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Beginner Triathlon

Katy C.
Katy C. Sendmail

So many questions for my first sprint Tri!

asked over 1 year ago | Report

If you can help answer even one of my questions, you are awesome and much appreciated!!

1- How do I work on increasing my speed (especially for cycling) while balancing my other workouts. Right now I'm doing bike/run/swim twice a week each.

2- I have clipless pedals on my bike... can I wear cycling shoes or will that take too long to change during the transition?

3- In the swim, do you need to be able to do that cool flippy-turn around thing at the end of the lane? Do you get your own lane or is it a free-for-all?

4- What extra work should I be doing to strengthen myself and avoid injury? I do yoga once a week and sporadic weight training, and am doing the 100 pushup and 200 situp challenges.

5- There's so much fancy Tri gear out there- do I actually need any of it?!

Thank you!!

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7 answers

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  • Cathy K.
    Cathy K. Sendmail

    Katy I think I have a few answers. I have cage pedals so I use my running shoes. If you do not need the cycling shoe why buy them. The three tris I have done were open water swims, no lanes no flip turns. Tri shorts are a good investment, not as bulky as bike shorts and you can swim in them.
    Do you have a place to do spin/indoor cycling? This could help build you speed on the bike.
    Hope this helped.
    Cathy K.

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Sharon S.PRO
    Sharon S. Sendmail

    1. increasing speed, usually means working in some interval training into your regime. It doesn't have to (shouldn't) be every time, but some Xmin/mi fast, rest, repeat. Stationary bikes are handy for this as well.
    2. If you're used to wearing clipless while cycling, I think you should not worry about the transition delay and just change shoes. Familiarity trumps speed for your first time, IMO.
    3. So this is a pool Tri? Again, do what is familiar. If you can't do a flip turn yet, don't try to learn on the eve of the event. If you have time beforehand to learn and get comfortable, then it's a worthwhile skill.
    4. yoga is excellent. Practice transitions.
    5. you need something you can swim in that you can also bike and run in. You'll be able to add clothes, but removing them is not really an option (e.g. swimsuits aren't coming off). if you can do that comfortably in a swim suit, more power to you. Most gals go with 1 or 2 piece tri suits. The shorts are like cycling shorts, but with less padding (so it doesn't absorb water during the swim), the tops are like a fitted tank with a built in bra. You can also just buy tri shorts, and use a sports bra top (you can add a shirt or jersey for the bike->run segments if you want more modesty).

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Douglas S.
    Douglas S. Sendmail

    1: mix short sprints into your rides, 60s up to 2-3minutes. Familiar w/ term fartlek? Can do same thing on a bike.
    2: cycling shoes allow more power to be put into the pedals and not wasted, and are the way to go w/ longer tri's but you may not get enough benefit to outweigh the time of an additional shoe change. However, whatever you wear while training you should stick w/ during race
    3: unless your race is in a pool, flip turns not really important. If race is pool, it would help, but only if you can do them well, otherwise stay w/ open turn. For training, it depends. Workouts take less time w/ flip turn, but won't use in open water race. If training in pool don't get in lane w/ people that are doing flip turns. Stick to lane by yourself or others doing oen turn.
    4: core strengthening important for all 3 events. Make sure you are taking time to stretch out after workouts, especially the harder workouts. If something is really tight, foam rollers help as well. If something is sore/hurts make sure you ice afterwards.
    5: you don't need any fancy gear. It is nice to have, but some of it is actually a disadvantage unless you are at a certain level. Take disk wheels for example, if you can't maintain a 20mph average pace they will actually slow you. All you need are goggles, comfortable bike (preferably a road bike) and comfortable running footwear (unless you are comfortable barefoot). Tri suit is recommended, but not essential. From there everything is bonus. You don't even need top of the line bike. My 1st 1/2 ironamn was done on a $600 road bike and I finished in 5:09, beating many people on $2000+ bikes.
    Good luck. Feel free to ask me anything else

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Douglas S.
    Douglas S. Sendmail

    Oops, oops, oops...
    5: forgot helmet. Mandatory for races, but should ALWAYS use. But I'm sure you knew that. $40 helmet works, but recommend $60-$100 range for comfort and protection. Your brain is worth it. $200 helmets not necessary until you get truly hard core

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Bryce H.
    Bryce H. Sendmail

    Answers to your questions
    1. interval, tempos, and hill sprints for cycling and running. I do 3 workouts on all 3 disciplines Swim at lunch, run in the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Saturday is my long run and swim.
    My rides are Wednesdays and Fridays. Sunday is long.
    Monday is Rest. So during the week is usually my speed workouts.

    2. I use the clipless pedals and there are ways you can make it faster to transition but the are more efficient than with the cages and without.

    3.you can use any stroke you feel comfortable even though freestyle is the more efficient stroke. As for turns in a pool no you do not need to do flip turns.

    4. core strength and leg press with stability ball to strengthen the hamstrings

    5. Helmet, shoes, goggle/mask

    6. also there is no drafting while cycling. Might look at the USAT rules

    7. Have Fun.

    Also there are some good articles/videos on Youtube and BeginnerTriathlete.com

    answered about 1 year ago |Report

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  • Wouter A.
    Wouter A. Sendmail

    Good luck. I'm also a beginner Triahlete. Started training a few months and I want to do a 1/4 triathlon in Bruges, Belgium.

    answered 5 months ago |Report

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  • Jeff R.
    Jeff R. Sendmail

    Lots of good advice above. Definitely practice transitions. You may want to pick up some speed laces for your running shoes. They will help with your bike to run transition.

    answered 5 months ago |Report

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