Getting Started

[melusina]

Let's talk about getting started as a triathlete!

1. What gear do you need to start training and to do your first event?

2. Do you have a recommended training routine?

3. Tell us about your first tri - what do you wish you'd known? What would/did you do differently next time?

4. Sprint or Oly for your first tri?

Comments

[melusina]

My recommended gear for getting started: a pair of goggles, a swim cap, a bathing suit suitable for swimming laps, bike (doesn't have to be a road bike or anything expensive!), helmet, running shoes. Over time I've acquired better stuff, but this was enough for me to train for my first tri. I also had a membership to a gym, mostly so I could use the pool.

I started out using an 8 week training routine that slowly builds up time on each sport. About week 4, it adds a weekly brick. It served me well to get started and I can share it with anyone who's interested -- it's a google doc I got from a co-worker who got it from a local training group when she trained for the Danskin a few years ago. The only complaint I have is that it's all time based, rather than distance based.

I recommend also keeping track of how much distance you're covering in each session, so you can see progress and make sure you're on track to cover the distances you'll need to do for the race. For training records, I like Map My Run and Map My Ride - these are sister sites and they share a training log (so if you log into one site and record a training session, all that data will be there when you log into the other site). The training log is also flexible enough to record swims and other types of training.

My advice for a first tri is to try to find some kind of open water swim event to do prior to doing your first tri. The swim can be intimidating, because there are so many people in the water with you (my first 2 tris I had minor panic attacks in the water). If you have any concern about the swim, I also recommend keeping yourself off to the side of the pack during the swim - you'll add a bit of distance, but you'll have more space to yourself to swim in and the likelyhood of people swimming into/over you is reduced.

[temve]

1. I went extremely light and beginner-friendly - swam in my sports bra and bikini bottoms, biked and ran in running shirt, running shorts, and running shoes. And, very importantly, sunglasses. If I do more of these things, I can see how a tri one-piece/combo would be convenient because it reduces the clothes-changing even more.

2. Nope. Most of my 'training' consisted of my usual 2-to-3-times-a-week runs, some of which I arbitrarily substituted with bike rides and swims depending on weather, timing, and whim. I figured that for a sprint distance, I would be able to finish without a rigid training plan, and I was right. If I were to do an Oly, a little more structure is probably called for...

3. See the post above this one :)

4. Definitely sprint - a 10K run is still a lot of running for me, and a 1400m swim is a lot of swimming. I'd have to seriously work up to doing both these in a row and riding my bike for an hour and a half inbetween too...

[melusina]

I have 2 tri suits and would definitely recommend them. I prefer the 2 piece (in the event of an emergency bathroom break, the 2 piece is much easier to manage!).

And knowing that you didn't follow a strict training plan makes me even more impressed with your times! I have a feeling you started out in much better shape when you decided to do a tri than I did when I started training for my first one. . . ::grin::