Hey everybody, first I just wanted to thank everybody on here for all of your help. I haven’t posted before but I’ve been lurking for months and this board has been an invaluable source of info. It’s great to know that I wasn’t the only one who was worried about the swim. I just finished my first tri, the 1/2 vineman, last week(I know, I don’t know what I was thinking having my first tri be a 1/2). Everything went great, well, o.k., I finished and am now totally hooked and want to do more. I should have been much more worried about the run than the swim, now I realize what the hard part is.
My question is what should I do next? I’m trying to find an olympic in the next month or so and then maybe another 1/2 in Sept. or Oct. Any idea’s? I live in San Diego so I’m trying to keep it within 8 hours driving, if that’s possible.
What should you do next? Put your feet up, sit on your porch and think to yourself, “Man, I fully kicked that one sideways six-shooter style!”
You deserve credit for a fine job. In the grand scheme of things very, very, very few people can consider accomplish such a thing. Take some time to give yourself credit and recover.
Once that is done, hit the training is done. The love of this sport is not in the racing or crossing the finish line, but in the living. The vitality. The beauty and the feeling of being well and vigorous.
Revel in that for while becasue you deserve it. And then enjoy your training while you look for your next race.
Thanks, Tom. I think I might belong in this crazy club with you people because it’s only been 4 days and I feel lazy for not having worked out since my race! I’m actually looking forward to going on a ride this weekend.
I did Vineman and next up is the Big Kahuna 1/2 IM in Santa Cruz on Sept. 11–not a bad drive for you and closer than Napa. You’re right about the run part.
I think I might belong in this crazy club with you people because it’s only been 4 days and I feel lazy for not having worked out since my race!
Oh, yeah, you definitely belong here.
Tom’s right, tri is all about the lifestyle. Training, racing, being a geek, having others thing you are weird and crazy, having people say (as one did to me last night), “I just don’t understand why anyone would want to run 26 miles!” That’s what it’s all about, man, revel in it.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I was thinking about the Californiaman or the Big Kahuna. I love Norcal so any reason to go up there is great. Does anybody know what the wave situation is at the swim for the Big Kahuna? I’m still a little sketched out on doing a beach entry, but I guess that would be a great reason to get over that.
DM - I hadn’t looked in AZ but I’ll definitely check out the SOMA in OCT. That would be great timing and I’d love to check out Tempe.
Paul - That’s exactly what I did the night of the race, had a pizza and a beer! O.k., maybe more than one beer, and I did thank my girlfriend. Now I have to tell her that I’m planning on doing another tri. I think she thinks that this was a one time thing and I won’t be training anymore. I’m more nervous about telling her that I want to do another one than I was before the race.
Big Kahuna - I have done it the last 2 years - its very protected so generally no waves - flat as a pancake the past 2 years. If its a freak swell - maybe some shore pound - but you just dive through that. Somebody posted some pictures a while back that made it look scary but thats very very unlikely. A good, fun race. Let me know if you have any questions.
There’s a sprint in Lake Arrowhead in two weeks, another sprint in Imperial Beach at the end of August, an Olympic/Spring in LA on Sept. 11, and plenty more. Check that schedule. If you do Caliman, see ya there!
If you want another half close to home, dig up the scoop on SuperFrog. Very cheap, but no lack of challenge with the 6 lap run on 1/2 sand. Not sure what the status is of that race, but if you end up getting late season jitters from not racing it’s worth looking into.
Don’t get sucked into believing that Ironman is the only kind of real triathlon and Kona is the one pinacle of our sport.
If you are a good swimmer, focus on Olympic distance races. If you are a better runner or cyclist then half-IM is more to your advantage. If you have 25 hours a week to train then go ahead and give IM distance a try. If you really like to haul butt, then do sprints. And of course, if you like triathlon, but not totally enthusiastic about swimming then do a few duathlons.
There is so much variety out there there is not reason not to try a little of everything.
Don’t worry, I think all the distances are hard in different ways. I only picked a half because I was hoping that the fact that I was really slow would be less noticeable, plus I needed a challenge to scare me into training hard. I’m curious to try an olympic now to see how it feels.
This might be a dumb question, but why should I focus on an olympic if I am a good swimmer? Is it because it seems like the swimming distance is a bigger portion of the overall distance than other tris?
