Need London Triathlon Training Advice

Triathlon Forum
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I’m new to this site, obviously, but could use some advice. First, if I’m in the wrong section, feel free to direct me to the right area to post this thread. I’m relatively new to triathlons, mostly olympic distance, began last September, but will be going abroad this June to complete my senior capstone/design project for school. I’m more experienced in swimming, then running, and relatively new to cycling. Anyways, I’ll be in London this summer for most of June (maybe Dublin a week earlier, other places later to travel) because that’s where our program is. I’m looking to still train while abroad, and compete in a triathlon as well (looking at one on June 7), but am not sure the best way of doing so. I’ve also signed up for a half Ironman in August so I really don’t have much time to take off. I’ll list a few questions and hopefully some can be answered. I’ll be staying in Camden Town near Chalk Farm to help with geographical concerns. Kindly answer what you can.
-Should I rent a bike while abroad, or try to ship mine? (afraid of it being lost along the way, broken, etc.) If rent, does anyone have suggestions on where to rent from in London at a decent rate?
-If/when I get a bike, where can I ride to get good mileage? Will I have to do loops in some random park, or would I be able to ride out of the city and go on rides that way? If I do leave the city, will I need to take the tube anywhere to get out?
-Where is a good place that has a pool to still train swimming relatively close to my location? LCM or SCY, doesn’t particularly matter, though I assume most will be LCM, and would they have a monthly rate for someone visiting?
-Where can I go for good and challenging runs? Anywhere from 3 mile pace runs upwards of 13 miles plus. I like to avoid traffic lights, etc while running, so any good parks, loops or other locations would be appreciated.

If anyone has any other suggestions feel free to mention them. Or if you need more information on my background in each.

Thanks in advance!

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Hi, welcome. I live in UK, Birmingham. I’m not familiar enough with London to answer all your questions, but Londoners on the forum will help you. I would recommend to hook up with a local tri club. The most famous in London is ‘Serpentine’ (http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/training_tri.html). They would have all the information you need, and it may be a good idea to join them to have access to pool and to club ride. For insurance reasons, many tri clubs in uk can’t let you join officially a club-led ride. Running: there are many parks in London, but again check Serpentine’s training routes (http://www.serpentine.org.uk/pages/run_routes_index.html). Another gem to discover, is ‘Parkrun’. Every Sunday, a free (just need to register online once before and print your barcode) 5km ‘race’ organised in most cities in UK.
Bike renting: from a shop, for a long duration , it may be ludicrously expensive to rent. Have a look at ‘http://www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/’. If you ask a question there about bikes, you may be able to borrow / rent from a local triathlete.
Good luck, and final advice: ride on the left hand side of the road :wink:

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i live in London when I’m in the UK and lived there for 7-8 years before I moved abroad.

Bikes - take one, I’m not sure where you can rent one.

Rides from North London, you have loads of options 1) find local bike shops and their regular rides 2) Rapha do weekday rides from the city (or did) 3) if all that fails (and it won’t) go south down to Richmond Park (10 miles ish) and do laps or go north and out of town in to the country or go south across town to the north downs - you’d go camden, west end, waterloo, elephant and castle, peckham, east dulwich, cystal palace, addington and you’re there - knock yourself out on the hills

You cant take a bike on a tube - unless its a moulton or a brompton so that probably won’t help you - you cant take them on network rail and that gives you good options

Most pools in London are SCM - LCM pools are stratford and crystal palace (near my place) - neither of those will help you and I don’t know of any LCM in north london - best public pools list is on Timeout - http://www.timeout.com/…-best-swimming-pools

If you’re there in the summer - you definitely need to check out the Lido’s - Tooting Bec - 90m * 30m (does that count as LCM?) - and Brockwell Park - my local great cafe and even better local pub - also probably accessible from north london on the overground network though you’d be better off riding following directions to waterloo then brixton - 5 mins away from Brixton tube - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/9357593/Londons-best-outdoor-swimming-pools.html

Hampsted Heath - runs - Friday Serpantine Running Club Runs (I assume they still do them - most running stores will have runs)

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welcome to the neighbourhood!

get in touch with the Hampstead Tri Club – they may be able to sort out a temporary arrangement – a very friendly group with lots of training options

swim at the Hampstead Lido, or at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre (good masters program there, you might be able to slot in)

ride at Richmond, like others have said (you can get the Overground train there from north London if you don’t fancy riding out through town). Alternately Regent’s Park offers a 4k loop that many cyclists use locally. Round and round but lots of company.

Run in Hampstead Heath, which also has a track you can use for a fee

if you’re looking for competition check out the Dorney Lake tris (run by Human Race) – fairly quick/easy to get to without a car, frequent, and well organised. good luck!

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Thanks a lot for the links! I’ll see what I can do. I hadn’t considered borrowing one, thanks for the idea. Forgot about the left side of the road, good heads up haha.

On a side note, are you a Birmingham City fan, or Aston Villa?

