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First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED
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 2015-04-04 6:36 PM |
 8 |  Subject: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIEDHi All, First post here. My first triathlon is going to be on April 12th, the Napa HITS course at a sprint length. I have definitely not been training as much as I should have been, but have made a great amount of progress with all aspects of the triathlon. I started swimming in January, unable to do 25 yards without gasping for air. Yesterday I was finally able to do 800 yards non-stop in a 50 yd pool in 18 minutes! I still have yet to swim in open water, but plan to do so with a tri team this coming Tuesday. As far as biking, I bike about 12 miles to work one-way, twice a week. The average elevation gain is about 300 ft. I usually can complete this in about 35-40 minutes, with stops due to the various lights going to work. However, looking at the Strava for the course this upcoming tri, it looks like the elevation is going to be a little more than that, with 300 meters of elevation gain (although I think this may be wrong, as it looks very hilly) http://www.strava.com/routes/656219 For the running portion, I can run ~ 6 miles at a 9:20-9:40 pace. HOWEVER, I have not done anything in terms of brick workouts besides a couple of 1-2 mile runs after ~ 8 mile bike ride. Is there anything that I can be doing this last week or should I focus on diet and hydration? Any tips for this? My diet is very poor. Haha. Thank you all, I have been lurking on this forum/website for a while and it has been extremely valuable to my training. I am very excited but also very nervous about my first tri! Hopefully I will love it! Thanks in advance. |
| 2015-04-04 6:51 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Extreme Veteran 959    Greenwood, South Carolina | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Welcome and good luck. Don't start off to fast on the swim. Practice your transitions and have a checklist to make sure you don't forget anything. Enjoy the race. |
| 2015-04-04 7:26 PM in reply to: #5106085 |
| 370 , North Carolina | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED You'll do great. Pace your self on the bike and have fun. I was a nervous wreck my first tri as well. Part of the fun! |
| 2015-04-04 8:02 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Master 2855 Kailua, Hawaii | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED I'd suggest continuing with your swims up till 2 days before your race. Sounds like this is the weakest link. get your race stuff together and practice doing a mock tri 15:15:15 (15 minutes each). lay your stuff out like race day. compact and neat. If you can't do the swim part, just run into transition with your cap and goggles. Make sure you can get through the T1 and T2 smoothly. do this at least once before the race. twice if you can. nutrition is not necessary, just have water on the bike, maybe a gel if you wish. gel on the run if you want as well, but nothing really needed for a sprint. check your bike. air in the tires, chain in a easy start gear. water in the bottle. tape on your gel. have a list for race day. get up early and arrive at transition early to keep calm. short warmup before the start (stretch / 5 min pre swim / 5 min pre run ) |
| 2015-04-04 8:11 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Veteran 2297 Great White North | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Where is this magic 50 yard pool?? |
| 2015-04-05 6:29 AM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Veteran 512 Tempe, Arizona | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED You sound like you're all set to go, including being TERRIFIED.  Everyone, I mean, absolutely everyone is terrified before their first triathlon, so you are completely on track to become a triathlete! Congratulations on learning to swim, that's really very impressive, especially so quickly. Don't worry about your overall time, go easy on the swim and I would advise you to not start at the front of the swimmers, but instead start to one side (the furthest from the buoys) or the back to avoid getting into collisions or getting swum over etc. This can be really upsetting for some new (and old) swimmers. Doing an open water swim before the race is a great idea, but take it easy and don't overdo it because open water swimming can take some getting used to, including sighting. Are you wearing a wetsuit as water temps in CA lakes in April are usually "nippy" (i.e., bl**dy cold for me) and have you worn it before? It's good to learn how to put one on properly and how different if feels compared to swimming without one (you are very much more bouyant in a wetsuit). I don't know if you already own one, are renting one (I did this for my first triathlon and rented it for an extra week before the race to swim in it) or are borrowing one. Don't worry about having practised any "bricks" or "transitions", but it might be worth trying one out on the bike-run so then you won't freak out when your legs feel like heavy limp noodles for the first 0.5 mile of the run Yes, this is completely normal! Good luck, have fun, and remember to smile on course on the 12th. |
| 2015-04-05 7:10 AM in reply to: 0 |
