"dejonica" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:hi, anyone done this before? my workplace has entered a team for 4
years
Yep.
Quoted message said:running but i've never entered. I've not even done a triathlon before.
A
Quoted message said:few of us who entered as a team for the 'around the bay' are keen on entering this time around but
i was hoping to get some hints / experiences from others before over commiting myself🙂
You can obviously ride so that is not a problem. Running, while painful (at least for me), is easily
grasped by most people and if you can't run, walking is an easy alternative. Swimming is the tricky
part for most people - fear, combined with "not having swum since high school" can do that! 🙂
Quoted message said:At the moment, the 4km run seems a bit of a challenge and at this
stage
Quoted message said:i doubt i could swim 400m in a pool let alone in open water. I figure it's 4 months away and if i
have a good training schedule, i could probably slowly do the run and swim.
So any hints / tips for training etc?
Assuming you know how to swim and run, you should be able to do this race no problems. The first
thing would be to jump in a pool and try swimming some laps to see how far you can get. It'll feel
terrible at the start and you wont be able to get enough air and you'll have to rest at each end
between laps, etc. but it does get better the more you do it. You will quickly get to the level you
need to swim 400m. Then you might try some open-water swimming. Waves, salt water, no lines, no lane
ropes due play on your mind but if you focus on getting to the end, you're there. Maybe see if your
local pool runs swim/stroke classes - they are a good way to learn better technique - even if you
can only manage some dodgy freestyle, they should be helpful. While doing this, say, after a ride in
the morning, start doing some running in the evening. Start small. Run around the block and see how
you feel. If you have to walk - walk. You will quickly adjust to the running and walk less, run
more. Run on alternative days, i.e. Mon Wed Fri with rest days in between, because if you don't
often run.. you WILL be sore afterwards! There are heaps of ideas for training and tips on the 'net
that I can dig up or you can google for.
Once you are happy with all the distances and disciplines, you will make huge savings in your
sprint-tri times by working on your transitions. In my first one, I messed up by doing things like
putting my helmet on before my shirt, then having to take my helmet off and put the shirt and helmet
back on. Since then, when I set my bike up in transition, I stack everything in the correct order
for me to put it on. You can also do things like wear no socks and use elastic laces in your shoes.
I wore board shorts in my first one too.. which got soggy after the swim and started catching on the
seatpost.. if you can get over the lycra thing - I recommend wearing tri-specific clothes.
It's really good fun and quite tricky for a 'plain ol' cyclist' to get used to the swimming and
running but that makes it even better when you cross the finish line (or transition line!).
Where are you based? I know Hawthorn Aquatic Centre has stroke technique classes and assuming you
have some runners, you can run anywhere.
Tri these links too: beginnertriathlete.comstarting from scratch.htmOpen ↗
winningmag.comfirst.shtmlOpen ↗ trifind.combgnrs.htmlOpen ↗
Well, there's a brief starting point... hth... hippy
