First Time Triathlete 2011 - The rookie thread

tunney

TheEagles wrote: »

Thanks guys for the tips/advice.
well i no id never get out 6days a week or the wife would go mental!!!! Fair play to ya for puttin that amount of time into the sport.

Yes alot would depend on what i want out of it at the end of the day. right now ive 2 mid weeks sessions with a session at the weekend, averaging around 7 -8 hrs.

Might be a soft question but when you say brick session, is that goin from bike to run etc??

Do you play golf? Watch telly? Play video games? Read books? If so drop some time doing them and train in that time

TheEagles

tunney wrote: »

Do you play golf? Watch telly? Play video games? Read books? If so drop some time doing them and train in that time

Play Golf: No
Play Video Games: No
Read Books: No
Watch telly: For about a half hour before bed!!!

I work 5 days a week and have 2 young kids so free time is not in huge amounts these days..:)

Up to the winter i would have spent alot of time soccor training and playin matches each weekend, its only in the past 8weeks the football has finished for off season. So im not startin the fitness from fresh as would have a pretty good fitness level...

tunney

TheEagles wrote: »

Play Golf: No
Play Video Games: No
Read Books: No
Watch telly: For about a half hour before bed!!!

I work 5 days a week and have 2 young kids so free time is not in huge amounts these days..:)

Up to the winter i would have spent alot of time soccor training and playin matches each weekend, its only in the past 8weeks the football has finished for off season. So im not startin the fitness from fresh as would have a pretty good fitness level...

I can only imagine with two kids. Could y run to work one or two days? Or at lunch?

Oryx

I have two kids and a full time job. Right now the kids are just gone to bed and Im warming up on the turbo. Mobile boards ha. Ill be out running at 8am. If ya want it, you find the time

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Oryx wrote: »

I have two kids and a full time job. Right now the kids are just gone to bed and Im warming up on the turbo. Mobile boards ha. Ill be out running at 8am. If ya want it, you find the time

Agree with this totally, 3 kids and one on the way along with a busy job:eek:. You find the time, early morning session before the house is awake and the luxury of having an hour during the day covers off most of the training. The late night turbo when kids are in bed is also a godsend.

It's all about planning and not hitting the snooze button in the mornings:rolleyes:

MrCreosote

TheEagles wrote: »

Thanks guys for the tips/advice.
well i no id never get out 6days a week or the wife would go mental!!!! Fair play to ya for puttin that amount of time into the sport.

Yes alot would depend on what i want out of it at the end of the day. right now ive 2 mid weeks sessions with a session at the weekend, averaging around 7 -8 hrs.

Might be a soft question but when you say brick session, is that goin from bike to run etc??

If you're already putting in 7-8 hours training you should have the time, might just take a little tweaking to get the balance right between the various disciplines.

Brick is a Bike-run in one training session without a break between (just like in a tri)

For what it's worth what works for me training with kids is:

1: get it done early. Forget about the evenings except for turbo.
2: make it part of the working day if you can, bike or run to/from work, get in lunchtime sessions
3: Bring the kids training- I would do at least one run a week with the buggy.
4: Keep the other half sweet with outlandish but vague promises. Don't make these too specific or you might get pinned down and have to keep them. Alternatively talk up a week's holiday in say, Copenhagen. Mention the ironman you've entered after this is booked.

moose112

Thanks for the replies

I have organised some one on one swim lessons to work on my technique the trainer is also a seasoned tri athlete so hopefully might have some other tips for me.

Told the guys that there is no need for a time trial bike for a beginner, they reckon the cycle superstore is the place to go and should pick up something decent. (budget €500)

tunney

moose112 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies

I have organised some one on one swim lessons to work on my technique the trainer is also a seasoned tri athlete so hopefully might have some other tips for me.

