Triathlon's

“I know dhutch, birchand a few others do adventure races but is anyone doing triathlons?

It seems they are becoming more popular and beginner friendly. Some of the beginner ones are 300 yards swimming, a 16.5 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run.

To me the hard part would be the swimming. Trying to find a place where you can do lap swimming. I can't even imagine trying to swim 300 yds in a lake or a pool.”

“I've sort of set a "loose goal" of doing one later this year or early next - one of the 'mini tris', as you described. The swimming is the killer part for me as well. But I've been going swimming about once a week at our local rec center and doing laps. 300 yds is a LONG way man!”

“I am with you Roam, I would like to do one but the swimming is the killer part.

I was at one this past weekend as a spectator. They did a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run.

I would have friggin died...lol”

“i woulda just drowned”

“I did see one person wearing a life jacket so you wouldn't drown. She got a few stares from some spectators.
Not from me I applauded her for doing it. That had to be hard but she did it and that is what counts.

BTW the oldest person to do that tri was a man 76 yrs old. He did it in 3 hrs 3 minutes.
last edited: 5/24/05 10:18:26 AM”

“I've been planning to do one too. I have a registration form for one this fall, but I don't think I'll be ready yet. I'm hoping to get in shape for one by next spring”

“I wanted to try one last summer, but an injury kept me away. They have several 1/2 ironman's and "olympic" length tri's nearby.

I'm not particularily worried about the swimming as I was a avid swimmer in school and still try to do a mile once a week.

I'm more worried about the cycling. My old body isn't tolerating the saddle well anymore.

The transitions sound like the major obstacles.”

“Ewker, where were you at? Parker & I were at Memphis this past weekend. He did the whole show but I only did the swim part for a team. The swim was 1.5k. Believe it or not but you could be swimming a mile in a couple of months. My swim time was 38:50. The pros & fast age groupers will swim that distance in 18-22 minutes.”

“Last weelend in August.

I am doing the swim leg on a three man team. I was never a competitive swimmer, but I love the water and have been a swimmer since age 7.

I have done the swim leg of the triathlon twice before (1989 and 1994) I have been training since November to lose weight and gain strength and just started swimming again two months ago.

The hardest part is that there are no lane lines in Lake Michigan so instead of swimming - - - - - - - , I usually swim / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ . LOL It takes a little longer that way.

Good luck guys”

“Arky, I was hanging out at quite a few places. Taking pics of Team in Training people from Nashville.

Dang wish I had known you were gonna be there.”

“I'm with you there AJ. I like to survey as much of the lake as possible. Isn't the one in Chicago like the largest one in the world?”

“Ewker, there sure were plenty of them to take photos of. They had like 4-5 charter buses there. We will do it next year as well. You can't beat free beer & bbq after a race.”

“Ewker - At 1 mile per hour I could beat that old man! (I have to keep my pulse under 130.)

AJ - I used to practice in the channel along the far breakwater outside the water filtration plant at the south end of Rainbow Beach, about 7800 south.”

“I would like to do a half ironman sometime in the next 6 months. There is a nice indoor pool at our rec/gym, so I shouldn't have a problem preparing for the swimming part. The running is not an issue, but I do need to get a bike and start working on cycling.”

“Nowslimmer, you saying you could have beat him in the swim or all of the tri? His swim time was 33 mintues.

Arky, I liked how the announcer said they needed to change the name to Team in Training Triathlon..lol”

“I have always wanted to do one too, but I cant swim for longer than 5 minutes without feeling like I am gonna drown! I know you have to build that up, but I have just never been a good swimmer. Bike and run wouldnt be any prob though.”

“We could set up some TT triathalon teams. We could train on our own and them come together for the race, wherever it is? That way us beginners could concentrate on one area instead of all three.”

“Ewker - Sorry, I misread your post and thought the time was his swim time. I'll have to practice at lot to be able to beat his time at that age.”

“IJ, that sounds awesome!”

“Here's a nice beginner one in Indiana. Hubcab would be close by. Not much time for training. Its at the end of July.

http://www.dinoseries.com/mtb/schedule/2005/triathlon.htm”

“That is a cool idea IJ - I could do the run leg of a mini (5k or 10k) now, don't have a bike thats appropriate, but will by end of summer - but I have no idea what my riding ability would be. I'm the weakest swimmer in the world right now.”

“nice site for the beginners looking for ways to train

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

“Chicago isthe biggest as far as I know About 5,000 racers

Arky I have surveyed the lake twice. Would settle for a straight line this time.

Nowslimmer: When I get into the lake to pracice I usually do it from the beach in Wilmette where I live. The last time I did the Chicago Tri, the swim was where you used to practice. We swam east along the wall that is just North of the Adler Planetarium, then south (and a bit east) around a big orange buoy that they placed for the race and finally northwest to Rainbow beach.”

“I did one sprint a while back. Did the bike ride on an MTB. Missed all of last season because of the AT hike (I know, poor me, right?). I plan on doing a few sprints/olympic distance, a half iron, and maybe, if stars are correctly aligned, an iron this year. We'll see. At least now I have a road bike.”