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On a side note, are you a Birmingham City fan, or Aston Villa?
Good question, one to ask before you engage into conversations in UK. Personally, I couldn’t care less :slight_smile: . For work purposes I work with both clubs (actually with the 4 main local clubs Wolves and West Brom) but support none. In all my life I have been to one single football match, and I barely watch on average 1 to 2 matches per year on TV. Let’s talk endurance sports :wink:

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I considered taking one, but it’s expensive to ship and I’ll be starting out in Dublin and making my way over to London, so I’m not sure of the feasibility (cab rides, train rides etc.) of taking one unfortunately :frowning:

Thanks for all of the names of places to ride! Will they be difficult to get to from my location? My concern is that I’ll have a lot of stop and go traffic since it’s in the city, or will it not be that bad with traffic? Also, the locations you listed are to get out of London to the south, right? Is there any good way to get out the city to the north, or just make my way through the boroughs until I’m in the country?

Thanks for the tube warning, good to know now.

For the pools, do you know if they have any one time monthly fees, or would that vary by pool location? I’ll be there in June so I’ll see if Lido has good rates!

Thanks again

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Thanks for the advice! I’ll try to touch base with them soon.

As for biking, riding at Richmond and other locations, is it easy to get to most of these locations if you’re not familiar with the city and how to get around? Also, does the Overground train allow bikes? Though I would probably bike out of the town if it’s easy enough.

For events, I was looking at doing a Herculesevents triathlon in Northwood, would that be a good option or should I go with your suggestion?

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For bike hire you can get something here:http://www.parkcycle.co.uk/ They say they do road bikes but I’ve only ever seen very basic Mtb’s being hired from them. If I was in your position I would get a cheap folding bike and bag and book it as a regular suitcase on your flight. With it folded you’ll have no problems taking it on public transport or in taxis. It won’t be the best thing in the world to ride but getting around London is easiest by bike in my opinion so it could help you massively to get to other training.

Iain

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Hello, London triathlete here.

Club wise, plenty of structured club training sessions. Aside Hampseatd, you have London fields based in north London. I am a member of the east London triathletes but do not really participate to the club sessions - only used to go to their swim session in Walthamstow which is nice but you’d need a car to go there. I am sure there are plenty

Open water training:
You can do in the Serpentine. A lot of duck poo in the water, but being in central London is nice. Either through a club session or during open hours on your own for a small fee.
‘Swim for tri’ has a saturday session at stubbers, Upminster. Never been to that particular one but it’s popular and ran by great people.

Swimming: I don’t know swimming pools in your particular area

Running: The Regent Canal is your friend, being based in Chalk farm that’s a no brainer. North you have Hampstead heath to run in, canal eastwards to regent park, canal westwards you can go up to Victoria park, do a loop in Victoria park and back. There is a 500 m section around angel without canal path - otherwise it’s rather nice path all along. You can even run all the way to the Limehouse marina, and then on to around the isle of dogs …
For hill sessions, head to Greenwich park (google for ‘the tough 10k Greenwich park’ to find an example of loop in the park).
Of course running along the Thames. Lots of great paths to run.

For bikes, I don’t know where you can rent a bike- I would bring mine personally. Try to rent one of these bike boxes and get experienced help to pack it up. You should be fine.
I have to plug my LBS, Le Beau Velo in Shoreditch, which is fantastic, and offers great bike fitting best money you can spend is a good bike fit.
After a couple of close calls on London roads I do most of my training indoors. Be prepared to be ‘buzzed’ by a lot of cabs >:[
Cycling is the new golf and you have a plethora of cycling clubs to choose from. I am am member of one (Lea Valley) but almost never participate in club runs, which go north east in the Epping forest area. It is ok.
The popular rides are mind boggingly boring loops around regent park (a couple of red lights) and Richmond park (easy to reach from central London, go to westminster and get on the CS8 blue paint, at the end of the blue paint follow other cyclists…). Richmond park has a couple of hills, no red lights, nice nature, but can be extremely crowded on a week end when it is sunny. Of course you can take train towards south west (or ride there) and ride the surrey alps.
aka box Hill (very hyped). Head to Leith Hill for a more challenging climb.
UK is the land of Time trials, you can see a list of events on the ‘CTT’ website.

To get more ideas of routes look for the ‘salomon city trail’ running routes and the ‘heatmap’ functionality in Strava.

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there’s plenty of advice on here - I would take your bike - whatever it costs to take it on a plane is likely to be less than it costs to rent one, if you fly with BA or other non-budget airlines it can be free as sports equipment

as to riding out of london - I live / 'd in south east london - dulwich - to get out of town is 30-40 mins, I’m sure the same is basically true of north london, though like most cities - its stop and go - but if you don’t want stop and go live in the country :slight_smile:

as to pools - its a case by case basis but you can call them - the YHA pool in the timeout article do short term membership deals and pay and play I think, I don’t know about the others - the Lido’s at tooting, and brockwell in june will be awesome
.

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I feel I have to reply to this, as I’ve lived and trained, and ridden a bike, in London all my life, and actually live round the corner from Chalk Farm station, where you’ll be staying. It’s a fantastic place to live and the training options are endless. Quick summary:

  1. As people have said, take your bike if you can. You’ll only be able to rent rubbish bikes and they will be expensive. For a month, if you ride a lot, you’d probably be better off buying an entry-level road bike (about £500) and selling it when you leave, than renting.