Told the guys that there is no need for a time trial bike for a beginner, they reckon the cycle superstore is the place to go and should pick up something decent. (budget €500)

One thing to watch out for in the larger bike shops is it always seemed to me that there you're sold what they have and not what you need. Know what you want before you go. Be aware that most bike shops will only deal in certain brands and will slag off the ones they won't to put you off them. CSS have used some very dubious lines on some of my colleagues.

Also 500 is not going to get you a good new bike, or even really a reasonble new bike. Bike inflation has been huge at the <1500 price points due to the bike to work scheme. Second hand would be the way I would go to be honest. Once the weather gets really sh!t all the bike to workers will want to flog theirs

RacoonQueen

I really need to stop being a wus and actually give a triathlon a shot. Recommendations for a first tri anyone?

Are there many out there with pool swims? I've never done OW swimming did any of yee do OW swimming before trying it in a tri?

moose112

tunney wrote: »

One thing to watch out for in the larger bike shops is it always seemed to me that there you're sold what they have and not what you need. Know what you want before you go. Be aware that most bike shops will only deal in certain brands and will slag off the ones they won't to put you off them. CSS have used some very dubious lines on some of my colleagues.

Also 500 is not going to get you a good new bike, or even really a reasonble new bike. Bike inflation has been huge at the <1500 price points due to the bike to work scheme. Second hand would be the way I would go to be honest. Once the weather gets really sh!t all the bike to workers will want to flog theirs

Cheers tunney

I was planning on going the second hand route, does the superstore not stock second hand bikes?
Could you recommend a shop to me?

DustyBin

Hey RQ, in my own experience the pool based tri's wouldn't be the easiest. They are fairly pressured and if you're not a great swimmer the repeated laps can seem to go on forever. A downstream only river swim is a doddle in comparison. I did the Carrick on suir tri this year, standing start, nice wide river, swim is all down stream - easy out. The only thing is you will have to get your hands on a wetsuit - may or may not be a problem for you
Eitherways, go on, give it a shot

RacoonQueen

moose112 wrote: »

Cheers tunney

I was planning on going the second hand route, does the superstore not stock second hand bikes?
Could you recommend a shop to me?

CSS do secondhand bikes so do wheelworx.

DustyBin wrote: »

Hey RQ, in my own experience the pool based tri's wouldn't be the easiest. They are fairly pressured and if you're not a great swimmer the repeated laps can seem to go on forever. A downstream only river swim is a doddle in comparison. I did the Carrick on suir tri this year, standing start, nice wide river, swim is all down stream - easy out. The only thing is you will have to get your hands on a wetsuit - may or may not be a problem for you
Eitherways, go on, give it a shot

Thanks Dusty. I'm going to be starting scuba diving soon so a wetsuit is on the shopping list anyway.

griffin100

Somewhere like adverts.ie or the adverts thread on the cycling forum are the best places to start looking for a second hand bike. Your 500 would get you a 18-24 month old road bike, much better value than a crap new bike. The big bike shops do used bikes occasionally but don't expect any sort of attention from the 'serious' bike shops if you've 'only' 500 to spend, they are more likely to try and get you to spend more money (assuming you can get someone to even talk to you, sometimes in the shops mentioned above it's like they are doing you a favour by selling you a bike).

A good pool tri to start off with is Port Laois, which is usually around may. Always a well organised race.

A diving wetsuit will get you through your first tri ow swim, but if you are serious about doing multiple races then you will need a tri specific wetsuit.

Oryx

Yeah I agree with the comment about the diving suit. Diving ones are thicker and more restrictive. Swim wet suits are thin around the shoulders for ease of movement. If youre in a club you should be able to borrow a suit for your first time out.

claralara

Any recommendations for a wetsuit? Where to purchase and how much I'd be looking at? Not going to make any huge commitments until the new year but then I'm going to join a tri club and start picking up the necessities. I better start saving the pennies!

RacoonQueen

griffin100 wrote: »

A diving wetsuit will get you through your first tri ow swim, but if you are serious about doing multiple races then you will need a tri specific wetsuit.