“Ewker thanks for posting that site. There are some good tips and info for a beginner there. It was nice to see im starting the right place with running and building core strength.”

“That race looks good to me, IJ.

I would be willing to do it as a relay or solo. I don't have a MTB or any other functional bike right now though.”

“I had 2 partial knee replacements two years ago. I got back into backpacking last summer. This next years goal is to get in good enough shape to do a sprint triathlon. If I have to walk the three miles because I can't run I'll do that. I just want to finish.”

“Never heard or partial knee replacement. What parts do they leave out?”

“Scratch my previous comment about not having a bike. See the biking thread - I picked one up last night. Not for off-road use though, so I'm still considering cyclocross bikes too.”

“partial refers to what they replace - as in only part of the joint. As bad as my knees were there are parts there now that weren't there before!”

“Hubcap, I don't think i'm in good enough shape to try this solo yet, but I'd be in for a relay team. I'm only riding a road bike right now, but I'm picking up a mountain bike in the next week or so. I used to mountain bike all the time. I'd be willing to do that section. I am not a strong swimmer, so maybe we could find one more person if you're really interested?”

“There is a kayak option too if we can't find a swimmer, but you have to register early as they only allow so many entries for that.”

“"if we can't find a swimmer"

I'd be interested...”

“I have the race on my schedule. I'm willing to do any of the legs. If I'm biking, that gives me an excuse to get the cyclocross bike. If I'm swimming, that will force me to hit the pool like I should be doing anyway. If I'm running....well, I'll run.”

“http://www.totalimmersion.net/

website on swimming. I haven't checked it out yet.”

“I'll be the cheerleader! :-)”

“Total Immersion is the way to go. I have the book but they say the videos are better. The fist swimming drills seem to help me better than anything. Signed up for the next race. 1000 yd swim & 19 mile bike. Someone else is doing the 4 mile run.”

“Arky, I can do the bike and work my way back up to a 4 mile run but the swimming is the part I dread. I have never swam the correct way and it doesn't look easy.”

“I love swimming! ;-)
Isn't it about 4 laps per 100 yards in a standard sized pool? So about 40 laps for 1000 yards or about 12 laps for 300 yards...? That's certainly doable (maybe not quickly, but definitely doable!)

When I haven't been swimming for a while, I start off slowly to build up my stamina. I usually start out with a combination of breast stroke and free style (alternating 2 laps each) It really helps to build endurance--although you're not as fast... Once I get back into swimming more regularly, then I start to more laps of the free-style and less "resting" breast stroke laps... Once I'm back "in shape" I try to do about 25-40 laps per swim session (not all at once, I break it into smaller sets.... One of these days, I'll see if I can do it continuously! :-)

I don't think I'll ever do a triathalon (would have to do a lot to get into shape for something like that!), but it would be interesting to watch! :-)”

“Ewker, when we decided to try one of these we went to the lake here to swim. There was a bouy about 100 yds. away & we decided to swim there & back. All 3 of us almost drowned before we got back to shore. Now I feel like I could swim 2-3 miles if I needed to. The key is to become comfortable & balanced in the water. Unfortunately the only way to do this is spend a lot of time in the water. If I can do it anyone can.”

“How Swimming Is Different From Running
Increasing your energy efficiency even modestly -- from, say, 3% to 4% -- can translate into a 33% improvement in your swimming.

Total Immersion
Terry Laughlin is the founder of Total Immersion Swimming and author of Triathlon Swimming Made Easy.

By Terry Laughlin


The path to swimming-improvement is not to make more energy available through training, it’s to waste less energy by improving your stroke. Increasing your energy efficiency even modestly -- from, say, 3% to 4% -- can translate into a 33% improvement in your swimming.

How many Beginner Triathletes have concluded that swimming requires some exotic or elusive kind of fitness after an experience like this: Joe, a long-time runner for whom a 5-miler is barely a warmup, decides to try a pool workout one day. Within a few minutes, he’s panting for breath and wondering: “How will I ever get in a decent workout if I can’t even make 100 yards without dying?” Experiences like that probably convince many adult athletes that swimming is only for those who swam millions of yards as kids, and wondering if the time and effort required to master will even be worth it.

But mastering the “art of ease” in swimming is decidedly worthwhile. Not only will a good stroke allow you to enjoy and thrive in triathlon, but it provides a fitness-building and restorative workout that can give new life to your legs. The good news is that I’ve yet to meet a runner who could not learn to swim well enough to gain these benefits. All they have to do is discard everything running has taught them, as soon as they enter the pool.

Anyone from occasional joggers to dedicated marathoners knows this fundamental truth: Increase your mileage or intensity and your running improves. But when they apply the same logic to swimming, most novices quickly achieve what one of my former students christened “terminal mediocrity” -- after a few months, no amount of effort produces any further progress.

