Bike Cottage

Hello to all. I recently did my first tri and did not realize that there was a Tri sticky here. Here is a link to my race report for those of you that might be interested:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ce-report-Long

Take care and best of luck with your goals, whatever they may be.

bbeasley

My first Tri is in the bag. What a blast! When I got there and looked around I was worried I'd have to pay for two entries. One for me and one for my belly, geez those folks are fit. But like cycling events I was very welcome and got tons of encouragement. This one was a .5 mile open water swim/18.6 mile bike/3.1 mile run. I had so much fun during the swim and bike I neglected to save anything for the run. Oh yeah that was ugly. But finish I did in 91st place out of 97. Could not have been happier. Already scheduled my next one..

Zoxe

Very cool, and yah they are addicting. My third is coming up in August... be here before I know it!

vesteroid

I want to do a sprint...trying to talk the wife into it, but she is resisting.

I have to igure out how and where to train my swimming

TechKnowGN

pools are the hardest part because theyre usually the most expensive training location. have any city pools or local university or high school pools?

vesteroid

There is a local college, I will check there

maidenfan

Male, 42, 6'2 ~245lbs. Doing my first official triathlon in August - fiancee talked me into an olympic distance.

Rhodabike

I did a sprint tri last Sunday. The 500m swim wasn't quite as fast as I'd hoped, but not too far off, the bike ride went really well despite horrible headwinds and cross-winds for most of the 5 x 3km course, the 4.8k run was horrible. Ended up walking much of it, which was expected, I suppose, considering the training didn't go very well due to injuries. All of the people that I passed on the bike leg (yes, I probably did go too hard) ended up passing me in the run. Oh well. Now I can say I've done one, I don't have to do another one ever again.

Zoxe

Any Finish is better than a Did Not Finish.
A DNF is better than a Did Not Start.
A DNS is better than a Did Not Try.

Congrats on your Tri.

It was disheartening for me to do my first Tri and then check the official split times when they got posted and find out where I scored. I swore I'd never do another, but my sister inlaw and my wife made a pact the following winter, so I went along with them. I took 11 mins off my time. Still not world class, but I knew how to change my training to get the most out of my limited time availability. So my point is: Never say never.

Zoxe

We got lucky this season and have access to a NICE gym (w/ pool) for the same price point as our old bargain basement gym.

But in years past, we've not been so lucky. Cheap places to swim that we found:
- Buddy has a membership to the Y. I went as a guest with him a few times. Tried not to impose, but he was swimming anyway.
- Local High School has open swim nights. Almost impossible to get in since the nights move around and aren't posted anywhere convenient.
- Local town park has an olympic sized outdoor pool. They do adult-only swim from 6-7pm for $1/person every night, weather permitting. Hard to beat that.

bbeasley

Congratulations on your finish Triathlete!

I recently finished my first sprint with much the same results, swim okay, bike great, run torture. I had a blast, finishing 92nd out of 97, and immediately started training for the next one. What I've learned, over the last month, is I have to back way down on the bike in order to finish the run. I can ride a 18 MPH 20 mile leg. But to finish the the 5K run without walking I've got to stay under 16.5 on the bike. The 16.5 includes staying in the aero bars to conserve energy.

Wolfador

Im going to register for my first tri tomorrow. It seems to be a non-standard distance "I started running a few months ago and completed a few 5k races and a 10k race but just started riding this week in hopes of doing some triathlons. Very excited. Need to brush up on my swimming a bit also.

TechKnowGN

wolfador thats generally refered to as a try-a-tri or super-sprint distance. The bike and run are pretty close to standard for a sprint, but the swim is intentionally shorted to keep those who arent strong swimmers from being discouraged. They are an excellent starting point and fun to do once a year. My wife just did one with a 250 yd swim and a slightly longer bike. good luck and have fun!

Wolfador

okay cool, well that is me as I have not swam in a few years. Going to start going to the pool at my club and started watching the total immersion videos. I am planning on getting a tri-suit and probably renting a wet suit for the first time. Not sure if it was covered in the thread but are there any clydes friendly tri/wet suit friendly vendors?

Silly question but you wear the tri suit under the wetsuit, remove the wetsuit in T1 and use the Trisuit for bike / run correct? What do you do if you go without a wet suit?

Thanks for all the help.

Zoxe

Wolf, my event is in August; water temp is not an issue. You'd have to check the rules of your event, but the "sanctioned" races will only allow wetsuits if the water temp is below a certain number. The suits make you float better, so they'll not want people suiting up just to get a better time.

I'm not answering your question about wetsuit / tri top because I don't know.

