Triathlon - Newbies - Check this out!!!

There have been a lot of posts roughly saying "I want to do a triathlon, what do I need to do?" The answer is...Just get out and Tri...

Yesterday my wife competed in her first Tri in Oxnard, CA. She's not even in what you would call "good shape" but she's been trying to do better and she thought that getting into tri's would help keep her motivated. So she entered the Athena division (also known as "Triathletes with Boobs") and ended up having a great time.

The Tri was a sprint...which I personally think should be the first distance anyone does...with a 1/4 mi swim, 12 mi bike, and 3.1 mi run. The swim was absolutely epic! The surf was very rough with 6-7' sets coming in with 6-8 second intervals. If that wasn't enough, recent rains had deposited all kinds of crap into the surf line including *trees*...yes, full sized trees. Getting out in the surf was very difficult. Within the first 15 seconds, I tripped over one of the trees and got hit in the face with a wave...not a good start. I expected to do the swim in 7-8 minutes and it took me 15! My wife slugged it out for 35 minutes and she wasn't even the last one out of the water. The lifeguards were awesome, gave her some coaching, watched the breakers for her, and made sure that she was safe. Folks, before the race when we were warming up in the surf, she was literally in tears because she was so scared. Nevertheless, she went for it and she conquered!!!

From there, she really enjoyed the bike. I was finished by the time she hit T2 so I was waiting by her rack. She was smiling and really having a good time. She said, "I passed like 20 people on the bike!" Out on the run, I think she was a little spent and did most of it as a fast walk.

Her final time was 2:05:56...not the best but she did beat two of the girls in the Athena division and was faster than a handful of girls in her age group (30-34). All she really wanted to do was finish...although later she told me she was excited because she really wanted to beat 2:30. I am extremely proud of her and she can now officially call herself a triathlete (that's right, it is widely held that you only need to do one and have the intention of doing another).

The point is...anyone can do a triathlon if they have the desire. Would an event with a lake swim have been a better choice? No doubt, but she battled through the worst swim conditions I've ever competed in. If she waited for her perfect event, it would have probably been several more months and who knows what could have happened...running injury, lack of motivation, whatever. She just got out there and tri'd and is already talking about her next one. This sport is addictive! Jump in, the water is great. Of course, the whole "check with your doctor" thing still applies...I don't want to be responsible for any heart attacks :)

By the way...if you think Sprint Tri's are "whimpy", tell it to the two Ironman finishers who were next to me on the rack. It's a fun distance and a good workout.

Newbies...Get in the game!!!

That is phenomenal. I remember every sport i do for the first time. It can be intimidating and terrifying. I practiced my tee shot for an entire summer before I went on my first 18-hole golf course. Scuba was terrifying. My first bike race was terrifying.

My first tri will be in june. here's to her!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, enough about here, how did you do?! -- just kidding!!! It's fantastic that she got out there and did the triathlon, especially in the conditions you described. Please keep us posted on her progress and let her know that we're all very proud to have a new member in the fold.

oooh, I'm excited now:)

I'm still trying to run 3 miles(jeez I suck at running...) without stopping.

Good job to you and you're wife!

Congrats to you and your wife for a job well done :)

That's great! I've only done one (last summer) and am trying to move up to Olympic-length this summer - my first swim was in a lake that had hidden trees as hazards. I got a pretty nasty scratch on my leg from that :)

Maybe I can use your post as inspiration to get my husband out there doing this with me!

The smile on her face says it all. Hope you both enjoy many more races together. :)

You never forget your first. Congrats to her!

You never forget your first...
That's what I am counting on...my first is May 1. I am so hyped about it, that I can hardly stand it! Training right now is so fun, because I actually have a purpose. Before, when I would go ride my road bike, it was fun but I wasn't going to be in the "Tour" or anything. Now, I am actually going to compete (however small a scale it may be...)!

RT

Just in case you all want to take a look at the waves...I wasn't exagerating...

By the way Zach...I PR'd!!!

wow. all the more amazing for your first time

reminds me totally of my first triathlon 3 years back, i spent 3 months preparing for the swim and the swell was so bad that it ended up being a walk - drown - walk - swim affair, i never found my rhythm. That coupled with the fact that i went over (tripped on a rock) within the first ten yards into the water and had quite literally the WHOLE of my wave run over me.

scary fun had me hooked ever since

:)

Holy Crap Batman, I would have been terrified of those waves!!! Glad my first event swim is in an indoor pool! Tell your wife she is braver than I am :p

RT

Looks like the hardest part of the swim would be getting past the breakers. I'm a strong swimmer but that looks scary to me too.

Wow, your wife is super brave for taking on those waves in her very first triathlon. She's AWESOME!

