n00b questions, please be gentle (Page 2)

Well I strongly encourage you to swim some in open water before jumping in race day. Also, do you know if you can go the distance? I'm only asking, because most people find the swim to be the hardest of the 3 to pick up as an adult.

ransick - 2010-10-19 10:47 PM Back to the shoes for a sec.  This is my first year doing tris and I use my mountain bike shoes with spd cleats.  I figured I was spending enough this year and could upgrade to tri shoes next year.  I didn't try "flying mounts" but I did ok for a middle aged newbie triathlete.

I have a Garmin 305 thats *supposed* to be waterproof, but, I've never put that to the test. Also I'm not sure how well it would work to be checking out my distance while swimming.

charles-goff - 2010-10-19 3:28 PM I hate to tell you this but approx 1/2 of the other racers have the same swim strategy you do. even staying to the back is no gaurantee of a good swim, hold to the outside as well. To quote my hero Frazz, "Triathlon swims are like Australian Rules Football, only in water." The outside lane will be faster because it avoids the mosh pit at the turn.
Also keep in mind it is easy to get injuried on the swim, ie shoulder injury, if you are not fully ready. I sat out most of the season because I pushed to hard in the swim on a sprint and ended with a DNF and torn tendons in my right shoulder. I am an open water swimmer, but in a race your mind will want to push beyond your training level. Do not take the swim lightly.

Meerkat Surprise - 2010-10-20 5:09 PM
Which race are you doing? Suncoast?

Clearwater Beach is a great place for practice swimming (early, it'll be super crowded by late morning). If you start just south of Pier 60 and swim parallel to shore, the distance from lifeguard station 1 to lifeguard station 3 is about 600 yards.

If you're closer to Wesley Chapel..

pir8matt - 2010-10-20 5:38 PM

I'm actually closer to the race location for suncoast than Clearwater or WC. Pretty close to downtown St Pete. I suppose the closest open water to me would actually be Spa Beach, at the base of the pier (which I think is where they do the swim for the St. Anthonys Tri, isnt it?). Tampa Bay is kind of gross to swim in though. 

Meerkat Surprise - 2010-10-23 7:40 AM
Sorry it's too late now, but in the future, being down there, I would go swim with the Mad Dogs on Wednesday evenings at Pass-a-Grille.

pir8matt - 2010-10-23 3:31 PM Actually, looking on the results site it says my time was 1:37:27?

I was going by what the timer had on it when I crossed the finish. Whats the difference there, is that chip time vs. elapsed total time or something?

More newb-ness, sorry.  

pir8matt - 2010-10-23 3:16 PM

Well, I'll definitely have to get more swimming in because that was by far the most challenging part of the event for me. I basically felt tapped out just a short distance beyond the first turn buoy. I got dropped pretty soundly by my age group and then the group behind ours caught up, and then the one behind THAT one, so I felt pretty unprepared and was seriously tired by the time I finished. I will give myself credit for not having to stop and cling to a buoy or kayak, though. I alternated between freestyle/backstroke/breaststroke the whole way and was able to maintain by doing so. 

But I did reasonably well on the bike leg, despite a pretty strong headwind on the first couple of miles. The run was pretty challenging, not from a cardio perspective so much, but my thighs were really sore and I had to slow down to a walk a couple times, which I really didn't want to do, but oh well.

I finished in 1:50 overall though, so I got in under my conservative 2 hour estimate, and it was great fun. I'd definitely do another one, though as I mentioned, I need to work a LOT more (or at all) on the swim portion.

And thanks to everyone for all the tips. The one thing I *was* prepared for was the transitions, thanks to this site. I had a nice tight area with everything laid out as needed, though I definitely would add/do a few things differently the next time.