For me, I wear Tri shorts and do the swim. I have a loose fitting jersey that I'll grab in T1 and wear for the bike and jog. That way I'll have pockets for my goodies, and I can stash my bike gloves in a pocket while moving through the pit during T2. My bib number will go on a quick disconnect belt that I can snap into place during T2.

tilldain

This is super cool never have i seen a site with a dedicated section for us larger folks and especially with a focus on Tri's. sorry for the excitement i came across the forums looking at bike info and saw this had to create a acct and comment.

anyways i am currently training for my first sprint tri being a big but very athletic fella it is hard. 6'4 325 i started a couch to 5k training program about 4 weeks ago and just doing more out side stuff hiking and what not with the family. i am running 3 times a week and averaging close to 7-8 miles per week right now getting faster and further each week feels great. i am hoping to do a tri in the spring with my friend that was similar to my self he lost 60lbs in the last year training for his sprints. i have been looking at mountain bikes to start working on that i prefer mountains over roads and im sure i can do 10-15 miles on a MTB no problem. if i really get into this i will start looking at road bikes.

any ways wanted to say congrats to all that have competed and good luck to all those in training we will see on the course.

Wolfador

I was able to locate a one piece tri suit that fits great. I checked with the race officals and wet suits are legal but since it is such a short swim I don't think I will bother as it will just mean more time taking it off in T1.

Im going to be switching to clipless pedals soon so I should have enough time to get used to them before the race.

Going to start doing some biking to running transitions. Once it is not over 100 degrees I will do a ride to the pool, swim, then run. Hopefully it gets me enough practice to get a feel for switching sports and get an idea of a goal time. So far my best 5k run is 32:40 and 10k bike 39:50.

Wolfador

So before even doing my first I signed up for a second Tri. Sprint Rev3 at Cedar Point.

https://rev3tri.com/cedar-point/races-5/sprint-rev/

Never been to Cedar Point but wife always wanted to go. Perfect excuse right?

Zoxe

2012 Naperville Tri is complete!

I dropped 4 mins off my 2011 time on the same course and ~15mins vs 2010. I actually dropped 7 minutes off my "event" time, but gave back ~3 mins in slow transitions.

We've been swimming at leat weekly since November, with 2-3d/wk during the winter months, and it paid off big time. The extra cardio from swimming allowed me to drop 2-3 mins off my mile time in training when I started running again this spring (last Oct I was a ~12 minute jogger, this year I'm around 9 mins). Although all the pool time only translated to a minute faster in the swim, I exited the water more composed and then later took ~9 mins off my last year's run time.

Bike, my strongest event, I chose to sandbag a little. Last year I sprinted the bike and then blew up on the run. This year I targeted my last year's average speed and tried to hit the same time. I knew from June's Tour de Cure that I had more speed, but wanted to save it for the run. I came in a couple minutes slower, but still well composed.

Biggest thing that goofed me up was a sudden urge to wee. Got out of the pool, and the cold air hit me (cold front had come thru Chicago the night before, it was actually chilly at start time), and had to fight the urge throughout T1 and the bike. Big distraction, to say the least. I fought it again at T2, and then found a joy john as I started the run.

Despite that, I'm happy with my times. My goal was 5 minutes faster, and I almost nailed it. Had I not had to take a detour to the loo, I'd have been there. I improved the times of my two weaker events and had chosen before I started not to push the the third.

If I do another, I'll be buying a tri top so I don't have to fight to put on a bike jersey during T1, get some bungee laces for my running shoes, and I'd hit the men's room before I go to the pool. With those changes, I'd maybe be closer to the magic 1:30 mark.

CraigB

So the takeaway here is to pee before exiting the swim?

Seriously, congrats on the excellent work!

Zoxe

If you gots to go, you gots to go.

And thanks. This wraps up a training series -- 5-6d/wk -- that we started in early June as a ramp up to TdC Indy and finishing with Nville Tri. It's good to take this week off and get my after work afternoons back.

bbeasley

Good job!

I've got the same issue as you on the bike. I go too fast on the bike and die on the run. My next event, Sept 9th, I'm going to pace myself using a HRM and see if I can finish the run in better shape.

Congratulation on your PR!

bbeasley

Cajun Man Tri is in the bag.
Used a HRM and PR'd the bike without blowing up. Came into T2 with HR under control and PR'd the run.

Shellyrides

Well I have a Mini TRi this Saturday. 600y swim,1.5 mile bike ride and 1 mile run. Its not much but I am thinking a good start.

ladivaRei

Name: Ravenna
Age: 29
Clyde/Athena: Athena
First race: 2575 Miami, March 10, 2013 (Sprint distance)

I decided to do a triathlon over the summer and last week I finally signed up for one! It's .75K swim, 20K bike, 5K run. I'm primarily a biker, so that doesn't bother me (except for the terribly tall bridge we go over twice at the beginning), and my swimming is fine, though I do want to firm up my technique. I absolutely hate running, though, so that's what I need to to work on the most. I did my first training run today- 1.5 miles, mostly at a fast walk, but I have every confidence that I'll be up to speed by March!