Tri / Triathlon / Triathlons - do they float your boat?

what are you looking for tips/advice around?

1. if you aren't a great swimmer or aren't confident in a pack position to the back and outside of the group, its better to have a clear calm swim and swim a few more meters than getting involved in the mêlée of a big swim and being in the wrong place within it.
   
2. practice all the elements (especially transitions) before and keep it simple, don't give yourself choices like multiple tops, bottoms, shoes, sock etc. (you'll only waste time trying to make the choices), and don't try anything new on the day, especially things like flying mounts or dismounts or running with no socks, if you practice before then go for it, but it is most likely to end in tears if you haven't and it goes wrong!
   
3. make sure you enjoy it!
   

All very helpful, thanks.

I think my main worry is the swim. I'm a good swimmer in the pool, always have been, but I don't have any experience in open water. I went out with my local sea swimming club on Friday and it was mental, without doubt one of the most disorientating things I've ever done. I guess it's something that comes with experience, and i just have to keep at it. It was fun though, in a life threateningly enjoyable way.
The transitions are an unknown as well for sure. I'm doing cycling to running work outs and trying to practice swapping over, but i've not tried swimming to cycling yet.

sea swimming

Weirds me out, even when millpool calm at Sidmouth last year I was having panic attacks, mostly cos I was out there solo and there's no lifeguard there, albeit the dude from Jurassic Paddles does keep an eye out.

Takes lots of practice. Good to swim practice with others who'll stick with you thru any panic moments.

sea swimming is an order of magnitude harder than lake or river swimming, as there are so many more factors at play, ideally you'd progress through them and build your confidence up, when its choppy try to reflect that in your stroke (i.e. shorten your stroke and don't try and glide) and pick fixed points to swim towards (ideally on land) and look frequently, it also helps if you are able to breath away from the oncoming swell as you are less likely to end up with a mouthful of water than air that way around!

As a stronger a swimmer I love it when its rough as it gives a much bigger penalty to those who get through the swim to bike/run!

Pick if the water the day before the ETU middle distance champs in 2015, I was one of very few people practicing while everyone else was campaigning for a cancelled swim!

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I've done a few sessions now with the sea swimming club, and i'm really enjoying it. I've found it super useful for getting to grips with sighting and checkpoint buoys especially.
We did a point swim yesterday evening of +1km with the tide on the way in. It was great fun and i felt like i could have done it twice.
I'm doing a sprint as my first tri down in Cardiff Bay, and hopefully this will stand me in good stead to at least get out of the water.
4 weeks to go now.

I finally did a triathlon; only a Super Sprint (400m/21km/4.5km) in my brother's village but it was enough for my fat self.

Pool swim to start, with teams off first and then swimmers from slowest to fastest at 40 second intervals. I put down a 7min swim time which had me starting with the fast lot. Giddy with excitement I kept up pace with the person starting 40s before me for the first 100m, which was stupid as he'd set off at 1m30/100m so by 250m I was blowing hard. Felt increasingly sick towards the end of the swim and out of the pool 40 seconds later than I'd hoped. Maybe I should have done more swimming in the run up to this, last proper swim was over a month ago.

T1 was a faff-fest but eventually out on the bike, which was never going to be fun carrying 15kg too much weight and having not done enough riding. Also, the majority of people who were fast swimmers were club triathletes so I was overtaken by a large number on the bike leg (217m climbing in the 21km).

T2 was brief enough and soon out on to the run. Just 3 laps of not quite 1 mile around the village. Felt like I was running through treacle but just ran to my HR; quite pleased when the first 1km auto lap came around and it said 5:45/km. Finished the run somewhere nearer 6:00/km. Also the bonus of being the last to finish (although far from being the slowest overall).

Should be able to take 20+ minutes off my time (a very slow 1:31:xx) next year, especially if my weight begins with a 7 rather than a 9.

Overall it's amusing to think how far I've slipped since last year. I was doing 4000m+ swims a week, riding 120km+ a week and 30-40km running. Had done a marathon (albeit slow), had done a 24h TT and was a week away from doing (slogging round) an Ironman. Onwards and downwards I suppose.

Melburn boy John Van Wisse is coming back to London to attempt to retake is Arch2Arc record...

https://twitter.com/johnvanwisse17
https://www.facebook.com/jvwgoesa2a/

Video of his previous record breaking triathlon:
https://vimeo.com/113491266

Last chance to enter Swim Serpentine.

If you enter it quoting my reference number: 797462 then I get a bonus hoodie/changing thingy. Well worth it, and I'll love you forever (in a forum love way).

Link: https://www.swimserpentine.co.uk/

He didn't make it into the water, medical advice wouldn't allow it. Was tracking him on the run, he was absolutely killing it through one of the hottest days of the year. He came for the record, but let sensible tactics go out the window.

