Just signed up for sprint triathlon- anyone else?

I did allerthorpe. Bit of a right off!! I didn’t really enjoy any of it because it was a totally flat course. All good with a flat course you’d think! Well my legs just didn’t love it, I’m used to slogging up hills and then zooming back down the other side. Not the relentlessness of flat roads. Took my legs a long time to get going, felt like the longest 5k ever!!! I enjoyed the non wetsuit swim even though I was slow slow slow!!! Good luck tomorrow.

Which one are you doing on Saturday, Igotta?
I think I’m going to ditch the wetsuit for my supersprint on Sunday- the forecast for midday is 27 degrees!!

Got a sprint tri on Saturday, optional wetsuit so I’m ditching it! Too hot for wrangling my ass in and out of it. And I don’t think it makes me any faster anyway!

I did my tri club aquathon this week, very slow swim but pretty good run so I was happy enough. Very supportive club, lots of people at the finish line clapping everyone in. As I was one of the last finishers that was a lot of clapping! I enjoyed it though, it was my first crack at an aquathon. Also my first ever lake swim without my wetsuit. Very nice once I’d got over the fact that I couldn’t just bob about if I wanted to.

So far so good with the Brooks really. I’ve only worn them twice but theyre fine so far. Wide enough for my wide plate feet! I’d ordered some ASICS online which were the same model I’d had before but they just didn’t fit right. So I thought it best to get myself down to the local running shop. Hokas were the other contenders.

I’m hoping for cooler conditions on the weekend too. But at least we’re having to train in the heat so at least it won’t be too much of a shock if it is warm. I’ve hardly done any swimming since my standard tri, bit nervous about that especially as it’s likely to be a non wetsuit swim in the race. I’ve never swam in a lake just in my tri suit!

No post-race dip for me - I’m busy planning for next weekend when I take on the supersprint Women Only tri at Eton Dorney. Feeling excited, but I really hope it cools down a bit as it’s an 11.30 start.
How are you finding the Brooks, Bee? I tried some last week but found them too low at the back so decided to stick with Asics.

Just booked in a sprint for next Saturday ski. Lake swim, flat bike/run course so looking at a pb I’ll be gutted if I’m slower than my last sprint 😂

Just got myself some new trainers, have switched from ASICS to Brooks. Apparently you’re meant to get new trainers more regularly than once every 5 years...... 100k in a month?! You’ll need new trainers soon too!

How’s the post race dip going really hope the body was ok? I’ve been focusing on getting my running back this month and really pleased to have hit 85k this month back up to Jan running total before i had injury issues. Going for 100k in July now
Have you got anything else planned in bee?

Well done really!!!!! Can’t beat that post race buzz! So pleased you enjoyed it and that’s a great placing, you beat over 150 people!

Well done to you too ski, the sea can be scary. It’ll be gorgeous all week for outdoor swims! Make the most of it!

Good stuff tri bods!!!

Whoop whoop sleep I’m SO pleased it went well and starting early was a blessing in this lovely sunshine. Hope you can chill out the rest of the day

I had my own mini whoop moment today as I did some frontcrawl in the sea I’ve had a fear of putting my face in the sea since a childhood incident of swallowing loads of salt water & being really ill. But it was such a lovely morning we had planned to have breakfast on the beach & the whole family went in for early swim. I was the warmest in my heavy weight 20yr old wet suit that floated my legs n hips right up but I loved it and im planning already to go tom morn after school drop off with my sister as the tides should be perfect.

All done! It was such an early start - the castle was beautiful but kind of eerie surrounded by mist. I was very nervous, especially as the transition area was full of big, super-athletic-looking men.
The water was 20 degrees but the air temperature was only about 14 at 7am so I decided to wear my wetsuit. We started in waves of about 35 people. I put myself right at the back of my wave and because it was so warm, running into the water and starting to swim was fine - there was no gasp when the cold water goes inside the wetsuit! I did a mix of crawl and breaststroke and it was fine. Took about 200m to settle into it but it was ok. I was overtaken by several people from the next wave but finished in front of five people from my wave.
The bike was brilliant- I felt really strong and enjoyed it hugely.
The first half of the run was tough: there was a long hill that a man near me described as “like a bloody flight of stairs” but a really lovely lady started running with me and we encouraged each other round the course.
The best bit was the finish- my 14 yr old son was there supporting me along the last 100m “I’m so proud of you mum! “.
Oops, bit of an essay, but I’m still buzzing! I’m not quick. I finished 403 out of 560 people but I’m doing it again next year.
Thank you for your encouragement and reassurance, you lovely mumsnetters!

