Triathlon's

“About a half mile pink”

“IJ, thats a long way 2640 feet/880 yards/31,680 inches”

“I was thinking that was on the shorter end for triathalons? There is also a 1 mile kayak option.”

“some of the shorter swimming sections are 200 meters which is 656 feet”

“The difference in kayak distance to swim distance cannot be right. The kayakers would have a considerably easier time paddling a mile vs swimmers swimming a half mile.”

“200 meters is quite doable... 1/2 mile on the other hand is a long swim...”

“Next race this weekend in Fayetteville,AR.
1000 yd. swim & 19 mile bike. A friend is doing the run.
Hey Ewker. Want to make a trip? My runner is single and female of course.”

“wish I could make it but I can't..hoping you were only wanting me to do the bike”

“hehehehe yeah right, you don't really think so do ya. hehehehe”

“I went to a pool yesterday morning to swim a few laps. I've been thinking about trying a triathlon, especially since I'm a decent runner and cyclist. It was pathetic. On my third try I was able to swim the whole 25 yard length without stopping (meaning I'm only at 1/28 of the distance of the triathlon I was hoping to do), but wasn't able to do it again. I just find myself gasping for air after only a few strokes. It seems like breathing on every right arm cycle is too much and every other one isn't enough. Even in the poor condition I'm in now I could go out and run 8 miles in the hills at 8:00/mile or better. Actually, later in the morning yesterday I rode the bike 9 miles at a 15-20 mph average. I guess I could do backstroke or breaststroke, but that would be kinda weird. Any swimming tips? Maybe I need one of those things the Jedi use in Star Wars to let them breathe underwater.....”

“I had the same idea with similar results. After a couple of weeks going to the pool a couple of times per week, and really focusing on the stroke and breathing I can do 5 or 6 laps, but I stop and catch my breath at the end of each lap. I find myself "flailing at the water" more than really swimming as I start to tire.

Swimming is really difficult to do.”

“I definitely have the same problem BowlderMan, I'm just not a good swimmer. For me I'm sure its form, maybe what you really need is to analyze your form. Also, better to breath toomuch then not enough, especially as you get more warn out.
last edited: 6/26/05 12:10:37 PM”

“Bowlderman, your experience is why I wont/cant do a tri. Good luck to ya though!”

“I agree, swimming is tough stuff. I started about 3 years ago. I have plenty of distance now but I'm still fairly slow. Don't let it bring you down BowlderMan, I was in the same situation as you when I started. I could barely do 10 laps even with plenty of rest. It gets better. I could go out today and swim 2.5 miles if I wanted to.

I did the first race in the Charleston Sprint Tri series last Sun - 528 yard swim, 13 mile bike, 5k run. It went well. I came in 8th in my age group, 56th place overall. Splits were (time, split place):

swim - 10:00, 109
bike - 36:59, 50
Run - 21:50, 52
Overall - 1:08:48, 56

I had only done one Tri before. It was another race in the Charleston Sprint series 2 summers ago. Missed last season because I was on the AT (poor me). 2 yrs ago I went out way too fast and thought I was gonna die during the swim. The bike I did on an MTB w/ slick tires. Needless to say I got my a$$ handed to me. 134th overall.

So, my goal for this one was to end the swim feeling good, not like I was going to puke, and to place in the top 100. I was very pleased with the results, I accomplished both goals. Now I have a little more experience to draw upon for the next race. Hopefully I'll show some more improvement. Gotta work on that swim. It's dragging me down. Maybe I'll get a masters coach...”

“"Maybe I'll get a masters coach...”
MileMonster

Bingo! Technique is very important in swimming. When I got into swimming, I flailed misreably. A few of us took weekly lessons from a local college swim coach and it made a world of difference.

It was still a struggle because my "muscle-bound" cycling legs would just sink, sink, sink, and I had to kick like hell to keep them bouyant. This is one sport where some extra body fat comes in handy. I used pull-buoys a lot during training sessions. They would keep my legs buoyant with no effort allowing me to concentrate on technique.

I recommend checking out your local master's, college or high school swim programs and look into lessons.”

“I just got through reading an article on beginner triathlon website about swimming. The comments you all made sounds like the article. I copied and pasted instead of providing a link

I saw you. You were at the pool this morning for the same reason you're reading this: you've been thinking about doing a triathlon. You haven’t swum since you were a kid, so you got up early and came to the pool at the Y before work. I knew as soon as I saw you. How did I know? I was you a year ago. I went through the same thing. The only reason middle aged guys who aren't particularly fit and who don't know the protocol for getting into a lane show up at the pool at the Y at 6:30 in the morning is because they're thinking of doing a triathlon. I've asked them. Every single one has answered in the affirmative.

At first you noticed that everyone was wearing skin tight Lycra suits and that the people your age seemed to be in a lot better shape than you. You realized that you may just look as out of place as you felt. Rather than just get in, you stood at the edge of the pool looking around for someone or something to tell you it was ok to get in a lane. Once the lifeguard or another swimmer explained that pool’s particular variation of lane etiquette, you got in and proceeded to slowly fight your way to the other end of the pool, turn around at the wall and make it most of the way back before standing up on the bottom out of breath and shocked at how hard it was.

