:: Trumpet Fanfare ::
There haven’t been many updates since my huge announcement snarky blog post about deciding to join the triathlon scene. I’ve been swimming twice a week, but nothing worth reporting. That’s probably because I’m still “training” for the Austin Marathon coming up
in mid-February. Well, it’s time to put my money where the race registration my mouth is. I’m all signed up for my first triathlon!
Now, before you get all excited, I should give you some details. First, as you can see in the picture, it’s called the “Rookie Triathlon“, which should tip you off that it isn’t exactly extreme.
Let’s just say that when it comes to official triathlon distances, the “Sprint” is the shortest, and this is a lot shorter. Even less-extreme, there is a n00b rookie division for those competitors who have never done a triathlon before (like me!).
So here’s what we’re dealing with: a 300m swim, 11.2 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Pssh. You might be asking your computer screen why I’m signed up for this shorty considering all my amazing awesomeness*. Well, I’m mildly confident in my swimming, can surely get through the bike, and running two miles is a given. Where I have no experience is transitioning between them. There haven’t been many opportunities in my brief time in the pool to immediately jump out of the water and hop on my bike. Same goes for discarding my bike and starting to run.
The race is in mid-April, so I have plenty of time to get ready. I’m considering it a learning opportunity to prepare me for my real goal later this year. Once this Austin Marathon is behind me (and the Cap10K and the 3M Half…) I’ll be switching gears to building my tri base. And don’t fret, I’ll keep you updated, as I’m sure you’re dying to find out how it all pans out.
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p>*sometimes referred to as awesome amazingness.
Just on a sidenote: transition is the fourth discipline in Triahtlon and very important. But – there is help as youtube is your friend. Keywords: “transition Triathlon swim bike”. Some good ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0dqLyzsgbA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqYIfEN_bMo
You go man!
Thanks for the tips! It really is the transitions that I’m most nervous about. I’ll check out those videos and try to fake it the best I can 🙂
Not only check vids, but train it. At least that’s what Coach tells me: you train it like one discipline.
Eg. I actually had a unit planned for today including transition (and failed miserably 😉 ) – funny coincedence though since Coach prepares those plans a month in advance…
Aha… your first rookie mistake, thinking the rookie isn’t extreme… It’s known locally as the Sprint World Championships.
Although with it’s new location at Decker Lake we’ll have to see how it holds up, but until last year the claim was, if you can’t get around in less than 60-mins, you are a rookie, no matter how many you’ve done!
So, that’ll be sub-60 then Mike!
Oh man, ok, must finish in 59:59. But you’re right, I won’t underestimate things going in. My original goal (with transitions up in the air) was ~55 minutes, so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the advice!
Mike, I’ll be doing a mini Transition Class after the Jack and Adams shop ride on April 3rd in Butler Park just the other side of the railway line from the shop.
It’s free as is the ride, and I’ll have some transition racks and force you to go through some real mount/dismount practice on grass. It’s not ideal, but you can’t hurt yourself…
There is no set time as I have to lead the shop no-drop ride that day, then get back, set up the racks and will be there for an hour or so as people come back from various group rides. Usually I run from 11am for an hour. Come along and say hi!
Wow, that would be great! I added it to my calendar and looking forward to it. Anyway to stay up to date with things like that? I follow Jack & Adams on Twitter, but that’s about it.
Thanks again!