Wow, that's some scary surf! A couple of years ago I did a sprint tri at Huntington and the waves were a little shorter than that, but not by much. Felt like it took me an hour to swim to the first buoy.

Good for her!

Epic photos! Congrats to you both.

I'm going to print out your post and give it to my wife, who is doing her first Tri (Danskin) in May. Very motivating! thanks for sharing!

Awesome story! Those waves would scare the crap out of me!

My wife decided she needed something to focus her exercise to help her lose weight and get fit, so she started triathlons last year. She joined a triathlon training club at a local fitness center, which while relatively expensive was a great way of getting the training advice etc she needed. She's a strong swimmer (thanks to the Australian practice of teaching you to swim pretty much as soon as you can walk :D), but needed to learn more technique for cycling and running. They met Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday, with each session usually involving two sports and teaching them how to pace themselves and how to transition. Often the Saturday sessions were mini-sprint tris.

She was aprehensive when she did her first sprint tri (the Danskin in Denver), but was over the moon when she finished. So much so, that that evening when we got home she went online and signed up for another sprint tri a few weeks later! (Tri for the Cure).

This year, she's signed up for the Boulder Peak (olympic distance), has just finished a 12 week cycling clinic with the same tri training group, swam 2 times per week through all of the winter, and is in the best shape of her life! If I didn't have such dodgy knees I'd love to get out there and compete with her... I'm thinking this year I might sign up for some team tris... just need to find a swimmer and a runner! :D

Long story short... sprint triathlons are a fantastic introduction!

I am concerned about getting in the way of serious racers. This will always be a concern for my first tri...but especially if I feel that I am only trying to finish (which I do feel). Am I just overanalyzing? I wish I could find a sprint tri that would run a newbie bracket after the serious racers just so we could get our feet wet (pardon the pun).

Earthling, that's exactly how triathlon starts are structured. So no worries, just go like hell and make them get out of your way!

earthling: Here's a couple tidbits of advice.

Swim - start towards the back of the pack for your age group and give yourself a little distance from the other swimmers. That way you don't get mixed into the egg beater that happens when the swim first starts.

Bike - stick to the right side of the road unless you plan to pass someone. If you hear "on your left" it means someone is passing you on your left, not that you should move to the left.

Run - well I suck at the run so I'll leave that one to MHR to answer :)

Most important - HAVE FUN!!

earthling...last July I entered my first tri in 18 years. I was 19 and about 150 lbs the last time I did one (a full 80 lbs lighter than I was on race day...yes 80...really). I had only been training for six weeks (I decided to do the tri while I was intoxicated in a sushi bar...my buddy told me that he was doing it). Anyway, I had three goals...the first was to finish, the second was to break two hours (1/2 mi swim-12 mi bike-3.1 mi run), and the third was to beat another buddy who was pretty much as out of shape as me. In the end, I finished in 1:55 and beat my bud. I had the slowest run time of my age group (maybe the slowest of the entire event...I'll have to check).

So what the heck was my point??? Oh yeah...I'll bet 20% of every tri field is made up of first timers who are just as nervous as you. You've gotten some very good advice in the above posts (especially the stuff about the bike leg...that's the only place you can really get in the way so just remember to stay to the right).

Pace yourself, be confident, think "I am a triathlete." You'll have a great time and you'll feel awesome when you're done.

By the way...tell us about your event. When and where? Sprint? Olympic? Age Group? Clydesdale? Athena?

By the way...tell us about your event. When and where? Sprint? Olympic? Age Group? Clydesdale? Athena?

Sprint. I have registered for http://www.rattlesnaketri.com/

It is 500m (skimpy swimming...if this was more, it'd be a half olympic...why so skimpy?), 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run. I did the distance in the pool, on the stationary, and on the treadmill the other week in 1 hour and 38 minutes. That included showering before and after the pool (some transition, eh?). My concern is that after I registered for the tri, I found that it is not a mass start and that it is individual starts, 5 seconds apart. I would hate to get in the way of a dozen swimmers getting past me at the begining of the tri. The bike advices make sense. I think I could do that. And I am the least concerned about the run (that'll be pretty easy to be out of the way). I guess I just want to do this without getting in the serious competitors' ways (I don't think they're snots...I just want to respect the competition). Also, there is this quote from the page about qualifying: "the 2005 RattleSnake Triathlon has been selected as the 2005 USAT Rocky Mountain Sprint Distance Regional Championship." Scary, eh?

About me, I am 30. I have lost 36 pounds since December. I figure I am about half way to where I ought to be. I've always been athletic. I just like pizza. There. I said it. I like pizza.

I have had problems with a stress fracture before. I was training for a marathon 6 years ago...and a day after a 20 mile run, I fractured the leg doing the speed work. So I never completed that goal. As I was running during this latest get into shape kick, I started to feel the same pains. So I got in ebay and bought a bike. Shortly thereafter, I signed up for this tri. I figured it was a doable goal and far enough away to feel comfortable with it.

