First tri...

welcome aboard. you are not alone with the swimming difficulties. i think almost every triathlete on this blog would agree that swimming is not their strongest event. i know a couple of us started the TI drills about 2 years ago, as our skill level was just above drowning. but the drills seemed slow and painstaking and didnt seem to get anywhere. so i just stated swimming on my own and building up the milage and eventually once i had an ok base down i threw some drills in once and a while. i also swim with masters once a week, but it is definatly not for beginners. but the first 4 are free so it never hurts to just try it out and see if it is a fit for you. also tri manitoba has a swim programme too. as far as first tris go, hands down (for me) has to be theif river falls. it is on may long weekend, an indoor pool swim of only 500 yards then 20 kms on the bike and a 5 km run. its a blast! a bunch of us did it as our first tri 2 years ago and this may it will be our third annual. registration is open now but they cap it at 100 so hurry! hope this helps . good luck

Thanks for the info, I will consider the TRF tri!

Welcome!!!!

First of all, don't allow the tri calendar to intimidate you, pick a date that works and do that race. There seems to be many races but just do one at a time. You'll be able to register for races about 90 days before the race date so you still have lots of time.

As for your first race, well I would recommend the bird hills race. This is going to be two folds. One the swim is done in a shallow lake, therefore, if you feel that you need a break, just stand... BH lake is very shallow and you can touch the bottom anywhere (just that the bottom is full of algy)

Secondly, you'll know the race course, since you'll have done some of the Du's. Race course experience is always good since it takes away the unknown. Any there will be enough unknowns on race day, so eliminating one is a good thing. And if you finish the race, and you're smiling, then you can race St-Malo two in weeks.

As for tri-manitoba swims/masters, I go to both. I know that tri-manitoba is a smaller group so they can spend a few more minutes with you. You should be able to swim 50m continuously before you join because PAN-AM is now 50 long course till sept.

PM me if you want, I can always hope in the pool with you somewhere else to give you a few tips.

You'll find the tri community very nice and helpful. We might be competing against each other but we're all still friends.

Good luck and see you at the race start...

Hi Snake111,

Thank you for the great offer to give me some swim help! I may take you up on that in the next little while, I always thought that snakes were great swimmers

I guess I look at the race schedule the same way I look at my golf tournament schedule...play in as many as I can...but, triathlon is not golf. To try to do more than a couple of races per year may be a little much, given the amount of training that is required!

I look forward to the season.

Ah your aleady one of us. You looked at the schedule and wanted to do them all. I just got an invitation to a wedding and first thing I did was check what race I would miss.There good friends but...missing a race...its not like there family





Edited by snake111 2007-02-25 2:41 PM