So anyway, I went to the gym today for the first time in a couple of weeks (hey, the weather’s been too nice to work out indoors), and I see that they’ll be sponsoring a mini-triathalon on June 6th. Here’s the breakdown:
1/2 mile swim
5K run (around a lake)
25-mile bike.
My current fitness status: I’m 6’4", around 260 Lbs. I have no doubt that I could complete any one of these stages by itself with no problem. I did a 40-mile bike ride last weekend. I ran 5K a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t done much swimming lately, but I’m not overly concerned about that, 1/2 mile isn’t TOO far.
My concern actually stems from the running portion. I can run a 5k without too much difficulty; however, after running that kind of distance I’m usually pretty fatigued. IIRC, the running portion is the 2nd leg of a triathalon, with the biking portion saved for last. If I had a couple of months to train, I could probably do it without much difficulty, but as it stands right now I’d only have a couple of weeks to prepare.
So, what does everyone think? Should I give it a shot? If so, any suggestions on how to prepare over the next few weeks?
That’s a weird order, triathlons are usually swim-bike-run, but those are standard(ish) distances for a sprint-distance tri.
Yeah, I’d recommend it, but I like doing tris. There are several training programs online, that usually start from scratch (or even below scratch) and work up to the distances in 6 weeks - because you’re already able to do the distances, you could probably find those and do the last 3 weeks. You’re going to need to practice going from running to biking (and transitioning your body & gear to go from swimming to running and then running to biking) also, you’re going to need to practice holding back enough on your run to be able to follow it up with a 25 mile bike ride.
I like sprint-distance tris and it’s a great feeling when you finish one. It doesn’t kill your whole day and you don’t have to buy any special equipment. Swimming is definitely the hardest for most people. For my first one, I thought that swimming 1.5 miles would be pretty easy, but actually it takes a lot of practice to get up to that level if you don’t swim regularly. I could run 10 miles and feel great but since I hadn’t swam much, I had trouble doing a 2 pool laps in a row without stopping. I’d see how well you feel doing that distance in a pool and then decide. Also, consider that swimming in the ocean or a bay is different than a pool because the water is dirty and there’s stuff living there.