How do I know if I am I ready for an Oly?

IMO, when you can both COVER the distance and COMPETE at the distance, you are ready.

Meaning, you can ride 40 miles at an easy pace...and you can attempt to ride 40 miles hard to improve/challenge your time/race.

I am not a huge fan of the "I'm doing it just to see if I can finish" style of thinking (in general). You should KNOW you can cover the distance--the question should be how fast can you do it.

Why rush it? If there's a reason, by all means do it but if there's not then what do you have to lose by waiting until spring and letting this be a sprint year?

If you're in a hurry to run through them you'll end up either hurt or looking around saying "now what?" after you've met each challenge or not.

Sometimes the journey is the goal.

I agree with the above responses.  If each of the segments of an Oly are at your max- for me, I wouldn't even be doing an Oly.  I would want to be comfortable with each of the distances and more worried about pacing and how fast I can go. 

Wouldn't you rather finish a race and be "pleased with" your results, then try to go farther than you've trained for and end up walking half the run.  Sure- some people just take pride in making the distance at all... is that you?

Soooo ... what are the time limits? Let's say worst case scenario, you swim ridiculously slowly, really struggle with the hills (and get a flat) and are tanked for the run so all you can do is walk fast ...

1. Would you still have a hope of making the time limits?
2. Does that sound like fun to you? (Not a sarcastic question at all).

Because that may very well be the scenario you're in for. If you're cool with that and think you'd have a blast anyway, by all means, do it.

I would not do it, personally. Sounds like you would be "completing" vs. "competing" in the race. What would be the point? I would rather see you take your time, get some more (longer?) sprints under your belt first and gradually get to the point whereby you are competing at the Oly level.

And personally, I would never do a race whereby I couldnt swim at least 2x the distance comfortably (for sprint/oly and HIM races). You need to have that confidence that you can complete the swim distance. Anything less is dangerous and asking for trouble.

Ok I'm going to diagree with the PP's.   I'm a noob so take it for what it's worth.  Triathlon season is coming to an end, it may be your last chance for a longer distance for quite some time. Go out and do it and use it as a training tri.  I'm planning to that myself.  I've done 2 sprints and can swim 1.5 miles, longest bike is 30 miles, and I run all the time all distances.  However, the last sprint I did kicked my . (I have since learned to swim properly).   I don't understand the "if I can't be competitive I can't compete mentality". Mainly b/c I am not trying to win some award but just challenge myself and compete against myself. Plus competing an oly will give you a ton of confidence for next years' sprints.  JMO Good luck whatever you decide!

I'm new too - but I will disagree with the idea that you should ONLY race to "compete" and never just to "complete."

I think that should be an individual choice and I don't see anything wrong with being a compLeter.

I'm only doing sprints this year, with the goal of maybe an oly next spring. Maybe. But if I EVER did an oly, it would be to only complete. I'm not a natural athlete, I have to put in much more time and effort for any gains than most others do. COULD I make those gains with enough hours of training and hard work? Sure. But do I have that kind of time to devote to tri? No. I'm a full time mom of two, college student finishing my BS with a 4.0 GPA, wife, etc. I do tri's for FUN and my health, not to race or compete. Given the time I have to put in, the reality is that I will never be competitive. I guess according to some here I shouldn't even be in the sport then, but I don't care. I enjoy having a focus and goal to my fitness routine, even if I will always be DFL or back of the pack. I'm also training for my first 1/2 marathon this winter, and it will also be a "just complete" kind of thing. I'll be happy to just cover the distance with a 12:00 pace, I don't need sub-this or sub-that to be satisfied and feel like its a personal accomplishment for me.

So I guess I think it should be up to you on compete vs. complete. What YOU are happy with, not what other's feel is the "right" way to approach this sport.

I'm not saying you have to be "competitive" in the sense of trying to win anything--I'm saying there should be no doubt in your mind you could easily complete each of the distances (meaning you've done it before, and it is a repeatable action).

I'm going to agree that it's a personal choice and that there is nothing wrong with completing instead of competing.  I'm in my 1st tri season and finished 3rd in my AG in my last sprint.  I have my 1st oly scheduled at the end of Sept.  I've checked previous results and by no means will I compete like I did in the sprints but will prob end up MOP, and who knows maybe even BOP.  But I'm ok with that (I think).  HOWEVER, I'm a very competitive person and part of me wants to push it and try to compete but that'd be suicide.  This is a challenge for me, will likely be for you, so treat it as such.  For challenges like this it's not always so much about beating the other guys as it is about doing well by your standards.  Make an educated decision, train smart and good luck.

ETA: I agree that you should actually be able to complete the distances already or be very close to it before signing up.  Don't bite off more than you can chew.  If not, make that a goal for next season and enjoy this one!  Don't put too much pressure on yourself.

Edited by mashmead 2010-07-28 12:16 PM

Here's the question I'd ask, much like TriAya- How would you prefer to finish your second race- 1- Strong sprint race, XX:XX improvement over your last race, potential PB in one or all disciplines, etc? Or 2- DFL out of the water, suffering through the bike or walking half of the run, maybe not making the time limit at all?

I'm not saying option 2 is going to happen, but if the distances are at your current training limits, then it's a definite possibility. Option 1 will leave you feeling like Superman and ready to chase your next goal. Option 2, for me at least, would leave me wondering if I ever wanted to go through that again.

