Freaking Out Over the Little Things - Triathlon Week

willchaf · 10-03-2007, 07:45 PM

My first Triathlon is next Sunday (10/14/07) and I am totally starting to freak out. It's a Sprint Triathlon 300m/10mi/3mi. Up until now I've been a runner only doing mostly 5K road races with a couple of 5 milers and a 10K this past spring. As the date draws near, I keep stressing over the little things and it's beginning to invade my sleep. I dream that I've forgotten my helmet, my bike, that I was late getting there...you name it, they are starting to come up frequently like this.

My biggest concern is that I'll forget something. I'll come to my transition area and realize that something that I really need isn't there.

Other questions:

1) Since this is my first Triathlon I didn't want to go out and spend money I didn't have on a new bike, and I read somewhere that your first Tri should be short anyway and just use whatever bike you have in your garage. Well, it's a mountian bike. I had it tuned up and I had them put slicks on it. Still, in the back of my mind I keep fretting about riding a mountian bike. Mainly because I looked up the finishing times for last year's race and I saw most of the bike times were in the 20mph range. On my mountain bike I'm only averaging 18mph. Am I going to be the only one on a mountain bike?

2) I absolutely suck at swimming. One of my wife's friends who has completed a triathlon tried to give me pointers on how to do the swim stroke and I was so frustrated. Everytime I try to turn my head to breathe, water pours from my shoulder (or from somewhere, I have no idea) into my mouth and I gag. On top of that, I can't get enough air in my lungs with that little short breath. I don't know how ya'll do it. What am I doing wrong?

3) If your shoes are at the transition area, do you walk barefooted to the swim start point?

That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'll remember more questions later.

Thanks,

Chad.

chappy · 10-04-2007, 03:58 PM

I've only done one triathlon and I was in the same boat as you with a mountain bike. I rented a road bike from the local bike shop. It was about $25 dollars and I just picked it up the day before and practiced a bit with the bike and then used it the next day in the triathlon. There were several people using mountain bikes in my TRI, but they are significantly slower than a road bike.

I'm no help on the swim. I always get a couple of mouthfuls of water when swimming too.

RedT · 10-05-2007, 08:01 AM

I did my first two Tris on a mountain bike (w/o aerobars or clipless pedals or any of the bells and whistles) and a LOT of newbie Tri folks use mountain and hybird bikes. 20mph is fast even for a road bike. I really doubt that that is where MOST people are- look at the folks in the middle of the pack. They are riding at about 17-18 mph. If you rent a bike that you have never ridden before you have no idea whether the seat or the handle bars will be comfortable for you, and you will not be familiar with the bumpy ride of a road bike and it is much bumpier than a mountain bike.

You are not going to win this race. You want to finish with a "decent" time and learn. Every Tri is a learning experience. You see what didn't work and what did and what seemed to work for the guy who racked next to you and the girl you saw on the run course and the folks you talk to after the race. You'll see some cool stuff that you don't have (race belts, fuel belts, hydration systems, shoes, shoe laces, various tri suits, cycling jerseys, head gear, all kinds of bike stuff ), and you can price it later and see if you think it is worth buying.

The swim:
can you back stroke? Good, then you won't drown. There is no requirement that you freestyle. I have seen folks breast-stroke the whole swim. My first Tri, I alternated freestyle and side-stroke. If you get tired DO NOT treadwater - it only tires you out without forward progress - backstroke (or use some other stroke you are comfortable with).

You will finish and you will be fine and you will learn.

Have FUN!

chappy · 10-05-2007, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedT

I did my first two Tris on a mountain bike (w/o aerobars or clipless pedals or any of the bells and whistles) and a LOT of newbie Tri folks use mountain and hybird bikes. 20mph is fast even for a road bike. I really doubt that that is where MOST people are- look at the folks in the middle of the pack. They are riding at about 17-18 mph. If you rent a bike that you have never ridden before you have no idea whether the seat or the handle bars will be comfortable for you, and you will not be familiar with the bumpy ride of a road bike and it is much bumpier than a mountain bike.

You are not going to win this race. You want to finish with a "decent" time and learn. Every Tri is a learning experience. You see what didn't work and what did and what seemed to work for the guy who racked next to you and the girl you saw on the run course and the folks you talk to after the race. You'll see some cool stuff that you don't have (race belts, fuel belts, hydration systems, shoes, shoe laces, various tri suits, cycling jerseys, head gear, all kinds of bike stuff ), and you can price it later and see if you think it is worth buying.

