Preparing For Your First Triathlon

Lately some people asked me how to prepare for their first triathlon. I am not an expert; but I thought I can share my own experience.

I participated in my first tri event in 2013. I signed up for Mini-tri in Cold Storage Singapore International Triathlon 2013. 200m Swim 10km Bike 2km Run.

 

As I had no prior open sea experience, I signed up for the Open Water Swim and Triathlon Practice Clinics by MetaSport. We were taught a little on open water comfort, exit and sighting, race pacing, pace and endurance skills. For Tri Practice Clinics, we did mini triathlon race repeats over short distances including transitions, coaching on multi discipline pacing and technique, including race preparation. These sessions were the best I could find to prepare me for the event. Of course, I googled and watched YouTube videos :)

 

If you are preparing for your first tri, these are some questions you will ask...

- What do I wear?

- What equipment do I need?

- How should I prepare for the race?

 

First of all, decide on the distances that you want to race in... Read more about How I Choose My Races in the earlier post.

 

Triathlon can be an expensive sports.... My advice would be not to invest heavily into this sports until you are ready to go further with it... For the first race, you can actually make do with a lot of "what you already have"...

 

What Do I Wear?

 

Wear something that can transit you from swim to cycle to run... My suggestion for ladies; wear your current swim wear. And if you have a cycling tights, you can wear it over your swim wear during the swim. After your swim, you can either cycling in your swim wear and tights or throw over your running tee and cycle. Make sure the running tee is dri-fit material so that it will not cling to your body.

 

 

A trisuit may not cheap... Do not jump into buying one if you are not going to wear it for a few races :)

 

As for the guys, you can just swim topless in your tights. Throw over a tee for bike and run... Simple :)

 

What Equipment Do I Need?

 

Swim:

- Goggles (Use existing goggles. Make sure it doesn't fog)

- Swimming Cap (You have to wear the one provided by the Organizer)

 

Bike

- Bike (If you are not ready to invest in a bike, you can always borrow from a friend or rent from a bike shop. Otherwise a budget friendly brand to consider would be Polygon or maybe Merida. Both give you a decent road bike without breaking your bank account too much. Visit Rodalink for Polygon and Hup Leong for Merida. Both are reliable bike shops. I have good experiences with both the shops. However, if you are ready to invest on something of a higher end, there are many options to suit every budget :))

- Helmet (This is a MUST. Again, the price ranges from below $50 to a few hundreds of dollars. You can also borrow or rent if you intend to borrow or rent a bike)

- Shoes (If you are not on cleats, then cycle in your running shoes. Otherwise use your current cycling shoes)

- Gloves (Optional. In fact it would be a waste of time to put them on during a race)

- Shades (Optional)

- Race belt (Optional. It's for displaying of your number bib during cycling and run. However, you can also pin the number bib directly unto your running tee. It's also not expensive if you decide to buy one)

 

Run

- Running Shoes (Use your current running shoes)

- Visor (Optional)

- Shades (Optional)

 

How Should I Prepare For The Race?

 

- Sign up for the clinics to prepare yourself. Especially the Open Water Swim and Transition Practice clinics.

 

Can I swim in other strokes; other than freestyle? Yes! Some breaststroke swimmers actually swim faster than the freestyle swimmers :) As there are no cut-off timings, work towards completing the course.

 

- Watch some useful YouTube videos on setting up your transition area. Search for "triathlon transition".

 

- Talk to someone that has done it before you.

 

- Go out and start moving :)

 

Have fun and Happy "tri"-ing! 

Shopping - The Fun Part of Working Out

Ever since I started working out on a more serious note, the number of sports wear in my wardrobe had been accumulating. These are my favourites...

For SWIMMING:
TYR Swim wear
- I bought them during the twice-a-year Warehouse Clearance Sale. Usually the one-piece swim suit would go for $25-35 each; almost 50% off. I have 2. I leave one in the office for my occasional lunch time swim. Look out for the sale announcement on newspaper...

TYR Goggles
- I have a few pair of goggles. I bought them at the sale too... Usually they would go for $15 each. I am still contemplating if I should get one from Aqua Sphere.

Swimming Caps
- As for now, I am using free swimming caps that were given in races. Need to start looking for something bigger that can cover my ears for open sea swim.

Zoggs Pull Buoy
- I use this for my freestyle training.

 

For CYCLING:
Cycling Jerseys & Padded tights
- When I am out for my usual rides, I will wear cycling jerseys and padded tights. I bought my first cycling jersey from a Rodalink sale. The rest are events jerseys given during races like OCBC Cycle.

- I have a few padded tights. 1 is free and the other 3 are from Riposte, which I bought from TYR Sale :)

Cycling Shoes
- I am wearing Bontrager RXL Tri shoes. Bought them from Treknology3.

