Tips and Bits from the World of Triathlon

A Look at the Beginner Triathlon

August 18th, 2008 at 04:58pm Under Main Content

I’ve got my first triathlon (sprint distance) coming up and I’ve referred back to this article a few times in the last few weeks. This level of training is pretty new to me, so some of the advice has been really useful. If you like to use a heart rate monitor for pacing, triathlon and especially ultra distance triathlons are definitively the place to wear heart rate monitors. It is clear that when a constant tempo is the ideal pace in a race situation, then there is a good chance that your heart rate will show you how tough you current workload is. Set a distance that you would like to complete and keep track of how far you get in each weekly “intensity” session. That will provide you with a goal for future sessions and allow you to judge your progress .

If you are swimming Olympic distance, for example, you can use the workout with the 1/2 mile x 2 or you can make it a 1-mile time trial instead. Their intermediate teams focus on improving skills and performance while maintaining camaraderie for a variety of distances. Sprint distance events of an hour or less in cool or rainy conditions are the only exception to the rule.

My interest in racing longer and longer tri distances also steered the vote toward a tri bike purchase. I was now armed with the fit and budget information, and the training and racing goals. You can enter as a team and compete over the standard distance only 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run. A team consists of a swimmer, a biker and a runner. Biking will be easy at the sprint tri distance. During the run, you can stop and walk as much as is needed, it’s allowed in an event.

Next you need to establish a realistic goal, and it is best to find out about local races and pick one, with a realistic distance to aim and train for. Before selecting your first race look at the course to decide how suitable it is for you. No matter what the distance, i recommend the day before, go down to the water, make sure you look at the buoys from the start area. I am not a fast swimmer but very steady, and i generally start behind the faster people in my wave to minimize having my goggles kicked off and other bumping. Once you’ve got a triathlon event in mind, you need to decide whether you want to simply survive the distance, or go for a fast time. The first goal of survival and completion will be appropriate for someone new to the sport or if you think the required distances will be challenging for you.

Biking will be easy at the sprint tri distance. During the run, you can stop and walk as much as is needed, it’s allowed in an event. Distances range from 13 miles to 140 miles for one race. For those of you just getting into the sport you may have done one or all three separately but never all at one time. Even for a sprint distance triathlon you should expect to be -sweating- Experiment with them during training to see which ones your body prefers.

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