West Virgnia? (Page 3)

Congratulations on taking the leap and signing up for your first triathlon.  There is a fun atmosphere at the MedExpress Tri in Morgantown.  There's a good mix of first timers, good local and visiting triathletes, and pros on tricked out $10,000 bikes.  I don't live down near Charleston so I can't help you out with roads there.  But, regarding your comment about the times from last year--don't worry about them.  Even the Sprint Tri will have a mix of newbies and experienced triathletes.  Most of those people near the top of the results also do longer distance triathlons but decided to do the Sprint tri for one reason or another.  You'll certainly have plenty of other first timers around you. 

My piece of advice for you:  if you aren't familiar with open water swimming, try to practice it some before the triathlon.  It's a different experience than going to the pool and swimming laps.  Nobody paints a black line on the bottom of the river for you to follow and no one (I hope!) jumps into your lane at the pool to hit you with their arms, legs, or whatever other body part they happen to be flailing around.  Just be calm and relaxed at the start and it should go fine!

Cheers,

John

John,

Thank you for the good advice.  Regarding beginning times, you are correct and I should not be concerned.  This sport seems to weed out the couch potatos, though!  For instance, in most 5k and 10k races, there are a large group of people that are there doing a "fun walk" or very slow jog.  It seems this does not exist much at the triathlon level.  Just raises the bar for all of us, I guess.  I am not hypercompetitive by nature in new sports.  Yet still, there is something about finishing last or back of pack that feels a little blah.

Re open water swimming--you are right.  Though I have swim raced competitively in the past and consider it a strength even now, I have never been in a swim race where I have been kicked and pummeled.  The lines are also a concern. My cousin (also named John) is a fantastic swimmer and nearly drowned in his first sprint tri because he was trampled.  And he is a clyde just like me.  Now he sprints to the front and is usually first out of the water.  Advice I have received for first race is to "swim wide" though I may press a little more to the front to get started, at least.

I need to find a safe place to bike.  The gym bike is good and the training plan encourages this, but there is no substitute for actually hoofing it on a bike.

thank you for your good wishes.  see you at the race?

egoes

I think most of the "fun walk" folks get scared away from triathlons with open water swims.  There's another tri in Morgantown later in the summer (Sprint, Splash, & Spin) which has a 300m pool swim.  That's the race that the "fun walk" folks sign up for because the pool swim is less intimidating.  It's also a fun triathlon atmosphere and there are some good local and regional triathletes that show up for it in addition to the first timers.  It was the first triathlon I ever did and I've done it every year since.

I'm not going to be able to participate in the MedExpress Triathlon this year; we leave for Nags Head that weekend.   Good luck and have fun!

John