Getting into Tri

ShatterResistant

I decided in the last few weeks I'd set a goal of completing a Sprint Triathlon in march/april/may of next year. I'm in the 16-19 year olds category.I'm fairly competent on the bike, used to run regular enough up to 2 years ago and know how to swim but am doing it badly and can only do 2 lengths before having to stop because my legs get tired.

I bought a LaPierre Audacio 200 bike (an upgrade from my mountain bike which has served me well!), some ordinary Speedo shorts to start in the pool - will get a wetsuit if I can get into a regular training rhythm, and I plan on buying a pair of proper runners as soon as I can afford.

I just have a few questions to begin if ye could give me some advice:

1. My worst area is Swimming, I find it really hard to practice because a. I have a poor breathing technique, and b. I have poor muscle strength. This means I'm wrecked after a few lengths even with breaks in between. Should I just perservere and will slowly improve or should I do more gym work to strengthen my muscles first. I will probably get a few lessons as well to improve my overall technique. As you can read all I have going for me is being really comfortable in the water and knowing the theory of swimming.

2. As far as cycling is concerned I have a habit of doing 30 or 40 km as oppposed to the 20km I will face in the Sprint. Should I contiune my longer distances or focus on improving my time over a shorter 20 km TT?

3.I haven't bought runners yet, do ye think it's neccesary to have to spend 70-100 euro on pair of really good runners? My local sports shop have advised me that way but then they would I suppose!

My biggest difficulty will definitely being staying motivated and focused, I work a lot of unsocialable hours on the weekend leaving only three or four days during the week to train for the summer. After that I'm back to secondary school, which will mean either late evenings, or veeeeery early mornings. Is this target achievable in that time frame or is it completely dependent on the person etc.

Any replies or other advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

tl;dr Beginner looking for advice.

PoleStar

I am in same situation buddy! Although I am 35 but also reasonably fit with running. I am also interested in responses!

Oryx

In the gym, work on core strength. A strong core will help you maintain a good body position in the water. Stick with the swimming, the only way to improve is to work at it. I think you should slow your pace initially, it sounds like you are going hell for leather and burning out. See if someone at the pool can help with technique. One or two lessons with a coach can do a lot for you and stop you struggling with poor technique.

Mix up your bike sessions between long rides and speedwork.

Get good run shoes. It is money well spent. Build your running gradually don't try to do too much too soon or you will end up injured.

Daz1214

hooli07 wrote: »

1. My worst area is Swimming, I find it really hard to practice because a. I have a poor breathing technique, and b. I have poor muscle strength. This means I'm wrecked after a few lengths even with breaks in between. Should I just perservere and will slowly improve or should I do more gym work to strengthen my muscles first. I will probably get a few lessons as well to improve my overall technique. As you can read all I have going for me is being really comfortable in the water and knowing the theory of swimming.

stay in the pool and gradually work up your sessions...as Oryx said, dont try and go flat out, pace yourself to a comfortable level and build it up slowly. If you can, try get lessons with a swim coach as that will help improve technique

hooli07 wrote: »

2. As far as cycling is concerned I have a habit of doing 30 or 40 km as oppposed to the 20km I will face in the Sprint. Should I contiune my longer distances or focus on improving my time over a shorter 20 km TT?

yes, keep doing the longer spins with a couple of TT's thrown into the mix to gauge progress. the long spins will increase endurance and that will allow you to go harder and faster over the shorter distances

hooli07 wrote: »

3.I haven't bought runners yet, do ye think it's neccesary to have to spend 70-100 euro on pair of really good runners? My local sports shop have advised me that way but then they would I suppose

good running shoes are a must, its easier to spend €70-100 on good shoes as opposed to €40-50 on bargain ones and then a couple of hundred on physio bills when you get injured

hooli07 wrote: »

My biggest difficulty will definitely being staying motivated and focused, I work a lot of unsocialable hours on the weekend leaving only three or four days during the week to train for the summer. After that I'm back to secondary school, which will mean either late evenings, or veeeeery early mornings. Is this target achievable in that time frame or is it completely dependent on the person etc.

Any replies or other advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

tl;dr Beginner looking for advice.

there are a lot of triathletes who work shift and weekends, myself included. its not always about the quantity of training you are doing, the quality of the trainin is more important. If you can get 5-6 good hours a week in then you'll easily achieve your goal

If its next year you're looking at then you have loads of time, just dont rush it, start small and gradually build it up and you'll be flying

tunney

hooli07 wrote: »

I decided in the last few weeks I'd set a goal of completing a Sprint Triathlon in march/april/may of next year. I'm in the 16-19 year olds category.I'm fairly competent on the bike, used to run regular enough up to 2 years ago and know how to swim but am doing it badly and can only do 2 lengths before having to stop because my legs get tired.

Great to see young people getting into the sport.
Some would argue, based on your comments, that you do not in fact know how to swim and that until you are no longer labouring under that misapprehension that swimming will not come to you. Work from the assumption that you do not know how to swim, seek beginners help and improve from there.

hooli07 wrote: »

I bought a LaPierre Audacio 200 bike (an upgrade from my mountain bike which has served me well!), some ordinary Speedo shorts to start in the pool - will get a wetsuit if I can get into a regular training rhythm, and I plan on buying a pair of proper runners as soon as I can afford.

