Anyone doing the HMF Women's Sprint Tri in Farmington (9/8)? It's my first Tri and I am nervous (of course)! Has anyone done it before? I am wondering how cold that water will be. I wasn't planning on a wetsuit. Swimming is def my weakest of the three sports. Any tips or advice overall is greatly appreciated! Thanks
I did it last year. I think they offered an optional newbie wave. It goes last so you don't have to worry about people in the wave behind you swimming over you. I had my own personal difficulties with the race, but they where all caused by my lack of training properly. I don't race in a wetsuit and I don't recall the water being particularly cold. It swam in the lake last weekend and it was really nice, but there are still a few weeks to go. The run is on trails, not paved. The trails are relatively smooth, not hardcore trail running or anything. I didn't realize it wasn't a road run until I got there on race day.
My fiance did it last year / will be doing it again this year. It really depends on weather but that lake was certainly warm enough for no wet suit last year. I would expect the same this year. Even it the weather is a bit on the cold side the swim is pretty short so you can just get through that a throw on something long sleeved for the bike. This is a perfect race for a newbie. Good luck in your first race, I'll be there helping out.
Additionally I did a 6 of the 10 off road series at Winding Trails Tris this summer. The lake is beautiful and shallow so it warms up quickly. I think I only wore my wetsuit once or twice there. I'm guessing it'll still be warm by the 9/8 women's tri but with New England weather you can never count on anything.
If the run is the same course, it's technical enough to keep you on your toes but by no means difficult for an off road course. Just have fun with it.
Triathlon serves up many humbling moments. The most humbling of days came not during a race day but by email. I had been invited to participate in the Rambling Rose Women’s Only Triathlon. Wow.
This life of mine is not so different from yours. It has a multitude of similarities. I suffer from uncertainty, I get nervous at the thought of registering and when getting to the starting line.
I am not going to buy a tri-suit before my first tri - I want to make sure I am going to stick with this before I spend a lot of money on it so I want to figure out what will work best.
I couldn't believe that my splits kept getting lower! I started to run harder after I passed the "5 km" sign and picked a few people that I wanted to pass.