FWIW, I'm in my second year of tri racing, 9 sprints done to date w/ 1 more to go before my first Oly in Sept. I can do all of the distances comfortably in training, and I'm still somewhat concerned about doing them all contiguously. There's a whole new dimension of fueling/hydration, pacing etc, to a race thats 2x longer than the only other race you've done.

My .02,

Dave

You'll know when you cross the finish line!  (Even athletes who commit to the distance several months ahead of time often doubt whether they're ready for it. ) 

If you are confident you can complete the 1500 meter swim without jeopardizing your safety, sign up.  Have some realistic expectations about your performance since you won't have much time to train specifically for the distance. 

As for the "what's the rush?"  My crystal ball isn't so good at predicting the future.  You could defer to 2011 and get injured, change jobs, have a family crisis, or any number of things that take that future race away from you. 

Thanks everyone.  I appreciate the discussion.  I don't believe I'm ever going to set any speed records.  My personal motivation comes from constantly pushing myself.  So given these observations, I guess I come down on the complete (vs compete) side of the equation.   Of the two options, my greatest satisfaction would come from finishing the oly and not being in the bottom 20%. (roughly)  So my real question, which was already addressed by one responce, is what is my guage of when am I ready for that.  When I can train at twice the distance of any one leg?  Or when I can train the distances comfortably?  For sprint training I have been doubling all the distances (except the bike)... which is what has me thinking maybe an oly isn't out of the question.  But should I be looking to double those in training before launching out to do contiguous segments?  sorry for rambling... this is probably intuative to those of you who have been doing it much longer...

The place where you can really get into trouble is the swim. If you are able to swim 2,000 meters with no problem, you will be fine. That still means you should include 3k+ swim sessions prior to the race. There are plenty of people who start out with Oly distance races. You can take you time on the bike and run as long as you are faster than the SAG wagon.

As long as you're confident you can get out of the water, I would say go for it if you want to.  The bike and run is just a matter of pacing if you know you can already do a 40k and 10k stand alone.  IMHO, I don't think it takes that much to complete a 40k bike and 10k run together.  Doing it in a reasonable time, without having it be a miserable experience is another story.

Just be realistic about judging your current fitness, and how your current training will translate to your race.

not a big fan of i am just doing it to finish either....i trained for about 12 weeks before my first olympic....

the olympic distance race is not the shortest of races, even if you are relatively fast you are on the course for 2+ hrs 2:15-2:20 is a fast time.  it just wouldn't seem like a super fun day to go thru a torture of just trying to finish.

i guess alot of people just want a story.

Well I just completed my first Oly Sunday. I now know I was not ready for it. I could do all the distance no problem but I blew up on the run. I even kept a lower than normal pace on the bike to save my legs and it still didn't work out well for me. In my opinion, I think you should be able to do more than the distances. But if you can do the swim you can finish the race, it just won't be that fun doing it!

Edited by iruptacopula 2010-07-28 2:40 PM

Define 'ready.'

I jumped right from my first sprint into Olys.

DFL or very close to it every time.  Last one I almost had to argue to not get pulled from the course.

'Ready' depends on your goals.  I was ready to 'do' Olys.  Not so much ready to do them WELL.

Once I start running a little more I'll be fine and wont have to worry so much about being yanked off the course.  

Fine by me, so far I'm out to finish, not to race.

If I start running seriously, and get a better bike, then we can talk about fitting in better and not risking DFL every time.

Only YOU can determine your goals.

-eric

Life's too short - do it.

I've also only done a couple of sprints in 2009, my first I was aiming to just complete, but ended up 3rd in AG, very pleased with that result.
I put a lot of it down to adrenalin and excitement for my first tri.

I'm doing my first sprint of 2010 in a week and I am not that excited about it, especially with the weather being so hot & humid in Chicagoland right now, so I sort of expect my times to be not much better than my first tri, even though I am better trained so far this year.

My A race is Chicago Oly distance in 4 weeks, that I am axcited about, the size of the race, the longer distance etc. I think I am getting much more motivation for that race than if I's stuck with sprints this year.

just my 2 cents.

It is like when you are in love, you just know it

If you have the motivation and willing to do the work to get your ready to go the distance then go nuts! If not, you can always wait and do one later on, next year, whenever.

No--not necessarily. Like I said, "compete" has nothing to do with your relative speed. It has to do with you KNOWING you can cover the distances (b/c you've done so) comfortably...but going to do the race to see how you can perform when you are pushing it.

You could be DFL and still be there to compete.

I'm not advocating "that you should ONLY race to 'compete' and never just to 'complete.'"

I'm saying that I don't think people are "ready" to do a race until they know they can cover each of the distances comfortably (and have done so) and then some.

I don't give two craps whether someone cares about their finishing time or not. If you want to go out, just for sh1ts and giggles or just to do the race, and have no time goals, that's great. If you want to go out balls to the wall and try and win OA or your AG, that super, too. Or if you just want to go out as hard as you can to improve your times by X percent over what you do in yoru own training, hey, that rocks too. All I'm saying is the OP asked when are you "ready" to do a race of a given distance, and I believe you're ready when you can cover the distances comfortably.

It shouldn't be a question of "can I finish"? That question should be answered before you get to the starting line--otherwise you're a danger to yourself. It should be a question of "how will I do today"? or "can I beat this time goal" or "will I beat so-and-so".

OK, I guess the question is how do you define "comfortably"?  When do you KNOW that you can put all three events together and won't bomb?  That's a personal decision so this is a rhetorical question.  I appreciate all the input.  Lots of food for thought!