Triathlons

I responded to a post by an old friend about triathlons a short while ago. It seems that having done extremely well on his first cut at a marathon made caused him to think about adding triathlons to his “bucket list.” I started reminiscing about my couple of years of competing in triathlons and figured I would put together some thoughts to share with anyone else out there thinking about doing one. I encourage it: it is extremely fun to train for and the event itself is a joy.

One thing that you have to keep in mind, though is to avoid the risk of over-training. I have heard it said that one should not increase their intensity or duration more than 10% per week. This was a good rule of thumb and it worked well for me. So what should you start at? Depends on your age and level of activity. Don’t be afraid to ease into it, and it is a truly subjective issue.

I had a short list of grievances about triathlons, though. Injury made me stop, and laziness and lack of opportunity perpetuated my hiatus. I am almost ready to get back into it, though. I should be ready to compete again after May of next year (when school is done.)

Grievances:
1. The swim is proportionately shorter than the bike and run. I am sure this is by design, as the swim (and training for it) are boring and a major limitation for non-swimmers hoping to compete in a triathlon. Most people are average swimmers, at best. I am a very good swimmer and an average runner, so the fact that average swimmers and good runners have an unfair advantage over me out the gate sucks. Period.

2. Someone perpetuated that you can “draft” or “slipstream” in the water. If there is any advantage, it is marginal at best. Yet, every race some asshat would be swimming on my feet, almost grabbing my feet to gain traction. At first, I tolerated it. After I while, I retaliated. This retaliation would include a light kick, followed by much more obvious and obnoxious kicks. Again, the swim isn’t long enough for me to really distance myself from everyone until the last couple hundred meters, which is only possible in a half-Ironman or longer.

3. Swimming in open water is a bit unsettling due to the sometimes mirky water and the lack of visibility. Throw in waves and a bunch of floundering novice swimmers that can’t swim in a straight line and the aforementioned “drafters” and you are in for a real treat. Basically, most people need to do more open water swimming so they can practice swimming with the current in a straight line. Here’s hoping.

4. The swim is the start, so everyone is floundering about at once, jumping over you, onto you, etc. I see all kinds of locomotion out there. A lot of leapfrog diving and whatnot. A lot of people are very combative. I actually like the start, but it is unnerving at first.

That’s about all I can think of for now. More to come.