It will be a more tri specific wetsuit from the start. I'm not sure whether I'll stick to either/be able to stick to either so I'm not buying two wetsuits from the off. One wetsuit to suit both to start with then we'll see.

nomadic

claralara wrote: »

Any recommendations for a wetsuit? Where to purchase and how much I'd be looking at? Not going to make any huge commitments until the new year but then I'm going to join a tri club and start picking up the necessities. I better start saving the pennies!

I got an Orca S2 this year from wiggle and it was perfect. I think ideally you want to try a few on because fit is very important. The Orca ones on wiggle are the cheapest you'll find but you won't be able to try them on obviously.

Oryx

I got my wetsuit from wiggle.co.uk as did most in my club. Bought the wrong size first but they took it back no problem. Its an orca two and has been grand to use. RQ, i wouldnt use a swim wet suit to dive, youd be very cold.

RacoonQueen

Oryx wrote: »

RQ, i wouldnt use a swim wet suit to dive, youd be very cold.

For short dives it'll be fine, I know people who do this already and they don't have too much of a problem with the cold on the short dives. Once I'm doing longer, deeper dives/more tri's I'll invest in two decent wetsuits. No need to spend a fortune when you're starting out. Diving suits are genearlly cheaper than tri suits though so two cheap ones wouldn't set me back too much, I get obsessive though and will probably end up buying ten...of each. :rolleyes:

Macanri

@RQ, Good advice from Dusty re the downstream OW. But if you are set on a pool swim then as Griffin 100 says TriLaoise is well organised (was in April this year. Also Joey Hannon may do a sprint distance - as far as I am aware it is pool based. Also Fingal did their swim in the NAC AFAIR.

tunney

claralara wrote: »

Any recommendations for a wetsuit? Where to purchase and how much I'd be looking at? Not going to make any huge commitments until the new year but then I'm going to join a tri club and start picking up the necessities. I better start saving the pennies!

Orca and 2xu don't have great reputations for build quality.
Zoot - largely indifferent to them. I've never really heard anything fantastic about them, then again never anything bad.
blue70 - what i have always swam in, don't think I'd get one again.
deSoto - hard to get in ireland, very innovative.
sailfish - would be my choice of off-the peg wetsuit
snugg - custom made wetsuits that get your fit perfect and come at a price less than most off the peg ones. I'd go with one of these

Oryx wrote: »

I got my wetsuit from wiggle.co.uk as did most in my club. Bought the wrong size first but they took it back no problem. Its an orca two and has been grand to use. RQ, i wouldnt use a swim wet suit to dive, youd be very cold.

Size is everything, if it doesn't fit right it will slow you down. very little heat in them, the distribution of the bouncy wouldn't be fantastic for diving and they are rather delicate and the diving gear could very very easily rip one.

moose112 wrote: »

Cheers tunney

I was planning on going the second hand route, does the superstore not stock second hand bikes?
Could you recommend a shop to me?

I don't think that I would go to a bike shop for a second hand bike. I've lost my faith a bit in bike shops and i don't think you'd get a good deal. Private sale for second hand would be my choice.

DustyBin wrote: »

Hey RQ, in my own experience the pool based tri's wouldn't be the easiest. They are fairly pressured and if you're not a great swimmer the repeated laps can seem to go on forever. A downstream only river swim is a doddle in comparison. I did the Carrick on suir tri this year, standing start, nice wide river, swim is all down stream - easy out. The only thing is you will have to get your hands on a wetsuit - may or may not be a problem for you
Eitherways, go on, give it a shot

I would go pool based for my first. You *WILL* panic in open water at some stage. Most likely in the hussle and bussle of one of your first races. Get the anxiety of your first tri done and then worry about open water.

Joey-hannon and Nenagh are two very well run pool swims. As long as you are honest with your swim time you won't have a bad time of it.

As for downhill swims - much like some of the fastest races in ireland. Why the fvck bother. Downhill swims - didn't really swim, do a duathlon.

