Triathlon newbie - lots of questions

[Blakeatron]

Im not the fittest, however i used to do a lot of cycling (200+miles a week)

Recently lost nearly 2 stone via diet and starting running again, now upto 5km easy and slowly upping this.

Decided i needed a target so decided to go for a triathlon - probably the ulswater in 2021.

Im not bothered about the cycling aspect, i should have the run distance by then but my swimming has never been strong.
So i have asked a local open water swimmer to give me some lessons.

My main questions are what to wear? I have cycling gear, i have a wetsuit and i have running gear. But i dont really want to be stripping off during changeover.
Seen tri suits but they dont appear to be very wetsuity?

[Sarkmeister]

Unless you are swimming in very warm water (ie not the UK), you generally wear a tri-suit under a swimming wetsuit. You then strip the wetsuit off in transition and are ready to cycle. A few people just swim in the tri-suit, but they are the exception.

I'm not a fan of tri suits, so I wear some tri-shorts (ie the bottom half of a tri suit) and put a cycling top on in the first transition. This feels more comfortable for me and probably only adds 30 secs to my race.

[tweenster]

It's been a while since I did triathlon, but I raced everything from sprint to Ironman. I would recommend a trisuit under the wetsuit, then peel the wetsuit off and bike and run in the trisuit. You can wear tri shorts only under the wetsuit then add a cycle top in transition after taking the wetsuit off, but do you want to run in a cycle top? If you are/were a decent cyclist I would recommend nailing the bike and just surviving on the run. I found that whether I biked hard or biked easy my run times barely changed, but if I biked hard I could take minutes off my times.

I really enjoyed my years doing triathlon, although I was very light and old ladies wanted to feed me (10 stone 12lb and 8% body fat!); I would hardly recognise the old me now! Good luck, and enjoy!

[Randy Winkman]

I see the tri-suit question has been answered. I did most of my triathlon in the 1990s when a pair of Speedos and a cut-down vest was all a bloke needed for the bike/run.

My main clothing tip is to be very, very careful about running without socks. You might not feel like a pro as you sit down and pull socks on before your run but you wont feel great if your feel blister and start bleeding after a mile either.

But my main triathlon tip is to learn to swim properly. Lots of people will say it's not a big deal because the swim is only X% of the race but being a confident swimmer turns a race into something that has two only physical challenges and one technical/mental one that makes a good warm up. In an open water race it will give you more confidence to be where you want to be on the start line and not get involved in rough stuff. It's nice to be on the start line and listen to all of the nervous chatter whilst feeling confident.

[Janluke]

IIRC wetsuits are mandatory if the water temp is below 14 degrees which, in the UK, means most open water events will be wetsuit swims.

Top tips from me would be

Learn to sight well in the water. You'd be surprised how many people end up swimming 20/30% more distance by swimming off course

Practice transition, you might feel a bit daft stripping off in your garden but shaving a minute off your transition time is easier than a minute off swim/cycle/run times

Practice running at the end of a cycle, it doesnt have to be far or every cycle but running off the bike can feel a bit odd

[bigandclever]

Looking at the Ullswater page, wetsuit is mandatory so there's that. Given it's a sprint, you might find most will wear a tri-suit (one piece or top and bottom) under their wetsuit because the thinner chamois you get in a tri-suit will be fine for 20k and won't really get in the way for the run. I would say there's no real reason to change kit. For me, the same would apply at Olympic distance too.

Having said that, for long distance my mantra is always 'comfort is king'. Who cares if you take some extra time changing properly into the most appropriate gear for the bike or the run, I'd much rather have a (dry) padded arse for the bike and my (dry) racing snake shorts for the run

[bakerstreet]

Blakeatron said:

Im not the fittest, however i used to do a lot of cycling (200+miles a week)

Recently lost nearly 2 stone via diet and starting running again, now upto 5km easy and slowly upping this.

Decided i needed a target so decided to go for a triathlon - probably the ulswater in 2021.

Im not bothered about the cycling aspect, i should have the run distance by then but my swimming has never been strong.
So i have asked a local open water swimmer to give me some lessons.

My main questions are what to wear? I have cycling gear, i have a wetsuit and i have running gear. But i dont really want to be stripping off during changeover.
Seen tri suits but they dont appear to be very wetsuity?

Whilst swimming in open water is relatively easy to get your head round, its the open water starts and swimming in large pack that can be the real challenge.

Wet suit or tri suit for the swim is dictated by the water temperature. British Triathlon have guidelines on when a wet suit is required. My Tri suit was about £40 and my separates were about £60 for both. You can easily spend £100 on shorts and the same on a top. Not sure I would know the difference tbh!

Swimming was my background and I completed a few open water races before my first Triathlon and that gave me a feel for what the starts were like. Kicked in the head, face legs, ribs and general fumbling to find space were the norm. The London Trathlon is at the extreme end with waves of over 200.

I still have quite a cheap swim wet suit (£110 - Orca S3). The cheaper wet suits tend to be thicker and help people who don't naturally float well. This may sound arrogant, but I could probably benefit from a faster/lighter/thinner wet suit, but beginners should go with something that aids floating!

Underneath the suit is an all in one tri suit or a two piece. I personally prefer a a two piece as I think they are more comfortable.

I have a few other gadgets that I think are worth while (Garmin Triathlon watch, race belt and baby powder)

I recent returned to Triathlon after a 8 year gap. Really enjoyed it and will be doing a few more in 2022.

Edited by bakerstreet on Monday 27th September 17:36

[RichB]

Randy Winkman said:

I see the tri-suit question has been answered. I did most of my triathlon in the 1990s when a pair of Speedos and a cut-down vest was all a bloke needed for the bike/run. My main clothing tip is to be very, very careful about running without socks...

Ditto so OP ignore my comment but I was about to say exactly the same. Speedos and I remember your number was scrawled on your leg with a big black marker pen! Regarding the blisters, I was running a lot of 1/2 marathons at the time so I started to do my training runs sock less which worked. Swim, onto the bike still in wet Speedos plus a running vest, then slip on running shoes for the run. I guess it's all changed now

[Randy Winkman]

RichB said:

Ditto so OP ignore my comment but I was about to say exactly the same. Speedos and I remember your number was scrawled on your leg with a big black marker pen! Regarding the blisters, I was running a lot of 1/2 marathons at the time so I started to do my training runs sock less which worked. Swim, onto the bike still in wet Speedos plus a running vest, then slip on running shoes for the run. I guess it's all changed now

Timing is much easier now isn't it? In the old days you used to have to make absolutely sure the officials could see your race number as you ran past and shout it out if there was any doubt.

With regard socks there was luck involved in how comfortable shoes were without them. You could try on a pair in shop and find them really comfy but have no idea what they would be like sans socks until you experienced it. The best shoes I ever had were Nike Air Anodyne around 1992.



Even without socks they felt like slippers. The annoying thing was that when I wore them out after a year (the normal life-span of running shoes for me at the time), Nike no longer made the same shoes. That's commercialism I guess. They always keep making new things to try to convince that newer is better.

[RichB]

Randy Winkman said:

The best shoes I ever had were Nike Air Anodyne around 1992.

I always wore Nike Air Pegasus also early 90s.