The swim:
can you back stroke? Good, then you won't drown. There is no requirement that you freestyle. I have seen folks breast-stroke the whole swim. My first Tri, I alternated freestyle and side-stroke. If you get tired DO NOT treadwater - it only tires you out without forward progress - backstroke (or use some other stroke you are comfortable with).

You will finish and you will be fine and you will learn.

Have FUN!

You really think he would be faster on a mountain bike as opposed to a rented road bike. If you get it at a bike shop they will get you a bike that fits your size and make minor adjustments for you. I definitely don't think it is necessary, but renting is a good option if you want to add a couple of mph. I think middle of the road in the tri that I was in was about 19-20 mph on the bike which is difficult on a mountain bike. I averaged 19.9 on my rented bike.

RedT · 10-05-2007, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chappy

You really think he would be faster on a mountain bike as opposed to a rented road bike. If you get it at a bike shop they will get you a bike that fits your size and make minor adjustments for you. I definitely don't think it is necessary, but renting is a good option if you want to add a couple of mph. I think middle of the road in the tri that I was in was about 19-20 mph on the bike which is difficult on a mountain bike. I averaged 19.9 on my rented bike.

First rule of the race - Never try anything new on race day! ; )

I trained on my mountian bike and did my first sprint (800/12/5k) in 1:35, which I think is a pretty good time for someone who really didn't know what they were doing. Of course I heard, "you'll be so much faster on a road bike." Then when I finally pulled the trigger on a road bike, I'd "be so much faster with clipless pedals," then "aerobars," et c . . .

I just think that with a first race you're more trying to figure out what is going on then trying to break any speed records, so why stress out over renting a bike? There are a ton of other things to stress out over and he will find to a million things to upgrade next season.

Also, the gearing on my road bike is very different form my mountain bike and my posture is different on each bike. I (personally) would not want to be trying our new gear on race day.

Also, think of how much his time can improve between is first and second sprint if he does decide to stick with Tri's and buys and trains on a road bike. He'll be knocking 5 minutes off his time! : )

On the other hand, a friend of mine with whom I did my first Tri, had one of those 1980's 10-speed bikes and she rented a bike on race day ($50 per in our area), but she also rented it the weekend before the race to get used to it.

I beat her anyway ; )

willchaf · 10-05-2007, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedT

First rule of the race - Never try anything new on race day! ; )

I trained on my mountian bike and did my first sprint (800/12/5k) in 1:35, which I think is a pretty good time for someone who really didn't know what they were doing. Of course I heard, "you'll be so much faster on a road bike." Then when I finally pulled the trigger on a road bike, I'd "be so much faster with clipless pedals," then "aerobars," et c . . .

I just think that with a first race you're more trying to figure out what is going on then trying to break any speed records, so why stress out over renting a bike? There are a ton of other things to stress out over and he will find to a million things to upgrade next season.

Also, the gearing on my road bike is very different form my mountain bike and my posture is different on each bike. I (personally) would not want to be trying our new gear on race day.

Also, think of how much his time can improve between is first and second sprint if he does decide to stick with Tri's and buys and trains on a road bike. He'll be knocking 5 minutes off his time! : )

On the other hand, a friend of mine with whom I did my first Tri, had one of those 1980's 10-speed bikes and she rented a bike on race day ($50 per in our area), but she also rented it the weekend before the race to get used to it.

I beat her anyway ; )

Yes, I have my feelers out for a road bike, but I'm sticking with my MTB for this race. You all have really put my mind at ease and having my first Tri as a learning experience will only serve to make me better for the next one. I'm really looking forward to this race as each day goes by. It's funny to think that a few days ago I was worried about how to cut down my transition time. This one is the benchmark. All others will be the ones where I start trying to shave minutes off.

chappy · 10-06-2007, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedT

First rule of the race - Never try anything new on race day! ; )

I trained on my mountian bike and did my first sprint (800/12/5k) in 1:35, which I think is a pretty good time for someone who really didn't know what they were doing. Of course I heard, "you'll be so much faster on a road bike." Then when I finally pulled the trigger on a road bike, I'd "be so much faster with clipless pedals," then "aerobars," et c . . .

I just think that with a first race you're more trying to figure out what is going on then trying to break any speed records, so why stress out over renting a bike? There are a ton of other things to stress out over and he will find to a million things to upgrade next season.

Also, the gearing on my road bike is very different form my mountain bike and my posture is different on each bike. I (personally) would not want to be trying our new gear on race day.

