compete in a triathlon

How I did it: I injured my knee training for a half marathon and was feeling miserable. I decided to try for a new goal -a triathlon. I was intimidated and felt that only really buff, incredibly  fit people do them. I was also worried about the swim and only rode my mountain bike occassionally (didnt even own a road bike!!)
I had some baseline fitness from my running and the gym, but had put on a few kilos when injured.  So I made a goal to swim and ride at least once a week for the 8 weeks till the event, I entered an event that was a short distance (300m swim, 13km ride, 3km run) so it was realistic.
When I first hit the pool I couldnt even get my face in the water or make it one lap of the 25 m pool, but persistence paid off and this improved quicker than I thought. I did a couple of bike rides only in the lead up to the event.
I felt somewhat underprepared on the day, but had a friend who used to do triathlons competing with me which helped settle my nerves.
Had a mate no competing who drove me there and looked after me a bit which also helped. On the day, I made sure I arrived early and asked another competitor who had done the tris before to run through how it all works (I was used to fun runs where you just go and run, tris are a bit more complicated).

The race itself was hard, but what a feeling to have done it. I was suprised by all the different types of people that had entered -fit, fat, normal people like me!! 

I wasnt prepared for the choppiness of the swim, hadnt prepared well for putting my face into salt water and panicked a bit with all the other competitors swimming so close.  But I managed to get there (breast stroked most of it as did a lot of others) and the swim was done!
The bike was fun but my legs were cactus from the mountain bike by the end (road bike is easier on the legs).
Finally the run -my legs were like lead and I had to stop and walk a few times which suprised me as I am a runner and thought that would be the easiest leg!
But I did it and it felt awesome.

I have since competed in my second triathlon and trained more consistently for that one and ended up finishing 7 minutes faster than the first time round. 

Lessons & tips: Try and get as much swimming in if that is your weakest leg and swimming with your face in salt water (sea/lake) with a buddy (keep it safe) helps too This made my second tri swim leg so much easier as it improves your confidence and speed.

A road bike is not essential but definitely helps the legs and makes for a faster time for the same effort. I ended up buying one, nothing fancy, but it definitely made a huge difference. But if a mountain bike is what you have plenty of peopl do tris with them. You can change the tyres on your MTB to road tyres as a cheaper option than buying a new bike.

Any training that thrashes your legs prepares you well for the run after the ride when your legs are tired. I didnt do much "brick" training (running straight after riding) but did do a lot of interval training, some hills and sand dunes. These definitely prepared my legs for runing off the bike.

Finally, if you are thinking of doing it GO FOR IT!! It is awesome the sense of achievement it will give you and you dont have to be a superfit maniac to do it -lots of everyday weekend warriors just like me will be by your side -who knows -maybe I 'll catch you out there one weekend!

Resources: Friends/work colleagues who had done triathlons before

I did some websearches for info

Feb 26, 10:47PM PST | 0 comments | 4 cheers