Summer 2015 triathletes….

[pootlebug]

Anyone else? We had a thread last summer so thought I'd start a new one. Please join in whether you're just contemplating your first one or a seasoned triathlete!

Did my first season last year - 2 sprints and 2 olympic. I am panicking as signed up for half ironman in June. Winter was plagued with injuries and now although I'm back to training I'm not nearly as fit as I was and it doesn't feel like long enough to get there. Will give it a good go though. Planning a Sprint in early May and an Olympic end of May as warm-up races.

Come and join me!

Place marking as I'm doing 3 or 4 sprints this year and oly later into the season.

Piggy, shrewsbury tri is 500m swim - and it's down stream too. If the river is high it takes about 6 minutes!

Saturday's hill run was an epic. 13.1 miles, 3,185ft ascent over 4 hills. Moving time was about 2:57:00 - but we had a wee break when one of the team decided to fly down a descent. She overtook us briefly whilst airborne before trashing her elbow. She's one tough lady though and carried on running. Route was stunning though and the weather was perfect but I've got a lot of work to do before a half in April then a quad in May. Planning an early morning 10 miler later this week but I REALLY ought to dig my bike out...

So as a novice, what sort of bike would you all recommend?

I would definitely recommend a road bike of some sort. People do compete on all sorts - hybrids, mountain bikes, and I have even seen a Brompton at one event! But if you are buying a bike specifically to do triathlon on then it makes sense to buy the fastest bike you can.

Beyond that, recommendations depend on your budget, but to get something reasonable you would be looking at a minimum of £500 for something second hand.

A road bike of some sort - which depends on your height (much more choice in mens sizes for instance) and budget.
DH has a Felt bike from Wiggle which was £450 and is serving him very well, I have a Cannondale Synapse alloy which is lovely, but I'm tall and need a 56cm bike.

If you have a good local (pref independant) bike shop, then asking their advice is incredibly helpful if they are nice people. This can be judged by going in and seeing if they want to help you - if they ignore you or are pushy on high price things, then don't bother. My local looks scary from the outside as they really cater to high end racers, but they are unfailingly lovely, and incredibly happy to advise, find solutions, try and get into the right price range by sourcing last seasons models, trade ins, lower spec bike with modifications and so on.

Oh, and swimming - get some lessons, pref 1:1 with a tri specialist if you can. It will make a massive difference really quickly. Vaguely which area of S Wales are you? I have a friend near Merthyr who is in a tri club and might know of a coach

Hello all, doing my first tri in May (olympic distance). I'm coming from three years of running so not worried about that. Did the cycle route a few weeks back and that was fine, definatly could've done the 10k after it so not worried about that.

Really worried about the swim though! I'm an ok swimmer but never done that kind of distance in open water before :/ Was doing quite well for a month going to the pool twice a week but got out of the habit for the past month. Must get back in the pool!!

I'll certainly start looking around for a bike. My brother does time trials so he could come with me. Unfortunately I'm not really tall enough to borrow his. ( also I am worried about turning up and the bike being far better than I am!).
I am near Newport, with regards finding a coach, and yes I really need some 1:1 lessons. All I need to do now is persuade the baby that she no longer needs to breastfeed- it is interrupting my training!

Kudos to you for contemplating a tri with a bf baby, Whatever! I waited until DC3 had jacked it in and started sort-of sleeping before I tried anything of the sort!

Ebay is worth a look for a bike - especially if you can get an opinion from your brother. My initial bike was a carbon-framed road bike (RRP about £1200, I paid £300 in good condition). It is a reasonable bike but unfortunately a bit small for me…it is still sitting in my house but I need to sell it really. I did my first tri on it then bought a tri bike, but it had been altered by previous owner to drop bars instead of tri bars. Again, I paid about 1/4 of RRP on ebay (bike 3 years old), although if it still had its tri bars I would have paid more. I love it sooooo much. Lots of people admire it at triathlons. I had to look a while for both of these though.

Popular brands tend to command higher prices. So look for e.g Jamis or Orbea rather than Giant etc….consider what is more popular in the UK.

RB32 if you have a chance to practice in open water, I'd go for it. You don't have to be a great swimmer (and plenty of people aren't) but it helps if you can avoid panicking.... Swimming in open water is VERY different, and can be quite freaky until you get used to it.

Hi all - just wondering if it's not too late to join you all. I have entered a sprint-tri for June this year. First one ever. I am not naturally athletic shall we say but have run (plodded) for a long time.

I couldn't swim front crawl at all so started lessons about 6 weeks ago and managed a mile last night so was very impressed with myself but feeling knackered today!

My main worry is the bike. I actually have a reasonable (albeit very old) bike as am married to a very keen cyclist from years gone back. I have a half marathon in 5 weeks, which will give me 6 weeks after that to prepare for the tri. Will 6 weeks be enough to get the bike better? I am not worried about the swim because it is so short. Not worried about the run either but I am worried about the bike. Not that I won't get round, as I know I can but just that it'll be really slow. The distance is not the issue - the speed (or considerable lack of it) is. I know it shouldn't really matter but as I already know I can do the distance, I'd like to do it as quickly as I can.

I also have a question I can ask nowhere else other than here - prepare yourselves...I have a decidedly crap pelvic floor. I usually wear a pad when running (nice). I have also noticed that I must inadvertently take in a heck of a lot of water when swimming as I wee like crazy for about an hour afterwards. How on earth is this going to work?? Any advice at all gratefully received.

