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How many Tri's per year

This is my first year at Triathlon, Ive completed 1 super sprint (400m/20k/4k?) with an Olympic dist at the begining of July and One in September.



I want to concentrate on The Olympic distance races but am unsure how many events to do a year - 1 a month? I am also aware of doing races for race practice with certain events your priority races throughout the year, for example should I slip in a couple of 'unimportant' sprints between the olympic races I want to be competative in - just for transition and race day prep??



Any advice would be appreciated.



Also I am on a 5yr old(ish) Airborne (alu) with ultegra - when do you think it would be worth upgrading to a Carbon race machine, i can the use this as a winter/training bike (i notice a few of you have multiple bike options). Do you think its best to chuck some new wheels on my AB and gradually upgrade the kit/or start with some nice SRAM red and keep the old wheels....



Comments

  • I can't really comment on the bikes but, regarding the number of races, I'd pick 2 or 3 races that you really want to excel in and then pad them out with another 4 or 5 shorter/less important races that you can use to hone your technique and to work out how hard you can push. I wouldn't recommend concentrating on just one big race, simply because you'll feel absolutely gutted if injury or some other event makes you miss it. I had that problem with the London Triathlon last year when I managed to injure myself the day before the race (I'd even racked my bike :-( ). The easier/shorter races are great for morale and for keeping up your motivation as your times start to fall. You can also do them without tapering or otherwise disrupting your training programme (i.e. treat them as training sessions).



    The only caveats to the above are distance/time and cost. Entering 8 or 9 races a season can be pretty expensive. It is also fairly disruptive for wives/husbands who find themselves being left with the children every other weekend while you trot down to Devon or Northumbria for your races.... I owe my wife an awful lot of favours already...



    From my side, I've had 3 warm ups (Eton and a couple of Thames Turbos) and my season starts in earnest at Windsor in a couple of weeks. Starting to get nervous.

  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    I agree with Tiring - have a couple of 'peak' events that you build your training plan around, a few that you're going to mini-taper for and take quite seriously, and a couple of 'train through' events.



    Sprints or super-sprints are great for train through events, because they're within the same size as a normal training session and you also get to properly practice your transitions, your preparation (i.e. sorting your race-box out) and you get to meet other nut-cases. Sorry, triathletes.



    I get the 'not another Sunday wasted' argument too.
  • paulfitzpaulfitz Posts: 67
    i have been tri-ing for a couple of years now, but very much ad hoc. This year I decided to give it more of go and as you can see below I have a couple of HM's in too. these are only because my best mate does Bristol (he can't swim, so no tris for him) and my company is involved with the other. Otherwise I think 1 a month, starting April and going through to September is a good figure. A couple of sprints to start, a 'biggy' in the middle, and couple of sprint or challenge distance and a biggy at the end of the season. I might still enter the Xtreme Terrain Tri too, as I have entered the Mens Health Rough Track. These offer something else and give me an excuse to get the mtb out that I built and never use :(



  • Many thanks for the advice, I think ill add the national relays and maybe find a sprint that I can fit in with everything else that is equidistant from surrounding events and maybe some runs or galas. That would take me upto 2 'races' and three training tri events.



    Thanks again.
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