welcome. this is what i liked: "I just wanted to come introduce myself and kind of put out there my plan for the sake of accountability."

there's something special that happens when you publicly make yourself accountable.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Well you already pissed me off. Older guy at 33 WTF ;)

Alot of great info and people on this site.

Except Duffy. Don't mind him.

Simple training plan...

Run and ride as much as you have time for.

Pfft. I didn't even start running until I was five years older than you are now. With your swimming background you'll be fine.

Don't overdo your training (especially the run part) in the next few weeks and give yourself an injury that sets you back. If work up to a half hour run, 3 times a week, and a couple of one hour bike rides, that will be more than enough to see you through your sprint triathlon. Get some comfortable bike shorts so that bike training is not a pain (literally). At some point, practice a swim/bike/run 'brick' session so that you familiarize yourself with changing sports halfway through a workout.

What you don't need (unless you somehow already have some of these) for your first event: A nutrition plan; a power meter; an aero helmet; clip-on aerobats; clipless pedals and shoes; a bike computer; or a sports watch. The latter two items should probably be on your first-to-get list, since timing yourself will be a good way to track training progress.

Best thing for the bike, if you're training on the road: A bright flashing taillight. Second best thing: A headlight.

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Less is more.

If you are in any kind of shape you can do a sprint. Don't "race" your first race. Just finish. Watch and learn as you go. I did my first sprint and did not train on the bike at all. I got the bike down from the hangers the week before the race and rode it 5 miles just to make sure the bike (50 year old Schwinn Varsity) would finish the race.

And by the way, 33 is not old. I did my first tri at about 48...now pushing 60.

Dave

Welcome.

In terms of between now and march the best thing to do is get out the door and do something every day. Run, ride, or swim (or even lift or cross train). Bike 3 times a week, run 3 times a week, and swim when you can and that will get you through your first race just fine. After March you'll start to understand more about what you like and what you want to improve on. If you are anything like the majority of people on here you'll get hooked before you even toe the starting line.

Don't worry about not enjoying suffering. It was years before I entered that realm, and I enjoyed training and racing just fine back then.

For running, I'd recommend reading through BarryP's stuff
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...h_string=runtraining

For cycling, the great Eddy Merckx said it best: "Ride Lots." Easy, hard, long, short, intervals, or steady effort. It's all good. Just find time to get in the saddle and ride.

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Matt

Check your PM....which race did you sign up for?

Welcome to the best website on the internets :-)

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

If you're a VERY competent swimmer, you're ahead of the 60% of tri-ppl who are incompetent, and the 20% who are merely competent. (my ballpark anecdotal estimate).
So you got that. Anyone can learn to run and bike.

And to echo the sentiment.. 33?, puh-leeze

And oh yeah -- your first event is just trial-by-fire. Jump in like a wildebeest to the watering hole, try not to be slowest in the herd. By the ride home, you'll already be hooked. Gauranteed.

You'll love the jump into Triathlon. Go for it!


I will warn that despite your lifeguard experience, the swim will likely still be the most challenging part , unless you were a competitive swimmer in the past. Don't underprepare for it and expect the worst as a newbie to ows racing.

You’ll do great and probably love it.

A few thinks I wish I had known before my first Tri:

• You don’t need to change clothes in Transition. Find something you can wear the entire race or have a top you can add to jammers - practice putting it on when you are wet.
• Just a water bottle on you bike - you don’t need food or water in Transition or to carry and on the run.
• Figure out your sock situation. If you wear socks on the bike, make sure they are socks that you can put on wet feet.
• I think you’ll do fine on the swim. Swim more as you lead up to the race.
• Worse case you rest on the wall during the swim or end up walking your bike up hills or walking on the run. Don’t stress over it. This will be your baseline race and you’ll only get better from here.

Don’t be a stranger to Slowtwitch!

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/

Hey all -

Really appreciating the welcome and enjoying the advice so far. This tells me I've yet to say something exceptionally stupid.

