RNS

hey all, I've recently decided to try and do a triathlon or two before football season. I've been reading here quite a bit and have learned a lot, but I was wondering if there was some kind of FAQ or something of the like you could reference me to? I have no clue how it works, how I set my bike up, when do I set my bike/other clothes/during race nutrition stuff up?

I'm just not sure on the whole operation of the race, any sites or write-ups or personal experiences are much appreciated. As for clothes I've read that it's fine to just swim in tri shorts, then I can just throw on an Under Armor shirt for the bike/run?

Thanks a TON for any info/insight you have, call me stupid or call me ballsy, I'm hoping to do a 1000m swim/25 mi ride/6 mi run in 4 weeks, I haven't done any cardio in 3 months, and I don't even have my road bike yet....and I just finished bulking up to 235 lbs for football......o well, it wouldn't be fun if it weren't a challenge, right? Just from the reading I've been doing I've gotten excited enough to plan every day's workout for the next 4 weeks, I gotta say I think I'm well on my way to an addiction

jrennie

Your aspirations are great as well is your enthusiasm, and Olympic distance is a long race for your first tri but it sounds like you are motivated.
Check these out
Trinewbies.com
Trifuel.com
Slowtwitch.com

RNS

thanks a bunch! I'll get readin! It all starts today with a 2 mile "run" after my bench press work. Unfortunately I've been powerlifting for the last 4 or so years, hopefully this 2 miles ain't too tough!!

rplong

Don't skip the 1st article on Trifuel's website

https://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/tri...are-001450.php

the mind is stronger than the body, good luck

RNS

Fortunately I've been training for 5-6 years, and 4 specific to powerlifting. I hope I got the mental will to make this happen, I've always been in awe of how marathoners and tri athletes come up with the balls to just go go go.

andygates

Heh, I made the jump from heavy lifting to tri this spring. Not very good at either, but even so 4 weeks, oly distance? Go for it!

magyar

Another good website is beginnertriathlete.com. It has training plans you can download, training logs, etc. Good luck.

RNS

thanks for the support guys! I kinda thought everybody would roll their eyes at me and say I had no shot, thanks for the motivation!!

RNS

hooooooooooly crap! I can't swim for diddly squat. I know my 230 lbs is holdin me back a bit, but the actual swimming isn't the problem. Unfortunately all I could muster was a measly 225 FEET, and I was gasping for air like it was my last breath ever for half of it. I can't believe how inefficient I am at breathing during it, I was trying to take it easy and just breath deep but by 100 feet I was gasping, and I kept gettin water up my nose and swallowing it; brutal . At least I ran 3 miles after that, but dang I got some reading to do!!

tajsss

You may be trying to go too fast. This is most people's problems who are just starting out. Try and make nice steady smooth strokes. You may also want to work on your backstroke a little. I find I get tired and flip and do backstroke for a while during a race to catch my breath. Having my face completely out of the water gives me an oppurtunity to take some nice deep slow breaths and relax for a moment. I found it doesn't even affect my pace much, probably because my freestyle is not real fast anyways.

RNS

That's actually one thing I was doing, I was trying to be as relaxed as possible and get in a zone but I just couldnt. I found some stuff that I think will be pretty helpful, mainly techniques on how to breath properly. I know for a fact I wasn't exhaling enough and was also pulling my whole head out to breath, I could feel myself almost come to a stop when I was really tired and gasping for air.

Good tip with the backstroke, I'm guessing when the race actually comes I'll be using every swim style known to man plus a few I make up on the way, anything to stay afloat and finish the swim. One thing I really like about this training is I can do a it a lot, I'm used to heavy weight training where you need a lot of recovery, and though I know recovery's importan here, for conditioning I'm comfortable doing something just about every day.



After reading more I'm pumped to get after the swimming again. I have a rather broad set of shoulders and I'm sure they were squared up the whole time, completely killing any speed I could get. Pumped to start turning when I stroke etc., like a hot knife through butta

Hazelmn

These have both been mentioned before, but www.trinewbies.com has great info on workouts, specifically on how to train for the swim which is psychologically the toughest for most people.

Also, www.beginnertriathlete.com has a section on stories from 1st timers.... it was great for me to read others' experiences and tips prior to doing my first one.

RNS

I gotta quick question on hydration stuff. Do you guys find it necessary to buy all these accesories? Like the "fuelbelt" that has waterbottles attatched to it?

chrisesposito

Depends on the distance. For a sprint, the race is so short (1:20 - 1:30 for me) that if it isn't in my stomach well before I'm at T2, it's not going to help me at all on the run. I usually have a couple of gels & some water at T1, and carry something on the bike.

