Just signed up for sprint triathlon- anyone else?

[Somanyillustrations]

In a post night shift fit of silliness, I have just signed up for a fun sprint triathlon in 12 weeks...
I'm 33, 5'6 and 10st. Am currently fairly unfit but working on it, and am on week 3 of c25k. Swimming is my strong point, but will be aiming to finish it rather than get a decent time.
Am I going to die?!
Is anyone else doing one this year?

Hope the back soreness has eased? Well done on your event and good luck for the next one. Your far braver than me going for the big distances I’m still jibbering about do a Go-Tri but I’ve going to do some swimming lessons/coaching soon Yah! I’m completely self-taught so hoping they will help streamline me & improve my swimming efficiency. Plan to cycle to work tom too, my first this year as weather been SO pants, was supposed to be going off early but DH just said he can’t drop kids at school but he can prob collect from CM later so I can still cycle but won’t get to my desk before 9.30am which is cutting it bit tight but I’m desperate to cycle and I’d got all my kit & bag ready grrrr! Hoping the forecast is right for 17c and finally some sunshine!!!

Yes my back has settled down thanks. Went for a half hour run yesterday but realise now that I should probably have had another day off. Anyway I’m part terrified and part excited about the Olympic distance. Ordered a wetsuit, should arrive today! Just itching to get some practice in. Our local open water swimming doesn’t start for another few weeks but there’s another lake about an hour away that is open so I’m going to try to get to that in the meantime.

I hope the coaching goes well ski you’ll only improve for it I imagine. No excuses with the weather to get out on the bike now . I’ve just been lent a turbo trainer (could’ve done with it 3 months ago but never mind!) which will come in handy while DH is away. I was going to have a gentle bike ride today but I’m at home with poorly DD instead.

Not sure where all the other tri bods have gone! This thread is pretty quiet these days!!

Ooh hope you can get on with the turbo ours sat unused in the shed all winter....(hangs head in shame ) but I did cycle into work this morning Yah! Fastest time as well 38mins but I did use the scary rat run as I needed to be in for a meeting. I will use the slightly longer safer route home tonight though!

Hello Triathletes! I thought I'd check in for a bit of moral support as my next triathlon is in June and I'm feeling a bit panicky.
I'm doing a sprint triathlon at Leeds Castle in Kent although seriously, won't be doing anything at "sprint" pace.
I can now keep going when swimming front crawl, although I am not fast and may well be last out of the moat. I joined a cycling club and my cycling massively improved although I've just swapped to cleats and am not getting on with them AT ALL. Any advice?
My running. Ha. I eased off on my running because of horrid plantar fasciitis. I did a 10k race a t the weekend and really struggled.
So. Lots of work to be done.
Any motivational words of wisdom very welcome!

I've signed up for a super sprint in 4 weeks and I havent done any training! Will I survive?

Hello reallyneed and thisismy!!!

really ‘sprint’ is an anomaly isn’t it! I’m another slow swimmer, you wont be alone in that I promise. I’m even slower at front crawl than I am at breaststroke but I keep on trying!

No advice on cycling I’m afraid, I haven’t tried cleats yet. They’re supposed to be much more energy efficient aren’t they?

And with the running, just take it very slowly, speed wise and upping distances. I’m doing Leeds Olympic distance in June and feel massively under prepared!!! I’m aiming to complete and hopefully enjoy it! So just relax and do what training you can.

thisismy what’s your general fitness like?? Still time to get some useful training in!!!

I can cycle to work (10 miles) without dying, and do parkrun in about 34 minutes, but haven't swum for about 3 months! Planning to go tomorrow and time my 200m...

Oh you’ll be grand then! Get swimming and do some brick sessions (bike then straight into a run). And be prepared to get sucked in. Considering it’s quite demanding it’s surprisingly addictive!!

I'm a tri newbie too, doing a Come and Tri event in a few weeks then a sprint in September.
I am majorly over-analysing what to wear. Any advice? What do you more experienced people wear? There's no way I can run without a sports bra.

Jealous! I’m going to be massively pregnant through tri season this year so unlikely to get any done. I’m considering maybe doing a local one very casually but I’ll be midway through my third trimester so we’ll see 😂

Wear a sports bra knit! I wore one under my trisuit last weekend. Hope you enjoy your event!

