Signed up for a Tri

[divergirl]

Hi guys

It's been a while since I've been around the forums, I moved interstate and didn't have i-net access at home for several months so I'm just getting back into the swing of things now that I have i-net at my new digs. Good to see you all and you are inspiring me yet again as I read through the posts

Well, yesterday I signed up for a triathlon in March 2011 - ha ha ha ha. I have done 2 in my life, one as a team event and the 2nd one about 4 years ago now. After the last one I thought I would keep at it but alas (as is usual for me) life got in the way and I let it drop. I've wanted to do another one so I looked online to see what events were in my new state and found one I can do (easy shorter length) so signed up right there on the spot! This morning I woke up and thought what was I thinking??? ha ha ha ha!!! It will definitely inspire me to get stuck back into tri training. I must admit I think my inspiration to sign up was slightly alcohol induced from my new years celebrating LOL

Hope you're all well!

Happy New Year

[JP]

good stuff

All the best with the preparation!

[spanna]

I am aiming to my first triathlon this year divergirl. Any helpful hints for a complete beginner?
I completed my first Biathlon about 3 weeks ago. 4km run and 700m swim. It definitely got my heart rate up but it was quite achievable.
Do you suggest a 'sprint' event for first timers?

[xrodolfox]

Sprints are a great event for first timers.

Just make sure you train for it.

The biggest mistake that I see beginners make is to train with the full distance. So that means that they go to the pool and swim an 800 straight, just like on race-day. Next day they do a 20k bike ride... and the day after they do a full 7k run.

That doesn't work well.

What's MUCH better is to do something like that once to be mentally prepared... but then train with intervals. That means doing something like this for the swim training: 8 X 100m free + 6 X 150 Fee + 4 X 200 Free mixing in some sprinting w/ lots of rest and some touch-and-go intervals at 90% effort with little rest... and calling that a day instead of a long long workout.

The biking and running should be approached similarly.

I've seen so many beginners show up and totally bonk because they did lots of long distance sets that mimicked the distance of the race... and thus were prepared for the distance, but not for race day. There's a big difference.

Do intervals!

[spanna]

Cheers xrodolfox,

Very useful advice. Inspired to do some interval sets today!

[Mr. Cleetus]

also, as a complete beginning, the most import thing is to just train and to do it consistently. Don't over-think it - you don't want it to become a chore. There's plenty of time for that later

Sprints are great fun. Let us know how it goes!

[spanna]

I haven't put my name down for one yet.. i think ive been wossing out. time to get my ass into gear!:)

[spanna]

so i just did 20 km on the stationary bike tonight. I did interval style training and finished the distance in approx 49 mins. quite happy with that and don't feel completely exhausted.

[Mr. Cleetus]

awesome. Now, here's the next step, I see from your blog that you're in Sydney:

http://www.trinswrace.org/default.asp?PageID=11639

Plenty of options there!

[spanna]

Completed my second biathlon on Thursday. 1 min and 3 seconds faster than my first attempt.
posting my results on my blog!

[Mr. Cleetus]

Well done!

Do they really call them biathlon and not duathlon there? usually biathlon is skiing and shooting - or is that what you are doing?

[benzilla]

A great improvement for a short event!

I looked it up on wikipedia and it only got more confusing.. not less!

Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format bearing some resemblance to triathlons.
Biathle is an event that involves a run, swim, and run.
Aquathlon consists of a continuous, two-stage race involving swimming followed by running.


This event was a run and then a swim and they call it a biathlon, which can refer to any sporting event of two diciplines.

[Mr. Cleetus]

very interesting! I have neeeeever heard of biathlon used for that. In the 80s they used to call bike/run, run/bike and run/bike/run biathlon, but they made a big effort to change it. Swim run races seem to get called just about anything. Here they are Splash and Dash, in Auckland they are Stroke and Stride. I better go look at wiki! thanks

A great improvement for a short event!

I looked it up on wikipedia and it only got more confusing.. not less!

Duathlon is an athletic event that consists of a running leg, followed by a cycling leg and then another running leg in a format bearing some resemblance to triathlons.
Biathle is an event that involves a run, swim, and run.
Aquathlon consists of a continuous, two-stage race involving swimming followed by running.


This event was a run and then a swim and they call it a biathlon, which can refer to any sporting event of two diciplines.

[spanna]

oo I like splash and dash.. if only there were splash and dash.. ( and pash!)

[Mr. Cleetus]

ha. The pash may not be so flash after the dash....