Newbie in NW Indiana

congrats on your decision to tri. Where about in NW Ind? There was a tri in Porter/Valporaiso IN today. It was a sprint. I wouldn't worry about distance as slowly increasing your time on the bike. Start off with a leisurely bike ride for about 20 minutes, then try to increase the time each week. Your strength and comfort on the bike will increase as well as the enjoyment of seeing you time increase and the distance. Good luck!!!

Ironically, I watched you swim, I live in Valparaiso Several of the athletes there train with our master's swim team and a few of my college athlete were competing.

thanks for the advice!

I didn't participate this year, but next year is a definite. I used to live in Chesterton so that park area was frequent summertime place for us. If you are there next year we'll have to have a BT pep rally. How did your swimmers do?

Hi, I'm in NW Indiana, too. I didn't do the Valpo tri today because I'm without bike at the moment, but I'm in the process of buying one. I just did my first sprint in June and am trying to train for an Olympic this fall.

I was completely new to cycling, too, but I now find that I enjoy it the most.

I haven't heard much about OLY at Purdue, but I think I know where to ask.

the swimmers did really well. I had the first swimmer out of the water in both the U35 men and women and one was 3rd in the overall. The 35+ swimmers all improved their times from last year (a couple significantly). our head coach does a great job in training triathletes and I've picked up a great deal from him...

Any tidbits you could pass along would be great. It is very hard to swim by yourself and stay motivated.

We generally train our tri athletes 3 days a week for an hour and each day is specific. Monday is our aerobic day trying to keep the heartrate btween 140 and 160. Wednesday we do our sprint work, short distance, more rest but high intensity. Friday is our distance day. We try to go at least a set of 200's or longer with some intensity but more for the sake of getting the yardage in.

Some come more than that but for the most part with their other training programs, this fits. I'll give you a basic 3 day week workout format

10 to 12 minute warm-up at your pace and choice (swim, kick, pull or a combo of any)
A short drill set, usually between 300 & 400 yards/meters (ex. 6x50 25 fingertip drill/25 regular freestyle). We do this with about 15 sec. between each one
Main set ranges anywhere from 1000 to 2000 yards depending on the day and skill level.
Cooldown at least 200 yards (we leave this to the athletes discreation)

I know your in the Lafayette Area. A great person to talk about stroke technique is Jim Sharp at Jefferson high school. He's the head coach of both the high school team and the age group team in Lafayette.

I know Jim through coaching. I coach at Harrison High School. He is a great resource. Thanks for the tips.

I'm a newbie too, and one of the things that's really been helping me get used to the bike is spin class. I got the clip-in shoes and ] I've been getting used to them using the stationary bikes at the health club. That way I got my cycling minutes in without risk of falling off my bike while I practiced clipping in and clipping out, always with my right foot first. It worked pretty well. I felt a lot more confident venturing outside after a week or two of that. It made the first few road rides a very positive experience. Congrat's to us, and to all newbies for getting out there and giving it a try!

According to the swimming & running you have already done - I think you'll really enjoy triathlons!

Great,

If you aren't busy, come up to Benton Harbor 8/5 and volunteer or spectate for the half. There will be at least 10 BT'ers there.

Do you have info on this half???