Hello, all,

I know there are a few triathletes here on the forum and I was hoping to scare you up again.

I tinkered with triathlon as an idea last year. I biked, swam, ran, even did a few bricks to see if I thought I could do it. I read the various forums (I even saw one or two 3FCers on BeginnerTriathlete). However, by the time I thought I was ready to get serious about doing a sprint, the season was over and I got sick anyway.

So, here I am. Hopefully there you are, and we'll see how it goes. Any thoughts, recommendations, others planning on doing tris this year?

hello! sounds like this is the year you'll become a triathlete . I've got a few under my belt and I'm planning my race calendar for this year. As of right now my goal is to do 2 sprints tris, an olympic duathlon, a Muddy Buddy (google it, its very silly), a Warrior Dash (a more evil Muddy Buddy-style event), and a half marathon. I've had on and off foot issues so we'll have to see how it holds up. I fully believe anyone can complete a triathlon, so good luck with your training. There are races for all different levels out there- I recommend picking a very supportive, uncompetitive race for your first outing to take some of the stress out of the equation. Consider a super sprint race as a first race, they often take less than an hour and take the mystery out of the equation. Trek and Daskin put on women's only sprint distance races around the country which are usually super relaxed, large groups, and women of all shapes, sizes, ages, skills. Have fun!

Thanks for the response! This is the one I was considering for a first. It is not too bad and is in my neighborhood. I'd like to opt in for another event later in the summer. Here, perhaps or Outside as I have to go down south in August anyway. I'm afraid if I trained here and then went for a tri in the lower 48 in august I might melt.

My training is officially in progress. I'm excited. Terrified. Not sure which is more...

looks like a great first race. I was most worried about the swim having only learned to crawl/freestyle 3 months before my first race. I was also dumb and never tried open water until the race- terrible rookie mistake. A pool swim would be a great way to start out. The nice part about doing a close to home race is you can ride and run the course as many times as you want and know exactly what to expect- a big pothole, a killer hill in the second mile, etc... what kind of training routine are you using?

my first tri is the same day

I am using a training plan that I found at BeginnerTriathlete, it's a 20 week 3x-balanced program - doing all three sports 3x-week, but the starting point for each sport is pretty low timewise. The first run was something like 12 minutes, first swim 14, first bike was 24 minutes and it builds up each week. I've also joined one of the mentoring groups there.

At what intervals do you plan your events? Do you have an "A" event?

Hi Calluna -

How's the training going? I'm probably one of the BT people you might have seen in both places. I guess we should get our thread going for 2011 now that the season will be starting soon. Our threads in previous years were usually pretty slow just a few of us.

I'm really excited for you your first one is always something truly amazing! BTW I used the 3x balanced BT plan for my very first tri too!

I'm training again this year for the first time with a coach. So far I like it... It's been pretty useful to know someone is there reading your workout logs. Helps me not to juggle days around like I would in previous years.

Okay, Out of the wood work. Where are all our Triathletes and Aspiring Triathletes?

I guess my A event is the Danskin (I've done it a couple of times before so it's my benchmark and tradition). My B event if my foot cooperates is the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon in the fall. I've had recurrent issues with tendonitis and plantar fasciitis so I've yet to build past 6 mile runs without injury. I'm planning on ~3 tris, the half marathon, a Muddy Buddy (bike and run adventure race), and some 5ks scattered in. It winds up being 1 major event per month during the warm weather months. With sprint distances you don't need too much recovery time between events. Anyone else have their race calendar ready?

That looks like a great race to start with. Good luck, you'll do great I'm sure.

My race calender is not at all set, I suppose I should get on that!!! I just did a half mary last weekend, and I'm trying to find some friends to so the nearest Warrior dash with me. Im planning on moving up to Oly distance this year. I trained for one last year, but it was canceled last minute. I didn't find a replacement in time so no tris for me last season. My dh is training for a 50 mile trail run in July, so that has an impact on my plans as someone needs to tend these children........... My 12 year old asked us to run his first 5k with him. It's put on by a local gourmet doughnut place. Interesting what motivates.......

Lobon - Looks like a great schedule! Danskin was my first a few years back one of these days I should return and do it again.

SGer - How did the Half Mary go? I've got one of those in May. My coach has me running so little though I'm kinda worried about it.

My schedule is pretty much nearly a mirror of last years... with a Half Mary thrown in (May). Returning to Door County Half Ironman in July... and Ironman Wisconsin September and another Half Mary in Oct.

Sadly my fitness dropped off majorly this fall, and I only go back to it in February, so I have lot of fitness re-building to do. It's coming back... but not quite there yet.

my half mary went like I was under prepared and in over my head. My expectations for myself were so low that I nearly exploded with pride at the end.

I didn't do the math before I signed up on NEW YEARS EVE, with a friend so we could grab the new year by the horns. My fitness was at a three year low due to a fall of sickness, house guests,distractions, boredom and laziness. I gained weight. I made a very panicked phone call to dh one morning in early January to inform him that March was DIRECTLY after February this year........... I tried to start with the earlier walkers, but they wouldn't let me. I ran 10/2 intervals for the whole thing except for the last three miles where I walked more than that. I never ran that much in training. In training I ran a mile walked a mile for all long runs. the course was hilly hilly hilly. no flats. at. all. I didn't do any hill training.... I started the south beach diet mid training. Low carb + long run felt like death. I was only 15 minutes slower than my first MUCH better prepared half mary on an easier course last June. I have never been so proud of so many bad decisions.

HI!! HI!! I just signed up for my first sprint distance Triathlon. I am doing an all woman's one on 9/11 in Farmington, CT.

I am trying to get 2 - 3 runs in a week, 2 bike rides, 2 swims, and 2 sessions of core/strength training. I have been doing great with running and core work. Ok with biking... but need to step it up a notch. And seriously lacking in the swimming. I am not particularly worried about the swimming. (Been swimming since I was 10 months old) But I do actually need to DO IT.

swimming is definitely my weak point. luckily it is the shortest so surviving is about all I shoot for. the weather here is not cooperating with much running or biking (I have a treadmill and a trainer but what a snore...) so my base is definitely not where it needs to be. going to be an interesting few months...

SGer- great work pushing through and finishing! I tried the south beach diet once and it felt like the world's longest bonk, can't believe you were working out like that

"I made a very panicked phone call to dh one morning in early January to inform him that March was DIRECTLY after February this year"

Sg - HAH! I've only done one half Mary and it didn't go that well. I had the nearly the same time as I did in the Half Mary in the Half Iron... A underwhelming over 3 hour finish. Sigh. Glad you had a fairly good one for the small amount of prep time you had!

SCraver - Great that you're focusing on your core. It's a lot more important then people seem to think. Maybe especially so for those of us who aren't light weights. I've had issues with mine so I'm working on strength more this year as well. My big race is also on 9/11 BTW.

Swimming... not my strong point, but I've been going to Masters twice a week for the past few months. I can feel my form improving. My goal this year isn't necessarily to get faster (I'm fairly slow) but to feel more "fresh" coming out of the water. So Working on better rotation blah blah blah...

Hi all! How is it going?

I keep pushing myself. I am having a hard time finding the stamina to get in all my workouts throughout the week. My goal was to tinker around with my workouts and then get serious in April... As in, I wanted to get used to riding the bike and get back into some swimming... then come April, sign up for a spin class and really get rockin' on the swimming.

Well... I signed up for the spin class! It starts two weeks from tomorrow and goes for 12 weeks. It is SURE to kick my bottom!!