Master 8247  Eugene, Oregon Bronze member | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Seed yourself toward the back/on the side for the swim so you won't have to deal with too much contact and can swim your own pace (as well as not hold up faster swimmers). I'd take it easy on the swim and just aim to finish with plenty left for bike and run. If you can ride 12 miles in 35-40 minutes just commuting, it sounds like you are a fairly strong biker--36 is my best split for a sprint, but that was racing all-out, not commuting and stopping at lights! I'm not an awesome biker, but that split would put you in the middle of the pack in most events. My other advice is to not leave it all on the bike. It sounds like you're fairly confident with running even twice the race distance, so don't get in the trap of thinking it's "just" a 5K. My first tri was an off-road event of roughly sprint distances, and I have a big distance running background, including 35 years of running, probably a dozen marathons, and a few even longer trail runs. I pushed the bike leg like crazy, thinking, "How hard can it be to run 5K?" Boy, was I wrong. The run was on the beach in loose sand, and I almost fell on my face out of transition, could barely jog the final half-mile, and had to walk part of the final uphill to the finish because my quads were cramping so badly. It gave me a healthy respect for my new sport and taught me to always leave something for the run! As for diet and hydration, no need to make any last-minute changes except maybe eating something easily digestible the night before (not too much fiber or fat), and working out what/how much to eat before the race (again, something easy to digest that will give you a little energy boost). Cleaning up your day-to-day diet is a long-term endeavor and the week before your first race is probably not the best time to make major changes! No real need to eat in a sprint. Hydration should be simple--water bottle on the bike with water or sports drink, grab a drink on the run if you feel like it. Edited by Hot Runner 2015-04-05 7:19 AM |
| 2015-04-06 10:17 AM in reply to: Hot Runner |
Member 522 Toronto-ish | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED My humble suggestion is the best thing you can do is... relax. Unless you're trying to win and have money at stake, then this is for fun. Focus on that. Don't let the stress take away the fun. Most folks will tell you the goal for the first race is to learn, and you will. Putting all the "stuff" together than you have read/seen/done will present things you have not yet read/seen/done. Getting in the open water swim will likely be the best thing you can do because it will impact your comfort level. If you get a chance to go with other people you can even simulate a race start if you're that brave. The in-water impacts can derail you early and sucking in water can suck the fun out of the event in a hurry, so plan to start to the side/back unless you expect to lead the pack or welcome full-contact swimming. Chances are you can't make any fitness gains in a week. You could practice transitions if you really want to get your time down, but there will hopefully be plenty of opportunity for that later in other races. Enjoy yourself. Smile. Encourage. Have a blast. And let us know how ya made out. |
| 2015-04-06 10:41 AM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Member 333 Marshall Michigan | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Sounds like you have it in the bag...just enjoy the day - have a friend take lots of photos...and it's not like your going to win - it's your 1st race... So I always take time to get my wife's attention and take a good photo, fix you shirt, ham it up a little, why not? it makes for good stories later down the road... Yes swim this week, make your bike commute and as stated above, get the check list, use it the night before & the as you drive away in the morning. Good luck and have fun. pb |
| 2015-04-06 12:49 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
| 8 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Thank you all for the quick replies and words of encouragement, it truly means a lot! I definitely plan on starting at the end of the pack for the swim and have rented a tri wetsuit. It really does help a lot with the swim, I am much more buoyant! I will definitely try and pace myself on the bike, the "hills" (to me) look awful! |
| 2015-04-06 3:48 PM in reply to: Paper Boy |
| 91 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED We were all very exited and nervous starting our first race. Relax as much as possible during the swim. You'll feel fantastic once the swim is over and your on the bike. Looking forward to race report. |
| 2015-04-08 11:20 AM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
| 8 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Hi All, So I went on my first open water swim yesterday and it was definitely eye opening! It was in the SF Bay, and the water was extremely cold. Much colder than I was anticipating, since I surf a couple miles south of there fairly often. Within a couple of minutes I couldn't feel my hands and feet and my left foot started cramping up. The Tri club that I was with recommended not really kicking, as the wetsuit helps with keeping your legs up. I was really surprised how much the wetsuit helps, and not kicking really helped keep my heart rate lower than when I was kicking with similar propulsion results. The one question that I have was when I was coming out of the water after doing my 0.5 miles. I felt extremely disoriented, on the verge of fainting almost. I feel like my equilibrium was super off and almost felt drunk. Trying to jog a little I almost fell over twice. After around 3 minutes the feeling went away and I felt completely normal. However, I feel like this is not normal? Any thoughts on this? It was a little worrisome. |
| 2015-04-08 12:34 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