Good luck today really!!!! Hope you enjoy it, even the swim!!!

Hope the event goes well sleep and it’s not too hot for you.
I went out at 7am yest for a 10k run it was too hot even then!

Glad the swim went better sleep good luck for your event

Just to clarify I’m not remotely a fast runner, more a plodder it was only me and Jo on that segment as it was a new one I’m normally whaaayyyy down the Strava top lists

Had a much better swim this evening. I went to a smaller lake and felt way more relaxed. Still slower than a drifting iceberg but not crazy-panicking about Saturday any more

I have the app on my phone even! Just never got round to using it!!!

Keeping up with Jo Pavey! Good effort!

I really need to get with the times, everyone I know uses Strava.

Yep as sleep said Strava is an app I use to track my runs & cycles you can link up to other people like social media but I just have 2 family members on there. Then each part of a route has your time ranked against anyone else who has cycled/run it and your PB time. For my cycle yest it’s the same route to work I’ve used over the last 2yrs and for some reason I rode my fastest or 2nd/3rd fastest time on the whole route and gained lots of PBs nice way to see if your progressing. The best one I ever got was a top2 place on a new run segment with Jo Pavey (Olympic runner) as no1 it was pure fluk I ran same route just after her.

Strava is lovely because you get a medal (not a real medal,sadly) for beating your own pb on a little segment of the route. Round here, lots of the segments have funny names like "Watch out for the deer!" or "Lumpy bumpy".
Pumped up tyres and a well oiled chain make so much difference. Wonder what the running equivalent is?

Yeah I’ve had a look at castle Howard before, someone said it’s really hard cause the run is muddy trails not road! It looks a beautiful venue though.

I’m a totally clueless about strava! Are the medals dotted along routes? Is there a time to be beat to be awarded a medal?

Had a great 30k r/trip work commute today racked up 35 Strava medals no idea how as I didn’t think I was going particularly fast but lovely hubbie had blown up my tyres really hard which definitely helped. I’ve hardly done any cycling so far but running fitness has definitely crossed over to the bike.

Igotta, if you're up Yorkshire way, why don't you do Castle Howard? It's part of the same series as the Hever one I did last year which was ace

Oh and really I meant to say that if your bike training is going really well then you’ll definitely pass people who were faster swimmers. I was very slow in my swim but made up lots of time on the bike. It’s the biggest part of your race and easiest to make up time. Good luck, you’ll enjoy it once you get going!

Loving all the forward thinking really!

I’ve never done one of those pile in from the edge starts. I’d start with a bit of breaststroke and then crawl when ready. I guess it won’t take long for a bit of swimming room to open up once the main bunch has charged off.

My plans for the rest of the summer are to do one, maybe two more triathlons. Most likely a lake swim sprint. I think my swimming needs a lot more work before I do another standard. Then a 10k trail run in August and a 10 mile road race in October. I plan to carry on swimming weekly while I’m doing the running stuff. Cycling will have to be largely sacrificed. The summer holidays will make it difficult to fit lots of tri training in.

And I’m planning next year already!!! Trail run half marathon in feb and then back into triathlon training for Leeds again in June!!! Can’t wait to have another crack at it. But I’ve gotta crack the swimming technique first 🙈😭

Thanks Igotta and Ski. I do repeat “bubble, bubble stretch” which kind of helps a little bit.
It is the Leeds Castle sprint triathlon and I’m particularly nervous because it’s a shore start ( is that what it’s called? Where we line up at the side and pile in then swim...aaaaggghhhhh!)
If I don’t die doing this one, I’m doing supersprint at the Shock Absorber tri on 8th July (400, 25, 5), supersprint at Castle Howard on 21st July and starter-tri (with work colleagues and husband) at Hever in September.