Signed up for my first TRI...a wee one but it's a start!

I have been motivated by a lot of folks on this board to push myself and become what I hope to consider an "athlete" one day.  When I saw thi****S series I got uber excited on the OPEN distance. It's smaller than a sprint and for me, just the right length to see if this is something I would like to continue with. I only wish the biking section was longer. The thing I am most nervous about is hydrating during and the transition technique. Does anyone have some good advice and good reads to recomened to me?
I thought me doing the AIDS ride in 2013 would be a great goal but now I feel it is too far away and want to get going with some more challenging things before hand. My next 5k is next Sunday and I plan on beating the first time.
This surgery is frickin' awesome, it's just the catalyst I needed!

Here is the link. I am doing the Palm Spings one.  http://hitstriathlonseries.com/

I just signed up for that! Thanks for posting this. This open distance sounds perfect for an opportunity to try out triathalons!

I just hope I'm up for this!

I'm not a tri person, but we've got Ironman participants here!!


Are you talking about AIDS/Lifecycle? If so, you should do it in 2012, you've got plenty of time to train. I started training in Oct 2010 for the June 2011 ALC and I was OVER trained, it was so much fun!!!

I'm doing it again for 2012 cuz it's a blast- good luck on the Tri though, are you going to also do some century rides in PS. I know there are some good ones in November....

:Danni

Thanks for all the great support and advice everyone. I think once I get there is will be "easier" but right now just thinking about it has my pyched out. Ah well, time to suck it up. I can't imagine my first tri being an Ironman, now that is intimidating.

To Danni: I really want to do the Lifecycle in 2012 but I am my own worse enemy and feel I may be unprepared. Plus I need to save up for a decent road bike. I have a hardtail MTB right now that for the tri I am going to put smaller tires on and just go for it. The Lifecycle I want a better bike. Oh crap, am I just making excuses now? I need to think on it. Lol. Now you have me thinking about it a lot harder for 2012. Oy!

If you can get a road bike by January, and ride your mt. bike until then...you'll have plenty of time to train. 5 months is sufficient if you are committed. If you can average a 12-13mph for a century (100miles) ride, you can do ALC.

And if you train for longer and/or harder and avg. 17-19mph- you can ride with me!

Last October I hadn't been on a bike in 15yrs and I could only manage about 5miles, I just kept adding 5miles each wee****il I was doing back to back centuries and loving it!

Don't look at the long road ahead, just look at one small chunk of a goal at a time and just keep moving to the next goal.

You're way smaller than me, and so trucking up those hills is going to be much easier, You can soooo do this!

:Danni

If you are interested in doing long rides, check this organization out

www.rusa.org
They have listings of local clubs and schedules of rides
They would be good training to help you prep for the AIDS ride.

They specialize in long rides.  Most of the clubs that participate run a series of rides through the year that range from 200 Kilometers to 1200 Kilometers.

The big granddaddy of races Paris to Brest and back to Paris just happend.  It happens every 4 years.

Congrats!

Unfortunately I had to pull myself from the Tri I had signed up for and due to shoulder issue my swim is in the tank so I haven't even signed up for another one yet, but spent more time focusing on the run and getting stronger at that.

But while I was training for my Tri and I kind of follow the same plan now, my focus was to hydrate on the bike.  My plan was to have a bottle that I could drink from as I preped for the bike but do more of it on the bike.  This would have allowed me to spend les time in transition.

If this was a valid plan for a short distance I don't know one day I will find out.

Thanks for this link. I am doing a 10k that weekend but it is something I want to look into for next year. My swimming leaves alot to be desired so the open would be great to try.

Good Luck
Kim

 The HITS series looks like a lot of fun.  I think the whole point is really to introduce you to to the sport, so I wouldn't sweat too much, go out and have fun and learn - you won;t have to worry too much about hydrating since tis pretty short, but with a bottle on your bike  you'll be fine, I would stick with jus****er on something like this, and for transitions, I would just wear one outfit for the whole thing, so you only have to put on/change your shoes and throw your helmet on.

Of course as the distances get longer, you'll need to think some more, but the cool thing about that open distance is it gets you familar with how things work... my first tri was a half ironman - so it was a lot more intimidating :)  

You will be hooked I promise :)

There are some good transition videos on YouTube and BeginnerTriathlete.com

For hydration and nutrition, you might want to do a gel or something soft 15-30 min. before your swim to top yourself off, then drink on the bike, either water or a sports drink, and for the run you can drink at every aide station. Water should be fine for the run as it will be short.