Entered an Xterra as my New Year's Resolution. Need help!

[Moonrocket]

So, some wild hair made me register for the Xterra at Lory State Park as a new year's resolution. I did one sprint triathlon before having a baby a few years ago. How do I start training- I have til August.

I'm not too worried about the swimming since I swam in college, it's the bike and run I need to get ready for! I'd love any tips.

 

[Robyn]

How much running and biking have you done of late?

And you might want to peruse www.beginnertriathlete.com. I know both itri and and I are members over there as well. Lots of good info there.

Good luck and have fun! It's a great journey.

 

[Moonrocket]

I have not been doing much biking or running, so I will have to ramp up! I figured I needed a goal. I did bike a lot last summer with a burley trailer, but not at the effort level I need. I do have a spinning bike in the basement I've been riding. I'm thinking of doing a bunch of cross country skiing to jump start the running part. I got out a bunch last week doing that.

I will definitely check out that web site!

I live in Longmont- so right down the road from you. Any interest in joining my quest?

 

[Robyn]

I'm so sorry I didn't see your response until now. Things have been crazy for me at work and I'm not around as much right now. Glad you found a mentor group and are enjoying BT. I'm going to stick with skiing and running this year but maybe one day.

 

[VickiK]

My own 'wild hair' is deciding that I want to do a century ride. So, I researched when and which centuries and found 2 that might be awesome.

One is in August, one's in November, both are a reasonable drive away from me, both benefit a good cause...

Next step was to understand how to prepare and I found this link below. It might be helpful to you, Moonrocket?

https://www.teamestrogen.com/content/asa_century

 

[abc]

I thought the Xterra is an off-road triathlon, no?

 

[Shannon D]

Yay! Congratulations on taking such an exciting leap into the unknown. My hubby did that race a couple years ago and loved it. His favorite of all the Colorado xterras.

Have you checked out the xterra planet website? I would guess that they can point you toward training plan resources specific to a sport distance race.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to preride the course. There are some pretty technical sections with hair pin turns that would be good to know in advance. I know that there are some group rides closer to race day but you can pretty easily ride most or all of the course on your own.

The run is a steady climb for the first mile. After that, it's a big down and then pretty tame. That first mile destroys people who aren't prepared for it. Keep that in mind for your brick sessions later on in your training.

Also, if the swim is still in Soldier Cove, the swim is a tight triangle out and back. The out portion is directly into the sun so you may want to try to recreate that condition in training. If you do any of the BAM early morning swims at Boulder Res, that should pretty well replicate the sun in eyes situation.

Happy training!

 

[Pequenita]

I'm a firm believer in mimicking event conditions when training. So, once you've got an aerobic base, take that onto the trails running and biking, and open water (if possible), rather than roads and pool.

 

[Chatagirl]

See if there are any tri clubs in your area. They are a great resource and if the race is local you will likely find people to train with.

I was pretty intimidated at first but I found a couple of clubs that are pretty low key and very welcoming to beginners and all levels of athletes. You can either join dedicated training groups for a specific event or do casual meetups for rides/swims/runs. For bricks and OWS it's great to have people to train with. I'm not much of a 'group' person and usually prefer to go it on my own but for tri training it was really helpful. Openwater is way different than the pool. If you swam before you are probably fine but some OWS practice is really helpful. For me that was the most valuable part of the club/group I joined. Weekly swims in the bay along with a pre race site swim (around the Santa Cruz pier). Oh, and having someone to watch bikes/equipment during bricks.

Beginnertriathlete.com forums are pretty good. Especially the state forums if you are looking for input on a specific race.

Good luck! I'm trying to get back in shape to do the Donner Lake tri in July.