Sprint to Oly

DO IT!

1. Do I really have enough time between now (7/25) and the race (9/11) to train?

YES

2. Should I use the Oly training guide posted on the BT homepage, but start in month 3, week one?

If it works for you then yes!

Last month I did an Oly 8 weeks after doing my first Sprint. I took it real easy that week after the sprint to recover then started my training for the Oly. I didn't follow a plan as much as look at my weaknesses and focus on them. Did a number of bike-run bricks. Two weeks before the Oly I kicked up the open water swimming with a training partner, we were both saying to ourselves "I'm not backing down"! 4 Days before the Oly we did the full swim distance in 2 splits.

3. Does the open water swim ever get easier?

For me it did. I actually began to look forward to that "me against nature" feeling of open water. Self-confidence began for me after I swam 1/2 mile on a wind driven wave day. The Oly water was glass the whole time and a major lifetime acheivement :-)

Don

Do It!!

I do not think open water gets easy or hard it just is you wake up and get what is there.

Have fun.

Roy

I say go for it as well. I had the same feelings after completing a sprint in June and contemplating an oly on 8/22. I hit the weights right after my sprint then decided to start training for the oly even tho i hadn't signed up. I'm swimming 1 1/2 miles 3x a week, running 5 mi 2x a week and doing longer and longer bricks on Saturdays. In fact I just did 28 mi bike and 3 mi run, so my confidence is sky high and I still have 4 weeks to improve. I'm convinced bricks are the best measure of where you stand. At his point I think it's mental, you have enought time to train. Go for it!. Mark

p.s. I'm hoping the water gets easier! My only advice there (to you and me) is to put in the time and go at your own pace on race day (man I hope i listen to myself!!!) Good luck!

What a great thread!

I completed my first Sprint on June 19 and have a second one coming up this weekend July 31. I have been considering an Olympic event on Sept 25 but wasn't sure I would have time to train.

If all goes well this weekend, I will be sending in my entry fee for the Olympic event.

Thanks for the encouraging thread.

I'm solidly in the "go for it" crowd, and I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

I've done two sprints this year ( June and July ), and signing up for an Oly in September, followed by another sprint at the end of September to celebrate my birthday.

My swim and bike are both beyond oly distances, and I ran a 10k race yesterday and felt really good about it, and I've still got 8 weeks to continue getting stronger. Yeah!

-Chris

do it - you have plenty of time!

try to get your biking distance up to the 25-30 mile mark on your long rides a couple of times. When the race gets closer do a couple of brick workouts where you bike ~25 miles and run 3-4 miles back to back. This will prepare you for the feeling of an oly distance triathlon.

Focus the swim on the 1 mile mark. Build your workouts and interval sets around this distance.

Open water only gets easier as your swimming technique improves and you get lots of experience in open water. Keep at it and yes, it will get easier for you!

I say go for it as well! I've signed up for my first tri...an OLY in September and just really started seriously training. You are already at a good point (completed two sprints). Plenty of time. Good luck!

Wow - great feedback and encouragement!

Thanks to the "Go For It" crowd, I'm convinced...I'm signing up for the Lake Geneva, WI OLY Triathalon on 9/11.

Hey!

That's the exact one that I'm looking at for my first Oly!!!!

-Chris

I'll see yah there too, im all signed up for the oly at lake geneva.


a word to teh wise, get your butt to the biggest hill you can find and just ride up and down it a few hundred times

"Big Hill"? Eh? I'm in Illinois. We don't have hills here!

Actually, I finish all of my rides on a steep ( beyond category! ) 1/3rd mile hill.

I have to come at it from either around a 120 degree corner, or across an intersection which is never green. I used to hate it. Now I look forward to pushing up it. Keeping cadence high, and spinning my way to the top. A few months ago, I was only moving at ~4mph at the crest, now I'm able to keep speed above 8mph the whole climb, and still have something left to push at the crest.

( This is after a 30 mile ride too! )

What is the grade/distance of said hill on the LG oly?

-Chris

hehe, i understand teh difficulty of finding hills in the middle of corn fields :P but find something lemme tell yah!

wish i could accurately tell you the grade and stuff, but the bike ride is always torture for me so i just put my head down and grind em out. I'd say the biggest one is about 400 meters, but there are lots of em.. up and down up and down.

Alright, guys....either you're trying to psych me out OR really trying to psych me out! I'm already nervous for a race 7 weeks away! I'll need to go go up and drive the Lake Geneva bike course to guage whether or not my short little legs can handle all the hills.

BTW -where do you find hills in the SW suburbs of Chicago? I've been training in Plainfield/Oswego, but the hills are few and far between.

well were practially neighbors then aren't we

I know there isn't anything huge around here but there are some big ones in st charles, a couple by me on the southwest side of aurora, and im sure near the fox rivver