| 788 Across the river from Memphis, Tennessee | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED I did my first last year. Everyone here is giving good advice, so I won't add too much. I definitely agree with the "relax" sentiment. I was shaking like a leaf at the start. when it was my turn (time trial style start) to jump in, I dove and quickly realized that my goggles were still on my head and not over my eyes. oops. I just remembered through each leg that I had done that before, and I just sat back and did it. As far as transitions went, I had my stuff set up in the order I knew I was going to grab it. Especially important in that first race since I didn't have contacts and was swimming relatively blind. One of the volunteers had to help me find my bike since I couldn't see it. I did have that feeling after both open water swims I've done... I chalked it up to excessive effort because it went away in a minute or two for me. |
| 2015-04-08 12:57 PM in reply to: 0 |
| 66 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Hey! My first triathlon was last year, the Half Moon Bay sprint so we are very close! For the open water swim, I find that it's nice to slow down when you get out of the water. Are you swimming full steam ahead and then just standing up and running out?? I do that and feel the same way: drunk, dizzy, clumsy. If you can practice one more time in open water, do it. Try a couple laps out and back to the shoreline and practice coming out onto the beach. See how fast you can get out without feeling horrible. You can always stand up and then just walk out of the water and walk to kinda gather yourself (I do that) and it's totally fine! It's worth taking your time the first race and just enjoying the experience and seeing how you feel and perform than trying to go all crazy and getting hurt. Good luck! You will have an awesome time and at the end of it all, you will be totally glowing and obsessed!! Maybe I'll see you in one of the bay area races this year Edited by rizztalah 2015-04-08 12:58 PM |
| 2015-04-08 1:05 PM in reply to: 0 |
| 701 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Here's my $.02 as a newb completer. As others said "relax", but that's kind of like when you're parents said "Don't spill" when you're drinking something in the living room instead of the kitchen. Know that barring any technical problem or unforeseen injury type thing, you'll easily complete this thing. I would say to try to 'relax' as much as possible the night before, and before each leg. Don't want to go out too hard on any of it. But...once you're on the course, embrace the excitement. Embrace the volunteers with cowbells or the kids with squirt guns, or the little old lady who's "there every year" cheering you on like she's known you all her life. Don't forget to take a look around at least once during the ride. Napa? Heck yah. Lots to see on a nice ride. On my first, there was this beautiful sunflower farm. I still think about it and how I should have given it at least a second look. For me, knowing the logistics was big. Where the in/outs were...simple stuff. Not that I had to spend eons of time, but it was nice to take 2 seconds to visualize navigating the transition space. Most importantly, it was knowing where there were porta-potties. I hate running when I even think there's a chance that I could potentially have to go. That was my biggest 'fear' or 'unknown' actually. If you've got an 'unknown', ask someone. Even if it's slightly embarrassing. Nobody cares. They'll tell ya, and if they don't know...they'll ask you to pass it on when you find out because they've been wondering too. The other thing I did was to pretty thoroughly review rules and best practices and courtesies, particularly about transition setup etc. The last thing I wanted on my mind was to be thinking that I'd do something to screw it up for the next guy/gal. I didn't want to be "the guy" that gets complained about for racking his bike wrong or invading someone else's territory in transition. Learn all the easy learnables (online or by asking someone) so the only thing you're left worrying about is your performance. Which you should be pretty confident about. Oh...and in regards to the 'leg thing' when you start the run after the bike. If you haven't experienced it yet with your shorter bricks, it'll feel odd. For me, it's hard to get my pace right out of the gate. It fades quick. And nobody explains it 'right'. Some say "dead legs" or "made of lead" or "light". They're all wrong. They simultaneously feel like they're made out of lead, yet filled with helium. Edited by jhaack39 2015-04-08 1:08 PM |
| 2015-04-08 1:34 PM in reply to: jhaack39 |
Sensei Sin City | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Has anyone mentioned "relax"? Anything new can be kind of intimidating/scary. Shoot, I still get nervous going to some of my workout classes if I'm not sure what's in store that day. But I can almost guarantee, that when it's all done? You'll be asking yourself "why did I get so worked up about that?" It's really all the imagined fears that get into your brain, not what really happens. Races SHOULD be well organized and simple to follow. There should be lots of announcements and plenty of people around to help or ask questions. As much as you might fear you are out there alone, it's not that way. Just like any large event, they should have it down where you just follow along like a lemming, just some lemmings are faster than others! Have fun. |
| 2015-04-08 2:08 PM in reply to: wartho |
Champion 11989 Philly 'burbs | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Originally posted by wartho Everyone, I mean, absolutely everyone is terrified before their first triathlon, Not true.
