Sprint Triathlon Help

[Over50Newbie]

Hello Ladies,

I must admit that it is a bit intimidating to post here, considering that so many of you are such experienced triathletes (doing Ironmans, etc). But you really seem like such a nice group of women, so here goes...

I am participating in a sprint tri on May 20th - a 250 yard pool swim, 9.3 mile bike ride, and a 3.2 mile run.

As you can see from my name, I consider myself a newbie to biking. I got my road bike last summer, so I haven't been biking for even a year yet.

I got myself a personal trainer and I have been working out with him twice a week to get ready for this tri. He is mostly working with me on weight training, mixed with short bursts of cardio to get my heart rate up in between sets. It is really hard.

My strongest area is swimming, my weakest area is running, and biking is somewhere in the middle.

I am very slow but steady on my bike. I can bike up to 50 miles now, but my average speed is always somewhere around 10 miles per hour. It is almost impossible to bike without running into hills in my area. Sometimes I am going as slow as 3 or 4 mph when going up these hills. I'm not complaining, it is just a fact of life!

My running is even slower - it takes me around 13 minutes to run a mile, so my 5K time is around 42 minutes.

I can swim 250 yards in just over 4 minutes. Not bad...

My goal is to complete the triathlon in 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I have one month left - is this a reasonable goal?

Is there anything that I can do in the next few weeks to get just a little bit faster on my bike?

Oh, and by the way, I am 52 years old and 5 feet tall.

Thanks for any help that you can give me.

Lynette

[rocknrollgirl]

Well, it sounds like you are working hard, and doing the right stuff. I am sure that all of the experinced racers will add to your post, but I would like to say right from the start, that since this is new to you, and you are newbie, why not just race your first race and see how you do, not worry so much about the times. You will probably go a bit faster on race day.

Just go and have fun, do your best, and you can start working out the kinks after. I can only speak from my own experience, it took me a while and some very structured training to get my run times down. You are already inside of a month, that is not a lot of time.

Maybe focus on your transitions, and start thinking past that race to restructuring your plan for the next one.

You are going to have a blast...it is a ton of fun.....

[Over50Newbie]

Thanks rocknrollgirl,

Great advice!

I hope that my post didn't mislead you. Looking back at it, I see that I left some important information out.

I actually did this same triathlon last year on a hybrid comfort bike (my first triathlon ever!). My time was 1 hour and 43 minutes. My goal last year was just to finish, and I did. I had no idea what I was doing, so that is why I set a goal time of 1 hour and 30 minutes for this time around. This will be my second time doing this event, and the first time on a road bike. I figured if I gave myself a finish time to work towards, then it would help me train harder.

I was also really nervous last year, so I am hoping that I can relax more this time too.

I still consider myself a newbie, even though I have already done a triathlon. As I said above, last year I just wanted to finish. This year, I would like to do better.

Thanks again,

Lynette

[Tri Girl]

First- good luck next month!! Repeating a race is always fun when you try to beat your time from the previous year. Seeing as how you're riding a road bike now and you've got a fantastic base, it should be easier for you than last year.
Second- never sell yourself short. Your bike average is great and so is your run time! Not everyone is blessed with speed (and I speak from experience- I'm no speedster by any stretch). I figure as long as we're out there doing it, we've got tremendous reason to celebrate our athleticism.

Ok- so it sounds like you're ready! Based on the information you gave, you should be somewhere around the time you were for last year- probably a little faster (if you run 42 min, swim 4 min, bike 10mph and it's a 9 mile ride and then figure in transitions). You will probably go faster than your averages on your bike since it's race day and it's a shorter ride. Don't stress about the times tho- it can ruin a race. Last year I had a time goal in mind and then race day conditions were just not ideal (20-30 mph winds and HOT) and I stressed because I wasn't going to beat the time I had in my head. I wound up doing terribly because my mind was so caught up on a number. If I'd have just dealt with the day as it came I would've done so much better.

Have fun and be sure to let us know how it goes!!!

[Wahine]

I agree with what RnR said about relaxingg and having fun. You've got a month left so you want to focus on places where you can make up time without a lot of training. Transitions are free time if you get good at them.

I like to do a little workout before sprint tris where I set up T1 and T2, pretend I came out of the pool, go through my T1, get on the bike and ride for 10 min, T2 and run for 5. Then I rest for 5 min or so and do it again, and again.

The goal is to bring your transition times down so make sure to time yourself for motivation and feedback. This also works as a good workout to get you used to running off the bike.

As for workouts, your distances are all there. So I would just throw in the workout above during the week and maybe a longer brick on the weekend, you might ride the distance of the race then run for 15 min after.

Remember that you will not make any gains in the last week before the race and a structured taper is the best way to optimize your race time. take the last 3 workouts for each of the 3 disciplines before the race, make the 3rd one out 75% of the length of the race, then 50%, then 25%. Throw in some short (30 sec) bursts of speed if you can but you should feel light and easy.

Hope that helps.

[Over50Newbie]

TriGirl and Wahine,

I sincerely thank you for your great advice.

You know, you guys made me realize that I am taking myself a little bit too seriously here!

I have been focusing so much on wanting to do better than last year, that I have forgotten that I am doing this because it is so much fun.

And I love that I am getting fitter while training.

So I will definitely take all of your advice, work on my transitions, and remember to have fun!!!

Lynette