Once you caught your breath, it occurred to you that finishing even a short triathlon might be harder than you thought. You tried a few more times, and after a few "laps" you got out, looked at the other people swimming so effortlessly back and forth and thought, "I can't believe I'm so out of shape."

This is when the decision gets made: Are you going to do a triathlon or not? Sometimes you go back to the pool for one or two more tries; usually you don't come back at all. I haven’t seen you back at the pool after 2 weeks. You’ve given up the idea of doing a triathlon.

If you gave up because swimming is too hard, that's too bad because you're wrong. It isn’t easy, but becoming passable isn’t all that tough. Swimming is different than cycling and running; starting from scratch, with no technique, you’re just not going to get very far. It's going to take you anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks of going to the pool at 2-3 times a week and swimming for 10 to 20 minutes in small chunks before you start to build anything like endurance. Six weeks, tops. It's really hard at first and then, after a few weeks, there's a breakthrough session where you feel like you can just keep swimming. And you do. You swim for half an hour straight, no breaks.

The feeling of being an outsider in an alien environment goes away right then. You feel as if you belong there. You are a swimmer. You don’t even feel silly walking through the locker room in Lycra jammers.

Read all you can about swimming technique, buy a book or DVD, or, even better, take some lessons. But don't stop trying because it seems ridiculously hard at first. Don't let those first few attempts stop you. Getting through those 3-6 weeks can be tough mentally and physically, but you can get through them.

You know the pictures you’ve seen of a race right before the start with all those triathlete swimmers standing around in wetsuits and colored swim caps? At least half of those people went through the exact same awkward first day at the pool that you had. They just decided not to let it stop them. They decided that triathlon is about overcoming mental and physical challenges, and swimming was number one on the list.

You can either be the guy who thought he might like to do a triathlon but gave up because swimming seemed too hard, or you can be one of those people who finished a triathlon despite those first few practice swims.

Go back to the pool.
last edited: 6/26/05 8:45:04 PM”

“Wow, that is almost exactly how I felt, Ewk! The only difference is that, unlike the subject in the article, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape, which is why I felt frustrated - i.e., "Why can't I do this if I'm in relatively good condition?" But it sound like getting at least some help with technique is a key. I definitely don't care about speed, but just want to be able to survive the swim. Thanks!”

“BowdlerMan, you need to check out the Beginner Triathlon website. It has lots of good info on it.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/default.asp”

“Do they sell stealth snorkels there?

Thanks for the link, Ewk - I'll check it out....”

“Next race is on 7/16/05 at Forest City,AR. It's about 30 mins. west of Memphis. 1/3 mile swim,13 mile bike & a 3 mile run. A great race for beginners. Come & join us.”

“besure to take picture's, this would be something unbeliveable to see.”

“Arky, I will be in backpacking in the Sierra's then.”

“Oh, I see. You would rather go bping in the Sierra's instead of spending a nice hot weekend in the Mississippi river delta country.
I'll be thinking about you in the nice temps while I am melting away. Have fun.”

“I tried the swim thing again over the weekend - went to the pool at the gym Sat. and Sun. at 6 AM (nice 'cuz no one's there to laugh at me!!). It went a lot better. Based on some of the stuff I read on that website Ewker noted, I alternated freestyle and breaststroke. I also slowed my freestyle stroke WAY down so I wasn't trying to set any speed records, just trying to complete each length. I didn't have any trouble at all swimming a length of the pool (25 yds) several times without stopping, and each day even did 2 lengths without stopping 1 time each. So now I'm thinking, with taking it real slow and alternating the different strokes, that I will be able to complete 400 yards so I can do the "practice" tri on 8/20.”

“congrats Bowlderman. I went with a friend to a triathlon Sat. It was interesting to watch the beginners swim the laps. My friend was in the early group as they go by times as to when you start. I saw people doing the breast stroke, back stroke, some walking once they hit the shallow water.”

“http://www.trinewbies.com/run_pace_chart.asp

http://www.trinewbies.com/cycling_pace_chart.asp

http://www.trinewbies.com/swim_pace_chart.asp


http://www.trinewbies.com/run_treadmill_chart.asp”

“Ewker - are those theoretical "goals" for newbies?”

“The pace times just show you how long it will take you to do so many miles,meters etc.
The run pace times goes from 4:30 a mile all the way up to 10:00 per mile.

It can give you goals to work towards.

I know my running time sucks now compared to a yr ago.”

“Decided to cancel out on the practice tri this Saturday, so I'll wait to "tri" one of these until next year. Just don't think I'm ready to do the swim. At least I didn't pay for it already! I just need to get started earlier next year....”

“I hear ya - I havn't even been to the pool in a few weeks, but even when I was going, any progress i was making was very nominal.

I need a coach of some sort to make any real improvement in swimming.”

“Ahh... Come on guys. As the Nike ad says "Just Do It". I'm fat, old and out of shape but I'll do my 2nd complete race this weekend. Don't worry about times. Just go out & have fun.”

“Not worried about times; worried about drowning!”