Hi Meggy. if you work at it, then you should be able to make a lot of bike progress in 6 weeks. It might well be worth getting a bike fit in before that (my local bike shop charge £60, with unlimited adjustments afterwards) so that the bike is all correct for your shape.

As for the other questions - well, I'd normally be a big weeer after swimming, but I think that as you are only in the pool a short time, and your mind is on other things, and sweaty it doesn't seem to be an issue for me.
The pelvic floor issue isn't one I have, but if you just leak a little, then in a trisuit, which has a wet chamois in it already, no one is going to notice at all.

I have a question as well - I can enter one of two sprint tris in May (same day). One is local, and last year had 160 entrants in total. Run by local, smallish tri club.
Other is a bit further, 160 odd women in the sprint category (also super sprint and relay) last year, many more men. Run by a company who were excellent at the event I did last year. Nice medal and t shirt.

Which one should I do?

Thanks CMOT. Slightly disinclined to buy a tri suit for a one off until I know I'm going to do another but have padded tri- shorts so that part works. Any cheap ideas for the top?I'm not wildly well endowed but still don't want to be jiggling about.

Re. Local v not-local - depends how far away and whether you're a member of your local club in which case you may feel you want to support that one. Otherwise I'm a sucker for a free t-shirt!

I bought a £10 one from Start Fitness to start with, and now have a second hand better one from Ebay. Either way, I wear a sports bra underneath.

More local tri is 20 min drive tops, other is an hour. Am not a club member, though possibly members of my bike club might do the local one.

Oh god you have reminded about the post swim wee! I did a 10k run of an oly Distance tri with a very full bladder once and nowhere to go - Eton Dorney is very open! What to do? The bike with a full bladder is ok but running at the end is a horror.
Meggy - I always wear a sports bra for the whole tri. Under tri suit or separate tri shorts and top. You will find separates mores useful as you will wear then in training. Also as a friend discovered if you do stop for pee separates are better......

Clay - that sounds hideous re. the wee - I would have peed myself without a doubt. Reading this thread reminds me to do my pelvic floor exercises!

Re. the sports bra - do you swim in it too? Does it not chafe terribly then?

If swimming in open water, try and remember to do an on-the-move wee in the last metres of the swim.

Chrissie Wellington recommends peeing on the go on the bike in her book….
Not tried it myself though!

My bra doesn't chafe - you do need to select carefully so its not one with a cotton lining or padding otherwise it would be v grim. Less Bounce do a bra designed for tri.

Its gorgeous here today, and I had a lovely run to the pool (the long way), and the bottom of the pool was all sunny. Then I ran home to get back for this afternoons conference calls

Blimey oh riley, I did my first ever session with a tri club in the pool last night. I swear I nearly drowned. Good lord. still I'm sure it did me good .

I'll have a look for a non-chaffing bra.

when I'm doing my hard groups swimming I reckon I have to feel like chucking to be at max work.

I was at a tri expo today, and chatted with the lady from Less Bounce was really helpful and knew her bras - give her a call for a chat

Well I've been a bit shit training recently. No swimming, running or cycling for near enough two weeks (and only 40 days to go until my tri!). Blaming the stresses of needing to find a new job....

So, new job in hand, I'm back on it. 8miles run, hour on the bike (exercise OR real), hour swimming on rotation every day with the occasional rest in there once a week. Going to aim to put in a decent 'brick' session in once every weekend.

Need to decise what to wear on the day though.

Right, so just been looking at the kit. Does this sound about right to you lot for a man doing a tri in a rowing lake at the beginning of may:

Start off wearing a tri-suit, goggles. Do I need a swimming cap? Should I get a wet-suit to gover the top of the tri-suit?

In T1, put my trusty padded cycle shorts over the top of tri-suit, socks and running trainers.

T2, simply remove the cycling shorts.

You will most def need a wetsuit at the beginning of May! It will be compulsory in fact.

Swimming caps will be provided.

A tri suit has some padding, so you won't need your cycling shorts, but you might want a top to pull on depending on weather.

You'll also need a racebelt and pins to put your number on. And obv your cycling helmet.

I'll be in Dorney at the end of May

Wet suit it is then and maybe just some shorts and a tight fitting running top (long or short sleeved depending on how cold it is). Got a helmet, didn't know about race belts :) ta

rb32 - I second what CMOTD said - you'll definitely need a wetsuit - it'll be about 13-14 degrees in a UK lake in May. Look for a tri-specific wetsuit….if you're not sure about continuing with it you can hire them too.

Don't muck about putting shorts on over your tri suit - it will be really awkward when you're still wet, the tri-suit has padding anyway (albeit less than cycling shorts) and in any case you won't be on the bike all that long so it wouldn't really matter.

A long-sleeved top that isn't too tight (so easy to put on whilst you're still wet from the swim) might be good if it's cold as you come out of the water.

CMOTD which Dorney one are you doing at the end of May?

Its the women only tri training day - I thought it would be a good way of getting some time in the lake outside of an actual event.

DS is over the moon as we had the next terms school club list through, and they are having triathlon club as he isn't very good at rugby/football/cricket, something he can do will be great.

Thanks for the advice guys. I bought a tri suit and am renting a wetsuit for the day. Went out on the bike in the tri suit and it was fine, should be ok running in it.