Yeah, they didn't tweet any more info after he finished the run. During the day said he was moving fine and an hour up on 2014 record but then perhaps he got crook with the heat or something?

1h10 according to the Garmin, official chip times aren't online yet.

Felt horrid and cold for the first 100m but soon settled down into a nice rhythm.

Good stuff, well done, presume the beer was warmed for the occasion - it's amazing how quickly you can lose your swimming speed though, if not training eh ?

Anyone interested in a “swim skin” swimming suit?

It’s a blueseventy pointzero3 in men’s size SM. I bought it a few years ago, wore it once and it’s been sat in the box ever since. It felt awesome but the race I needed it for ended up wearing wetsuits. I paid £100 for it (which I think was a good deal through a sponsored athlete) and I’m happy to sell for £30 plus postage?

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I found some more stuff... sorry for the crappy phone pics.

Descente "aero" tri top (M) - the texture on the back apparently improves airflow.
Orca tri top (S) - really nice comfy top.
Jaggad long distance tri suit (S) - The chamois pad is removable and supposed to improve comfort on the bike while not being uncomfortable on the run... The two times I used it (a) I forgot to remove the pad between bike and run and (b) forgot to put the pad in.

As with the swim skin all items have been worn a few times but definitely no more than 5-10 times for each item. They have all spent several years sat in the bottom of my cupboard. It's not fancy stuff but functional and cheap.

The forum survives on donations (thread) so items are yours for a one off £5 donation to the forum (each), plus postage.

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Upgraded to a 935xt so selling my old 920xt for £150: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/315233/

Is this still available?

The Swim Skin? Absolutely! Send me a PM if you want it.

Has anyone done the Vitruvian Triathlon? I feel the need to do a Tri this year but the very end of summer will be the only available time. I used to hear good things about the Vit but don't know anyone who's done it recently.

yep, and the Dambuster which is the Olympic version, good race, reservoir swim, mostly flat roads with a bit of section of fast single carriageway, and then a mixture of paved road and fine gravel run, its basically a perfect course to go fast on...

I think i’ve got the bug for this triathlon thing...

I really enjoyed my first one last year and i’m signed up for 4 this coming season (so far). It all starts this weekend with the inaugural SWYD sprint tri on Barry Island. I couldn’t not do it really, the course goes past my house. It’s a mass sea swim start which i have a feeling will catch a lot of people out. The current in Whitmore Bay is bonkers at high tide, and if you don’t compensate for it then you’re in trouble. It should be great!

Is anyone else training for events?

yep, just back from a week in Mallorca getting some good swim and bike miles in, a few runs too but that wasn't the real focus!

Windsor
Bananaman
Challenge Prague 70.3

are the next few races, fitness wise i'm all good I think, both swim and bike are about the best they've ever been, run i'm struggling with a niggle in my ankle and carrying too much weight, so focussing on rehab and now really focussing on diet to get that weight down!

Mallorca this time of year sounds ideal. I’m in a similar boat really, trying to shed some weight. I’ve always had trouble with my knees when running. I’m sticking to sprint for that reason exclusively. I was training for the Cardiff half marathon last year and it was doing me in. I’m swimming this evening actually and the sun is out, happy days.

The SWYD sprint was good fun this morning. I got round in just under 1hr30. It was quite a slow course but i felt very good for the swim and bike, not so much for the run if i’m honest. I need to get some running training in before the next one.

On a very sad note a 43 year old man had a heart attack in the water and died on the beach. It was an incredibly sobering thing to experience, just horrendous.

well done on the race.

really sad that about the chap dying, seems to be all too frequent an occurrence, there really should be some kind of medical sign off/pre qual for endurance activities happens far too frequently for my liking, I can't help feeling that people with serious underlying medical issues that were at least aware of them could manage them, or at least make some sensible decisions, rather than jumping in freezing water triggering a heart attack, epileptic fit etc. and dying quite often when they've taken up the sport to "get healthy".

Screening is far from foolproof (old article but still relevant): https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/mar/24/fabrice-muamba-heart-screenings

It's still rare enough that the few deaths there are don't seem to be statistically significant. It's just more likely to be in the news than if the same person had had a heart attack at home whilst climbing the stairs or doing some gardening.

I had a screening about 10 years ago (when I was still 'young' enough to qualify for one via the CRY [Cardiac Risk in the Young] charity) which just ruled out anything so obvious that I would have needed to stop there and then. It certainly doesn't mean that I'm risk free now, especially as I have a good number of years of (half arsed) endurance events (and subsequent changes to physiology) since then.

Population wide, the health benefits of "getting healthy" significantly outweigh the increased chances of a heart attack. Although at the individual level it's obviously a different matter for those that are the unlucky ones.