Here’s why: The world records for the mile run and the 400-meter swim are virtually identical. If you were to run once around the track with Alan Webb, America’s best miler, he’d beat you easily, but -- even if you’re purely a recreational jogger – by running easily and efficiently, you could nearly match the number of strides he took to cover 400 meters. If, on the other hand, you tried to swim 100 meters with Klete Keller, who broke the American 400-meter-freestyle record in Athens, not only would he beat you easily but – assuming you could complete 100 meters -- the difference between his stroke count and yours would be staggering. Keller and other elite freestylers can easily swim 25-yards in 7 or 8 strokes (counting each hand entry as one stroke), while Beginner Triathles typically average 20 to 25 strokes for the same distance.

And that threefold difference in stroke efficiency is only half the story. A world-class runner is about 90% mechanically efficient, meaning that 90 of every 100 calories expended produce forward motion, while approximately 10 are lost to muscle heat, ground friction, wind resistance, etc.. Because water is 900 times thicker than air and highly unstable as a medium for applying power, a world-class swimmer is only 9% mechanically efficient -- which means the typical Beginner Triathlete probably has energy efficiency of about 3 percent. Thus, the path to swimming-improvement is not to make more energy available through training, it’s to waste less energy by improving your stroke. If you can increase your mechanical efficiency even modestly -- from, say, 3% to 4% -- that will translate into a 33% improvement in your swimming capacity. No workout program can produce those kinds of results, but I’ve routinely seen swimmers in Total Immersion workshops achieve that sort in a single weekend.

Running is a sport; swimming is an art.

What makes swimming different? Simply put, running is a natural activity, while swimming is a “natural struggle.” The world's best swimmers move through the water with grace, economy and flow, while novices are awkward, clumsy and inefficient. You needn’t lose any sleep if this describes you; my extensive teaching experience suggests that very few people have the innate ability to swim fluently. But I’ve also learned that the rest of us can learn to swim well if we take the time to master swimming as an art before tackling it as a sport. When you focus on swimming more and more yards, you just imprint what I call “struggling skills.” Instead focus on swimming short distances slowly without fighting the water or yourself, then patiently develop your ability to do that for progressively greater distances or at marginally faster speeds.
Here’s a quick plan for learning to move like water in the pool:

1. Swim slowly. Racing the clock -- or other swimmers -- will only cause you to thrash and splash. Swimming slowly is the best way to begin developing habits of efficiency and economy. And while swimming slowly, practice the following:

2. Count your strokes. Your best measure of efficiency is how many strokes you take getting across the pool. Set an initial target 10% lower than your norm. If you usually take 22 strokes per length (spl), make 20 your goal -- using ease, not strain, to make it. After any length that exceeds your target, rest longer -- try five or more deep, slow breaths as a recovery interval -- before starting again. Allow at least two to three hours of cumulative practice, over several 30-minute sessions, to adapt before reducing your spl further.

3. Look Down. Forget the old rule about looking forward; a high head position is bad for your neck and spine and creates extra drag. Look directly at the bottom and focus on a long “head-spine-line.” Ask a friend to check that no more than a sliver of the back of your head is visible above the surface.

4. Swim Silently. Noise and splash are the clearest evidence of wasted energy. Anything you do that results in a quieter stroke will also increase your efficiency, lower your spl, and reduce fatigue.

5. Swim less, drill more. If you find yourself unable to reduce your spl to a consistent 20 or fewer strokes per 25 yards, your stroke inefficiencies are so stubborn that every lap you do simply makes them more permanent better. The quickest way to build new “fishlike” movement patterns is to practice skill drills rather than conventional swimming. Try doing up to 80% of your laps in stroke drills for the next month or two and see how your stroke reacts.

Terry Laughlin is founder and head coach of Total Immersion Swimming and the author of Triathlon Swimming: Made Easy. The Total Immersion skill-building drill series is illustrated on the video Freestyle: Made Easy. Information: www.totalimmersion.net or 800-609-SWIM.”

“Ewk --

Interestin math. Thanks for sharing”

“That's great information. There's a sprint triathlon in Huntsville August 20 I'm thinking about entering and swimming is the part I'm real iffy about. I figured I'd splash and thrash all summer and see how far I could get. This is a much better approach! Thanks.”

“thanks for that article, makes perfect sense when you think about it.”

“Still need a swimmer or kayaker for a beginner triathalon relay team. July 30 in Logensport, IN. Anybody interested?”

“I thought le S was offering to swim?

Did you end up getting a mountain bike?”

“le S looked at the date wrong....had a prior marathon in Mich scheduled.

Plan to pick up my bike later this week. Dang they are expensive $$$. Can't wait to get on the trail though. I'm going to find a good 10 mi trail and start clocking times.”

“Wish I could join ya...”

“Pretty cool IJ!

I have the kid's hike otherwise I'd be willing to do the kayak for ya. I can't change the date, unfortunately and don't want to miss it. Hope you find someone!”

“Sounds like a cool event-- too bad we'll be in Atlanta that weekend! It would be fun to watch...
How far does the swimmer have to swim?”