Hey guys, I'm doing my first ever Sprint Distance Triathlon in 3 and a half weeks.

.33 mile swim
14 mile bike
3.1 mile run


I only run once a week and it's for atleast 3 miles (5k) at an ~8:30 pace
I bike to beach almost every day, it's normally 8 miles round trip, I occasionally do the tri 14 mile route and I finish that in about 50 minutes
I haven't swam for shit this year honestly, the ocean is still really effing cold here but I'm a strong swimmer

I'm a better swimmer than I am a runner, and I'm a much better biker then I am in the water or on my feet.


The tri is in about 25 days, what should I do in preparation for it? Should I run everyday? Do I need to swim a few times a week?

Any input or if you could tell me what you do or wish you did for your races

Thank you!

you're rarely ready for the first one, you might be close

lolno

Not too many plans out there for 3.5 weeks.
I'd just continue riding the waves of impulse; winging it so to speak.
So long as you bring some energy gel and water to your event you should be fine...

Also, pace yourself. Don't be that jabroni who hauls it out the gate and crashes after 5 minutes. You'll look like as small of a penis as what drove the overcompensation.

This post was edited by Darkblue on Jun 26 2018 09:19pm

the distances you're talking about are so short that you could probably finish it without much trouble through sheer will after not doing anything for a year

yes, you can finish..

i did an olympic on about 4 weeks notice after having not rode a bike since i was a child and never having swam in anything other than a backyard pool. was a frequent runner, so the endurance sort of mentality was there. the distances are really not a big deal until 70.3s, especially if you are more concerned with finishing than your time


people deliberating or saying no have no idea what they're talking about. they literally just see "triathlon" and think the necessarily denotes massive mileage. no, there are shorter triathlons and you can easily do this considering you already regularly bike the majority of what you'll be riding. swimming is difficult if you're not used to it but it sounds like you are and .33 isnt much. a 3 mile run isn't much either. i'd just make sure you have days where you do all three , even if the distances are not that far- to get a feel. something like

mon- swim bike run
tues- off
wed- swim bike run
thurs- off
fri- swim run
sat- bike/swim/run alternating weeks
sun-off

This post was edited by hoipolloi on Jun 27 2018 12:35am

Thank you!!!! This was very helpful. I know I can finish, the only thing that I've never practiced is the transition. I 100% need to swim laps in the ocean, run to my bike, ride 10 miles and then run 2. Just to get a feel for it.

My goal is to finish in under 2 hours, giving myself breathing room, I reckon I'll bike in 50-60 minutes, run the 5k in ~30 mins, and honestly don't have a clue how long .33 miles will take in the water, maybe 15-18 minutes? Call it an extra 5 minutes of transition, I think I'm good to make my goal!

good luck! let us know how it goes.

As long as you’re in decent shape you can do all of this easy

It sounds like you’re a good swimmer, but if I were doing this I’d just stick to my normal routine with some emphasis on practicing my swim technique

Thank you very much for everyones suggestions, the majority of my remaining workouts will be "brick" workout, 2 exercises, one after another with no rest

starting with this 5 mile bike, and .8 mile run



Mile 1: 4 min 12 seconds
Mile 2: 3 min 57 seconds
Mile 3: 3 min 59 seconds
Mile 4: 3 min 21 seconds
Mile 5: 3 min 23 seconds

.8 Mile run: 8 min 31 second pace


This is about the times I expected. I'm going to do a small workout like this everyday and track my progress leading up to the tri

yeah you will be close enough and you'll probably be excited on race day, with your adrenaline going -so doing a bit more than in training won't be a big deal