Hashers and Mashers Part 2 - OPEN (Page 17)

Fellow Trainees

I might do a sprint in 6 weeks (300/16/3) its a pool swim. i have not done one before i never tried because i dont want to be out in the open and get my stroke criticized. I am using this to improve my freestyle. Any advice how this should work? and its a two transition event.

Cheers


Carlo

What do you mean how this should work? If you mean for the swim, they typically seed you according to how fast you say you swim then have a time trial start like a swimmer takes off every 10 seconds. It's typically a serpentine type swim where you swim up one side of a lane, down the other, up one side of the next lane over, down the other until you've swum one lap of each lane, hop out then run to T1. Does that cover your question or do you have more?

That's it thanks

Carlo,

Which Tri is that? I might look at it (Though not sure I'm ready quite yet)

The pool tri I done last year (and intend to do this year) was by lanes, the same way as with training. They ask your estimated swim time to try to group the lanes but to be honest it didn't work on my lane (I think people overestimate how fast they'll swim).
General rule was: if the swimmer in front of you is slower you tap them on their feet, they should let you past when they get to the top of the lane.


Just registered for my A Oly race on the 7th of September !
I've been told that since my local tri is only a week before that one (and it's only 30miles away so they expect the same people to want to race both), they will also be offering a sprint race; I'm hoping this will be the case so I can race in my home town without feeling the pressure of being a tough Oly
Then I can do it next year the full thing.


Edited by tatous 2014-02-05 8:23 AM

Here ya go Markus:
http://itrievents.net/No-Label-Triathlon.html
Feel better bro

Thanks Tay!!! Goodluck on your A race. I have seen athletes do the back to back.

I did a pool-run biathlon this fall, and it was different. They limited the entrants by the number of lanes available. Two per lane. Stay on your side of the pool. Probably not the same thing for you. I'm guessing it's the serpentine type setup. In my particular race, it was a lot of folks new to mult-sport racing, so I had an advantage in transition. Keep your transitions quick and you'll make up time. Nobody is looking at your stroke. They are looking at the finish line just like you! Have fun and good luck!

I've never done a pool tri, but this and all the advice given so far sounds good to me.  The only other thing I'll note is that I imagine it is very useful to take advantage of the walls.  There is a tendency to be lazy with the wall push offs when triathletes do swim workouts, particularly because there are no walls to push off of in open water swim, so why focus on that?  But in a pool swim/race, the walls are what separates the men from the boys, so to speak.  If you're just trying to finish and have fun then feel free to take your breath and then move on, but if you are going for time, take your nice push off the wall and you should be underwater at least to the flags.  A good wall push really limits the number of strokes you need and helps you conserve energy while going fast.

If it will help and you can be flexible with travel I can give you a buddy pass on my airline.... There is a fee to use; ORD to SFO about $240... Disclaimer: it is a standby ticket! Happy to help if it works out... Mike

Yo man!! hope its at the Bayarea closer to Vineman.

Yeah that would be good for triathlon purposes but Chicago is home so we're really hoping for that, even at the expense of missing out on Vineman this time around.

John - I peeked at your training log and you're really light on the swimming. Can you swim? If you can even just do breaststroke, backstroke or sidestroke for 12 lengths then I'd like to encourage you to do the sprint. You can handle the bike and run reasonably well. Don't worry if you think you might be last you'll still have fun and learn a lot. But, no pressure. If you're uncomfortable don't do it there will be others - and then we will talk about your swimming.

Carlo - I had a quick look at your Tri. It should be fun and it'll start the season off for all of us.

Tay - Congrats on your A race registration. As we get nearer to the date ask questions about transitions and such. Is your race a pool swim or OW?

Joe - Too bad you may be missing Vineman. I hate the thought of moving but you sound like you're ready for the move so good luck. Curious to know where you wind up.

All - I had a decent swim today and then I ran almost 5 miles on our treadmill. I was anxious to see how my knee handled the run and I didn't try to push for speed. My knee definitely is not quite right but it didn't give me any trouble and I was even able to slowly increase the speed from 5mph to 5.4mph. I think the knee issue was from cycling and I am hopeful that my re-fit yesterday will fix the knee issue. As much as I enjoyed the run and I liked the speed control but I sure don't enjoy the treadmill.

Slept 4 hours today, we got 7-8 inches of snow so I woke up annoyed and it carried into my run. I'm glad there was nobody else on the track. They might have gotten stampeded by a 6"6 284 pound angry giant.

George,

Yes I can swim. Haven't been able to due to the lack of access. We don't have a lot of public pools here in Houston (especially not indoors) so most pools are tied to a gym membership. I went to LA Fitness yesterday to try out their pool and of course with my luck they were doing remodelling on it, though the Sales guy told me it should be open today. I will give it another shot during lunch. Swimming is the least of my worry. I know I can do a sprint swim with no major problems.

Now that's funny!

Well stuck in Charlotte NC for a couple of days... good news; awesome free aquatic center downtown.... so two great swim workouts! bad news: really great BBQ! Home tomorrow early afternoon... get to pick up my new Trek E9 and start riding this weekend...

Excellent! If the swim is a non-issue then you should be able to handle the sprint. It would be just long enough to feel like a good 3 sport brick workout. If you don't feel ready to do it then don't feel pressured but I think with a bit of perseverance you can do it.

X2 on that. And, is the snow wet or dry? I hate wet snow but dry is not as bad. Just to rub it in a bit - we have a "bit" of snow and a "bit" of cold and bright sunshine. It's been a really mild winter here...so far.

Guys/Gals

Thanks for the advice for my upcoming sprint. Another thing this is my first time in any Tri Race that we will have two transitons (Separate T1 and T2) the Organizer did not give any details of two transitions any body ever experience this?

It's dry snow on top of an inch of ice that was created when it suddenly got above freezing this past weekend and melted all the snow. It's been a friggen mess here in Windsor. Road salt is more valuable than gold in these parts.

Bro,I just signed up membership at the Pearland Natatorium their prices are very reasonable plus the pool has a lot of lanes i dont think you will run out of lanes there.:

I used to be a member there, but found that with my schedule it wasn't working to well. (Though I do like that they have a 3m board everyone can use) I have an LA Fitness close to my work so I was trying to see if I can get the swimming in during lunch. In the evenings with the kids it's almost impossible to get back out and go swimming. Will see how today goes during lunch. They were still closed yesterday waiting on the inspector.

Name - Scott

Story - Have been active all my life (running, biking weights,....etc.) with some periods of inactivity but last 3-4 years have been fairly active. Been talking about doing triathalons for a while but always dropped it because didn't think I could handle the swim. I'm comfortable with swimming just never have tried any significant distances. Turning 50 this year so thinking it's now or never

Family Status - Married for 17 years with 2 daughters and 1 son

Current Training - running 4 miles / 5 days a week. Usually follow it up with 10 minutes on exercise bike and some weight training.

This years races - being a beginer not sure what my goal should be. Thinking 2 - 3 sprint races?

Weight Loss - I'm 5'11" and around 170 lbs so OK with my weight