Actually, now I am thinking about one that is two months earlier. It is a little longer. But it has the same big race attitude. This one would be a mass start. But it seems perhaps even more intimidating with the big prize purses and the purported national attendance. At the bottom of one of the webpages somewhere it says it is good for first timers. It seem counterintuitive to the overall tone of the webpage.

http://www.5430sports.com/5430sprint.html

I guess that is enough rambling. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

OK...I wasn't going to post before bed but what the heck.

I looked at the site and you have a number of things going for you! For starters, I think the fact that it's not a mass start will work in your favor. You can get to the water and choose a line that is slightly wider than what the faster racers will take...therefore you won't need to worry about getting in their way. Also, the race is capped at 500 entrants. The water won't really be all that crowded when you swim.

Next...it's a USAT sanctioned race. My experience is that these events seem much more orderly. Don't worry about it being a "championship" race. It really isn't that big a deal. The elite competitors are used to fighting their way through. Even if you get in their way on the swim, they'll pass you in two seconds or less.

Three...you have until August!!! If you can pull off 1:38 in your mock-tri now, I'll bet by August you'll be able to do 1:15 or better (assuming the bike and run aren't to hilly). I think that will put you smack in the middle of your age group and there will certainly be more hazardous racers out there than you. I don't know what kind of swimmer you are but I'm willing to bet that the swim will take you 8-10 minutes at most. Piece of cake...Speaking of which...Who doesn't love pizza??? If that's you're only weakness, you're way ahead of the game. My list includes: Steak, Burgers, Guinness, Hot Wings, Rum, Pork Chops, Martini's, Tacos, Pastrami...forget it...I'm getting too hungry.

Anyway, you're the exact type of person I was thinking of when I started this thread. Relax, be confident, enjoy the experience. You're going to do fine. Really you are!!!

ADDED -- My personal opinion is that you should also do the earlier event. It is also USAT sanctioned and you sound like you're in good enough shape to have a decent race. Treat it like a hard workout.

I just like pizza. There. I said it. I like pizza.

The first step to recovery is admitting your problem, congratulations :)

If you decide to not compete in the first triathlon you listed (I think you should do it). At least go and watch. That will give you a sense of how things go at a triathlon before you get out there and do it youself. You can do this. As questions come up post 'em here. We'll probably all learn something from them.

Yup. At least go watch but I think you should do it anyway. You could approach it as a test tri: don't worry about a particular time, just get familiar with race-day conditions, especially the transitions.

(I like pizza too but my particular vice is cookies. Damned Girl Scouts!)

Hello CJ:

Two things:
Congrats to your wife.. I come from a background of College Football then bodybuilding and fitness to triathlon, and it is a tough challenge (Swimming is my limiter. I was 20 minutes in this race). But SOOOOO Much fun!

The second thing my wife and I did Strawberry Fields also our second tri. I am in the group (Mens Clydesdales) who's picture you took going into the waves. That was not soo much fun.... Especially considering the fact that I missed the set coming back in, so I did not get any "freerides" waves on the way in.
Good thing the water was pretty cold as I tripped on a couple of those trees in the water coming in. numb feet = no pain.

I hope you and wife stick to it.
Pete

Another pic of the waves at that race.

Actually, now I am thinking about one that is two months earlier. It is a little longer. But it has the same big race attitude. This one would be a mass start. But it seems perhaps even more intimidating with the big prize purses and the purported national attendance. At the bottom of one of the webpages somewhere it says it is good for first timers. It seem counterintuitive to the overall tone of the webpage.

http://www.5430sports.com/5430sprint.html

I guess that is enough rambling. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I will be doing the other (2) 5430 events events, both of which have a great following. The 5430 "series", which is new, meaning "established races" under a new owner who what to take them to the next level...(the Olympic distance event is one of the top ranked olympic distance events in the US) - the sprint is sure to be a quality event as well and a great choice. Plus the races are in Boulder - if you want to race in the heart of the triathlon capital this is it. Anyone who is anyone in the pro ranks in the world of running, cycling and triathlons call Boulder their home at point or another in the race season.

Another pic of the waves at that race.

Great pic!!! In all honesty, I wish every race had waves like that (I guess as long as they went away for my wife's group). Growing up at the beach gave me a huge advantage...I really didn't have a hard time getting through the surf. Of course...if I would have swam at the buoy rather than swinging way wide trying to compensate for the current, I would have done even better. What the heck, always room to improve.

Speak for yourself Bruin. I got clobbered!

Totally, getting past the waves was the easy part. The current going along the shoreline was another matter. I also wasn't to keen on roots and trees being embedded in the sand.