Thinking of doing a tri

giantrock
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Thinking of doing a tri

Postby giantrock » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:24 am

Okay I am a 30yr old female and am thinking of training to get into doing some tri events possibly club races to begin with. I have been cycling for 6 months and love it. I am just wandering besides getting out their and doing it what would be a good training regime for a beginner who is not a fit fit person?????

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Hebden
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Postby Hebden » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:51 pm

Hi giantrock,

Good on you for having a go. Triathlons can be a bit daunting but also very fulfilling due to the challenges they offer. There will be some good beginners training plans online, for starters you could look at this one.

My general tips would be;
You don't have to do all three disciplines back to back in training. i.e. you don’t need to do mini triathlons as part of training. But a ride followed immediately by a run is a good idea (called a brick) to get your legs used to the feeling of running off the bike.

Make sure you go longer in each sport than your target race. e.g. if your race is 400/20/5 then you should have swam 600, ridden 30 and run 7 in training(as separate sessions, not together). The confidence from knowing you can complete and have completed each leg individually will help in your first event.

Make sure you can do the swim! Once out of the water you will be able to finish and not too much can go wrong. :)

Good luck and let us know how you go!

bracko
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Postby bracko » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:44 am

out of interest... where does the name brick come from??

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Hebden
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Postby Hebden » Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:52 pm

bracko wrote:out of interest... where does the name brick come from??
Good question, I don't rightly know.

I would guess because you’re putting two work outs together like you do with bricks. Or you put a box around the brick workouts on your training plan and it looks kind of like a brick. :?

bracko
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Postby bracko » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:03 pm

here's another idea....
I later discovered that the term refers to how your legs feel when you transition from biking to running – strangely heavy like bricks.

http://www.virgintriathlete.com/my_firs ... ing-t.html

giantrock
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Postby giantrock » Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:04 pm

Thanks for the info hebdon. I shall begin training on Monday as I am off to do loop the lake this Sunday an 85km bike ride. Do you keep on swimming etc in winter to keep your fitness up??

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uncle arthur
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Postby uncle arthur » Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:42 am

giantrock wrote:Thanks for the info hebdon. I shall begin training on Monday as I am off to do loop the lake this Sunday an 85km bike ride. Do you keep on swimming etc in winter to keep your fitness up??
Another triathlete nut here - I actually got into cycling as an off shoot of starting a gym based biathlon training session - spin bike+run. I used to swim competitively so mixing all three made sense. I love it now, and am competing at Mooloolaba in two weeks, having done my first Noosa last year.

To answer your question - yes - most pools will have a swim squad that trains through winter, and the running/cycling part doesn't change much except for the dark and the cold in the mornings.

My best advice is find a squad, or different squads to train with rather than doing it solo. I've only just recently got back into squad swimming, and it has brought my 100m/200m time down immensely - just through the regimented training. So too with my running. A good bunch ride that mixes training and social will do wonders for your bike leg, and it wouldn't hurt to go and watch a triathlon event where the big names are racing, just to watch them in transition - how they set it all up and how they do it.

Also - go and join up at www.transitions.org.au - it's a dedicated triathlon forum - there's some d!ckheads, but there's some good people and advice too.
What is it with cycling? 30+ kmh and lycra???!!!

Ruby
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Postby Ruby » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:34 pm

What sort of distance are you looking at? Do you have an event in mind?

I am happy to send you the training program that I use if its of any help and this is mostly for olympic distance.

Triathlon pink is in October (300m swim/9km ride/3km run) and was the first one I did. Its a great day and an all womens event.

Joining a club is also a really good way to get training tips and fit in a couple of hard sessions. The brick sessions are really important as running off the bike is something that seems to take forever to get used to.

The season is coming to an end on May and I am looking forward to the off season. I will cut back on the swimming and will increase the running for the City to Surf and the blackmore half marathon as well as some longer rides. I struggle to fit this in with two other disciplines.

pine
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Postby pine » Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:18 pm

bracko wrote:out of interest... where does the name brick come from??
I think it comes from, the legs feeling like bricks when you run off the bike.

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Hebden
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Postby Hebden » Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:24 pm

giantrock wrote: Do you keep on swimming etc in winter to keep your fitness up??
Swimming gets reduced in the off season a fair bit. Mainly because I am not a fan of the local indoor pool and the outdoor closes up for half the year.

I mainly rely on cycling and running during the colder months to improve/maintain overall fitness. Swimming is more about technique than fitness. I generally find that swimming is the easiest to get back and the slowest to lose after a break. Having said that, it’s the hardest to get fast at in the first place because it’s pretty technical. :roll:

giantrock
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Postby giantrock » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:54 am

Well I have just crossed one of my goals of the board and that was loop the lake an 85km bike ride that took me 5hrs as I was not rushing it. Next year I shall be quicker. So now I can start training more on the triathlon side. I'll start with the beginners program to get me going. I really want to do just some club races first and get a really good feel for it as I am scared of the beach etc. So today I have done a 1hr bike ride of 22km's, Tomorrow I will swim 6 laps and maybe time how long it takes me and Friday and Saturday I will ride and Maybe Sunday to just a relaxing ride. Sunday I will do a 10 min jog. I am hoping that this is a good stepping stone and when next season for the tri's start I shall be well prepared..

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louella
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Re: Thinking of doing a tri

Postby louella » Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:30 pm

hey :)
i heard about this one today... its coming up in november if your interested.

http://www.supersprint.com.au/events/br ... -0910.aspx

ive never done a tri myself so im going to attempt a womens fun tri (i think called tripink or something like that - melb) sometime in jan to just see whats its like. it seems easy enough to start with. 300m swim, 9km ride, 3km run. might want to check it out also?

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Sweeper59
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Re: Thinking of doing a tri

Postby Sweeper59 » Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:39 am

I suggest you join (or at least check out) the local tri club. Most clubs cater for all levels of athlete and generally welcome new members. I'm sure they would be happy to give you guidance in regard to training.
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