A nice bike, my father in law got one. You need runners. Decent runners. Budget about €100 for them

hooli07 wrote: »

I just have a few questions to begin if ye could give me some advice:

1. My worst area is Swimming, I find it really hard to practice because a. I have a poor breathing technique, and b. I have poor muscle strength.

You do not need huge muscles. a&b can be replaced with "I don't know how to swim".

hooli07 wrote: »

This means I'm wrecked after a few lengths even with breaks in between. Should I just perservere and will slowly improve or should I do more gym work to strengthen my muscles first. I will probably get a few lessons as well to improve my overall technique. As you can read all I have going for me is being really comfortable in the water and knowing the theory of swimming.

You need someone to look at your stroke and address whats wrong. I suspect the fundamentals are not there.

hooli07 wrote: »

2. As far as cycling is concerned I have a habit of doing 30 or 40 km as oppposed to the 20km I will face in the Sprint. Should I contiune my longer distances or focus on improving my time over a shorter 20 km TT?

Both. longer cycles for stamina, shorter harder ones for speed

hooli07 wrote: »

3.I haven't bought runners yet, do ye think it's neccesary to have to spend 70-100 euro on pair of really good runners? My local sports shop have advised me that way but then they would I suppose!

Yes it is unfortunately

hooli07 wrote: »

My biggest difficulty will definitely being staying motivated and focused, I work a lot of unsocialable hours on the weekend leaving only three or four days during the week to train for the summer. After that I'm back to secondary school, which will mean either late evenings, or veeeeery early mornings. Is this target achievable in that time frame or is it completely dependent on the person etc.

When you are older you will look back at your time in secondary school and realise a few things:
1) you were never that busy, just poorly organised
2) veeeeery early is actually earlier than you think (I know guys on here start their sessions at 0430 to accomdate life and work
3) the leaving is *that* hard, see point one

hooli07 wrote: »

Any replies or other advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

tl;dr Beginner looking for advice.

Its a fund sport, very rewarding, stick at it and have fun!

eoglyn

You are after getting some great advice here.

+1 on getting swimming lessons/coaching. Tunney is right - you will have to surrender to the idea that you have to relearn swimming technique - this is not as daunting as it sounds. There are online resources to give you tips - swimsmooth has a lot of free information and there are lots of demos on youtube - but a swim coach will spot what you are doing wrong immediately. You don't need any additional fitness to become a much faster, more efficient swimmer- you just need to be willing to learn and change what you are doing in the water.

+1 also on the runners.

Best of luck

interested

re: swimming
Join a tri club, can often be the cheapest way to move from beginner to ... well better ... and could see you avoid many of the bad habits from the start.

Enjoy.

ShatterResistant

Thanks for all the help.

I'll going over to the pool today to find someone I can book lessons with, start from scratch all together. I still maintain I can doggy paddle my way out of any situation! Its a prospect I didn't want to face but here goes! I presume a few private is the way to go. There are some IWS ones locally but I gather they are larger group ones.

As for runners: http://img.eetoolset.com/img?set=image%5B1011/938533.JPG%5D,size%5B350x350%5D,qual%5B80%5D&call=url%5Bfile:std.image%5D This is what my local sports shop recommended, seem very comfortable/good support alright.

I've also contacted my local tri club but they are quite new and currently can't accomodate under 18's. I will still meet up with them for advice/training if I can, they seem like a sound bunch!

@tunney 1. I really can't argue with!. 2. is just silly 4:30 in the morning is for mindless nightly browsing! 3. Well now I can't wait to get back to school...

Thanks a million for all the replies, no excuse but to head off on a 30 km spin now.

griffin100

hooli07 wrote: »

As for runners: http://img.eetoolset.com/img?set=image%5B1011/938533.JPG%5D,size%5B350x350%5D,qual%5B80%5D&call=url%5Bfile:std.image%5D This is what my local sports shop recommended, seem very comfortable/good support alright.

I have used Nike Pegasus for 4 years and I find them great but everyone is different so bear that in mind. Make sure that they suit you. Find out what size you are and shop around including online, the prices of Nike Pegasus varies hugely. Heatons can be good for Nike Pegasus in some sizes. Best of luck.

impala_irl

I'm also looking to get into tri's although coming to it alot later than the OP. As with others swimming is my weakness...i.e. I'm brutal at it. I was thinking of building the swimming up over the next few months in the pool and then aiming for a sprint next year. Any advice on what would be a good beginner friendly sprint to aim for?

nice_guy80

Why wait until next year?

There are sprint races in September

get into the pool and start training NOW. A sprint is only 750m swim

impala_irl

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Why wait until next year?

There are sprint races in September

get into the pool and start training NOW. A sprint is only 750m swim

Honestly because my swimming is that bad . As previous poster says I might as well consider myself as a beginner. I know its only 750m but to me right now that seems like an eternity. If it was Oct/Nov, then yep for sure but season over then?