Reply With QuoteYeah, great fun! Just did the Tewkesbury Sprint Tri a couple of weeks back.
They are great fun, particularly transition. Enjoy and fire away with the questions I'm sure everyone will chip in with advice.
What are the distances?
I’ll be competing in my first sprint triathlon on Sunday in Leeds ,I started training in January,the first proper exercise I’ve done in 25 years,I’m not really bothered about the time as long as I get round .
I know applehands of this parish is doing it ,anybody else doing it or other triathlons .
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Yeah, great fun! Just did the Tewkesbury Sprint Tri a couple of weeks back.
They are great fun, particularly transition. Enjoy and fire away with the questions I'm sure everyone will chip in with advice.
What are the distances?
750m/18k/7.5k
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Cool, got all your gear sorted out? If you're like me it'll all go out of your head in transition! If you're planning on doing some, I'd get a fenix or similar to record some metrics, swim pace, bike pace, etc. I know you get the full split times: swim, T1, bike, T2 and run but it's always nice to review afterwards and watch how your performance improves as you go on.Originally Posted by mk1974
I've done about a hundred triathlons over the years. You can lose a lot of time in the transitions...or gain a lot if you get it right. Worth thinking about it, laying stuff out in the right order, elastic laces etc.
In my experience most athletes neglect the bike training. The bike is the biggest part of the race & it's relatively easy to get, say, 5 minutes faster on the bike. OTOH it's almost impossible to improve by 5 minutes on the swim.
It's a long race. Get the pacing right. Don't start too hard!
Swim your own race. It’s so easy to get caught up in the pace of others.
I am off on my bike early in the morning 5.30am do a few miles then get to Chasewater (Staffordshire) to watch the start of Ironman at 7am
1.2 mile swim in the lake
56 mile Bike ride. ( I will have done half of the route)
13.5 mile run
I am out of breath thinking about it
Last edited by hilly10; 9th June 2019 at 15:30.
Sprint triathlon’s are by their name quick. Don't judge your performance by where you came , just judge it by the no of people you know who entered eg none.
As above if you can swim in your cycle shorts great . Lycra clings like mad to a wet body, just putting cycling shorts over trunks is hard. Think about it as a total event , so dont go balls deep on the swim or the bike only to flag on the run.
18 k is short for the bike , so can you cycle in your running shoes? Another thing you dont have to do in transition.
Best of all enjoy it
Steve
Isnt the above a half ironman?
I don’t know much about it, just like the watch the swim and transition to the bikes.
It’s what makes triathlon unique. And it’s the fun bit when you do one. Without transition it’s swimming, biking, running. It’s also an art and a skill in its own right, to be planned and practiced.
For your training, if you can add a short run straight after a bike ride, you’ll find that a great help. If you’re stuck for time, drop the bike by 15 minutes and add a run on.
Need to get your legs used to running straight after the bike. First couple of times, you’ll run like the tinman, but once you get used to it, you’ll be fine
Malc
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Agreed 100%
Best to race in a Triathlon suit which you wear for the swim, bike & run. You don't want to be wasting time putting clothing off & on. It's a nightmare trying to do that with a soaking wet body in any case. Don't wear socks. Don't waste time tying your shoes. Use elastic laces in your shoes, or those toggle things.
In transition I'd put a folded towel in my space next to the bike. On that I'd place my helmet with the inside facing up, the front of the helmet orientated towards me, straps draped over the sides, sunglasses inside the helmet lens side down & with the arms sticking up, number belt laid out undone. Cycle shoes neatly together & running shoes next to them.
Mentally picture how it's all laid out & rehearse in your mind what you're going to do when you get to your kit.
Make sure you remember where your bike & kit are. Which row & how far along the row. Look for a landmark to help you locate it. Rehearse the route from exiting the swim to the bike & also where you go after finishing the bike & enter T2. Make sure you pick the fastest (shortest) route.
If it's a wetsuit swim: on exiting the water reach back & pull the zip down as you're running up the shore/ramp/beach. Get your arms out & pull the wetsuit down as far as your waist as you're running. Pull off your swimhat & goggles as you're running. When you get to your bike & kit pull the wetsuit down further then use your feet to get it most of the way off by standing on the wetsuit with one foot then pulling up with the other & vice versa & repeat. Often you can get the wetsuit all the way off by doing this.
Put on your number belt with number on your back, sunglasses on, helmet on. Make sure you do up the strap otherwise you're likely to get DQ'd. The strap will be over the top of the sunglass arms. That's important because on T2 you can take off your helmet & your sunglasses can stay on.
Put your cycling shoes on. Some athletes have their shoes already clipped into the pedals & run barefoot to the bike mounting line, then get their feet into their shoes once they're moving on the bike. I personally found it easier & quicker to run in my cycling shoes.
Off the bike into T2, make sure you dismount at or just before the line. Do not undo your helmet strap until you have racked your bike. Doing so is the most likely way to be DQ'd. Rack your bike. Helmet off. Sunglasses stay on. Cycling shoes off. Running shoes on. Off you go. As you're running off, spin your number belt around so that the number is now on your abdomen.
Try & be calm & collected & efficient when you do all this.
A lot of people lose a lot of time in T1 & T2. It's a lot less painful saving 30 seconds in transition than it is trying to make up that time on the swim/bike/run
Set myself a target time of 2 hours,so really pleased to finish in 1-48 ,swimming’s my weakness and also lost some time in first transition as I places you couldn’t pass when pushing your bike .
Pleased overall has I only started in January training and lost about a stone .
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Awesome, well done. When's the next one?
July 7,my birthday that day how sad
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Welcome to the sport
Be careful it's addictive. Congratulations on today beating your planned time is always a plus and losing a stone in 6 months is a perfect example of how this stuff helps you in general.
Perfect, well done. What were your split times?
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