Congratulations Triathlete!

Sounds like it went pretty well considering your lack of training.  I'm really proud of you for sticking with it and making it through.

How much did you pay to rent the wetsuit?  I bet the wetsuit made you quite a bit faster and I wouldn't recommend racing without one unless it is a non wetsuit legal race.  Xtrerra has some awesome deals on wetsuits.  I'll actually get great discount on their suits because they sponsor my tri team.  If you're interested, I can probably get you a great deal.  If this sport is something you want to stick with, I think it would be a very wise investment.

Sounds like the bike went pretty well and we just need to get you training more.  I'm confident if you spent more time training, you could complete a triathlon with very little walking.  However, I think it was very smart of you to keep an eye on your heart rate and not allow it to get too high.

Congrats once again Timmy!  I really hope you stick with this and start training for another race soon!

Great Job Tim... Really. The first one is always the hardest.

Kinda blending your email and your race report here in my response ...

As a beginner, I definitely agree with the comment above that you should keep the wetsuit. Wetsuits give you so much advantage -- you simply cannot go wrong in a wetsuit. If you are planning a lake swim, then wetsuits are a must, unless they are disallowed due to water temperature.

The number 1 thing you can do is *something* every day. If running is your weakness, then you need to run EVERY OTHER DAY (give your muscles a chance to recover). Distance? Make sure that at least once a week your longrun is 10% more than the previous week. If you can run 1 mile, then run 1.1 miles the following week. After three weeks of this, back off to the same distance of week two. For example, if you do this

Week 1 long run: 1 mile
Week 2 long run: 1.1 miles
Week 3 long run: 1.2 miles

Then in week 4 you would run 1.1 miles as your long run.

This build's a stair-case pattern of distance, yet gives your body time to rest.

Now, just so you are aware, I'm on a THREE-week pattern, meaning that these old bones like to recover every THREE weeks, not FOUR, so I build only on weeks 1 and 2 and recover on Week 3.

On the days you are not running, swimming in your pool will be great for your joints. I highly suggest that you keep doing that every day if you can (without the wetsuit, of course). Alternating days of swimming and running can have a great, tremendous impact on your endurance.

While I was going through physical therapy for my knee, I was forbidden from running on the ground -- I had to run in the pool. Boring, yes, friggin' killer workout, yes. When I finally was able to start running on the ground I rocked ... and got there without any issues of being overweight and impacting my knee. I suggest you get a set of pool tennis shoes and run back and forth for 20 minutes in the pool -- you'll be surprised at what it does to your HR, and eventually, your endurance.

The bike. Ahhhhhhhhh, the bike. The bike is a time sink. It takes you away from your family, literally, and it becomes the other woman in your life. My wife quips that I ride my "black " (I own a black OCR3 from Giant) more than I ride her. The bike is largely where (for me) 2/3 of my triathlon performance is determined. I will NEVER win my age group in the water, and I will NEVER win my age group running. Perhaps, just perhaps, I WILL win my age group on the bike some day. I love the bike. I started on an old steel Schwinn with down-tube shifters which weighed 32#. It's not about the bike -- it's about the engine.

If you continue to do sprints, then your T-bars are fine. Really. Your heart-rate and body don't know the difference between a set of drop bars or the T-bars for Sprint distances. Keep whatever bike is comfortable at the present moment. What is more important is to get your HR up for short bursts (to build muscle strength), and to keep it LOW (to build endurance). There is no other way to simulate time in the saddle -- you need time in the saddle. Fortunately, riding a bike IS THE BEST way to 1) lose weight, and 2) improve your endurance, both without the damage that comes from killing your joints. PROTECT YOUR KNEES, and a bike is the perfect way to do this. My knee surgeon told me that every 10# of extra weight that I was carrying was 30# of downward force on my knees, which is why I've had two knee surgeries in the last 4 years. Correspondingly, I'm carrying nearly 90# of more downward force than what I should be, hence why I've been focused on the bike and swimming lately. So goal #1 is to ride your bike, and lose weight at the same time. Running (in the pool) will get easier.

So, with your upcoming race in August, start now. Do SOMETHING every day. Log it on here. I too work a killer schedule, but somehow squeeze the time in. I want to see a swim, bike or run workout logged here every day except Friday! YOU CAN DO THIS!

Give me a call sometime and let's catch up ... (703) 509-5332.