Warwickshire Triathlon Oct 2009
victoria1901
Posts: 3
in Race Chat
Hi,
I have signed up for the Warwickshire Triathlon in Stratford on October 4th. It will be my first triathlon and now I'm starting to worry!!! Has anyone done this one before and could give me any advice? Especially about how the swimming works as I'm not a strong swimmer.
Thanks,
Vicky.
I have signed up for the Warwickshire Triathlon in Stratford on October 4th. It will be my first triathlon and now I'm starting to worry!!! Has anyone done this one before and could give me any advice? Especially about how the swimming works as I'm not a strong swimmer.
Thanks,
Vicky.
0
Comments
i had a scan of the race website and it looks like you do a couple of laps in each lane, so sort of spiralling / zigzagging down the pool (if that makes sense). i'm sure there will be plenty of marshalls there to help out, and there is usually a race briefing before the swim at events so that any questions can be ironed out.
they say 15secs between swimmers, so i'll guess you have to be there for the briefing and then you'll have a few mins before your start time. hopefully they'll group/arrange people in the swim according to ability/speed so you won't be surrounded by semi-pro dolphins. usually the etiquette is to tap the ankles or feet of the person in front if you want to get past at the end of the lap.
don't worry about what stroke you are doing - breast stroke or crawl are normally the permitted strokes, so no backstroke or fly to worry about! try to be relaxed in the water, set a nice steady pace and enjoy it!
enjoy the day, and come back and tell us all how it went - it's always good to hear about novices enjoying thier first events.
I am new to this Tris stuff too and will also be at the Warwickshire Tri... so you won't be the only newby!!!!!
Good luck x
I did their Henley one as my first event & really enjoyed the whole experience.
Vicky
Generally a good event. Swim is 12 lengths of a 33m pool. set off at 15/20 sedond intevals, with the fastest swimmers going first. Pool is split into 3 wide'ish lanes, and you have to swim 4 lengths in a lane, duck under the rope, four more lengths, duck under he rope, a final four lengths and then out into T1. Biggest challenge in the swim is traffic, you'll be lucky to do front crawl all the way, as once you caught up with the perosn in front, you've basically had it. If you try to overtake, then you are face-to-face with person coming down the lane.
Best place to pass people is when you turn, or better still duck under the rope. What most people do is get tot he end of the lane, stop, walk sideways as they duck under the rope, and then push off an go. What I did was push off at an angle and swim under the rope come up in the new lane. Took about 2-3 people each time.
Bike ride is good, realtively flatish, but there are a few long drags on main roads.
Run is on a trail and through parkland, I found it difficult becuase I'd only trained on tarmac, so the surface change was a shock. I'd recommend trying some trail running before the event. And don't forget that it's a two lap run, some poeple were amazed at how quickly they'd completed the run, only to find out that they'd only done one lap.
About 1500 did it in May, so it was a good eye opener to Tri, and my third one ever. Good for spectators as it's happens in Transtion all day. Downside is that it's not chip timed, so you won't get your final time until Tuesday/Wednesday, so time yourself.
Vicky
Just round corner from bike exit is a traffic light pedestrian crossing. Must stop if red, marshalled and DQ. Don't get out of the car park and hammer the bike aero until past this crossing, you might have to do an emergency stop. Also be prepared for heavy traffic on the main road into Stratford if you have a later start time. Lots of tourist coaches.
Last year it rained like billy-o for the week before and the run was swamplike (more than one runner fell over). This year will be taking trail shoes too.
Ade
This will be my first tri as well. Looking forward to it.
See you there
Mark
Practicing transitions will inevitably expose some questions you haven't thought about, and should help you prepare yourself for the race. If you're not sure what to do search the internet for ideas, or ask in this thread. It can be as simple as every time you go for a bike ride, set up your transition in your garden before you go, then follow your routine when you return.
Doing bricks (swim, then cycle straight away, or cycle, then run straight away) will train your body to adjust between the disciplines. Having done 2 tri's, one where I didn't do this and the second where I did, the difference was amazing. Before bricks, It's as though your body won't accept that you can do these things one after the other. Then once you've trained in bricks you hardly even notice it.
You can of course combine brick training with transition practice which I found very valuable.
Also - read the rules for the race over and over - when do you have to have your bike helmet on? When can you take it off?
Having marshalled a transition and seen first time area - it looked like a teenagers bedroom - stuff everywhere - try and keep your little bit organised.
Helmet - don't touch the bike until helmet on and fastened. Don't undo helmet/remove until you've stopped touching the bike. We didn't time pen anyone, but did explain the rules - right when you don't want to chat, no matter how charming I am!
Ade
Anyway the bike route is fairly easy , just a longish not very steep hill on the A46 (the bit that has road works)
Good luck with your first race , & whaen your swimming REMEMBER TO BREATH !!!
i've done this one before, and stratford on the same course, it's a really good course.
no hills to worry about bar the long low incline that others have mentioned.
the swim looks confusing when you first see it but actually works really well exactli as ris described.
best advice is relax at the start, breathe slow, don't let the adrenaline get the best of you. Just stay calm and remember to do your first two lengths at about 70% RPE as this will actually be closer to about 85% of your max effort as you will always go too fast
other than that, enjoy it
see you there
J
As i'm typing this just got an email saying there was an error, so still awaiting a proper start time etc.
i'm doing this one as its local to me , i've done it either at start or end of year a fair few times now. i'm off at 08:36 and a bit, number 26. so should hope to finish by 10:00.
if anyone wants a chat before they start i'll happily go through the course and transitions etc and try to help if i can, or just say hi. i'll be on a red/black cervelo soloist with zipp wheels, short fair hair, and either a black 2xu or pale blue adidas trisuit with my name on it (L....S)
matt
A quick question. It says in the rules no MP3 players / headphones which of course is very sensible.
However, I have an iPhone (luck boy) with an app that will tell me my distance, time etc (can be set for cycling and running). When training I normally wear it on my arm in a carry case. I don't wear headphones it just shouts out at 1km and 5mins intervals. It just helps to know how far / fast I've gone / got to go etc.
Will the race organisers allow me to wear this?
Thanks for your help
Sagey
I should be able to just put it on my arm and mess around when I'm on the bike (at least that's the plan)!
I'm not looking to beat any world record on the bike or run
Sagey
Disqualification If Fault Not Rectified After A warning
m. Illegal equipment (swim, cycle or run equipment)
n. Banned equipment including, but not limited to, mobile
telephones, MP3 players and personal stereos
o. Illegal progress (during swim, cycle or run)
p. Racing topless