Do you wear a bra while you swim? Or get dried and put it on after the swim?
Oh god I am such a novice.

I wore my sports bra under my swim costume with Tri-shorts on and then pulled on quick dry t-shirt in transition.

SkiGirl that confuses me even more!

Tell me from the skin outwards what you wear. Sports bra and swimsuit to swim, then you add shorts and tshirt over the top? Keeping on your swimsuit?

My dad used to do triathlon but he wore his swimming trunks then came out and got himself all carefully dried with talcum powder between his toes before getting dressed in his cycling kit, then changing again into his running shorts for running. I won’t be asking him for advice, things seem to have moved on a bit!

Knitjob, I did a starter tri last year. I can’t run without my shock absorber.
I bought a cheap tri suit on amazon and wore that with a sports bra underneath.
Wetsuit on top for the swim.
I was going to pull a T-shirt over the top to run and cycle but didn’t in the end and just pulled my belt and gloves on to cycle.
Talc in the trainers was good; I didn’t wear socks.

knit I wore sports bra under my tri suit (no knickers) for the swim. Put tshirt on over the top in first transition (cause it was cold day but otherwise would just stay in tri suit) and put trainers on (with socks with a bit of talc in them, makes it much easier to put them on wet feet). And off you go! Jump off bike, transition 2 is just racking bike and taking off bike helmet. Does that help?

Is your bra not really uncomfortable to swim in, and then to run in when it's wet?
Or am I just really over-thinking this and need to just get on with it?
Alternatively, will everyone laugh at me if I swim in my swimming costume then get dried and changed for the cycle and run?

Hi, hope people don’t mind me jumping in! knit a bra is ok for swimming in but it’s best to get one that is is quick drying. Trigirl website recommends Anita Active and that’s what I have. If it’s warm all you’ll need is the bra with the Tri suit over the top plus a race belt for your number. There isn’t really anywhere for you to get changed as you just run out of the swim into transition which is normally set up in rows. I would recommend some practice swims in your kit so you know how it feels.

Yes swim on your sports bra underneath your costume. I’m large chested so it was actually really comfy I also swam with my Tri shorts on to. I only put on my tshirt after the swim in T1 with socks and trainers. It was a cool wind & I needed the tshirt layer. I didn’t wear clip in shoes on the bike so only needed to take off bike helmet & rack bike before running. That and shoving some jelly babies in my mouth too between bike & run.

I looked on YouTube at transitions to see what it would be like

Ooh just went out for a little ride and am feeling very brave because I went on actual roads and up and down hills wearing my cleats! Ta dah!!!!

Well done really how were the cleats? I need to look into getting some. Just can’t face buying more stuff!! Is it just bike shoes and the fancy pedals?

Well done on the cleats hope you didn’t have an wobbles. I’ve got pedals that are flat one side and clip in the other. Handy so I don’t have to wear cycle shoes if out with the kids but I’ve lost my nerve with the clip ins after falling over a couple of times last year and knocking my back out of alignment.

Went swimming mon night and put into practice a couple of tips from my coaching session. I could feel more power going through my arms and was puffing a lot more as I had to keep catching my breath at the end of the lane. Hoping I can embed the ideas and speed up the flow again. One tip was having fingers spread a bit on the FC catch, goes against what I thought but you can feel it pulling more power through the water! ?!

Out again on the cleats today and feeling good! Just one moment when I thought I wasn't going to be able to unclip but I was OK in the end. Hills seems lots easier already.
I don't know what to do about transitions though - if I wear these shoes to do my little triathlons, I'll have to run into transition in my cycling shoes (tricky) and then change into my trainers. Hmmn.
Am going lake swimming tomorrow evening - will experiment with spreading my fingers a bit!

I had a busy day yesterday, 30k bike in the morning and I swam with the tri club last night. Very tired last night!!! The thought of having to do similar/longer distances and tag a run on the end in just over 6 weeks time is scary. Genuinely don’t know if I can do it! Tri club swim was hard but that’s what you go for. The last ten mins was swimming round bouys practice. So all the lanes were removed and it was all swimming en masses to get round the bouys! Chaos!!! But good to practice. They do a funny backstroke thing to turn round the bouy, not entirely sure I got the hang of it!

I was trying to remember the spread fingers thing amongst everything else!