First Triathlon-training questions

[blumensh]

I just registered for my first triathlon. It's a sprint and is in 6 weeks.

Swim-The swim is a 250 m swim. Is it best to train doing the full distance or to do 5 x 50 full out?

Bike-I'm new to cycling and am still trying to figure out the best gear configurations. I have a Fuji Finest 1.0 and I have 3 gears in front and I think 9 in back. A good friend who is an avid cyclist told me just to leave the front gear on the smallest disk for now and only shift the back. Would I go faster on the flat on the larger disk in front? I feel like I should be faster than I am now.

Run-Will I look like a fool if I have to walk some of the run? I have a feeling I'm not going to make the whole run in the August heat after the biking and I'm afraid I will look bad if I have to walk some of it.

Clothing-What do you think is the best for shorts? I had planned to get a top too but then another friend mentioned that she had the top and it was sort of a pain because she had to pin her number on her top during the first transition so she suggested using a swim top that could double as a bra and then having a light weight jersey or top with number pinned on it to pull over your head at the first transition. What are you thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

[blumensh]

Also do you know of any good training plans? I wrote up a training matrix for myself but not sure if it's the best.

My sprint tri is a 250 m swim-10 mile ride-3.1 mile run

I have a pretty good cardio base to work from I generally run or do the eliptical for an hour.

Sunday I did a 13 mile ride and 250 m swim
Monday I did a 7.5 mile ride and ran 2 miles
Tonight I plan to run 1 mile bike 10 miles and run 1 mile

Does this type of training 6 weeks out sound about right to get me where I need to be by race day?

[roadie gal]

The swim: How many times a week are you swimming? If you're doing at least 2 then try to mix it up. Do the full distance one time and intervals the other. I think it's good to get a feel for the full distance and to know you can do it.

The bike: Don't limit yourself to just one chainring. You want to try to stay in whatever gear will allow you to ride at your most comfortable RPM. This is different for everyone. I feel best between 80-85. Others like to ride over 90. You change the gears to allow you to do this. The idea is to be most efficient and fastest without exhausting yourself. What's best for you? You just have to ride and play with it and see. (This may be too basic, but a way to think about gearing is that the closer the chain is to the bike frame, the easier it is to peddle and vice versa. So, going up a hill you'll be using easier gears, ie closer to the frame: small gear on the front and big on the back.)

The run: A lot of people will walk part of the run. This is true for all lengths of races, not just sprints. Do what you can. Nobody will think worse of you.

Www.beginnertriathlete.com has a bunch of free training plans for all lengths of races. They also have a good forum.

Clothing: Definitely get some tri shorts. They're designed to be worn for the whole race. Aerotech and Avero (sp?) both make less expensive tri clothing if that's a concern. I've used the Aerotech bike shorts. The quality is very good for the price. To be honest, though, their tri shorts didn't fit me well.

Get a cheap race number belt. You can find them for $5 or less. You just clip it on in T2 so you don't have to pin anything on your shirt.

I use a tri shirt. I don't like trying to wrestle myself into a shirt when I'm wet from the swim. I'm not that coordinated. I'd end up in a cursing wad.

What you're doing so far definitely sounds like you'll be able to do the distance.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions.

[blumensh]

Thanks!

My matrix has me only swimming 2 days a week but I will probably swim on the weekends as well even if it's just a few laps while the kids are on rest period at the pool. I think I'll do Mondays as my intervals and do Thursdays as my long swim.

I've been riding over 90 and it seems like I"m peddling really fast but getting no where fast LOL! I'll have to start playing with the front gears now that I"m a little more comfortable with all of it.

Thanks for the clothing tips too especially about the belt! I'm off to google!

[colby]

Your training matrix will certainly get you there in 6 weeks, as long as you're comfortable with those distances (someone starting from scratch would need to start a little easier). You might want to add some extra distance to your swimming (I'd have a long swim day of 500m, for example) to account for open water (if your race is in open water) as sometimes you do end up swimming farther than the prescribed course, or it feels different.

And, it's a really good idea to combine intervals with regular swim/bike/run training. Instead of swimming 250m, swim a 50m warm up, 6x25 intervals with 10 seconds inbetween, 50m cool down. Or, 3x50m intervals. With running, run 30-60 second intervals after a good warm up. With cycling, try riding in harder gears for 1-2 minutes, then go back to your normal cadence. If anything, it helps add some variety.

Good luck! Sounds like you'll do great.

[blumensh]

My current swimming schedule is

Week 1 Monday 5 x 50 Thursday 200 m
Week 2 Monday 5 x 50 Thursday 300 m
Week 3 Monday 3 x 100 Thursday 300 m
Week 4 Monday 2 x 150 Thursday 300 m
Week 5 Monday 2 x 250 Thursday 400 m
Week 6 Monday 2 x 250 Thursday 4 x 100 m

So if I adjust that as marked below do you think that would be good?
Week 1 Monday 5 x 50 Thursday 200 m
Week 2 Monday 5 x 50 Thursday 300 m
Week 3 Monday 3 x 100 Thursday 400 m
Week 4 Monday 2 x 150 Thursday 500 m
Week 5 Monday 2 x 250 Thursday 500 m
Week 6 Monday 2 x 250 Thursday 4 x 100 m

[colby]

Yeah! I know swimming "twice" the distance sounds long, but that extra security will make the 250m seem downright doable in the conditions of the race.

And, if you continue in triathlon, a lot of the sprint distance races have .5 mile swims, which are ~800 meters, so you could continue to build to that if you decided to do another race after your first.

You might also want to shorten your last Thursday swim before your race to something like 200-300m, to have kind of a mini "taper" - to go easy on your body in the few days before the race. You can plan this into your cycling and running, too.

[blumensh]

Do you think I need to plan for twice the run too?

I will make the adjustments to tapper that last week as well. I had planned on taking the two days before the race off ...is that wise?

[colby]

Do you think I need to plan for twice the run too?

I will make the adjustments to tapper that last week as well. I had planned on taking the two days before the race off ...is that wise?

No, I don't think so, nor for the bike. The swim is just particularly benefited by the extra training. It can't hurt to do a little extra - say up to 4 miles of running or 12-15 miles of riding - but I wouldn't go so far as to say twice.

I wouldn't sweat taking two days off - tapering is definitely wise, and sometimes you get caught up in race stuff and end up standing on your feet more than you expect the day before anyway. When I race on Sunday, what I do is take Friday totally off, then try to do something for just a few minutes on Saturday so that I'm not on stiff legs on Sunday (I usually train by working out the day before, so sometimes it feels weird to not work out the day before I race). Nothing hard, just a nice spin around the block, or an easy jog/walk, or some easy time in the pool - maybe 20 minutes. It also helps me sleep and tempers my mood/adrenaline, which are both often a challenge the night before a race.

[kacie tri-ing]

Yeah! Welcome! All great advice!

[blumensh]

Thanks everyone for the useful tips! I'm sure I"ll have more questions in the weeks ahead