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!

It's actually at the West Reservoir Centre in Stoke Newington! I was supposed to do the one there in May but wussed out because I'm relatively slow (70 minutes for 3k) and I'd be in 14c water for an uncomfortably long time. Moot point now though, I may not be able to do it because I found out this morning that I have a family christening in Dublin to attend that weekend.

Best of luck with Staffordshire! You'll be fine :)

Hi ladies. Loving this thread. I did Hyde park olympic 2 weeks ago, flipping cold and wet and dangerous! My swim is painfully slow (always last out of the water!!) but I did it! A new wetsuit -without shark attack holes in made a difference! I was very pleased with my run though! I have Leeds Castle sprint and Ride London 100 in August.

Ooh, lucky you, Clure - I applied for Ride London but didn't get it.

Well done at Hyde Park on a crappy day….I was Oly-ing in Essex the same day and was lucky to avoid rain, although it was windy on the bike.

The good thing with being a weak swimmer is that you get to go past people on the bike! The swim is usually my best leg, but the bike my worst….meaning that a gazillion people whizz past me in the first 10 mins of cycling.

Hurrah weather forecast for Staffordshire is still crappy rain and cold, but at least the forecast strong winds have been revised to lighter ones….hoping it stays that way!

Good luck Pootlebug. I'm sure you will do great.

DH and I are off to Velothon Wales on Sunday then next weekend is Henley sprint tri for me.

Well done on completing Hyde Park Clure

Oh have fun at Velothon Wales! Hope it goes well. And good luck for Henley too.

Well ladies, I completed my first triathlon this morning. A huge achievement for me as this was couch to triathlon in four and a half months, so I'm pleased with that. It was a sprint one so more manageable. Thanks for all the advice earlier in the year. Not sure if I'll do another one- the swim was a real challenge!

Well done Whateverloser - couch to tri in 4 months is amazing.

Velothon Wales was fantastic. Riding through a city on closed roads was v cool, and cycling to the start at 6am while drunk people were still walking home was funny. I'd really recommend it (though we will draw a veil over the horror of caerphilly mountain)

How was the Tumble? I live near there and drove up it with my children to show them just how steep it was!

I did the short course (50km), so no Tumble for us. The photos from up there look amazing though

I might brave it one day- it's brutal though

Whatever - couch to triathlon in 4.5 months is amazing! You should be really proud of yourself. What was hard on the swim - had you practiced open water? It can be tricky to get used to compared to a pool.

CMOTD - Sounds like you had a great day! I sometimes see people staggering home on early morning runs (went out for a training run the other week at 5.30am, only to meet a school-run dad staggering home rather the worse for wear )

I survived my half-ironman!! Slower than I really wanted, and the lack of cycle training really showed, in both the cycle and the run after when I was wrecked. Plus it would appear that orange powerade doesn't agree with me….I only have one bottle on my bike so needed to grab others at feed stations. I usually have High5 stuff which is fine but I had real stomach cramps with the powerade which persisted through most of bike and the run. But although it was bloody hard, it was fun, and I felt amazing across the finish line. Managed about 1/3 of the way down the female entries which will do me for a first attempt. I'm glad I stuck with it - 6/7 weeks ago I was really tempted to pull out due to lack of training for a variety of reasons.

Well done, that's great :)

I'm totally with you on the hatred of Powerade btw, absolutely rancid stuff.

I need to do a lot of work on my swimming- I hadn't swum in years before this! It was a baptism of fire to be honest. It was a pool swim- I was just inexperienced. I enjoyed the bike and run though. I'd like to improve my swimming but it's the one I find it hardest to find the time for.

hhmph. Sprint tri today, had a really good swim, out on the bike, all going really well. And then I got a puncture. Managed to reinflate, and had to nurse it through the second lap. Then had a great run.
I guess it was good to go through the puncture thing on a not too important/expensive/far event so I'd had to deal with it, but still narked.

That must have been really annoying, CMOT. Even if it's not your 'A' race it is still annoying not to get a proper time etc. I actually practiced taking inner tubes & tyres on and off my bike before my half - was determined that if I did get a flat it shouldn't take me my usual half hour of faffing with it!

On the bright side - if the swim and run were good, and the bike pre-puncture, it bodes well for next time hopefully! When is your next one?

Just seen the times - I was 2 minutes faster than last year, even with the whole tyre thing.

My next is late July, another pool sprint which is local, then my open water para tri in early August which should be brilliant.

I've also just entered a very local 10k run (as in, I think its pretty much my normal 10k route) which has the added bonus of a plum and a sausage inna bun for all finishers, and contemplating a local open water tri.

We're working out our RideLondon logistics as we get there on Saturday, and want to do the FreeRide thing. So we all need to cycle from Excel into tower bridge to join that, which may be entertaining

Whats your next event?

CMOT if you're having a wobble about navigating all the traffic between Excel and Tower Bridge (and indeed some of the main roads between bikes are prohibited anyway, so check out your route), you can ride along the Thames Path. Sometimes it goes along roads a bit but most of the way is off-road (it's our main London-based cycling with the kids, as there are very few roads around here really suitable for 5 year olds). It's not fast, although you could cut through Canary Wharf, which is quiet on the weekend, to avoid the extra Isle of Dogs curve of the river.

If you really want to cheat, you can also take bikes on the DLR at weekends….

I am a bit jealous - applied for but didn't get a Ride London place.

I only have one more Tri booked - the London Triathlon 8/9 August. Just signed up for the Yorkshire Marathon in Oct. May add a July tri, and there's an open water swimming event in Devon which coincides with our holiday that I have my eye on….

And that's amazing on the times - you'd have totally smashed last year without the tyre thing!

See ya there at London Tri pootlebug :D

Giving some consideration to a weekend back home for Dublin City Tri on August 23rd, a few Oly places left and a friend back home has offered me a loan of her bike (a little small cos she's only 5'0", but manageable for 40km) - I'm quite tempted, plus it's only €60 to enter.

Been off here a while but thought I'd finally update....

I did the tri back in may and got round in 3:15! My legs were starting to cramp up near the end but got round. To be honest, I was shitting it when I saw the length of the lake we were swimming in, after that I loved it! good luck anyone doing one :)

Hello, I've just finished my first tri and loved it! It was slow but mainly due to the bike so that's my starting point for training for the next one. Did anyone else do the Canterbury sprint yesterday? What was it like compared to other courses?! Just so I know what I'm letting myself in for.

I'm planning on going to Bodiam in September and maybe Hever Castle. DH is starting to look twitchy that I've got another hobby that needs equipment and weekends away!

Well done rb32 and Rhubarb on your first tris!

Rhubarb - I don't know the Canterbury course but had a quick squizz on the website - definitely a very bike-focussed one with a slightly long bike course and v short swim. How are you at swimming? The change to open water rather than pool based brings new challenges but it's really rewarding.

Swimming is my strongest bit! I've been wild swimming a lot but never in a wet suit so need to work on that too. Glad to hear it was bike heavy as that was definitely the hardest part.

Rhubarb you'd definitely be better with a standard 'sprint' distance (half of a Standard / Olympic distance) which is 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run.
So long as you get a triathlon-specific wetsuit then once you get used to it you usually swim faster. You barely have to kick either, because of the buoyancy in the legs, which helps save your energy for the bits after.

I like the sound of the wet suit! I'm also eyeing bikes. I did have a road bike but it was stolen a couple of years ago. It was replaced by a hybrid which is great but heavy and has a rack on for the child seat! Great for meandering around with DSs but not very fast. I just need to break it to DH now.
I've just read the whole thread and you all sound amazing with the distances!