Olympic or Sprint?
86
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1026 days
bluetri posted 2 years ago.
bouli, my first triathlon was an Olympic distance. I trained for just under 3 months before I did it. I beleive if you are in good health and you have the time you will be able to handle the swim. You have enough time to build up if you start now. It's difficult to injure yourself in a swim.
Here's a 10 week training plan that starts with a 300 swim. Starting out to swim is always very difficult. It gets a lot easier with practice. Good luck
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_10wOly.asp
Personal site: [url=http://www.triathletestuff.com]www.triathletestuff.com
Work site: [url=http://www.onetri.com]www.onetri.com
835
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1231 days
glbrum posted 2 years ago.
You have plenty of time to gear up for the Oly. Seeing that 2/3 of the race you have already handled, you should be able to get the swimming down before Sep.
I agree with you that (at your current fitness) completing a sprint tri (distance wise) isn't much of a challenge. Try and do it fast....that's a challenge.
You have 2 good options: challenge yourself with the distance of the Oly race or challenge yourself with the speed of the sprint race. Either way, it's a good time.
3283
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1264 days
RV posted 2 years ago.
You certainly have time to improve your swim and take on an Oly.
However, a Sprint is certainly a challenge. It is a speed race - not an endurance race.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
126
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1138 days
rob6118 posted 2 years ago.
I second RV about speed. Also I had extensive training prior to my first sprint, but not organized triathlon training, and I still found the sprint to be a very surprising mix. I was horrible at the swim, gave my all on the bike, and flunked the run. Despite being a solid biker and runner and having a lot of miles in both disciplines. I would do one sprint first, just to get a feel for tri's in general.
Rob
605
Member
1004 days
deepbluex posted 2 years ago.
I would strongly disagree that a sprint distance isn't challenging. I think doing at least one sprint before your oly will answer a lot of questions and give you a lot of lessons that you won't have to learn on your oly race. I am always learning from the mistakes I make each race to make the next one a little smoother.
Pick a sprint race and use it as a training tool. Just being able to gain experience swimming in a pack in open water under race conditions will be a huge bonus to take to your oly race later in September.
835
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1231 days
glbrum posted 2 years ago.
deepbluex wrote:
I would strongly disagree that a sprint distance isn't challenging. I think doing at least one sprint before your oly will answer a lot of questions and give you a lot of lessons that you won't have to learn on your oly race. I am always learning from the mistakes I make each race to make the next one a little smoother.Pick a sprint race and use it as a training tool. Just being able to gain experience swimming in a pack in open water under race conditions will be a huge bonus to take to your oly race later in September.
What I said was:"I agree with you that (at your current fitness) completing a sprint tri (distance wise) isn't much of a challenge."
From the fitness that he has, simple doing the distance for the race isn't going to be a challenge, besides the swim which he already stated. I am in full agreement that I and most people learn something new from every race regardless of the distance. I was simply stating that it seemed that from his current fitness he would be able to do the distance of the sprint tri. I didn't mention speed/time or placing.
250
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1117 days
Atropos posted 2 years ago.
The most important thing you can do at this point is take the time to learn proper swimming form. Use the internet and get as much knowledge as you can about swimming and use what you learn in the pool. Don't simply hop in and start swimming.
Do it properly from the start and you'll find your speed will improve very quickly.
I highly recommend going to totalimmersion.net and watching the videos they have there. It isn't much, but you can see what really good form looks like and use that as a start.
[URL="http://lincolnp.blogspot.com"]Sprinting to Ironman
The breakdown that happens at the seven-hour mark often starts 200 meters off the beach
--Gordo
83
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793 days
bouli posted 2 years ago.
Cheers for all the replies lads. I have proper form for swimming as i did lessons for nearly 6 years when i was younger and i'm a "good" swimmer, i just can't do any distance because it's been quite a while since i've done a badge or certificate.
I'm going to look into doing maybe a sprint in the next 2 months to get an idea of what a tri is like, and still hopefully do the dublin one in september. All depending on how i find the sprint.
thanks for all the advice, it's much appreciated.:)
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Eliot
461
Member
1165 days
rbreddin75 posted 2 years ago.
RV wrote:
However, a Sprint is certainly a challenge. It is a speed race - not an endurance race.
WHAT HE SAID ^^ !!!
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As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another. proverbs 27:17
[url=http://www.northatlantamultisport.org]
As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another. proverbs 27:17
[url=http://www.northatlantamultisport.org]
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793 days
bouli posted 2 years ago.
oh, i guess i chose the wrong words by saying that a sprint wouldn't be a challenge. i seem to have upset some people somewhat. What i meant to say was that i'd prefer to go the distance of an olympic, as opposed to getting a good time in a sprint. If that makes any sense!:rolleyes:
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Eliot
461
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1165 days
rbreddin75 posted 2 years ago.
sure it does.. but if that's the case I dont see what the issue is..
if you want to do the longer distance tris then you have to do the longer distance swims... (they go hand in hand)
I don't think you upset anyone.. Most of them are just thinking "unless you are winning the sprint distance races, don't make it sound like they can't be challenging"
its all good...
[URL=http://rbreddin75.trifuel.net/][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]PARADIGM : Triathlon
As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another. proverbs 27:17
[url=http://www.northatlantamultisport.org]
As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another. proverbs 27:17
[url=http://www.northatlantamultisport.org]
74
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1109 days
gjpure posted 2 years ago.
OR you could always do an Olympic distance duathlon
Hi guys, although i'm new to the whole triathlon thing, i'm not new to cycling or running. My problem is swimming.
Here's the full story:
I'm planning to do the Dublin City Triathlon on the 16th of September.
I've been running for a few years now, and i can fairly comfortably cover 10k in a training session, and have run that distance in organised races in under 45 mins, which is decent enough.
I also cycle to work and back everyday. That's about 6k each way. The other day in training i covered 32k in training, with little trouble, in 1hr20mins on a mountain bike. So i'm ok for that element.
But alas my swimming is anything but adequate. I've been doing some work in the pool, but i can barely do two lengths of a 25m pool in one go. I really struggle to spend more than 25mins in the pool and i'm wrecked after that.
So here's the problem: If i do a sprint triathlon, i don't really think i'd be challenging myself much, apart from the swim of course. The olympic distance swim scares the heck outta me though, and i'm really unsure about it.
What do you guys think? should i concentrate loads on swimming, and do the olympic distance, or do i just not have enough time to make it up to the standard? I'd really like to, but i don't wanna over-do swimming and injure myself or burn out.
Advice from anyone who's been in a similar position would be appreciated. I'm sure lots of people have been like this starting out.
bouli.
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Eliot