Oryx

Carrick was my first, and if you read my report on it youll see that as tunney said, I did panic about 200m in, and did most of it backstroke. But it was still a good swim to start on as the river does most of the work even if you do panic. My second was a shorter pool swim in Bunclody and it was horrible, much harder than the river because you know your being lapped and it seems to go on forever. Much more intimidating for me. As for why bother? Everyone has got to start somewhere. Far better to have a good experience and improve, than a bad one that puts you off the sport forever.

griffin100

The big advantage for the Port Laois tri is that its early in the season and gives an early target to train for over the winter. Once you have done this and if you are bitten by the bug there are plenty more races available later in the summer.

Orca and 2xu don't have great reputations for build quality.
Zoot - largely indifferent to them. I've never really heard anything fantastic about them, then again never anything bad.
blue70 - what i have always swam in, don't think I'd get one again.
deSoto - hard to get in ireland, very innovative.
sailfish - would be my choice of off-the peg wetsuit
snugg - custom made wetsuits that get your fit perfect and come at a price less than most off the peg ones. I'd go with one of these

Thats interesting. I'm in the market for a new suit and was looking at a BlueSeventy Helix or an Orca Alpha. I'd heard good things about the snugg suits, think I'll look into these a bit closer.

shotgunmcos

griffin100 wrote: »

Thats interesting. I'm in the market for a new suit and was looking at a BlueSeventy Helix or an Orca Alpha. I'd heard good things about the snugg suits, think I'll look into these a bit closer.

+1, I'm selling my BlueSeventy Sprint wetsuit and upgrading. I was thinking about the Helix but lots of time to consider other options over the winter.

On the BlueSeventy Sprint. I can't really fault it as an entry level suit to be honest. Since I was a beginner swimmer in 2009 I was involved in many a tussle in the pack and the suit holds up well. I did notice hwever on longer OW swims this summer that I heated up too much in it, especially the shoulders and arms. The reason for changing is due to going long next year. I cannot afford to be constricted in the second half of the swim. I'd be a bit stockier than your average triathlete. As such this suit was good up to OLY distance but for prolonged swims where you need the suit flexibility to maintain a long stroke, its not the job. Probably why its an entry level suit. If your goal was sprint to Oly distance this year its worth considering.

On another note I have hear good things about Sailfish, although I haven't tried one on yet

tunney

shotgunmcos wrote: »

+1, I'm selling my BlueSeventy Sprint wetsuit and upgrading. I was thinking about the Helix but lots of time to consider other options over the winter.

On the BlueSeventy Sprint. I can't really fault it as an entry level suit to be honest. Since I was a beginner swimmer in 2009 I was involved in many a tussle in the pack and the suit holds up well. I did notice hwever on longer OW swims this summer that I heated up too much in it, especially the shoulders and arms. The reason for changing is due to going long next year. I cannot afford to be constricted in the second half of the swim. I'd be a bit stockier than your average triathlete. As such this suit was good up to OLY distance but for prolonged swims where you need the suit flexibility to maintain a long stroke, its not the job. Probably why its an entry level suit. If your goal was sprint to Oly distance this year its worth considering.

On another note I have hear good things about Sailfish, although I haven't tried one on yet

Emmmm whats Roth like for water temperature? Non-wetsuit? I'm banking on a non wetsuit in IMde so not changing mine

shotgunmcos

tunney wrote: »

Emmmm whats Roth like for water temperature? Non-wetsuit? I'm banking on a non wetsuit in IMde so not changing mine

Exactly my reason for changing. The higher the temp of the water and the longer the swim the more constricted the suit gets thus 3mm and more flexibility needed. Roth will be on the line. Constant mid 30 temps that week and we are looking at non wetsuit. If like this year they get a thunder storm to cool things down, it will be wet suit but on the high side of the temp cut off.

I've another question for you on this point though, more apt for IM so posted in that thread

moose112

So I just had my first swimming lesson to help improve my technique. I knew I was bad but oh dear have I got a mountain to climb but I am loving every minute of it