For events longer than this (of any sort, not just tris) then some sort of food & drink is needed. From what I recall, muscle glycogen stores will only get you 60-90 minutes or so of hard effort. It takes 25 minutes or so for the stomach to empty (longer if the food ingested has significant protein or fat content), so eating / drinking something in the first hour is necessary if you don't want to risk a bonk in hour 2 or 3.

RNS

gotcha, there's an oly. distance coming up that i'm a bit unsure if i'll be ready for, then a sprint a few weeks after that. Thanks for the reply, I'll probably try different nutrient timings to see what works best for me.

andygates

Swim-wise, I found the same problem. A lot of it is efficiency - stroke efficiency, a nice high body position, and breathing calmly. I still swim a bit anaerobically so I tire too fast, and a lot of big strong newbies seem to do the same thing: mongo thrash water, mongo go fast? Not quite. But it comes with practice

RNS

haha, I lift heavy weight, no swim fast though, mongo sad! I'm off to have another go at it though, hopefully it goes a bit better and I can hit 150m or so. I feel like once I get the technique it'll skyrocket up cause I'll be able to get to a zone where I can actually tire my muscles out. Right now it's like I'm trying to run while breathing through a straw, my muscles are fine I'm just hurtin for air!

andygates

I found that slow breathing drills helped. If you count each stroke left or right as one, then try a length of lazy 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5breathe - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5breathe - just bubble out the air as you stroke. (Actually with me in the pool, I was humming and singing..)

RNS

well I'm back, it didn't go terrible but I still am not getting any distance. I did 4-6 25m laps just to try and get the form down a little and it definitely felt better. After that I did 6-7 50m swims. By the end I was gaspin pretty bad but now I'm a little more convinced it's just conditioning and it'll come. I was watching the other swimmers when I was resting and they're extremely relaxed and a couple women were going at a snail's pace. I need to find a speed where I'm relaxed but I tried going slow and my 230 lbs just sunk after about 3 breaths haha. For some reason when I try to just relax and go very easy I get out of breath, I inhale but then as I'm exhaling I want air ASAP.

Anyway, I think the oly. comin up in 4 weeks is out of the question. I thought it was 1000m but it's actually .9mi which is like 1450m'ish. I really wish I could do that one, the sprint of 500m/12mi/3mi will just be too "easy" (granted my swimming picks up in 6 weeks!!!) in that I wanted to do something where I'd really have to push just to finish.

O well, this is probably my addictive/paranoid personality taking over; ha today was the 2nd time I've ever actually tried to swim and I'm freakin. Babysteps RNS, babysteps.... Plus I'm thinking once I can start riding, and continuing to run, that conditioning will help me swim longer distances, better cardiovascular shape and oxygen utilization.

Next time I go I'm going to try that breathing drill, honestly if I could go slow as heck but finish I would, so hopefully practicing going slow helps a lot. I did notice today that when you really pop your hips the power of your stroke is multiplied by a lot! Thanks for the replies Andy, I appreciate it!

RNS

hit up a quick swim tonight; it was actually my 3rd workout after some oly. lifting and front squats followed by a 3 mile run which I easily handled. I did 16-18 25m laps with 15-30 second breaks and it felt good. I realized I was literally gasping too much and not getting in a good amount of air. I closed my mouth a bit and really focused on sucking in a lot of air and it made me a lot more comfortable. I only have 1 workout tomorrow and that's a swim so hopefully that goes well!

Jimmy Higgins

Just a little advice, so as not for you to mislead yourself. I'd recommend a moderate bike, immediately followed by a 3 mile run. You'll need to learn how to adjust from cycling to running immediately because the clock doesn't stop ticking when you are in transition.

Learning to swim properly is uberly important. However, triathlons start with a swim, when you are fresh. The run is done last, when you are tired. From my experience, a lot of people don't respect the run enough. I know this by how many people I pass during the run, especially those who passed me on the bike.

RNS

haha thanks for the advice. I have read about brick training and have 4-5 sessions planned, so no worries, I know I won't be fresh for the run My main thing is that if I can do the swim I know I'll find a way to finish, I'm tryin to get in 4x per week.

RNS

WOO HOO! Got my Felt F90 just now, takin it to the shop tomorrow :-D RNS is happy

rplong

RNS,

Here is my biggest swim advice: Push your chest down into the water to balance out your legs. "Swim downhill," as the Total Immersion program states it. Try to be as parallel with the water's surface as possible. The top of your head and butt should be sticking out a little bit. I am new to swimming too, but I have dropped 13 seconds off my 100m averages in races over the last 1.5 months just by swimming twice a week and working on form. Keep at it.

chrisesposito

Our tri swim group did a drill along these lines on Tuesday; as above, our butts were supposed to just break the surface. I can just hear it now: "Honey, does this stroke make my butt look big?"