Which distance for first Tri?

Go swim 200m and then report back on how that went.

We'll go from there.

Sprint length is a great distance for your first triathlon. 8 weeks will be fine with some fitness background already. You'll probably be somewhere between 1hr 20 min and 2 hr for that distance, depending. How fast is your 5k time? Do you bike? Do you swim?

+1, get to the pool asap and then a lake if the race is not a pool swim. Many underestimate the swim.

How much can you swim now?

Also, how much cycling do you do?

I did a 400 yard sprint for my first but had a couple months to train and work on my swim technique some. Coming out of the water I kind of felt cheated cause I had a lot left in me and got stuck behind a bunch of kicking feet which slowed me down. I am definitely glad I did a Sprint before an Oly though cause looking at results it gets a lot more competitive there. Like others suggest, the water is probably the limiting factor.

Ok I'll definitely get in the pool and do the 200m and report back! I'm not a fast swimmer and I haven't swam in a while (too cold in Melbourne in winter), however my overall swimming ability is quite good as I used to do surf life saving.

I only ride on the street for fun at the moment, I do spin a couple of times a week at the gym and feel quite comfortable on the bike.

Running would likely be my weakness, I haven't done any running in a long time, I did a 4km fun run on the weekend, which was fine but it was more of a slow jog with friends, I don't think I could have gone more than 5km without stopping for a walk.

Just to re-iterate, I do want to challenge myself but I don't want to go so hard I never want to do another Triathlon! Which is why I'm so conflicted about whether to do the shorter or longer distance!

I'll be going for my first training swim on the weekend so will report back then!!

Thanks for all your responses, I really appreciate it!

Lou

Welcome to the sport
For your first sprint do not focus on your time. Even if you can predict your times for each individual leg, it is harf to say how you'll feel starting a run.
I only had running background and was able to prepare in two months for 300y/10mi/5k. And I was swimming breaststroke (also started swimming a bit over a month before the race). I would go with the longer one. Worst case scenario it will take you more time to complete. Just take the training more serious.

If you are a confident swimmer, then go for the sprint. The swim is the limiter at the short distances and with a background as a life guard 200 m would be really short for you. I was a lifeguard as a teenager and never forgot the basics so when I started the run was the limiter and song started with a full sprint as you can train for 5 km run in 8 weeks if you've recently done 4 km. Focus on training and accomplishing to learn how to improve your time in future , don't solely focus on time in your first tri. Any time will be your personal best. To push yourself hard to feel you challenged yourself without hurting yourself you'll need to train in all three disciplines for the next 8 weeks. Enjoy !

Hard to say. It really depends on how swim fit you are or will be by race time. If you're going to do the 600m swim, you need to be knocking out 1000-1500m workouts without being totally gassed...remember, you still need to bike and run after the 600m swim.

Too bad the shorter distance doesn't have a little bit longer run leg...that would be a fun one to race if it had a 5k run instead of the 2k. Even so, I would probably lean toward the shorter race unless you find that a 600m swim is no big deal.

Either way, you're going to learn a lot in your first race. I.e. The value of proper pacing and simple and organized transition areas.

I'd go for the sprint, sounds like you'll be in good enough shape for that. I'd ride the bike like you stole it for the first 7 weeks, taper off a bit in the last week before the race.

 

8 Weeks is about perfect to train time for a 5k race if you already have decent fitness and a running background.  Training for a Sprint Triathlon I would want a minimum of 12 weeks and preferable 16 weeks for train if I already had good fitness and triathlon background.  I can understand wanting to challenge yourself but if you don't have the time to get fully prepared for the Sprint Triathlon then doing it on sub par training doesn't prove anything.   I don't doubt that you could finish the Sprint Triathlon but I feel that anything that is worth doing is worth doing well.  You have time to do well in the Fun Tri.  If you are fit you could be in and out of the water in 5 minutes, on and off the bike in 20 minutes, and done with the run in 10 minutes.  You will be working hard non-stop for 30-40 minutes.  For the Sprint Tri you would have to be prepared to go hard for 65-90 minutes. That type of sports specific fitness peak and taper on and 8 week plan is hard to do so you aren't likely to do as well in the Sprint Tri in 8 weeks as you could do in the Fun Tri in 8 weeks.  

 I do know a professional Marathon runner that does a 7 weeks Marathon training plan.  I think he starts at about 60 miles a weeks and build to 100 miles a week.  It all depends on where you start I guess.  I would thing that with neither a strong running nor swimming base that the Fun Sprint would be where you will do the best in the given time.  There may be other Triathlon events in the 12-16 weeks range that you could do after the Fun Tri to have the Sprint Tri experience that  build on the base of the Fun Tri. 

Edited by BlueBoy26 2015-11-10 10:06 AM

Hiya, I'm not sure if anyone who posted here is still reading but I got in the pool, I did the 200m swim, felt puffed at the end but I wasn't exhausted. Then I played around for a bit in the water and did another 200m which again I wasn't spent by the end. The day before I also got on a bike at the gym and did 15km followed by some time on the rowing machine and then a 2km run..Again I was puffed but I wasn't exhausted.

Now the question is, do I still do the 200m/10km/2km distance or keep training and attempt the 600m/27.5km/5km (just under 2 months away)? My first Triathlon isn't about the competition or time, I just wanted to set a new challenge for myself.

Thanks for all your advice and sharing your experiences!
Lou

I think you will be fine with either. If you have a decent swim background (and technique) and comfort level with open water, two months is plenty of time to build your endurance for the swim. Likewise if you are healthy, have no major injury concerns, and have some base of fitness, I don't think 5K is unrealistic. It's actually the bike length (which, like my first tri, is longer than a standard sprint), and pacing properly for that distance so as to leave something for the run, which I think would be most challenging for a beginner. If that intimidates you, maybe better to start with the super sprint. But it's not undoable if your goal is to finish.

My first tri was a very similar distance. (I think 500 or 600m ocean swim, 25 or 29 km bike--forget--about 6 km of it off-road, and 5K run.) Coming into it, I had a pretty strong run and swim background (a recent half-marathon, masters' swim workouts 3-4 times a week in the 2.5--3K range) but ZERO biking aside from short commutes. Might have done a couple of 20-25 km rides on weekends for a month or so leading up to the race. The result was--awesome swim, one of the first out of the water; okay bike--I was actually leading the women as the first part was all uphill (climbing's my only forte as a cyclist) until I crashed a couple of times on the off-road part (not injured, as it was into sand dunes, but lost some time), and a horrible struggle of a run. With a marathoner's hubris about it being "only 5K", I had literally left it all on the bike. It felt like the last 5K of a REALLY bad marathon. I came close to walking the final half mile, and was so cramped I could barely walk the last 50m, which were uphill on sand. Really thought I was going to humiliate myself by crawling, Julie Moss style, across the finish of a sprint tri. My finish pic from that race looks worse than almost any race I've ever done! So be forewarned--even a 5K run, after biking too hard for that long, is no joke.

Choose your challenge level!

Edited by Hot Runner 2015-11-15 3:42 AM

I say just rock the Ironman first go.

Keep working on your swimming and do the 600m/27.5km/5km.