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First Tri Due to Bet, Scared and Excited!

Hi All,



Lost a bet at work 2 weeks ago and I'm now doing the London Olympic Triathlon. At first I thought it would be OK but after reading up about it and trying to swim for the first time in 5 years I'm thinking I've got myself in a whole world of shite. However, I'm loving every minute of the training so far and can't wait for August to come around.



I'm racing against an American colleague who has completed a sprint tri before in a half respectiable time. We have also set up a bet that whoever finishes last (out of the two of us) will have to wear a tri suit to work with an accompanying tie on the Tuesday following the tri.



To beat him I'm going to have to do it under 2Hrs 30mins.



Although I'm swimming like a beached whale at the moment I think that through practice it will all come good. What I really need help with is what level of training I should be doing to try and hit the time noted above.



Currently I'm doing a morning swim then a run and/or cycle 3 / 4 times a week, doing around a 3k run and 20K ride each time with weights intermittently.



When I go to the gym after work I normally feel a bit tired. Does anyone take anything before going to if a proper meal is not possible i.e. energy drinks / power bars etc.?



Also on the bike front, what should I be looking at aroung the £500 mark. Is it better to go down the ebay second hand route if your happy with your frame size or the local bike shop?



Thanks

Comments

  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    You are obviously trying to do it the hard (decent ) way,why not take the effort out of it,by following this bit of dastardly advice,

    1 After your friend has racked his bike and arranged his gear in a pleasing and eye catching fashion why not rearrange it how you do yours it is way better.

    2 It would be a great laugh to undo his QR skewers on his bike so that when he picks it off the rack they fall off,make sure you have a friend to video the event.

    3 All wetsuits come supplied with a tow rope attached to the zip, don't waste too much energy in the swim just hang on to it.Or help him into the wetsuit and use superglue to keep the zip from being pulled down when some inconsiderate person uses it as a tow rope.



    If all else fails just make sure you look good in Lycra and the tie matches,

    Best of luck and enjoy it.
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    2.30hr is a good time, so if this will be your first tri, you'll have to train very well to get there. Remember; open water swims are a lot different to pool swims, running of the bike is quite hard if you never did it before, .......

    For all training tips check the forums threads, a lot of your questions will already been answered before.

    For insurance: start looking for the matching tie already so you dont have to worry about that later[:D]

    Best of luck.[image]http://forum.220magazine.com/micons/m6.gif[/image]
  • toadtoad Posts: 104
    if you are struggling with your swims , make sure that you are not just doing distance , interval training really helps , last year when I started doing triathlon an experienced triathlete gave me a programme which involved alot of 50 / 80 / 100mtr repeated swim sprints against the clock with minimal recovery times , within months I went from struggling to swim 400mtrs to comfortably swimming a mile open water.



    it maybe useful to do one or two sprint triathlons before you go olympic at london , just to get a feel for the transitions . I found the he blenheim castle triathlon which is in june a really good introduction to tri. It is well organised and well attended so will give you a taste of mass swim starts which can be a bit of a shock to the system



    Make sure you do bike then run training as well so that you get used to that heavy legged feeling.



    Keep an eye on the 220 forum as there are some very experienced veterans to triathlon including tri coaches which give good advice for free.



    Enjoy
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    Buy a clip-on tie. The normal kind will chafe when worn with a collar-less tri suit.

  • Thanks for all the comments.



    Used all the info on the forum and my swimming has improved considerably, started having a few lessons which has really helped. Practice makes perfect right?!



    I like the dastardly advice Jon, may have to use some of those if everything goes pete tong.



    Bopomofo - is that from past experience?



    Even though I've fallen into this through a bet its the best thing i've done in ages. I'm completely hooked! However, I don't know what costs more, all the equipment I've had to purchase or all of the presents I'm constantly buying my girlfriend to stop her moaning about my training.

  • [quote]ORIGINAL: toad



    if you are struggling with your swims , make sure that you are not just doing distance , interval training really helps , last year when I started doing triathlon an experienced triathlete gave me a programme which involved alot of 50 / 80 / 100mtr repeated swim sprints against the clock with minimal recovery times , within months I went from struggling to swim 400mtrs to comfortably swimming a mile open water.



    the struggling 400m times sounds just like me what exactly was your regime (sounds tacky) when doin this e.g. how many times per week, how many reps, anything else?

  • i have just sold my car and put the money from it towards a new car for the wife. that helps keep her quiet when i training alll week
  • Hodgson wrote:


    Thanks for all the comments.



    Used all the info on the forum and my swimming has improved considerably, started having a few lessons which has really helped. Practice makes perfect right?!



    I like the dastardly advice Jon, may have to use some of those if everything goes pete tong.



    Bopomofo - is that from past experience?



    Even though I've fallen into this through a bet its the best thing i've done in ages. I'm completely hooked! However, I don't know what costs more, all the equipment I've had to purchase or all of the presents I'm constantly buying my girlfriend to stop her moaning about my training.





    Word of advice....



    Triathlon has a high divorce rate so dont get married cos divorce cost alot more than a 3k TT bike!!!



    But than again it will free more time to train harder! .....hmmmmmm[8|]



    I'm hooked too but lucky enough to have an understanding missus!

  • toadtoad Posts: 104
    krazycal



    this is the initial pool routine I started on which seemed to work well for me .... you may want to adjust some of the times to suit your swimming speed ... Although I had been taught to swim I was a beginner to distance swimming and slow



    This was in a 20mtr pool , I used minimal kick off between lengths



    warm up 400 mtr free style or mixed easy



    3 * 40 mtr sprints free style each completed in 45 secs ( If I finished before the 45 secs i could have a few seconds rest until the time was up



    1 min rest



    3 * 80 mtr sprints each completed in 2 mins



    2 min rest



    3 * 100 mtr sprints each completed in 2 min 30 secs



    3 min rest



    2 * 200 mtr with pull buoy medium pace



    1 * 400 mtr freestyle as quickly as I could manage at this point



    140 mtr easy whatever stroke I liked to round off the total swim distance to 2000 mtrs



    i tried to do this programme 3 times per week and later when I was more confident joined the local open water club where we practised mass starts and just straight out distance swimming once per week. I am sure there are better programmes, but this worked for me.



    obviously good technique will also save you alot of time, this year I am going to try and get a swim coach to help with that some may say it would have been better to do this first however the regieme helped me alot last year .



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