I signed up for a sprint triathlon and immediately started to panic! Here is how I am training for my first sprint triathlon and how Wibki helps keeping me calm and organized.

Growing up, I was a fairly active person. I played multiple sports in middle school and high school, but I was never THAT good at any of them. My family was also active and I was strangely competitive with myself and with my older sister (who ALWAYS beat me). All of this somehow led to a strange and random, but strong, desire to do a sprint triathlon. I don’t remember exactly when or why I decided to do one, but I do clearly remember the conversations I had with several people who told me I wouldn’t be able to do it. I knew I could do it, but I also knew that I wasn’t a runner and never had been. I could do the required mile runs for sports, but hated every second of it… and that was years ago. Every time in the last few years that I attempted to start running with the end goal of doing a 5K, the final piece of a sprint triathlon, I could never get past a 3 minute interval. I had gained a lot of weight in college, my knees hurt, I couldn’t breathe, and again, I hated every second of it. All of the naysayers were right, it would never happen.

Never Say Never!

In November of 2012, I started looking into having Gastric Sleeve surgery. While my main and obvious concern was my weight and future health, I also could not help to think about all of the fitness challenges I could give myself to complete. I was determined to turn myself into a runner after surgery. Surgery was scheduled for May 2013, and as soon as I was cleared to run in June 2013, I started putting time in on the treadmill and was disheartened to see that I still couldn’t push past a 3 minute interval. Until I did. It was a slow and exhausting, but glorious mile, and I could finally see myself being able to hit my goals of running in a 5K. I joined a running class with 2 amazing coaches who led the group in the Couch 2 5K program. This program is readily available online, but it was helpful to have the group support. In September I ran my first 5K race, finishing about 2 minutes under my reach goal. I still hated every second of it, but it felt so good to finish that I knew I wouldn’t stop running, and frankly, I’m not entirely convinced that ANYONE actually enjoys running! Flash forward to today, I have run in 2 10Ks and love being able to say that I am “just going out for a run”.

At the end of April I finally got up the courage to sign up for the Boiling Springs Triathlon on August 9th. I chose this particular race because it is close to my hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and because the swimming part is in a pool instead of in open water or a river. There are a few triathlon distances, and this particular one is slightly longer than the typical sprint triathlon distance. Even though it is a bit longer than I had planned, swimming and biking have never been a huge challenge for me and the benefits outweighed the negative of a slightly longer race.

I immediately started to panic. Why did I make this a goal for myself? What was I thinking? Who’s idea was this? What?

Two more fun facts about me: I am a huge dork. I love researching and being organized and prepared. I love Excel spreadsheets and making charts for everything. I have also always been a little anxious about exercise, even now that I am “in shape”. Thankfully, there is so much information online about training for a sprint triathlon for beginners, and I am going to use my Wibki page to keep myself organized, and (hopefully) calm, through the process.

Pre-Preparation

The first step for anyone is to pick a triathlon date and distance. By signing up, you are committing money to a specific event and that should keep you motivated to follow through. I use TriFind.com to find races. They list all types of races by state and date and have links directly to the race and registration pages. I do not know where I will be in the world come August, but by “putting my money where my mouth is” and signing up, I at least have a secured spot in a race and a reason to train. If I need to, I can always search for a different race in a different city, but at least I’ll have been training.

So, where am I starting? I have been exercising regularly, doing both cardio and strength training, since surgery. I fell off the wagon a bit when I moved to Israel, but about a month ago, my friend approached me about doing the Insanity workout. Being competitive with myself and others, I immediately jumped on board. The Insanity workouts are a month of 5 rotating workouts designed to increase your stamina and strength, followed by a “recovery week” and another month of 4 different rotating workouts. I am loving it! I can feel myself getting into better shape every day and the instructor, Shaun T, isn’t hard on the eyes either. While the workouts are challenging, people of all fitness levels can do it. Also included in the 60 day workout is a “fit test” that you complete several times to see how you are improving every 2 weeks. The fit test is great for someone like me who is competitive with herself; I have done 2 fit tests so far and improved in each category. I can’t wait to see my results this week! Learn more about Insanity and buy the DVD workouts here. This isn’t an official part of my training, but it is playing a big part in me feeling like I am finally in shape enough to attempt a triathlon. I added a few more fitness sites, like Neila Rey (where I got my ab workouts), to my Wibki page that have fun, free workouts you can do if you’re bored with your typical gym workouts.

