All advice welcome!!!!
dadamson01
Posts: 6
in General Chat
I'm really contemplating getting into triathon and was wondering if any of you could help as to what gear i should be getting to help start me off (baring in mind i have a 3 week old daughter so money is not readilly available )
Also what kind of training would anyone suggest to start me off? I do a lot of running roughly 12-15 miles per week but dont do any of the other 2 disciplines????
Looking forward to your replies....
Also what kind of training would anyone suggest to start me off? I do a lot of running roughly 12-15 miles per week but dont do any of the other 2 disciplines????
Looking forward to your replies....
0
Comments
If possible cycling to work is a good way to get a few miles in. I swim most days in the summer but that's because I live right near a lido and enjoy it. Swimming 2 -3 times a week should be enough.
Which distance are you thinking on starting with?
I used to do a lot of swimming but hav'nt swam for a good few years now so it will be good for some advice on training and style of swimming......
http://www.swimsmooth.com/
My girlfriend has trained for her 1st sprint tri this year and can now cover all the required distances with four months of training probably swimming 2 -3 times a week running twice and cycling about three times. She hadn't exercised for years prior to this and was a smoker so you can get in to shape pretty quickly for these things.
thanks for the link it will sure come in handy, and being an ex smoker myself its good to hear that with a bit training and devotion its possible to achieve the goals you set....
Well you will see all sorts of posting here about bling kit and bikes and whilst it can get addictive and silly at times (gonna get shot now) you really don't need to spend a lot.
For pool Sprints, swimming trunks and goggles, shorts and vest. Now if you don't have some of those and thinking of buying then a basic tri suit would be fine and dandy and is the best option. You can get a basic one here for under £30
http://www.startfitness.co.uk/product.a ... P_ID=41230
Goggles, well under a tenner will set you up.
Running shoes, don't go cheap and nasty here you will hurt yourself. For Sprints and Olympic up to 10K you can get a decent shoe, Saucony, Asics, Mizuno etc for £40-£60 but please have your running style or gait analysed at a running shop.
Bike: from £50 to £5,000 - check out your locak Police, they usually have auctions of recoverd stolen unclaimed bikes. http://www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk/XcAP ... .asp?ID=24
An MTB or hybrid is OK, just get some road tyres instead of knobbly ones, road bike even better.
So have a think and then please come back at us with any further questions - we are a friendly bunch.
i am a real tight git when it comes to kit, i have a lot of cheapo trikit that does the job without being fashionable or even tasteful. as zacnici has said, if you boil it down you can have a great time racing without all the kit.
my bike is on the cyclescheme, so some saving there! i also commute on it so some nearly free training time. i bought my bike shoes and pedals off a bike forum (bikeradar or ctc i think), for a fraction of the rrp. i eventually bought some tri-shoes, this time from ebay.
i bought some proper garish nasty tri shorts for my first event and wore some running shorts over the top to spare the eyes of the innocent. they were a fiver from ebay or the interweb i think. i did get a trisuit last birthday as a pressie, and the horrible shorts are used for swim and bike training.
bike helmet was a present from family. lots of bike stuff (tyres, spare odds and sods) from forums. swimming goggles as part of my tri-club membership.
Thanks for all the advice it is much appreciated, i have been looking in a free mag that i got with 220 and there is a firm (triuk) offering starter kits which include all the main essentials for getting into triathlons.....
Just wondering what your thoughts were on this kit? is it worth the money or not.
As with anything shop around look at what's on offer and see if this is for you.
there are usually some good sales to be had in the winter for some kit (trisuit/short/tops, running shoes particularly) so you can do a lot of it piecemeal if you don't mind endless shopping around on the interweb.
Like you I'm very new to tri and been trainging well in prep for the London, where I'm doing the sprint but today did my 1st OW swim and WOW what a difference it is to pool swimming!!!....but once I got used to the restriction from the wet suit, the fact you can't see alot under the water and a bit of zig zagging and learning to sight where I was heading it was great but would highly recommend doing it before you do any comp OW swim and so gald I did it cos takes a bit of getting used to, which is best done before any race!!!!
Lots of clips on youtube, heres one to start
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsHw_TkFEdE
And sighting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPtvpI8 ... re=related
But if you are like me its just a case of following the rest. What I do is sight as part of my stroke rythm e.g. 4 strokes head down, 2 double strokes, 1st double stroke raise head so goggles are just above water, sight-correct, 2nd double repeat and confirm the correction - but I do stress that works for me and I am a rubbish swimmer - the swim is just to get me to the bike which is a means to get me to the run.