I'm encouraged already, so thanks. Also, apologies for the implication that 33 is old. I probably just FEEL old because I'm currently living with two little plague carriers (er, darling daughters) under 2. Starting my first real training session today on my lunch break - I have a gym in walking distance from my office, so I'll probably go knock out a run or a stationary bike. I'm adopting the 'do the thing a lot,' training mentality, but I know there are risks to the running frequency when you have moved like a rock for the last year. So, today, while looking furiously busy at work I'm going to look for a running and biking progression that's not overcomplicated for a newbie.

You are a lot further ahead than I was for my first race. At least you have the wherewithal to train in advance of race day. I hadn't heard of training. And I took a shower after the swim (you mean you aren't supposed to?). I even washed my hair.

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Hillary Trout
San Luis Obispo, CA

Your trip is short. Make the most of it.
https://www.slogoing.net/

This is amazing.

I think I should try this. (Kicker - I'm bald.)

you'll finish the sprint and it'll be an adrenalinefest the whole time, and then you'll be hooked. that's exactly what happened to me and i didn't start until i was 42 years old. this forum has been enormously helpful to me in learning the technical aspects of the sport (there are a lot of them it turns out) and in figuring out how to get better. the articles on the main page of this site have probably been the most instructive/beneficial for me, though. read a lot and think a lot and then go have a lot of fun!

Welcome - You'll have lots of fun. (And at 33 i still had another 11 years of office-bound inactivity and sloth before i even bought my first pair of trainers... )

One very useful bit of kit is an indoor trainer so you can jump on the bike and knock out a session while your kids are asleep or in an hour before dinner. You need to keep your wife on side as it's a trick to be able to spend 10-12 hours a week playing/training without it impacting on family life and upsetting the boss...

Build up to running pretty gradually as it's easy to hurt yourself before all the body adaptations have had a chance to make all the connecting bits stronger..
Track stats and data as it's nice to look back on.
Read lots & Ask questions.

Welcome to the world of Triathlon, and to Slowtwitch. As others have said, yes this sport is highly addictive, just like crack or smack. And, you'll find that this sport is extremely healthy and very friendly.
IMO, best advice I can throw in... watch, observe, and learn by watching. By this I mean, watch YouTube videos, watch Ironman race videos, watch actual local races, and you will see all sorts of athletes with all levels of experience. Watch and learn what goes on, how to make it all work and flow, and how to be smooth (not necessarily fast, but smooth). I say all this because, when I started in the sport I had no real idea of how to put it all together for a race. I could swim, biking was no problem, and running was simple, but putting it all together under the pressure of a timed race was very stressful. So, if you're starting from scratch, watch videos, read books/articles, and practice your gear/transitions at your home a lot before race day. The individual activities by themselves are simple, it's putting it all together that is tough. With experience, speed and smoothness will come. Start small at a local sprint race, have fun, get hooked, and you're on you way! Oh, and use Slowtwitch for all questions, advice, and help. There are a lot of great people here with decades of experience and guidance to offer.

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Team Zoot-Texas, and Pickle Juice

A thread I can relate too! My man! - are you me? Well, I am 31 and basically in the same situation as you, only maybe 6 months ahead. I did my first two sprints over the summer and I'm hooked, and have signed up already for an early spring OLY and a late Summer 70.3. Add me to to the public commitment list!

The advice so far is great. This forum is great if a little daunting at first with topics reflecting the level of talent here. While I cannot even begin to offer the same level and depth of experience advice as many here, since we are eerily similar there are a couple of things I have picked up that helped me so far you might find interesting, if you find you like your sprint and want to do more.

1. I agree with the previous statements above - a moderately fit person, especially a swimmer can finish a sprint without specific training-- so don't stress it you just want to see if its something you could get into.

