There's been a lot of crossover lately in the cycling and running threads, so I thought it would be worthwhile to have a dedicated triathlon thread now that the season is well under way.

A couple of good links with a lot of information:

http://www.trifind.com - Calendar for finding local events

http://www.active.com/triathlon/ - lots of good stuff in the Articles & Media section, as well as resources for each sport individually on other parts of the site

http://www.slowtwitch.com/ - mostly for people who are like "TRIATHLONS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS", but also has a nice calendar, lots of product reviews, bike tuneup guides, a very active forum... overall a big, knowledgeable community


Anyone feel like making a trip to the west coast for the LA triathlon in October? I know there are a few other active T-dubbers in this part of the country who cycle. The Malibu triathlon also still has a handful of spots left for the Olympic distance, and lots of celebrities do this one since it's in their back yard. Probably your best chance to see Teri Hatcher in a bikini in person.

5/4/2010 12:46:09 AM

Yay, a triathlon thread! All we need is a swimming thread independent of this, and we can have the tri-fecta
*ba-dum SHHHH*.

5/4/2010 12:52:53 AM

This is another good site for Triathlons of varying distances in North Carolina. Look out for discount codes.

http://fsseries.com/index.php?action=page&page_id=1

For those that have a specific number of events they want to compete in, it might benefit you to become a USAT member. Individual Fee includes one-day USAT membership fee for most events local, regional, and national. If you compete in four or more events in a season the membership pays for itself IIRC.

http://www.usatriathlon.org/member-services/benefits

5/4/2010 1:39:52 AM

Have my first of the season on Sunday... should be a balmy 63 degrees in the water

5/4/2010 9:47:09 AM

good thread idea. I'm doing my first tri of the season on Saturday--the White Lake Half Ironman.

There is also http://www.beginnertriathlete.com, which has gear reviews, a race calendar and such and is much more friendly to new triathletes than slowtwitch is. The cool thing, though, about slowtwitch is that alot of pros and big time industry guys read and post on the forum.

Also, I posted it in the cycling thread, but there is a great sprint distance tri coming up in Vass, NC on Memorial Day weekend http://www.woodlaketriathlon.com. The deadline is coming up for early registration (and the cheap price).

5/4/2010 12:48:01 PM

did my first sprint tri back in March

next one I plan to do is the UNC Super sprint on August 1st

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_detail&eventID=1461

5/4/2010 1:56:20 PM

open swim in march???

5/4/2010 2:44:20 PM

I have 3 more planned this year:

1) Triangle Sprint in July
2) Lake Lure Olympic in early Aug.
3) Pinehurst Olympic early October

5/4/2010 3:26:48 PM

So, I'm a cyclist and a runner. Like so many casual triathletes, I'm not really a swimmer. I can do it, and my wife was a competitive swimmer for much of her life so I've got a great coach readily available, but I don't like it at all.

For someone who is in pretty good shape cardiovascularly but has no upper body to speak of, how far in advance would you recommend to start training the swim for an Olympic-distance tri? Twice a week will be pushing it with my schedule; I'd like to swim once on the weekend and then once during the week when time allows.

My preference is to avoid the water as much as possible, but I want to be well-prepared enough that a 1.5km swim won't utterly destroy my performance on the other two legs. Three months of prep time? Two?

5/5/2010 3:30:53 AM

Swimming is definitely my weak leg and I trained 3 times a week (2 structured tempo/interval workouts, 1 long and slow) on it leading up to my race. I'm definitely not fast by any means, but I should be solidly middle of the pack coming out of the water.

You could probably get by with 1 long to build endurance and 1 interval to build speed workout per week for your race.

5/5/2010 5:54:30 AM

I feel lucky to have swimming and biking be my strongest... running is a whole different story... almost wished the order of the events were reversed

5/5/2010 11:11:29 PM

I'm doing another sprint in October in VA, and I'm probably going to do another sprint around July or August. By next year I'd like to do a 1/2 Ironman. We shall see....

5/6/2010 6:38:05 AM

The colonial beach one in VA in July is awesome. Flat bike, flat run. They offer Olympic and sprint there.

5/6/2010 8:07:48 AM

i really want to do a tri someday. but i'm SUCH a stronger swimmer than runner. i wish the swimming part of tris was longer.

5/6/2010 12:30:20 PM

this is going to be my first tri

http://fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=44

5/6/2010 12:35:53 PM

These are the three that I'm signed up for:

Tri Latta Triathlon (Sun) - 6/13/2010
Lake Norman YMCA Triathlon (Sun) - 8/22/2010
Inside Out Sports White Lake International - 9/11/2010

5/6/2010 12:43:56 PM

khcadwal you should do a tri with me i'm the same way!

5/6/2010 1:17:35 PM

Quote :

"i wish the swimming part of tris was longer."

The wilmington YMCA sprint triathlon is longer than normal. IIRC, its 1000+ yds with a 12 mi bike and a 5k.

5/6/2010 1:55:18 PM

OK, here's my strategy for the swim. LunaK, I'll hold onto one of your legs. kadwackle, I'll hold onto one of yours. And the two of you can pull me to victory.

Sound good?

5/6/2010 2:23:12 PM

I'm with LunaK on this one...I suck at running, even though I arguably spend most of my exercise time walking or running (the best 5K time I ever did was 28 something, and a 10K in like an hour).

I should probably find a running coach before my next tri, but I can't will myself to pay $$ for it. Any runners in Durham want to school me on intervals?

5/6/2010 6:09:01 PM

First tri of the season tomorrow

5/8/2010 7:49:49 PM

G'Luck!