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| 2015-04-08 8:45 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
| 1055 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Originally posted by ghettoflow21 Hi All, So I went on my first open water swim yesterday and it was definitely eye opening! It was in the SF Bay, and the water was extremely cold. Much colder than I was anticipating, since I surf a couple miles south of there fairly often. Within a couple of minutes I couldn't feel my hands and feet and my left foot started cramping up. The Tri club that I was with recommended not really kicking, as the wetsuit helps with keeping your legs up. I was really surprised how much the wetsuit helps, and not kicking really helped keep my heart rate lower than when I was kicking with similar propulsion results. The one question that I have was when I was coming out of the water after doing my 0.5 miles. I felt extremely disoriented, on the verge of fainting almost. I feel like my equilibrium was super off and almost felt drunk. Trying to jog a little I almost fell over twice. After around 3 minutes the feeling went away and I felt completely normal. However, I feel like this is not normal? Any thoughts on this? It was a little worrisome. It's actually quite common. Cold water probably got into your inner ear, causing temporary dizziness. A lot of folks will wear ear plugs in cold water for this reason or just pull your swim cap down nice and snug. |
| 2015-04-09 7:45 AM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Master 8247 Eugene, Oregon Bronze member | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Vertigo after OWS is totally normal, even for some experienced swimmers. It may have to do with suddenly going vertical from being horizontal so long, or triggered by choppy or cold water. For me the cold water is a definite trigger--ear plugs (the silicon kind that you can mold to your ears work best) are a life-saver. Occasionally I get a little vertigo even in tropical ocean races if water is rough. Just don't panic and try to keep moving in the general direction of your bike. It helps to jog through transition a couple of times in advance and maybe have some verbal cues like "last row, turn right" to tell yourself. When I'm tired or feeling dizzy after the swim, I tend to reverse things and head the wrong way to my bike or out of transition. Not sure THAT's normal or some kind of triathlon dyslexia (in everyday life, I usually have a great visual memory and sense of direction), but for me what works is some kind of verbal reminder for myself in case the visual cues don't register. |
| 2015-04-10 7:31 AM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Elite 4583 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Nothing new to add except to repeat the relax and have fun--remember to take in all the moments! It's just so much darn fun! I'm excited for you--be sure to post how it goes! |
| 2015-04-10 12:40 PM in reply to: ingleshteechur |
Veteran 706 Illinois | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Have fun. Feel free to ask random people random questions if you don't know what's going on. My first race was two years ago, a little sprint near Carbondale, IL. Got there a bit early, and my wife and I see a bunch of guys with disc wheels sporting Ironman ink, and it was really intimidating. My wife cried a bit, she was so anxious and scared. We both had an absolute blast. <<<Now, of course, I'm the guy with the Ironman ink . . . though I still don't have a disc wheel . . . Don't get intimidated, and don't be scared, and ask questions. I would be tickled and delighted if someone asked me silly questions while I was setting up transition in the morning. It's RACE DAY, which is the BESTEST DAY EVER. OF ALL TIME. They days where the first thing I put on is a HR strap are the best days, and there's nothing in the world that can wreck them. Sharing that joy and delight with a person doing their first race is like giving someone their first beer or their first ice cream cone. That cheer that goes up, when the RD asks people if it's their first race, that's 100% undeniably real. The brick transition may make you hate existence, but the feeling fades. Take it easy and finish with a smile on your face. Oh, and make plans to get pizza or pancakes or burritos or BBQ or whatever after the race - nothing tastes as good as beer and BBQ with a finisher's medal around your neck. Welcome to the sport. |