Also, think of how much his time can improve between is first and second sprint if he does decide to stick with Tri's and buys and trains on a road bike. He'll be knocking 5 minutes off his time! : )

On the other hand, a friend of mine with whom I did my first Tri, had one of those 1980's 10-speed bikes and she rented a bike on race day ($50 per in our area), but she also rented it the weekend before the race to get used to it.

I beat her anyway ; )

First rule of rules: They are meant to be broken!

I agree with everything you said. I think that he should do what he feels comfortable with.

I also trained on my mountain bike for my first tri and finished in 1:25. I used a road bike though and my swim was only 750m and I'm fat. My bike time was 5 minutes better than my best time on the same course with my mountain bike. I did have clipless pedals for my mountain bike and used the same ones on the road bike. I think it would be tough if you weren't used to clipless pedals and switched to them on race day.

I probably would have stayed with the mountain bike if it cost $50, but at $25 I couldn't pass up the 5 minute bonus to my goal. It probably also slows your run a bit since you will expend more energy on the mountain bike so a road bike is probably good for better than 5 minutes. The plus for using a mountain bike on the first tri is that switching will be an easy time improvement for your second.

sfricks · 10-08-2007, 07:39 AM

My $.02... Only rent a road bike if you're comfortable with shifting on it. The 5 minutes of time advantage could turn into 5 minutes of hell. That said. if you think you can win it, take every advantage you can. If your attitude is "compete to complete", stick with what you know, go out and HAVE FUN :)

chappy · 10-08-2007, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfricks

My $.02... Only rent a road bike if you're comfortable with shifting on it. The 5 minutes of time advantage could turn into 5 minutes of hell. That said. if you think you can win it, take every advantage you can. If your attitude is "compete to complete", stick with what you know, go out and HAVE FUN :)

Good point on the shifting. I was about 3/4 of the way through the race before I figured out what gear I should be in. I also popped the chain off due to bad shifting when I was practicing the day before. That wouldn't have been fun during the race.

You left out the people between "Trying to Win" and "Compete to Complete". What about the "Compete to Compete"? I'm just hoping to keep up my training and do second Tri. I did the year long membership thinking I was going to do 2 or 3, but my membership has expired and I have only did 1. Good news is that I am training again at least.

RedT · 10-08-2007, 02:33 PM

Chappy,

Come on down to the Austin area and you can compete in a Tri once a month - really get some mileage out of your membership!
CapTex (ok, that one was rained out this year), Rookie, Couples, Dilloman, Jack's Generic, The Austin Tri, Belterra Sprint - not to mention Danskin, Skeese Greets, & Rouge for the ladies.

I just did my first Olympic distance Tri on Saturday (10/6), the Longhorn, had way too much fun in 2:59:36!(ha-ha under 3 hours).

Red

sfricks · 10-09-2007, 07:44 AM

Congrats on your Oly Red. Our Oly is next month and I'd love to break 3 on this freekin' hilly course:)

We also have year long Tri's, Du's, Runs, and a 9 month Cycle race season. Way too much to ever take a great deal of down time.

Good luck in your race will and let us know how you do.

PS For some free speed, search this forum for "transition".

RedT · 10-15-2007, 06:55 AM

OK Chad. How'd it go?

We need a race report!

Red

willchaf · 10-17-2007, 11:43 AM

Sorry it's taken me so long to post my race report. Busy at work this week.

OK, so here it goes:

Woke up around 5:15am and headed out to race site. Got our body markings and set up our bikes in the transition area. After looking over it and over it and over it one more time I was satisfied with everything. We went up the road and grabbed some water and bananas and I also bought an energy bar. I ate two bananas (prerace ritual for me) and hydrated with the water. I filled my bike water bottle and had another water bottle for the run just in case (there were 3 aid stations during the run).

30 minutes before race time they opened the course for swim warm ups. I looked at it this way: the swim was going to be hard enough for me as it was, so I chose to "conserve my energy" and not partake in any warm ups. The weather was outstanding. Morning temps were in the mid to upper 60's. The water temperature was not nearly as cool and I had expected. I did jump in the water to wet my hair to make it easier to get my swim cap on...and to relieve myself. Yes, I admit it...I peed in the water. Sorry.

