of punctures.. I looked at the website and it doesn't say anything about there being a support behicle or suchlike so i guess its down to the individuals..

[dangerousB]

2seas said:

Could anyone give me some advice on how to prepare for puctures during a race? I was planning to carry a couple of inner tubes and a hand pump, but then I wondered if I should take spare tyres as well?

The context is IM distance so an increased chance of punctures.. I looked at the website and it doesn't say anything about there being a support behicle or suchlike so i guess its down to the individuals..

Yup, totally down to you to deal with them I'm afraid fella!

No need to carry a spare tyre, but I'm going to carry a couple of spare tubes in Lanz in 2 months time and I may even put another spare in my "special needs" bag that I can pick up halfway around the bike course . . . just in case.

It's one of the things that I've been worrying about as well and for the sake of carrying a few spares, it's worth the hassle . . . even though I've only ever had 1 puncture on the road in the last 4 years, you can bet your arse that if it's gonna happen, it'll happen when you least want it and there's no way I'd want to have my race ended like that. I'd be devastated.

[2seas]

dangerousB said:

2seas said:

Could anyone give me some advice on how to prepare for puctures during a race? I was planning to carry a couple of inner tubes and a hand pump, but then I wondered if I should take spare tyres as well?

The context is IM distance so an increased chance of punctures.. I looked at the website and it doesn't say anything about there being a support behicle or suchlike so i guess its down to the individuals..

Yup, totally down to you to deal with them I'm afraid fella!

No need to carry a spare tyre, but I'm going to carry a couple of spare tubes in Lanz in 2 months time and I may even put another spare in my "special needs" bag that I can pick up halfway around the bike course . . . just in case.

It's one of the things that I've been worrying about as well and for the sake of carrying a few spares, it's worth the hassle . . . even though I've only ever had 1 puncture on the road in the last 4 years, you can bet your arse that if it's gonna happen, it'll happen when you least want it and there's no way I'd want to have my race ended like that. I'd be devastated.

ah ok, fair enough. so why not take a spare tyre? or is it very rare for a tyre to get damaged enough that it needs replacing straight away?

do you know anything about CO2 cartridges? I've heard them mentioned but not really sure how they work or the advantages/disadvantages?

[Ayahuasca]

I have signed up for my first triathlon. It is in less than a month, I have never swum in a race or more than a few lengths, and never biked in a race or more than a couple of km. I am OK with running. I think I may be in for humiliation and suffering, and possibly drowning.

To be fair it is only a short one - 830m open water swim, 26.2km bike and 5k run.

Oh yes, there are sharks in the water - but I am seeing that as positive motivation!

Any training tips?

Edited by Ayahuasca on Thursday 22 March 19:29

[2seas]

Ayahuasca said:

I have signed up for my first triathlon. It is in less than a month, I have never swum in a race or more than a few lengths, and never biked in a race or more than a couple of km. I am OK with running. I think I may be in for humiliation and suffering, and possibly drowning.

To be fair it is only a short one - 830m open water swim, 26.2km bike and 5k run.

Oh yes, there are sharks in the water - but I am seeing that as positive motivation!

Any training tips?

nice one, which race have you signed up for?

Edited by Ayahuasca on Thursday 22 March 19:29

[Ayahuasca]

2seas said:

Ayahuasca said:

I have signed up for my first triathlon. It is in less than a month, I have never swum in a race or more than a few lengths, and never biked in a race or more than a couple of km. I am OK with running. I think I may be in for humiliation and suffering, and possibly drowning.

To be fair it is only a short one - 830m open water swim, 26.2km bike and 5k run.

Oh yes, there are sharks in the water - but I am seeing that as positive motivation!

Any training tips?

nice one, which race have you signed up for?

the Portobelo, Panama one.

[patmahe]

Hi,

Feel a bit of a wimp posting this after reading some of the above

Have been doing some running since January and am at the point now where 5k is possible (had a very low level of fitness to start with), now I'm looking at entering a Duathlon on May 2nd so need to introduce some cycling into my routine.

Distances for the Duathlon are:
run 2.7k
bike 13k
run 2.7k

My question is what sort of training routine would you recommend/do you use to get ready in that space of time? Any decent websites to help work out a realistic training plan? I reckon I can realistically dedicate 3 nights a week to it.

[2seas]

patmahe said:

Hi,

Feel a bit of a wimp posting this after reading some of the above

Have been doing some running since January and am at the point now where 5k is possible (had a very low level of fitness to start with), now I'm looking at entering a Duathlon on May 2nd so need to introduce some cycling into my routine.

Distances for the Duathlon are:
run 2.7k
bike 13k
run 2.7k

My question is what sort of training routine would you recommend/do you use to get ready in that space of time? Any decent websites to help work out a realistic training plan? I reckon I can realistically dedicate 3 nights a week to it.

i find this site really useful: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/

there are loads of plans on there you can look at.

[dangerousB]

Ayahuasca said:

I have signed up for my first triathlon. It is in less than a month, I have never swum in a race or more than a few lengths, and never biked in a race or more than a couple of km. I am OK with running. I think I may be in for humiliation and suffering, and possibly drowning.

To be fair it is only a short one - 830m open water swim, 26.2km bike and 5k run.

Oh yes, there are sharks in the water - but I am seeing that as positive motivation!

Any training tips?

Couple of things immediately spring to mind:-

1. Find out how big the swim waves are - if they're small, you'll probably be OK. If they're not, give the direct route a wide berth. Far better take a longer route than get caught up in a potential bunfight. Having said that, the sharks will probably want to pick off lone swimmers, so choice is yours really
2. Pace your self on the bike. 26k doesn't sound far, but when you're potentially starting with a stratospheric heart rate and an urge to go for it, it will feel a lot further than it is!! Also it help to know a bit about the bike course before you start (is it flat, hilly, headwinds, etc).
3. You'll have to accept what you're given in the run - it'll depend on how the swim/bike went.
4. Enjoy it!

Aside from that, I think your own synopsis may well be bang on the money if you don't get your arse in gear!!
Have fun though chap and let us know how it went!!

[kit_kat]

I am interested in completing a triathlon but I have no experience in running or road cycling! Swimming is my strong point but all the triathlons I have looked at have small swimming distances and really long running distances.