I decided to enter a triathlon not really thinking too much about the fact that I am not a good swimmer. My triathlon training regime was pretty relaxed until it got to about 6 weeks before the event where I decided it would be a good idea to actually get in the pool and see how far I can swim.
I say swim, but what I really mean is how far I could half doggy paddle half breaststroke AKA keep myself from drowning.
I am not a confident swimmer in the least even though I grew up across the road from the beach I only ever used to boogie board, not real swimming!
At school (when I was like 5 years old) I was one of the last ones to learn how to float and had to be bribed with an eskimo lolly, at high school I was the one who used to use it being ‘that time of the month’ as an excuse not to go swimming!
I began to wonder what the heck I had gotten myself in for and how on earth I was going to make it through the whole thing let alone just the swim portion! I tried to get in the pool a decent number of times to get more confident! I will do a Triathlon recap after the event to let you know how I got on.
Below is an outline of how many times I trained for each discipline and a breakdown of the costs of the triathlon.
Number of swims: 9
Number of Cycles: 3 (Intentional Training), 3 (Mountain Biking Expeditions)
Number of Runs: 1
Items Purchased:
Goggles for swimming $12.99 (The Warehouse)
Pool Entries $54.50 (4 Entries to the Olympic pools in Newmarket at $8 a session and 5 sessions at the Splash Centre in Wanganui at $4.50 each session).
Items Gifted:
A pair of Thorlo running socks (Christmas Pressy!)
Rash Top to swim in (Thanks to Sovereign)
Wetsuit (I was very lucky to be able to borrow a wetsuit from someone else for the day of the Triathlon!)
Entry to the Triathlon
Items I needed but already had:
Mountain Bike (I decided this was the only way I was going to do a Triathlon, I couldn’t justify buying or renting a road bike, and to be honest those tiny tires freak me out!).
Running Shoes
Biking Shorts (short thin ones and padded 3/4 length ones)
All in all I was a little bit (okay a lot), under prepared for the Kinloch Triathlon, however I knew that so long as I could make it through the swim I was mentally strong enough to make it through the cycle and run to finish off the triathlon.
If you are training for a triathlon I have written some tips for your first triathlon. In the meanwhile, I am likely not far off starting (6 minutes to start time!) my first Triathlon as this blog post goes live, fingers crossed I make it through the swim!
Have you ever done a triathlon or considered entering one?
This is so awesome! I can’t ever imagine actually doing a triathlon, I think the bike ride alone would freak me out as my balance is shit, but I admire you so much for doing this!!
I had to crack up at the part about you swimming, you sound like you’re about as good a swimmer as I am hahahaha – doggy paddling is the way to go, I swear. 😛 Body boarding and jumping around like a lunatic in the waves is what I refer to as swimming at the beach, and doggy paddling is reserved for the pools. Hahaha!
I’d actually love some advice on how to start running, I’ve heard of couch to 5k kinda things – what’re your thoughts on those??
lol I am the worst swimmer ever, seriously! I’m writing up my triathlon recap at the moment, you can laugh further when you read that 😉
C25k apps are pretty good from what I’ve seen, it tells you how far to run and when to walk and builds slowly each day until you can run a full 5k 🙂 it’s free so worth checking out!
I can’t wait to read it!! 😛 I still think it’s so awesome that you did a triathlon. If I can get my actual fitness levels up to that standard this year, I’d be so happy!
I think I will definitely check one out! I really want to give running a proper go (especially now that I got a couple of new sports bras)! oxoxo
Wow. I’m not very active so any idea of training for something amazes me. I’ve never been a strong swimmer and actually, until about 10 years ago, I was scared of the water. What changed it for me was snorkelling. I always hated to be out of my depth because I thought I’d drown if I got tired. But when I started to snorkel, I realised that the relaxed body floats and panicking is completely unnecessary.
Good luck with your training. If only you could take your boogie board with you in the triathlon!
Snorkeling is such a good way to get you in the water as it’s so pretty!!
I’m definitely not a triathlon girl, mostly because of the bike section. I am a pretty good swimmer and would happily walk the run, but when it comes to biking I’m just not keen! I might have to give one of the short tris a go one day though, just to prove I can do it – one of the 3-9-3 ones…
It’s totally worth the challenge. If you find a tri that doesn’t have too many hills for the biking portion it would be good too! 🙂 I’m thinking I should have started with a 3-9-3 to begin with, but hey nothing like jumping in the deep end!
This is really great Amanda – good on you for tackling something new. Completely understand the swimming/near drawing as am the same.
Hope you enjoyed the experience and crossing the finish line!
Thanks so much Kelly! It was the hardest exercise thing I’ve ever done but glad its over now!
Well done on training for a triathlon… such a great achievement!
I’m currenlty training for the Christchurch City2surf 14k.. before this year I hated running but have started really enjoying it! But I don’t think that biking or swimming would have the same effect.
Can’t wait for the triathlon recap post! 🙂
Thanks Hannah!
Good luck for the training for the City2surf, 14km is a good length I reckon. A challenge but you don’t have to rain for a crazy amount of time in training like you would for a half or full!
Hey Amanda, well done you! I used to do tons of triathlons when I was younger. If i was to do one today I think I would pass out from injury after 5 minutes!!
Thanks Elise 🙂 I’m sure you would surprise yourself if you were to do one today as well!
Wow!! I never really understood about the whole training for triathlons! I always wanted to do the Weetbix Kids Triathlon when I was younger but I never had time between Netball and Milo cricket! My brothers used to do it thought and loved it. Not really something I would consider doing now though! Would be okay for fun but I would need to get hella fitter to be able to even do the run!!
I know what you mean, I never really understood it either, and still don’t really. I can’t fathom why people would want to do a full length triathlon for that reason. But I guess it is to challenge yourself and proove that you can do it 🙂
OMG. Go you! A triathlon is miles away for me – getting started on a health/fitness regime is step one 🙂
Looks so worth it though so definitely on my list of things to do before i hit the big 3-0 (which is a few years away) 🙂
You could look at doing one of the shorter ones as a mini challenge!! There are 3-9-3 ones in most triathlons which is a 300m swim, 9km bike and 3km run, so manageable with a bit of training 🙂 Let me know if you need any help with your health/fitness regime 🙂