Beginner Triathlete

metricspaces

I'm aiming to do an olympic triathlon this year, it will be my first triathlon so I'm looking for some advice on which would be the best one to enter?

One "small" thing I need to overcome is that I can't swim at all :-) . Well, I couldn't up until a few weeks ago. I've started a beginners course 4 weeks ago and I can now swim a few lenghts front crawl in a 25m pool . I think it's progressing well. So when I'm looking at the "best" tri for me to enter, I'm thinking that it should be far enough away that I will get enough time to learn how to swim 1500m, and it has to have an easy enough swim so that I won't be totally out of my depth.

I did the dublin marathon last year - so I'm happy I can run! I did some cross training on my bike whilst marathon training, one 11 mile cycle a week, so I'm happy I could ramp that up quite easily.

My plan with the swimming is to finish my 10wk beginners course. Maybe get some private 1-2-1 lessons after that for a few weeks. Join a tri club and go along to their swims, and get some sea swimming sessions with them also. So I'm hoping all of that will get me up to swimming 1500m.

I was looking at the list of triathalons here http://www.triathlonireland-server.com/Events/EventCalendar/2010 and I picked the Dublin City one as (a) I'm from Dublin, so it's handy (b) it's near the end of the calendar so it gives me time to learn how to swim (c) I want to do the Dublin marathon, so it should give me some time to recover in Sept\Oct.

Would the Dublin City tri be a good one to do? Or should I be looking elsewhere? My main worry is the swim obviously

Should I look at doing a sprint tri somewhere mid-way between now and August? I see Athy is on in June, and they have both a sprint and a beginners tri with only a 400m swim. I've heard it mentioned that Athy is a good one to do as the river is shallow enough to stand up in if you get into trouble, so this would give me some reassurance!

Hmm, now that I write it down, I'm thinking I should definitely do a smaller tri before going Olympic, because if I can't swim 750 or 400m in June, then there'd not be much hope for me swimming 1500 12 weeks later in Dublin!!!

Clubman

If you think the swim distance might be a bit tough you should look to do a sprint triathlon.

as far as i know the swim distance is on 500 M, 20 lenghts in a normal swimming pool, even just to get the confidence up. Not sure where they will have them on, but thats what Google is for

Highway_To_Hell

Not too sure if Dublin would be the best triathlon for a first timer new to swimming. A lot of the swim would be upstream, the water isnt the nicest (meets all EU regulations). You should try and get to tiathlon as a spectatol before you do your first one as an open water swim start can be a hell of fist fight.

As Clubman said maybe do a sprint distance first to build up confidence and the one I would recommend is Carrick-on-Suir (17th July) as the 750meter swim is all downstream and the river isnt too deep.

tunney

Dublin is a good race and its an achieable goal.

You are limiting yourself in terms of clubs to 3dtri really, or maybe Pulse, by going for DCT as no Piranha members are allowed race in the event as they organise it.

Go for it!

interested

First off, fair play to you for getting stuck in and tackling swimming lessons.

As posted already Dublin city Tri is a good goal to set yourself.
Definitely think about a sprint distance event to keep you going with something to focus on earlier in the summer.

Athy sprint could be a good intro for you since the swim is essentially down stream / hill. A wetsuit will help your body position in the water and it'll be over before you know and onto the bike etc ...

Good luck

metricspaces

Thanks for the replies! I think I'll definitely do a Sprint or shorter triathlon a go before I give DCT a try.

I'm thinking the Fingal Sprint would be a good one http://fingalsprint.3dtri.com/ to get me going as the swim is in a pool. Then, I'll give an outdoor swim a Tri a go after that.

Has anyone done Athy before? Is the water shallow enough that I could stand up at any point if I needed? (I'm 5'11).

Same for Carrick-on-Suir, would it be shallow enough all the way to stand up?

Keithgc

Athy is a really nice tri for early in the season and great for your confidence as a beginner. I was in a similar position to you last year, I could just about doggie paddle but did some lessons and some open water swims with my club. I did the sprint in Athy last year and I found the swim quite nice, it was all down stream and if you feel any way nervous you can swim by the banks where it shallow enough to stand. the downsteam currnet and the extra bouyance of my wetsuit meant I made it out of the water in 12 minutes;). Not going to win any medals at that pace its the fast 750m I've ever managed.

metricspaces

Keithgc wrote: »

... I made it out of the water in 12 minutes;). Not going to win any medals at that pace its the fast 750m I've ever managed.

Wow, from doggie paddle to 750m outdoors in 12minutes, well that's given me some confidence! 12mins doesn't sound like too long to be in the water, that sounds do-able, thanks .