Swim – 300 meters – 9:37.2 - 56 of 62 in 35-39 age group.
A nervous excitement came over me as we were lined up ready to get in the water. I was giddy. We got in the water (3rd wave in) and waited for the gun. Said a quick prayer and we were off. I had originally planned on waiting 10 seconds to let the crowd clear, but we were pretty good and spread out so I went with the gun. I tried to go slow but sure with my swim and I think I did ok. I must admit that seeing 300m as a point to point was pretty intimidating at first, but I just kept plugging away at it. A friend of mine was doing the triathlon with me and he was really struggling in the swim, so I slowed down and tried to encourage him throughout which really did me a lot of good since I wasn't expending as much energy otherwise. Of course that meant my swim time would be longer, but this one wasn't about the time.

T1 - 4:23.7 – 57 of 62
After getting out of the water I didn't really try to be in a hurry to get to my bike. Dried off a bit, put on my shirt, socks, shoes, helmet and glasses and headed out.

Bike – 10 miles – 36:04.5 – 16.6 mph avg – 59 of 62.
The bike was definitely the most taxing of the 3 events. 10 miles on the mountain bike was pretty rough at times. Looking back I’m very pleased with my bike time. I was aiming at 45 minutes because the times back home when I trained my averages were in the 14 to 15 mph. I guess I didn’t take into consideration that we’d have the road all to ourselves and no need for stopping for traffic really helps out time wise. I made a nearly critical mistake on the bike. Around mile 5 I decided I needed to get some more food in me. I couldn’t find the gel that my buddy gave me, so I grabbed the energy bar. It was a Gatorade energy bar. I was huffing and puffing pretty good and for some strange reason, I thought it’d be a good idea to take a big ol’ honkin’ bite of that bar. Brother, let me tell you I almost choked right there on the spot. After recovering about 10 minutes later I took very small bites. It took me about 10 minutes to eat that damn thing. Next time I will make sure to have liquid gels readily at hand to power up. I made sure to fully hydrate on the bike, so I drank all of my water.

T2 – 1:13.3 – 32 of 62
Lead? Jello? Logs? Rubber? Flimsy? Dead? None of these adjective properly describes what my legs felt like after getting on the bike and starting the run. You all know what I’m talking about and all I can say is “I feel your pain.” I took a quick swig of water and decided that since there were 3 aid stations on the run, and since I was pretty good and hydrated, I’d not carry my water bottle with me.

Run – 3 miles – 31:00.1 – 10:20/mi – 55 of 62
Ah, the run. My “strong suit” (haha.) As I started the run I felt a little bit sad. As with the best books or movies, I always feel a bit sad as it nears the end knowing that the joy, the excitement, the drama is drawing to a close. A few weeks before I was fretting over everything except the run…I was looking forward to the run. Now, it was a bittersweet moment that it was time to run. It took me about 1 mile to finally catch my breath from the bike. We ran through the 1st aid station and the course wound around and passed us through the park area not too far from the finish line. There were people lining the course cheering and shouting for all of us. Man that was awesome! Then the course wound out into some more side streets. We walked the mile 2 aid station and ran the rest of the way. We could hear the crowd as we came closer to the end and finally we reached the finish line. I even got a medal for being a newbie!

Final – 1:22:18.9 – 58 of 62. 449 of 750 Overall.

It was an awesome day and I am definitely hooked. I'm going to look for a used road bike and train for next season. Thanks for all ya'lls help in calming my nerves and helping me have a great race.

For pictures of my first tri, visit my blog: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Chad

RedT · 10-17-2007, 12:27 PM

Congrats on your first Tri! Sounds like you had a good time and learned some stuff too (like what not to eat on a bike). Isn't it amazing how much encouraging other people actually helps you?

A friend of mine from Austin did that Tri. She said it was a lot of fun, too.

Do some research on road bikes and try some out before you buy, I'm sure you'll be able to find a good one (hint: In the spring everyone is selling their bikes from the past season on Craigslist- at least in Austin they are).

and one other thing . . .
Congratulations, You are a Triathlete!

willchaf · 10-17-2007, 01:03 PM

One thing I forgot to mention is that when I arrived to packet pickup there was a big notice saying they recommend nose plugs for the swim. I chalked it down as just one of those things that you may want but aren't really necessary.

Well at dinner I find out the reason for that - in warm weather, fresh water lakes (ie. a lake in Houston, Texas) there is danger of the presence of a BRAIN EATING MICROBE that enters your body through your nose. There is no warning signs that you have it and in 2 weeks you are dead! That's a fine how do you do!

So, in two weeks if ya'll don't hear from me I may have gone to that great big Finish line in the Sky. I just hope I don't have to spend too much time in T2!!