| 2015-04-13 12:29 PM in reply to: mirthfuldragon |
| 8 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED What a great first experience! I'm not sure if this is the right place to have a recap, but i'll put it here. The swim was definitely the most difficult part of the Tri, it was a wave start for all men 39 and under. The water was definitely cold, but nowhere near as cold as the SF Bay water! My sighting for the swim was awful. If I went more than 4 breaths without stopping to look up I would be pointing completely away from the buoy! This is definitely something that I need to work on for my next tri. However, I felt like my fitness was good enough for the swim. I finished with a time of 24 minutes. Not bad for someone who learned how to swim 3 months ago! Luckily with the earplugs I didn't experience any type of vertigo coming out of the water, which was a great relief to me! The first transition I definitely didn't have any sense of urgency, and kinda took a break, walking to the bike and toweling off before I started my bike. Unfortunately I completely forgot to put my timing chip back on, but I wouldn't be surprised if that transition was 7-10 min. The bike ride in retrospect was pretty easy, and I definitely should have pushed myself a lot more, although my legs just weren't there for it. Cardio/lung capacity wise I didn't have a trouble on the bike, but I could definitely tell that I didn't train at all for the bike once I got off of it! My feet were completely numb the entire bike ride, most likely due to the swim. No time on the bike as I did not have the chip on. The second transition was much faster, as I had the tri shorts on and just changed shoes. However, I did go the wrong way, back to the bike out instead of the run out, which was on the complete opposite side of the transition area! Whoops! I started off the run way too fast. My friend was pacing me and she suggested I slow down, which I definitely did. I was running purely on adrenaline. After the first half mile, my quads started to cramp up, but I was luckily able to run through it and completed the 3 mile run in 27 minutes. My overall time was 1:58, which I was okay with considering my lack of dedicated training and lackadaisical transitions. Thank you all for the advice, it really helped! My buddy and I signed up for the HIM for the same location for next year (they had a huge discount, so why not?) and an Olympic at the end of August, I think I'm hooked! The whole experience was great and can't wait to train more religiously and see the improvements! |
| 2015-04-13 12:50 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
| 66 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED That's great! I'm happy you gave a recap! My first tri this season is this coming weekend! So, I'm starting to feel a little nervous. I'm stoked you had a nice time! Thanks for the follow up ^_^ |
| 2015-04-13 7:15 PM in reply to: ghettoflow21 |
Pro 5361 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED Originally posted by ghettoflow21 ... I think I'm hooked! The whole experience was great and can't wait to train more religiously and see the improvements! We all remember the feeling. You'll have a great time at your Oly- after some more consistent training- it will be more fun, and the race is long enough so that you can settle in and enjoy it. Nice thing about longer races, is that the intensity is lower. HIM's are the best. The time/distance isn't scary (like an IM), and the intensity level is low enough so that it doesn't really hurt ('cept maybe the last few miles of the run). Have fun! |
| 2015-04-13 7:53 PM in reply to: #5106085 |
| 160 | Subject: RE: First TRI in a week! TERRIFIED If you did not do it yet, take a look at transitions video. Lots of helpfull tricks to learn there. There is two ways to do the transition, fast or slow. Some will tell you doing it calmly helps doing it orderly so dont worry too much about speed. Acter watching the vidéo, i did a lot of visualisation, it helped calming me before the race. No matter what you do, you will be stresser thé morning of the race. That is part of thé game. Enjoy your first triathlon! |
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