2. I also came from a heavy swimming background (very similar to yours, club team, college masters, coached for a decade but very little bike/run). Although you will make larger gains elsewhere and the swimming will come back, I was a bit taken back by how different open water was and really how much swim fitness I had lost in 10 years at my first race. So, don't take that for total granted.

3. You might have floppy swimmer ankles. Listen to your body when you start to run, increase mileage slowly even if you fitness allows more. Injury prevention is KEY for people with floppy swimmer joints but preexisting good fitness. Nothing is worse than plenty of motivation/time to train but you joints aren't cooperating. This has been the biggest problem for me.

4. I'll third/fourth/fifth the point about a trainer is awesome. My addition: get a quiet one and use that to train while watching the kiddo. Keep the wife happy and get her involved somehow, on a recovery ride, etc.

Hell, If you want to trade cliff notes about hows it going in the future and keep each other honest PM me!

Cheers,

EDIT: just to add about your point about the pool training- with that much swimming background, i'm certain you could finish the 500+ pool yards in a really good position without a yard of swimming ahead of the race. You might be surprised how much the start of the bike hurts though. I did the same thing!

Thanks SLO for making me snort coffee out of my nose :D

The most important thing to do is get a velotron and determine your optimum crank size.


(Pink is for jokes)

Congrats on jumping into a triathlon. There's great resources on here. The key is to do the training and have fun with it!

Welcome to ST.

As a husband, dad and late in life (32) triathlon starter, I will reiterate a few things that have been said.
- Keep the wife happy: If you go all gung ho on this and get a divorce, you would not be the first on this forum.

- Train efficiently: Look at places in your life that you are wasting 30-60 minutes and try to squeeze in a session like your lunch run.

- Get a quiet bike trainer

- Use your training sessions to test race day issues like what kit you are going to wear, nutrition for longer races

- Have fun and enjoy the process: You should be doing a lot more training than racing. If you don't like training then endurance sports are probably not for you.

This forum has a lot of good information, but most of it won't apply until you start doing longer races. The discussions on wheels, aero helmets, trisuits, nutrition/hydration will come into play, but for now, just focus on getting into shape and the joy of racing.

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Oui, mais pas de femme toute de suite (yes, but I am not ready for a woman straight away) -Stephen Roche's reply when asked whether he was okay after collapsing at the finish in the La Plagne stage of the 1987 Tour

well if we are going to give out advice... let's go a little further...

• Don't change any clothes in transition-pick a tight-fitting outfit (probably a tri top and tri short for first race) and wear it in all 3 events. I just saved you 15-30 seconds.

No need for anything on the bike for a sprint re: water, especially in Texas in March. I just saved you 10-30 seconds time drinking on the bike.

No need for socks. Practice a few times without them and make sure shoes are okay with them. Then, good to go and I saved you 10-15 seconds.

You will be fine on swim. Swim on the right and pass on the left.

You can probably bike harder than you think and still be fine on the run. Try it in practice. It took me more at least sprint races before I tried this strategy and I was shocked how hard I could bike and still run the same speed.

Practice transitions before the race several times

I did my first tri in a pool at age 58. So, you're still a baby. Best advice I got for the pool swim (AFTER the event, which didn't help much did it?) if your pool swim is "up one lane, down the next, up the next, etc" was swim under the rope at the end of the lane and touch the wall in the next lane...because lots of people will already be hanging on the wall when you get to the end each time, and if you don't need to stop then you've just avoided them.

Also, learn about transitions, and practice for them. If possible, volunteer in transition at another race before yours. It looks super easy until you actually have to run holding your bike while avoiding other crazy people who will stop dead in front of you to tie a shoe, or talk to their spouse, or some other crazy-ass thing you would never anticipate.

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I'm closer to the feathered end of the spear than the point.

This is such great stuff, y'all. I really appreciate it.

Keying in on something, though - the need for a stationary trainer for the bike. This seems like a really good idea and a great way to eliminate excuses (for me). Are there any budget-friendly trainers that will work for a newbie? (if I'm not allowed to ask that, my bad).