Virgina Beach Move

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi All
I’m looking for some information about a move to Virgina Beach, Va “area”. In order of importance 1. Superior Schools
2. Year Round Community
3. On or very near beach
4. Good place to train (Master’s group/ pool, Tri club etc)
Appreciate your recommendations

2

I lived there for 12 years, leaving in 2002, so the information may be a little dated:

  1. All of the Virginia Beach schools are pretty good. Some are more modern, some are newer, but all of them are well maintained with good teachers and great programs.

  2. Not sure what the question is. If you mean multi sport community, then they have a very active year round running club (the Tidewater Striders) that have races all year round. They have at least 2 sprint triathlons, a Rock and Roll Half Marathon, the Shamrock Marathon, Neptune 8K, Elizabeth River Run (all with 2000 plus runners) and lots and lots of smaller races. Running Etc is the local running store, and Mike is a big supporter of all things athletics. VB itself is not very bike friendly due to busy roads, high density businesses, and crazy squids, but you don’t have to go far to get to some very big, wide, and empty roads (going toward NC). General Booth South of Damn Neck used to be nothing but corn and flat roads.

  3. This depends on your income. I lived in Ocean Lakes, a middle class bedroom community. From my door step to 38th street and the Boardwalk and back was just under 12 miles, 5 of it on the Boardwalk. That is cool for a while, then you realize that in the summer it is crowded and hot, and in the winter it is cold, windy, and very lonely, and you start looking for somewhere else to exercise. First Landing is my favorite. Or Nolan Trail in Newport News. Your results may vary.

  4. You have ODU and Norfolk State, and I am sure they have a masters program. I don’t know. Other than the ocean, the best place to swim is the Virginia Beach Rec Centers. The one I used was Ocean Lakes. They had a near Olympic level pool and membership cost about $60 a year, as long as you had a VB address. The lap lanes were limited at some times of the year, and you had to dodge Clifford the Big Red Dog sometimes, but if you had a flexible exercise schedule you could always find a near empty pool.

And they have a Sonic’s. Just thought I would throw that in, since we don’t have one on Long Island.

3

Not to derail your thread, but you might want to correct the spelling of “Virginia” or you’re going to get a lot of joke responses!

4

Thanks for the response, sorry bout the spellin…

5

Hi All
I’m looking for some information about a move to Virgina Beach, Va “area”. In order of importance 1. Superior Schools
2. Year Round Community
3. On or very near beach
4. Good place to train (Master’s group/ pool, Tri club etc)
Appreciate your recommendations

  1. No kids, but VA Beach and Chesapeake supposedly have great schools

  2. You can ride pretty much year-round here. Local tri season more or less kicks off with Breezy Point the first weekend in June and wraps up with Sandman in late Sept. There is a pool swim tri earlier in the year and early and late season duathlons

  3. Two beaches - Chesapeake Bay and the Oceanfront. Prices vary - oceanfront generally spendier than the bay

  4. Final Kick (www.finalkick.com) is the main tri store and has a triathlon club. VA Beach has incredibly inexpensive rec centers with pools (~$55/year for VAB residents). Some of the rec center have Masters swim. Also, VA Weslyan hosts a Masters swim IIRC. As others have said, not incredibly bike friendly, but there are lesser trafficed roads to the south. Also, a 45 minute drive to Williamsburg will get you miles of wide open road. First landing state park has decent hard-packed trail running. There are also a XC race series, a 'cross series, a decent roadie scene - crits and TTs, and I think even a 5K open water swim race.

I’m military and live in Norfolk, but train with folks from Final Kick primarily.

6

I can’t comment on the cycling and swimming but running in that area sucks. Seriously sucks. I’m not speaking of the running community, mind you. The Tidewater Striders seemed nice enough. No I’m talking about the environment itself. Flat flat flat. No hills. In the summer, the heat and humidity are tough but bearable. But the bugs, oh God. Some days I used to have to run down the road waving my arms in front of my hands to get them out of the way.

So many roads without sidewalks or even shoulders, with huge gullies on either side and drivers with no tolerance for runners. And they’re mostly one big grid. A road that curves is a welcome relief

Your best bet for running there is probably Seashore State Park. But nice as it is, you’ll get bored of it very quickly. It’s too small. A surprising number of people run around a landfill-converted-to-a-park called “Mt Trashmore”. I honestly cannot understand why.

It’s the only time in my life I ever stopped running completely. I just couldn’t stand the area for it. I was so happy to move back to New England.