planning on doing one in June of '06

Its not too late to change your mind!

******* March 24, 2004...Everything Would Change *******

There is another thread on Triathlons somewhere on this site. The best place for advice for a beginner triathlete is

http://www.trinewbies.com

great, thanks for the info

train hard

http://www.trifuel.com/forums/index.php

Ask there. Tons of good info and training programs.
Which one are you doing on June?
I'm doing a Duathalon in January in tyler State Park. It is like a 5k run, 15k mtn bike and 5k run. That is going to be my first event.

If you are over 67, make sure you train for at least 3 weeks.

There's too many, Shane!"

BQ do you normally ride in Tyler State Park?

If not, I would get used to the course, I have had several friends bonk there.

Don't give up on yourself.

Remember, the first time is always the hardest (I'm talking about competeing; get your mind out of the gutter!).

"It takes a man to be a father....."

Make sure you're the kickER, not the kickEE, in the swimming stage. Seriously, kick your opponents in the face before they can do it to you!

[This message has been edited by compartido (edited 12/19/2005 4:46p).]

Swim as much as you can in training. Swimming will build your lung capacity which will help in the other events.

Also swimming is where a lot of people lose it. Completely drains them.

Is the swim in a lake or pool?

It is in Joe Pool Lake, a triangular course

Jimmy - what's the distance?

A few of the things I can remember from my tri experiences:
- If you are trying to compete, your swim time doesn't matter, your bike time does (but be sure to save some energy for the run)
- Be sure to do a ton of Bricks (workouts that involve two of the disciplines simultaneously) There is no feeling like trying to bike after swimming or run after biking. The more of these you do, the better off you will be.
- Most importantly, don't overtrain. If you have six months to get ready for the bugger, ease into your training. The worst thing you can do is injure yourself or burnout.

Joe Pool is a good race, the swim can be kind of hairy because of the short course and the amount of people, but they do it in waves by age, so hopefully you can out swim the people your age

Nutrition is important during training and on race day. Depending on the distance try different eating/hydration schedules during training to see which works best for you.

Swim, Swim, and Swim some more. Anybody can ride a bike, and you can always slow down on the run if need be, but the water can be dangerous with all the people, and the unexpected kicks to the face and the junk.

Good luck, and welcome to the wonderful world of triathlons!!

I agree with some comments and disagree with others. If you have any swimming background at all, just maintain. It really doesn't matter for the overall time.

Don't eat or drink too much during the race. I have never eaten during an olympic distance or shorter and only drank moderate amounts. I have found from training runs that too much food/water is more likely to hurt you than not enough. On a half iron man this summer just a little too much water gave me a cramp and probably cost me 10 minutes.

Overtrain. The days that you just really don't feel like getting out on the road are the days that make or break you. I know this contradicts some other schools of thought. I think it is an individual choice.

Where do you guys find your race listings for tri's and 5/10k's? I saw the http://www.trifind.com/tx.html site and one on trifuel.com, but am looking for others. I can't seem to find much around CS or Houston on those.

oh and rocks, just saw your post to me. I actually just got back from Tyler SP and loved the trails. A little different than Lake Bryan

Check out the calendar at http://www.runnertriathletenews.com.

BQ2001, shoot me an e-mail (username @yahoo.com) if you want to go ride on the road sometime. I'm a bit out of shape right now, but I can still keep a decent pace.

Refine your swim stroke. I had a PanAm Games swimmer work with me and he had me reach father than I would have thought to on the stroke, which ended up putting my body at about a 45 degree angle to the water. That makes things more efficient than staying on top of the water.

Aggie91

The longer reach is definitely a good thing.

But Being at a 45 degree angle is not a good thing. You do want to be on top of the water, but your body is sinking because your kick is weak.

Now for Triathlons that is acceptable because you are saving your legs gor the Bike and Run and using up your arms.

But this is not a more efficient stroke.

Your body does sink because of a poor kick but mostly because of poor head and upper body position, ie looking too far forward causing the head to lift out of the water and the feet to sink. IMHO, balance in the water is everthing. Poor balance results in making minor adjustments which causes drag and kills stroke efficiency. Total Immersion http://www.totalimmersion.net is a great swim series for Triathletes. It demphasizes the kick and maximizes stroke efficiency. I don't agree with everything they say but they have some great points for beginners.

[This message has been edited by Sooner Born (edited 1/4/2006 1:06p).]

If by 45 degrees he means "more on the hips" than swimming flat, that is a VERY good thing. The best freestylers and backstrokers spend a huge amount of time swimming on their sides, not their stomachs and backs. Swimming on their sides positions the arms for more leverage, resulting in lower stroke count per length, and greater efficiency. Most elite swimmers are specifically coached to swim this way.

I am a Masters (that means old) swimmer and some of the adults who train with me are triathletes. The number 1 thing I see them do wrong is not reach enough on their arm stroke. Number 2 is they cross over underwater - meaning their hand reaches across the invisible line centered under the body.

Definitely would agree with that.

How do the starts on a pool swim as opposed to an open water swim work?

Usually pool swims have each individual start from a push in lane 1 and snake (or double snake, depending on distance) leaving xx seconds appart. Open water swims will have either 1 big start from a buoy, dock, or beach or have waves broken out by age group or entry time. When I did Escape from Alcatraz, they just had all of us on a barge and blew the wistle for everyone to start jumping off. That was interesting.

As for the body position discussion, there are several schools of thought, but all involve minimizing resistance. I have read some of the total immersion stuff before, and Spicewood is right on about most world class swimmers spending most of their time on their side. From my experience and most of my coaching, body rotation is very important. One concept that was taught to me years ago and I use to teach new swimmers is to think of a pole going straight through your spine that your entire body rotates on. So, your shoulders and hips rotate together as you reach forward each stroke. This should also keep your head stationary and up (with the water hitting roughly at your hairline). Hope that helps a little.

I continue to work on rotation in my swimming. I didn't really learn that 20 years ago. And I am still working to get the hips to rotate with the shoulders. If you ever get to watch some world class swimmers (like Neil Walker), you'll see what we're talking about.