Half im as 1st triathlon

Triathlon Forum
1

hello

this year i’ll be doing my first triathlons and one of them will be roth. At the end of this month there will be a half-IM distance race and i am thinking of doing it. Will it be smart to do it, because it will be my first tri and i have never swum (more than 10 meters)in open water before, i have never swum in a wetsuit before and i just learned to swim freestyle a couple of months ago. Or will it be better to do a couple of Olympic Distance tri’s and no half IM and maybe do another powerman duathlon for the distance.

2

Do a sprint triathlon first, then a couple of Olympic distance ones, and then move on to a HIM.

3

sprints are to short and i only have 2 months (and the first tris in holland will be at the end of the month, so i only have 1 month). I swim 2-3 times a week and swim 2000-3000meters every time. every week i do at least one 4-6h ride on the bike (and 2 “shorter” rides) and i run 2-3 times a week with at least 1 long distance run (25k at the moment, but i will doing longer runs the next couple of weeks). so the distance won’t be a problem(at least if i dont’make the same mistake as i made during the powerman duathlon last week), but i was wondering if it is smart to swim 2,5k for my first open water swim in a wetsuit

4

You will get a vareity of answers for this, but it is my personal opinion that you should start out with the shorter events( 2 hours or less) first and then move onto the longer races after a couple of years. I know this to be the opinion of a more than a few top coaches in the sport as well.

In your situation, not what you wanted to hear, but then again it’s just my view and the view of people that I respect.

Fleck

5

Sure, go for it. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? You have a bad swim. Big deal. Sounds like this is just a warm-up race for Roth, anyway. So do it, take the swim easy, and be sure to get into your wetsuit and in the water quite a bit early for a nice warmup. If you are swimming in the race and really don’t feel right in the wetsuit, flip over onto your back and do backstroke for a couple of minutes. That has worked for me in the past.

By the way, why (how) is it that you have never before done a tri and yet you are doing Roth this summer?

-Colin

6

if you’ve never done a tri before try to at least get a sprint in and even though you say it is too short, look at it like a brick training session. Other benefit of this is to get exposed to the swim start and congestion. Some find it disconcerting their first time. Also borrow/rent/buy a wetsuit and go find a lake and give it a go. What’s the water temp expected to be? You may need one? Bouyancy provided by the wetsuit might be a nice surprise for you.

7

i needed a challange and i read that roth was one of the nicest races out there. so i decided to learn how to swim and do roth.

thanks for your advice.

8

if you’ve never done a tri before try to at least get a sprint in and even though you say it is too short, look at it like a brick training session. Other benefit of this is to get exposed to the swim start and congestion. Some find it disconcerting their first time. Also borrow/rent/buy a wetsuit and go find a lake and give it a go. What’s the water temp expected to be? You may need one? Bouyancy provided by the wetsuit might be a nice surprise for you.

i just bought a desoto suit, but the water is to cold at the moment, so i can’t test it at the moment.

9

Be careful…swimming in the relaxing comfort of a lap pool is much different than swimming in the open water with water chop, wind and cooler temps. Not to mention, swimming in a wetsuit takes some getting used to…that and a bunch of people swimming over the top of you, flutter kicking you in the face doesn’t help either. Unlike the pool, you can’t grab the side or just stand up… Many people underestimate the fact that you can’t see anything when you are open water swimming (face in the water) as opposed to stairing at the bottom of the lap pool when training.

I personally believe it is not so much the distance of the swim as it is the environment that you are swimming in. Try to get in a few open water swims in before the big race.

10

Hey madisongrrl, i’m guessing you are in Madison, WI? Where do you like to do your open water swims? Just curious. Looking to start my open water swims and am thinking Wingra, but was just wondering if there are any other good lakes.

11

The first triathlon I ever did was a 1/2 IM becasue that was all there was.

12

A 1/2IM was my first distance, too. I trained for about a month ahead of time, up at the Lake Miramar reservoir in San Diego, on an old Fuji 6 speed, and did the race on an old Klein Quantum 7 speed with no aerobars and which had the old SIS downtube shifters. Nowadays, I ride a 53cm, but that Klein that I borrowed was a 58cm, so you can imagine how badly I fit on it :-))

Not knowing a damn thing on how to train for tris, I used to do an hour hard bike, then eat an apple and run the 5 miles around the reservoir to top it off. I had never heard the term “brick” (which I was doing without knowing I was doing it) applied to triathlon. I always thought that that was what a basketball that clanged off the rim was called :wink: I’d do that Monday through Friday, at lunch, then go over to the Navy air station at Miramar and swim in their 50 meter pool after work. On Saturdays, I rode 3 hours and on Sunday, I’d run 10 miles around the reservoir. For that month, I didn’t take a “recovery day” (I had no clue what the hell a recovery day was, anyway, so why do one?), and just took a day off the day before the 1/2IM, which I paid 25 bucks to enter. Naturally, I was so tired and worn out, and undertrained, I’m surprised I finished it, but my motto is “No Brain, No Pain” :slight_smile:

I guess I’ve proved you can do it, but man, I sure didn’t feel very hot, and staggered to a 5:27 finish. I fell down 4 times on the run (combined beach run on hard sand, then very soft sand then asphalt and a 4 loop 3.26 mile course). It was the Superfrog Tri, which was put on by the Navy Seals over at the Navy air station North Island.

Good luck, and keep asking those questions. Some of the best and smartest triathletes on the planet come through here and post advice. Of course, I’m one of the dumbest, so don’t pay too much heed to what I start telling you :-))

Tony

13

Given your volume of training (swim 2-3 times a week @ 2000-3000 m each, one 4-6h ride on the bike and 2 shorter rides, run 2-3 times a week with at least 1 25k), the answer is easy - heck yes you can/should do it. Most people don’t train that amount, no matter what the vocal dedicated minority thinks/says. You can easily finish it. My first open water swim was in a tri too - no big deal at all. It’s not a mystical magical event, just swimming then biking then running. You may not finish as fast as you want, but the experience will be valuable. And transitions mean less in the long races (as a % of your time), so don’t sweat it. Go for it.