5/8/2010 7:59:23 PM

Thanks

5/8/2010 8:07:35 PM

^good luck with the heat

Finished the White Lake 70.3 this morning. Was shooting for a good age group placement, but didn't get it. It was so hot and windy, I'm just glad I finished. Don't forget to take your electrolytes kids.

5/8/2010 8:18:25 PM

Shit it's supposed to be a HIGH of 67 tomorrow... Water temp and outside temp about the same... Oh joy

5/8/2010 8:26:30 PM

oh, thats right. cold front tonight. seriously 67 is awesome. Consider yourself lucky because 95 sucks ass.

5/8/2010 9:09:53 PM

ok i got swim jammers for my birthday today. so i have all of the equipment i would need to do it all. Heck I even have a HIND tri suit that i got last year on clearance. So I joined a gym with a pool. Shit. Now I have to swim huh?

Did a 40 mile ride today. Run tomorrow. Swim monday................

5/8/2010 9:16:37 PM

^x4 nicely done. How was the swim?

5/9/2010 12:31:49 PM

thanks man. swim was ok. About what I expected but the course was a little long I think, based on the times of some of the people I knew racing it. It was announced last minute that it was not wetsuit legal, which as a slow swimmer was a bit of a bummer, but I was confident that I could do the distance.

5/9/2010 8:27:58 PM

had my second one ever (first one since the accident) this am.

it was MAYBE 55 degrees when we started the race, and the water was 71. didn't need the wetsuits we were wearing - and we borrowed some from my bro in law and his sister. yea, they were not the right kind. filled up with water immediately and it was an added 20 pounds or so. in addition to the extra weight, the 20mph winds on the lake were causing white caps so every time i went to take a breath - i drank some water.

transitions were shittastic. the first one cause i couldn't get out of my damn wetsuit. the second because i left my shorts in the car - and i tried to grab them in between bike and run so i didn't have to run the whole thing in my suit - but alas, no pants.

the bike and run actually went really well - even though it was super hilly....

looking forward to tri #2 of the season in july

5/9/2010 9:57:02 PM

the transitions have been concerning me. what do i do...just get butt ass naked right there in front of every one as i take off my speedo, dry off and put on my biking shorts?

5/10/2010 2:23:53 PM

Buy a pair of tri shorts that you can swim/bike/run in. They have a smaller amount of padding so they give you some cushion during the bike and don't get in the way on the run.

5/10/2010 2:26:40 PM

do they prevent saddle rash even if wet?

5/10/2010 4:13:29 PM

What do you mean by saddle rash? I have had a sore ass on some long rides, but that's more of a bruising of my taint than a rash. Either way, Triathlon shorts are specifically designed to be worn swimming to biking to running. They dry quickly and have a minimal pad that doesn't get in the way of you running. For 15 miles, unless it's your first time on a bike, you shouldn't really have any soreness to speak of even without any padding.

Getting nekkid in transition is generally frowned upon, though.

5/10/2010 4:29:02 PM

Quote :

"Getting nekkid in transition is generally frowned upon, though."

i dunno there were some guys at my tri yesterday that i would not have minded them getting nekkid

5/10/2010 4:32:19 PM

saddle rash = sore ass from the bike saddle. i would think the irritation would be exasperated by wet shorts.

5/10/2010 4:34:33 PM

you dry off quickly and buying the right pair of shorts will help immensely.

i did 18 miles in just a bathing suit and i was perfectly fine

5/10/2010 4:36:10 PM

Some of the soreness goes away after you get used to it and put miles on your butt, too.

5/10/2010 5:02:53 PM

^ pretty much

gotta break in your ass sparky

5/10/2010 5:05:46 PM

yeah i'm past the soreness phase but didn't know if adding in the wet shorts factor would cause issues.

5/11/2010 10:49:51 AM

Nah you don't really notice it. How long of a triathlon are you doing? If it's a sprint, the bike won't be too long anyway.

5/11/2010 10:56:52 AM

^^^ hahaha....just got that!!

^ yeah its a sprint...just 15mile bike

5/11/2010 12:35:26 PM

For you experienced tri guys, how many sprints did you compete in before you stepped it up to Olympic distance?

5/20/2010 6:58:35 AM

I'm not experienced, but I'll have four sprints done before my Olympic in September.

Starting to think I should be training more

5/20/2010 10:21:17 AM

my wife wants to train for one of these triathlon things. I told her to go for the biathlon - cross country skiing and shooting.

[Edited on May 20, 2010 at 10:43 AM. Reason : ]

5/20/2010 10:43:14 AM

^^^ I'm not experienced as I have only been doing this for a little over a year, but I only had a handful of sprints before I did my first half-ironman. I still haven't done an olympic, although I would like to. It's really about how you prepare. I think most people could probably complete an ironman the first time out if they trained properly for it. The experience of having other triathlons under your belt will certainly help, though.

5/20/2010 11:17:09 AM

im thinking of doing my first tri... sprint of course

its at the end of june & there is a 2hour time limit. i'm really worried that i won't finish in time. am i just being a big baby??

5/20/2010 11:33:29 AM

That is a pretty short time limit, but it really depends on the length of the course. I would imagine it's a pretty short swim (<500m) and a short bike (<14mi) right? If that's the case, then I'm sure you will be fine.

Most people could doggy paddle 500m in less than 20 min. Cruise the bike course at 14 mph (pretty easy) and then walk the 5k and you made the time limit without a problem.

5/20/2010 12:28:15 PM

Sprints are usually a 750m swim

5/20/2010 12:46:48 PM

I've never heard of a 2 hour time limit on a tri.. that seems rather odd to me.

5/20/2010 12:47:21 PM