“I have never done a tri. I mostly run. That said, I swim for 2 hour sessions on a regular basis at the gym and love it. It was like any sport, there was some initial conditioning but once that was over swimming is pretty close to flying. You get a feel for what it feels like to be streamlined and efficent. Once you get to that point, and I think it just comes naturally with practice, there is no struggle. You just float and push yourself around. I mostly front crawl and I am not fast, but faster than many at the pool so I am betting I am an average to below average swimmer. The part of the tri I could not do is the bike part. My azz gets numb in the saddle. Last time I road any distance (like 30 miles) my johnson was numb for two weeks. I ain't up for that.”

“you could probably experiment with different seat styles or use a gel pack and overcome the numbness issue.”

“It's also possible your seat is not set at quite the right angle.”

“yeah, make sure the narrow pointy part is aimed forward, not straight up!”

“I hate it when that happens!”

“I can't ride anymore either. I had a bad case of epididimytis last summer and it's still lurking there, waiting to return. Riding a bike seriously aggravates it.

Question: With a million different saddles out there, how do you pick one?”

“Beats me. I had the same problem with women and I was never convinced I solved that ...
last edited: 8/17/05 7:29:02 PM”

“Question: With a million different saddles out there, how do you pick one?”
le Subtil
11:01:50 AM
8/17/05

I look at a few things...

Thickness and density of foam.
Size of the cutaway portion (bigger is better)
Saddle shape )I prefer narrow
Cost. The seat I have now was like $30 and meets all the criteria and being a racing seat it even has Titanium rails.”

“Whew! Good thing I decided to not do the triathlon on Saturday. A friend of mine and a friend of hers went swimming at the same lake on Wednesday and both ended up covered by "swimmer's itch"!! It's caused by some kind of bug in the water that bites you. Poor thing - she has something like 300 bites!”

“I ain't ever heard of that ...

Swimmer's Itch


The technical name for swimmer's itch is cercarial dermatitis. In developing countries, swimmer's itch translates into "rice paddy itch", "clam diggers itch", "sawah" to the rice farmers in Malaysia, "kubure" or "kobanyo" to the Japanese rice farmers or "hoi con" to Thai rice farmers. In these same places, all swimmers are usually exposed to the risk of cercarial dermatitis as well. On costal New Jersey, it is called "Duckworms".

What is swimmer's itch?

Swimmer's itch is a patchy red pinpoint skin rash associated with itching on the parts of the body that have been in the water. Swimmer's itch is usually not severe. After the initial transient itching it will disappear without treatment. The itching occurs within 48 hours and may last up to 7 days. Rarely, it can be severe if a large proportion of the body is affected. The major, although not the only, cause of swimmer's itch are trematode parasites of aquatic/migrating birds. The life cycles of these parasites involve snails as the first host and aquatic birds or some mammals as the final host.

The larval parasite called a "cercaria" is released by aquatic or amphibious (moves both on land and water) snails and causes dermatitis when it mistakenly penetrates a person's skin rather than it rightful host, usually a duck. Swimmer's itch occurs in both freshwater and in the marine coastal environments.

Ewwwwww ...

Hope they feel well soon.
last edited: 8/22/05 1:57:29 PM”

“had that happen once in FL, we didn't stay in the water very long!”

“Wow! I guess we've been lucky. I've never even heard of that & we always swim in the lake here from May until Oct. We raced in a sprint tri yesterday. One of my buddies won the clydesdale 39-under & my other buddy finished 3rd. Me? I just finished.”

“http://www.littlemiamitriathlon.com/html/triathlon.html

I'm thinking about entering this race this year. In the past, it's always been a team thing, but it looks like there's a single person kayak division this year. I'm going to start looking into training, but I have some questions right off the bat for any of you experienced racers.

How does training typically progress for a multisport event? ie, for how long do i train for each part separately before working in sessions that incorporate transitions? Also, the race is 18 miles bike, 5.5 miles run, and a 6 mile paddle. What percentage of these distances will I be working up to in my training? I think I recall that, in training, I wouldn't actually work at those mileages, right?”

“Cool ductape! I betcha there are some great tri training sites out there. Seems like in training you generally hit your distance about a week or two prior to your race and then back off a bit. At least that's how it is w/ half marathons and the like.”

“try this site out

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/default.asp”

“The Triathlets's Bible, Joel Friel

Triathlon Magazine probably has some good beginner info at this time of year.

I've got a great library of resources. But would have to check the bookshelves at home to give you exact titles, authors.

Are you doing the June or the October. I'd be interested in this race.”

“I don't think I'll be ready for the June race. I will shoot for the October date.

Right now, I'm still working on getting back into general shape. I've been lucky so far. My muscles are returning to their old(bigger) size and my stomach is returning to it's (smaller) size at the same time. School really was murder on my fitness, but my body seems to want to get back to where it was.

I've been interested in this race because there is a lack of swimming and I sink. Hopefully it will get me interested and give me the motivation to learn to swim properly.”

“I hate swimming.

Just a suggestion. June is 3 months away. Maybe use it to judge progress with the goal of just finishing. No pressure. It would probably be a great motivator for further goals during the October race.

Best of luck. Thanks for the link!”