  2. Swimming. There are lots of pools close to where you’ll be. All are drop-in, no monthly rates.

Parliament Hill Lido is best bet for summer training. 10 mins’ jog from Chalk Farm. 60m, unheated, aluminium-lined, beautiful when the sun shines, only £2 if you go when you should, between 7.30am and 9am (they throw you out at 9.30am and it re-opens at 10). No lockers in the mornings, don’t take valuables. If you go at other times it’s full of school kids who should be at school. It is set on the south end of Hampstead Heath, which is also, in my book, the best place in N London to run (if you like trails and hills). Men’s pond on the Heath is also great (I have heard…the women’s pond is shit for training). It has a 300m lap. You also might make friends there.

Standard indoor heated pools:
Swiss Cottage is the closest, but I don’t like it, lanes are v narrow and it is crowded.
Kentish Town is next-closest and better, although odd 30m lenghth.
Oasis in Holborn (Tottenham Court Road tube) which has 2 pools, one indoor (25m) and one out (27.5m) so if you go off-peak you can always swim
St Pancras Square, nr Kings Cross, few stops on the tube from Chalk Farm - brand new 25m but go off-peak and check the website for schools
Ironmonger Row, nr Old St station tube, again few stops on the tube - 30m, nice and clean, usually emptier than most
Marshall St, nr Oxford Circus, if you’re in the centre of town - 30m - tends to have a fast crowd in the fast lane, which is motivating

Someone mentioned London Fields. This is a 50m heated outdoor pool and is great. It’s a bit of a pain to get to,though, unless you ride there (40 minute ride through traffic).

These days nearly all public pools are run by Better Leisure (and I think every pool mentioned above is). Each of them has a good website - just google the name of the pool and you’ll see a timetable on the homepage. They all cost about £5 a visit.

Someone mentioned the Serpentine Lido in Hydo Park (Lancaster Gate tube is the closest). This is good open water simulation, because it is dark, full of weeds and other unmentionables. 100m length.

If you want drop-in coached swimming sessions good for triathletes (i.e. free style only), I go to a good one at Holloway Pool on Wednesdays 8.30 to 9pm (the pool is not open to the public the rest of the time).

  1. London is great to ride in. There are cyclists everywhere. Whoever said you’ll be riding indoors is nuts.
    You are minutes away from Regents Park. Outer Circle Road, which runs round it, is N London’s unofficial bike race track. It’s a 3-mile lap, with some red lights and stops. There are always other cyclists to race, or follow, or keep you awake, so I don’t think it’s boring, even though it’s a hamster wheel.
    You can do hill repeats on Swain’s Lane - runs up the side of Highgate cementary. Try it, and suffer (you need to descend down Highgate West Hill, as Swain’s is one-way). Very very steep, do 10 and you’re toast.
    Richmond Park is great on weekdays. 7-mile lap, and it is lovely, and hard (hills whichever you go). Ride out (40 mins ride, but quite trafficy), or take the overground from Gospel Oak to Richmond (off-peak only, see below).
    If you want open roads, take a train out from St Pancras (10 mins from Camden) to Harpenden or St Albans, 20 minutes journey and you are great riding country.

  2. Running. You have Regents Park, Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath on your doorstep for running. Regents Park is flat, manicured, big. Hampstead Heath is much more wild, many trails, and has no flat at all. Even bigger. You’ll get lost there - take a phone with maps! Check out the Hampstead Heath Parkrun (parkrun.org) every Saturday at 9am - hilly 5km, free, good vibe, get a time. You don’t need to do much pavement pounding unless you want to.
    You can run along the canal into town, and beyond (the canal in Camden goes all the way East to Stratford and the Olympic park). It’s a nice run - but it is concrete.
    Talking of the Olympic park, there is a great LCM pool there (obviously!) and a fairly technical track for road bikes if you want some car-free miles (costs a few quid). Easy to get to from where you are: overground Gospel Oak to Stratford, or St Pancas to Stratford, quicker but pricier. You can take your bike on the trains, off-peak (i.e. between about 10am and 4pm, and after about 6.30 or 7pm), but never on the tube. (Ok, there are sections that allow bikes, but not in the centre of town where you are).

I think those are the basics. Happy to answer questions about the area, or what I’ve said above - PM me either now or when you arrive. Happy to go for a spin round Regents Park and talk it through!

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  1. London is great to ride in. There are cyclists everywhere. Whoever said you’ll be riding indoors is nuts.

I never said he should be riding indoors, I said I was doing most of my riding indoors. It is true that there are cyclists everywhere, but if you think London is great to ride in well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man :slight_smile:

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Welcome to London !

Just one suggestion bring spring and wet clothing.

June can be quite wet and right now it’s windy with 30
km winds.

Cycle Surgery bike stores have a branch near you in Kings Cross and hire tri bikes

I would kindly suggest you join up with a group/club as suggested especially for cycling, London drivers are not the best when it comes to considering the well being of cyclists.

If you are on strava you can find some routes out to less busy areas.

Hope you have a great time !