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New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again.
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| General Discussion | Introduce Yourself!!! » New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again. | Rss Feed  |
 2016-06-05 10:21 PM |
 3 |  Subject: New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again.Hi, I'm 39 years old and very new to triathlon. So new I'm just learning as I'm going. A little back ground about me. I ran cross country in High School and I did run the NYC marathon. I did half marathons. I did trail runs so the running part I got but the biking and swimming is very new to me. I signed up for my first triathlon a month ago and I thought I trained hard. I would swim an average about 1000 yards in the pool one day and the next day bike 12-15 miles follow by 3 miles run. So I figure I was doing good training for a sprint event as a beginner. But I failed miserably during the open swim portion. I think I'm the only person that quit out of 200 so people. It was open water 750 meter swims. I didn't realize how different it was going from pool swimming to open water swimming is like learning how to swim all over again. I almost drowned and had to quit. I mean I watch stuff on youtube of what to prepare for in open water swim and I tried that in the pool thinking it be enough. Boy was I wrong. Don't like that feeling so decided to try again but this time add open water swimming to my training. The problem is I live I NYC...so to swim in the open water is only during summer season (which is now) when the beaches are open. Planning on trying to swim at Sunken Meadow Park. Don't know if there are better places to swim. I signed up for another triathlon in month. This time I plan on doing more open water swim just to get the feel of it. I think for me I just panic because of lack of visibility plus with so many people kicking and pushing against you doesn't help either. |
| 2016-06-07 6:38 PM in reply to: #5185439 |
41 | Subject: RE: New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again. Open water swimming can be very difficult just due to the change in enviornment. Add to that other athletes around you swimming and the adrenaline of the race. My first 3 Sprints the swim was a bad experience due to the factors mentioned above. I however found it very beneficial to have these experiences and to increase yardage in the pool. Being a stronger swimmer will make you all that more confident and help to ease the stress of the race environment and allow you to get your rythim. Also let the pack go ahead of you. Start last or away from everyone, build up confidence. Swim more than 1,000 yards and do drills. |
| 2016-06-07 11:41 PM in reply to: kwak76 |
233  Ventura, California | Subject: RE: New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again. Congrats on staying strong and signing up for a second race. I almost lost it in the water on my first tri as well. I did not even make it 100yards before I was off to the side treading water in total panic and hyperventilating. It was only seeing 2 other people being pulled out of the water that I got my self together and swam on. It was difficult and my swimming skills where pretty weak. Best wishes on your training. |
| 2016-06-19 1:56 PM in reply to: FrankMilena |
| 3 | Subject: RE: New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again. I did it!! I was able to complete my first triathlon . My biggest fear was the open water swim but I was able to complete a sprint triathlon . It was a 500 meter swim and 10.5 miles bike ride and 5 km race. I did it in about 1 hour a 11 minutes . Out of 400 competitors I came at overall 98. Not great but not bad for me at least. I realize I think if I was a better swimmer and have a better bike I think I would improve my time by knocking down 5 minutes. My weakness is swimming. It took me about 12 minutes to complete 500 meter swim which is kind of slow. Some of it is because it's my first race and just dealing with the other swimmers around me and dealing with sighting which effected my form. Regarding bikes..I notice that there some really expensive looking bikes out there that are probably more aerodynamic than my bike . I don't know how much time you save with a better bike but it might effect some time. Finally running..is where I was fairly decently strong. While running I did past a number of runners that beat me in bike! So my past running from marathons and half marathons did help. |
| 2016-06-28 2:53 PM in reply to: kwak76 |
701 | Subject: RE: New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again. Originally posted by kwak76 I did it!! I was able to complete my first triathlon . My biggest fear was the open water swim but I was able to complete a sprint triathlon . It was a 500 meter swim and 10.5 miles bike ride and 5 km race. I did it in about 1 hour a 11 minutes . Out of 400 competitors I came at overall 98. Not great but not bad for me at least. I realize I think if I was a better swimmer and have a better bike I think I would improve my time by knocking down 5 minutes. My weakness is swimming. It took me about 12 minutes to complete 500 meter swim which is kind of slow. Some of it is because it's my first race and just dealing with the other swimmers around me and dealing with sighting which effected my form. Regarding bikes..I notice that there some really expensive looking bikes out there that are probably more aerodynamic than my bike . I don't know how much time you save with a better bike but it might effect some time. Finally running..is where I was fairly decently strong. While running I did past a number of runners that beat me in bike! So my past running from marathons and half marathons did help. Excellent work. Now that you've conquered the water....no stopping ya. Only way to get better.....do more of it...and more of it thoughtfully. I'm betting most people can get the fastest bang for the buck in swimming. I pretty much cut my swim times in half by swimming 3 days a week for a couple months. Getting faster on the bike for me has been more like maybe 1 mph/year**? And there's a limit there for me, I should think at age 45. Running? Who knows. I'm not much of a runner. I'm certainly faster than 4 years ago when I couldn't run 500 yards. But, the matrix of heat/humidity/hilliness/etc. can produce massive swings. ** I went from a hybrid to a good road bike after a year+ of triathlons. You bet I picked up speed there. I'm not sure I'd pick up al that much more with a more expensive or a tri-bike. Maybe some....over a long distance. Probably not tons. I think I'm sorta reaching my zenith, though as it is. |
| 2016-07-01 12:57 PM in reply to: jhaack39 |
| 265 | Subject: RE: New guy that lives NYC. Failed at my first trialthon but will try again. You'll pick up good bike speed gains riding aero, but you don't have to have a tri bike to do that. I have a road bike with a set of high quality clip on aero bars. Over a windy and / or long bike course you will pick up significant speed / time. |
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