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?

Lots of options there bee hope you can find something to inspire you. I sat in my camping chair last week and declared I would start marathon training from Oct but first I need to lose some weight to reduce injury on my middle aged joints. However whilst running this morning I realised I needed to hit HM again by Oct to be in with a chance of sensibily building up the distance again arrhhh hope my body can do it.

Had a really good 5k yesterday and a 10k run this morning was so nice to be only 12c and abit drizzly so I didn’t overheat too much this time!

Oh god, I'm staring to panic. First sprint triathlon (my previous one was a starter-tri) is this Saturday and I feel a bit sick every time I think about it.
I went for a lake swim this evening and it was awful - really couldn't get my breathing right and couldn't do more than 12/14 strokes of crawl at a time. I felt like I had a band around my chest. My cycling training is going well but I'm worried about transitioning in cleats and my running is slloooowww!
I keep imagining myself staggering over the finish line ages after everyone else to sympathetic, slightly patronising clapping....

Making it to start line is 90% of the battle sleep I was a nervous wreck doing my 2nd Go-Tri but once I got going I was ok. Would reciting a simple mantra in your head help with the swim breathing? I struggle occasionally in a pool and repeating simple stuff like either bubble bubble breathe or relax breathe relax breathe over and over calms my mind and breath. Good luck go smash it!

really you will be fine. Get in the water as soon as you’re allowed to. Just float around, put your face in and try to relax before the race starts. And if you panic just stop, give yourself a moment and breaststroke for a bit. Front crawl again when you’re ready. I guarantee you won’t be the only person feeling nervous. I agree with ski, reciting a mantra is a good idea, I sometimes count my strokes so I remember to breath every third stroke.

You can always think of me getting totally left for dead at the swim start the other week! I was so slow!!!

It’s Leeds castle you’re doing isn’t it? I still haven’t got anything booked in, I feel a bit sad that my big race is all over!

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.

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 🙈😭

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!

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

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.

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?

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?

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.

Keeping up with Jo Pavey! Good effort!

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

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

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

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

Glad the swim went better sleep good luck for your event

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!

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

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!

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.

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!!!

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?

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!

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.