Physical Sprint Triathlon Training

As I mentioned before, there is a ton of information on the internet about training for a sprint triathlon. I found several free training calendars online that last 11-12 weeks. There is also information about strengthening a particular portion of the triathlon (i.e. building your swimming skills before you start training). Unfortunately, because of the timing of Insanity and when my triathlon is, I needed to find a shorter training plan. I chose an 8 week plan in Fitness Magazine that I will be following. If you are considering doing a sprint triathlon, from any fitness level, I encourage you to check out the websites on my Wibki page to find a plan that works best for you. I added pages with sprint training schedules, but many of the websites I’ve looked at have other training schedules and information on them.

Gear

Since this is my first triathlon, I am not overly concerned with buying expensive, proper gear. With that being said, I already own a racing swim suit, a swim cap, goggles. My bike is some type of hybrid rather than all comfort, so it is kind of built for speed (can you tell that I don’t actually know anything about bikes?). All I really know is that my sales person said it is more comfortable than a racing bike, but can handle the demands of a triathlon if my goal is to finish, not finish first. I also own a great pair of sneakers and workout clothing for running. My biggest concern about my current gear is that I am very particular about what bottoms I wear while running. My favorite thing to run in is a pair of drawstring spandex pants, but it isn’t logical to attempt to put them on during the race!

There are so many articles out there preaching the “essentials” needed for a triathlon, but Jennifer Colvin’s article on active.com is the one I am using. The one suggestion I was given was to buy tri shorts. I was told that swimming in these and a sports bra was a good idea because you can easily  throw on a shirt to transition onto the bike (they have padding) and the shorts will be dry by the time you start running. I am just in the beginning stages of researching tri shorts (I don’t start training until mid-June, so I have some time), but it looks like Amazon has a great selection of triathlon clothing and other gear.

Technical Sprint Triathlon Preparation

The technical aspect of my training is what I am most nervous about. again, as this is my first attempt at a sprint triathlon, it is not my goal to be flawless in order to shave seconds off my transition times. However, I also don’t want to look like an idiot who has no idea what is going on, and I want to be effective enough to get in and out of transition without lollygagging. With my current times for each part of the race, spending a too much time in transition will put me in last place. I may not necessarily need to buy expensive gear to make things go faster, but I do have some little concerns. How do I make sure I am dry enough to not be annoyed on the biking and running portions? How do I get my shoes on and tied without fumbling too much? How do I get onto my bike quickly without nearly falling over (a weird problem I tend to have…don’t ask)? Are there any tips for how to wear long hair to avoid helmet issues? Luckily, I found plenty of articles about training for a sprint triathlon and the transitions and posted them on my Wibki page with the other links. Two in particular, one by Jess at TwoTri.com and one by Linda Ellingsen on REI.com have been the best at calming me down a bit. Both articles provide tips for transitions and for the race day in general. I may not be able to find tips for all of my concerns, but some of them are really strange anyway.

Sorting through all of the information about training for a sprint triathlon can be just as daunting as the actual training. Hopefully, using my Wibki page will help give you a place to start. Along with the specific articles mentioned in this post, I included some general fitness and racing sites like active.com, beginnertriathlete.com and livestrong.com, which are great sites to explore. If anyone out there has trained for a triathlon and has any tips, I would love to hear them, so don’t hesitate to comment or to shoot me an email (rebecca@wibki.com). I am also always looking for fun new ways to challenge myself, so if you have done anything fun, exciting. and/or challenging in the fitness world, I’d love to hear about it.

Good luck if you are planning on doing any type of race or taking on a new fitness endeavor in the near future… I know I’ll need it!