Tri Suit
- For trainings, I like to wear Tri Suit. I can easily jump from the bike to the sea without having to change my attire. I have 2; one from Pearl Izumi and another from 2XU. Love them both :)

For RUNNING:
Sports Bra
- Everyone needs some motivation to move their feet. For me, I like to have matching sports bra and running tees.
- My favourite are Nike Pro Sports Bra. They come in so many colours! My first pair in black was a birthday present. Now I owned a few :) And after knowing my size, I can easily get them online from international websites like Amazon or local online store like Zalora that sells sportswear for women.

 

Running Tee
- I like those racerback Dri Fit tees from Nike or Adidas. Again, the colours must be well-coordinated :) And I like them in looser fit for comfort.

Running Shoes
- I have a pair of Nike Vomero+ for my usual runs. Whenever I travel, I will bring my New Balance W730, which is much lighter.

So much to buy.... cycling helmet, shades, running cap, shoe laces, arm bands, water bottles, and the list goes on... :)

TYR TRI-Factor Swim 2014

TRI-Factor Series was founded in 2009 that sets a progressive platform which aims to help sporting enthusiast to complete their first triathlon. It is a 4-leg series of sporting event that starts with a mass swimming event – TRI-Factor Swim, followed by a mass cycling event – TRI-Factor Bike and mass run – TRI-Factor Run, ending with a finale TRI-Factor Triathlon.

As I won the race slot from a Facebook contest held by SwimBikeRun magazine, I did not have the choice of which category to sign up for. Which was a blessing because it "pushed" me to try out the Sprint category. I had to swim 1.5km; equivalent to 30 laps in an Olympic-sized pool.

Of the 4 races, 1.5km swim was my greatest challenge.
1) Open water swim
2) To prepare myself for the swim, I've only tried swimming 30 laps in the pool three times
3) Worse of all, I was suffering from a neck muscle strain

1 week before the race, I was trying a new "toy"; the hand paddle. I read that it helps to improve stroke technique while building arm strength. Its unique shape improves water feel and distributes pressure evenly for reduced shoulder stress.

However, instead of reducing shoulder stress, I ended up pulling a muscle instead :( I visited my usual TCM for muscle relief massage. I was told to rest. I tried swimming a day before the race. I could still feel a slight strain; but I managed to swim 15 laps on breaststroke.

The race was held at Sentosa, Tanjong Beach. On normal non-race days, it was a favourite hangouts for dudes and volleyball gals with washboard abs... Last Sunday, Mother's Day, was my first time at the beach.

Met some friends at the race

 

I was the last few to come back from my wave... But I was a FINISHER :) Exclusive from this year’s series onwards, individual event medals will be awarded for finishers. The four individual series event medals form part of a big puzzle medal composition.

Last month, TRI-Factor announced that they were partnering with QUICKSPEED, their Official Cycling Jersey! Full Series Finishers (All 4 Events) will receive an Exclusive Series Finisher Cycling Jersey and an invitation to a Series Finisher only event after... the Series!

 

Kudos to TRI-Factor for seeking to better the events :)

 

1 down; 3 more to go.... Next up....40km bike in June :)

I.AM.A.TRIATHLETE.

I can swim.

I can cycle.

I can run.

Last September, my friend invited me to participate in the Cold Storage Singapore International Triathlon 2013.

I can swim.

I can cycle.

I can run.

I thought why not? Sounds fun. I signed up for the easiest category - Mini Open Women Category.

First of all, I had to overcome my fear of swimming in the open sea. Going for a cruise had never been my idea of a holiday. Blame it on the movie "Jaws". Blame it on "Titanic". But I never liked the idea of not being able to touch the floor or not knowing what is floating around my legs... 

On the day of my open water trial, the waves were cruel. I was the first gal in the pic. The waves kept coming into my face. The salt water I swallowed would have been enough to cure any throat infection. We had to swim towards the buoy and turned back after touching it. I felt like I was going to touch the ships...

When I received my number bib - "2013"; I knew that it was going to be a good race. On the day of the race, the sea was calm. Weather was good. I was feeling very high! I repeated the YouTube videos I've watched to prepare myself for the race, over and over again in my mind. Set up my transition the way I saw in the video.

No cleats. No race belt. No tri-suit. No competitors. My goal was to overcome my fear and to stretch my physical abilities.

I swam 200m.

I cycled 10km.

I ran 2km.

Who cares if it was only a mini category... And it didn't matter how slow or fast I was.

"I.AM.A.TRIATHLETE." and it was only the beginning :)

Since then, I have participated in...
- OCBC Cycle Malaysia 2014
- OCBC Cycle Singapore 2014
- Aquathlon (swim+run) by MetaSprint Series Singapore
- Duathlon (run+bike+run) by MetaSprint Series Singapore
- Triathlon (swim+bike+run) by MetaSprint Series Singapore

I am looking forward to my next series of races where I would be moving from mini category to sprint category. Watch this space for my race updates.