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There's a local Triathlon on in about six weeks (Reading) and I'm toying with the idea of entering the sprint-tri, I've never done one before, I'm fine with cycling 22km and a 5Km run shouldn't pose a huge problem either, it's the swim that has me a little worried, I'm not a strong swimmer, poor technique, never been taught properly and was just confuddled by all the moving arms and legs and timing breathing when people have attempted to teach me in the past.
I honestly don't know if I can progress from splashing about like a dickhead, to competently and safely completing a 750m open-water swim inside of six weeks (with limited opportunities for training)...
So has anyone picked up swimming inside of such a short period?
What should I be looking to do, what sort of schedule should I do this on?
who should I contact? I thought I might try the local Tri club (obviously) but should I look for some sort of coaching sessions to improve my swimming?
See if you can find a novice tri beforehand? bit shorter distance.
I think a Sprint tri is essentially the "Novice" option here, and I've only got six (already quite busy) weeks so it might not be credible to squeeze another event in...
I might just join the club as they seem to run lots of coaching and training sessions and it's very well priced that's going to be a general benefit anyway, plus I can hold off entering the tri at least until I've had a chance to talk to/be assessed by to a swimming coach perhaps...
750m is still a decent length (30 lengths of a 25m pool) and its totally different fitness. go down to the pool and do 15 x 2 lengths and see how you get on. Let us know
I would thoroughly recommend a 1-on-1 swimming lesson, they should be able to improve your technique hugely and point out the things that you didn't know you were doing wrong. Obviously you still need to train to be a decent swimmer, but technique is critical to being efficient. A smooth swimmer can swim fast at minimal effort levels.
I'd say go for it, my first tri was a 70.3 and I survived despite barely being able to swim 😀
Elastic laces for your trainers too.
Enjoy 8)
Cheers, Rich
You'll be fine with the swim, it's a small proportion of your overall time and you'll be in the pool with other swimmers of a similar ability to you - though in my experience people tend to overestimate their swimming ability so even if you are honest about your swim time you'll end up in a group of slower swimmers.
they're great fun just do it. I was the most amateur triathlete in the village on my first - had my towel laid out to dab myself down after the swim, socks on before cycling shoes, my T1 must have been a couple of minutes long before I tarted myself up and was ready to ride.
I think a Sprint tri is essentially the "Novice" option here
Novice is generally 400m swim, 10k ride, 4k run.
I did a sprint tri last year and entered and then didn't think about it again 5-6 weeks before.
Went down to the pool and couldnt even do multiple lengths of granny breast stroke! Went away, watched a few youtube videos on breathing and then went 2-3 times a week and learnt freestyle with same side breathing and touch turns.
I did a routine where I would go down and do intervals one night and then the next time I would try and swim as far I had done in the total intervals. Then the next time, go further on each interval and then further on the combined swim.
I went from not swimming at all to being able to do a mile in about 4 weeks! I think it helped I was a medium/strong runner/cyclist with a good cardio engine.
I did stop over the winter and really want to go back and learn bi breathing and flip turns but currently am enjoying riding too much!
Hmm.. Reading you say.. tempting.. never done one before.
The novice one I did was great fun, I completely underestimated my swim time, didn't know they used it for seeding! - I ended up in the pool in the first group!.
Got my arse handed to me on the swim, a very fat wee lass in a club tri suit overtook me twice in the pool, I was last out, by about a length.
The 10k road ride was basically a 5k climb, and then turn round and 5k down - I overtook everyone bar the boy that ended up winning it, and managed to hobble round the 4k run (I never did any brick training, it's phecking horrible getting off a bike and then running!) and ended up finishing 11th out of 300 odd folk.
And I wasn't exactly fit at the time.
Don't worry about the swim, if your even a decent road pedaller, you'll make up loads of time. I never continued though, as much as I really like it, My spare time is for MTBing, not training for Tri.
Just been chatting to a colleague who's saying I will [u]need[/u] a new wetsuit as open water swimming wetsuits and surfing wetsuits aren't the same thing and I wouldn't have the shoulder mobility to swim in my current sola 3mm summer suit...
He also pointed out that there's often a cut-off time for the swim section as they send groups off at ~20 minute intervals, I don't think I'd want to enter unless I was already reasonably sure I wasn't going to get hauled out during the first section, so I need to figure out if I can swim that 750m in an acceptable time.
I've worked it out and 750m is 30 lengths of my local pool, Which incidentally the club run training sessions at every Wednesday evening...
They don't seem to have a Novice option, only 'Sprint' or 'Olympic' which makes me think it might be a bit more of a "Serious" event... I'll email them about membership, training and whether or not I should jump straight in to a Sprint with zero experience, and maybe I will look around for a novice tri, to errr... try.
I should probably run all this past the missus too...
Cheers for the advice all...
You'll be absolute fine in a 3mm surf wetsuit, as long as it fits reasonably well. You do quite a bit of paddling on surf board, which in my opinion isn't drastically different to swimming. Obviously a decent swim wetsuit would be better, but certainly not make or break.
I often spend the early (read 'cold') part of the season swimming in my surf wetsuit as it's a fair but warmer.
I also wouldn't get too hung up on learning front crawl, get a good bit of breast stroke in (if you find it less strenuous) and then smash the runners to pieces on the bike. Great fun!
I don't think it will be that serious. Everyone seems to encourage novices to enter the sprints so I'm sure it'll be fine.
I own a wetsuit now but it's a bit snug on the shoulders, not sure I'd better off without it.
There'll be loads of first timers in a tri that distance. A few of those will be doing it breaststroke, so if that works for you go with that. Surf wetsuit will be fine for that distance to give it a go, no need to buy a swim-specific suit just to give it a try. Best advice I can give is go along to some tri club swim sessions for the next few weeks, and just keep cycling and running ticking over, and then just give it a go!
being able to do a mile in about 4 weeks!
I'm sorry but if you take a month to do a mile you might find that everyone has gone home!
Effectively you don't need to train to get fit to do the cycle/run parts so you can just concentrate on the swimming*. 6 weeks is a long time if you can get to the pool or lake 2-3 times a week. You can make some massive improvements - even if you don't get a huge amount faster you'll start to find it easier. Lessons would help.
*I'm not saying don't go out for a run or a ride, but you just have to keep those ticking over.
I was in a similar boat, always fancied doing a triathlon but I'm an appalling swimmer!
So I cheated ... and entered a few duathlons instead, problem solved 😀
Check out [url= https://www.gotri.org/ ]GO TRI[/url] for beginners Triathlon events if you do want to pursue that angle.
ah yes, forgot to mention practiing doing a swim then riding or riding then running is worthwhile doing. I had legs like jelly the fist few times!
I'm sorry but if you take a month to do a mile you might find that everyone has gone home!
I wondered why the lights kept getting turned off and on every 12hours or so
So I have signed up with the local tri club, I will contact them tomorrow to discuss my situation and my goals, but I have my daughters birthday to deal with today, and I can feel the onset of a cold...
Week one of training might be a bit of a shitshow...