mecheng89 Posted November 29, 2020 Share So perhaps this has been mentioned on this thread multiple times before, but 121 pages is too much to sift through. What is the best tri to start with from for a complete tri rookie? From my research, it's either Trinity (literally up the road from me) or Bela Bela 5150. No swimming experience, plenty cycling experience and fitness, plenty running experience but running fitness is nowhere at this moment. And is it advisable to start with the super sprint, sprint or Olympic? Want to graduate to 70.3 one day, but certainly not soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vetplant Posted November 29, 2020 Share I did a couple of duathlons, to get used to the transition part of it. Shorter events are good to get the experience without enough training in the legs. My first Tri was Bela-Bela, which has a shallow lake for the swim, which calmed me down as I am not a strong swimmer. The bike course is hilly, so rather take the road bike. I think a TT bike would be tricky for a novice. The run itself was tough for me. It is flat, but I struggled due to the heat and I probably overcooked the bike section. Good one for a novice IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_ Posted November 29, 2020 Share Well first is to get in the pool. Don't worry about races. Open water swims would be great to eventually add on, but depending on where you choose your 70.3 (or whatever race) , the ocean is a different beast. So get comfortable being able to swim however far and then the rest is a on the day 'learning curve'. Granted swimming in a group can be crazy but I found no amount of pool/fresh water swimming prepared me for the salt especially, and waves. I've only done 2 sprints and I hated them. They are literally a flat out sprint, start to finish. And that's not my jam. My first tri was actually a 70.3. If you have the bike down, can get the run fitness back, and can just work on your swimming, then I say just go for the 70.3. Even though they can also be aggressively quick it's a very different race to the sprint. (to be honest this is why the full IM appealed to me - its not so frantic the whole time) Saying that though, if Trinity is across the road then it would be silly to not try them out. If for nothing else to test your kit and just have a go. But I still think you're safe picking the 70.3 as your main immediate goal. mecheng89 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaper Posted November 30, 2020 Share So perhaps this has been mentioned on this thread multiple times before, but 121 pages is too much to sift through. What is the best tri to start with from for a complete tri rookie? From my research, it's either Trinity (literally up the road from me) or Bela Bela 5150. No swimming experience, plenty cycling experience and fitness, plenty running experience but running fitness is nowhere at this moment. And is it advisable to start with the super sprint, sprint or Olympic? Want to graduate to 70.3 one day, but certainly not soon.As Chris mentioned, get to the pool and start to swim, get confident swimming and building distance so that you know you have confidence completing a race swim distance. it does not have to be done fast. As a progression to 70.3, do Trinity, it is a well organised event and would recommend their sprint distance event in January. Don't race it, just do it and finish, get use to transition and changing from each discipline. It is a fairly easy open water swim (if the wind not blowing) and if you start pool swimming now, you will be able to do the 750m swim no problem. Having completed, then will be the time to reflect, Trinity have another event in April when you can build for their standard distance, (1.5/40/10) After that you can probably consider the 70.3 in June in Durban or Bela Bela in August with either East London 70.3 in Jan 22 and Durbs in June 22, or go straight to 70.3 distance. Then PE in 2023 Vetplant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehosefat Posted November 30, 2020 Share So perhaps this has been mentioned on this thread multiple times before, but 121 pages is too much to sift through. What is the best tri to start with from for a complete tri rookie? From my research, it's either Trinity (literally up the road from me) or Bela Bela 5150. No swimming experience, plenty cycling experience and fitness, plenty running experience but running fitness is nowhere at this moment. And is it advisable to start with the super sprint, sprint or Olympic? Want to graduate to 70.3 one day, but certainly not soon. If swimming is your issue then Trinity or Redhub are pretty much the same. Both pretty chilled dam swims, both 1 lap for the sprint and 2 laps for the Olympic. The bike and run at Redhub are way harder though (hillier bike and "trail" run as opposed to both being super flat at Trinity). The next one is only on the 17th of Jan (Trinity) or 31st Jan (Redhub) and both usually allow entries up to a few days before so as other people have mentioned, hop in the pool as much as possible between now and then and see how the swimming fitness progresses before deciding between the Sprint or Olympic). As far as swimming in a bunch is concerned, you really don't have to. I was a super nervous swimmer (still not great because I had to take a few months off swimming after separating my shoulder in a MTB incident) and you can just start towards the back and take it easy/ stay wider around the buoys and avoid other swimmers. Obviously this approach is not going to win you the race but it's a good way to get into it and get more comfortable. I would also recommend hiring a wetsuit and hoping that the water is cool enough for it to be a wetsuit legal swim. Swimming in a wetsuit is way, WAY easier. Edited November 30, 2020 by Jehosefat mecheng89 and Vetplant 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieV Posted December 17, 2020 Share Just received an email .... Race2Stanford is moving from January to April 24th 2021. I needed to get my swimming back up to speed before I could commit though, but this should give me enough time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottCM Posted December 30, 2020 Share Hey guys, I'm sure by now you have either heard of or dealt with Terry from Xterra wetsuits. I remeber renting my first suit from him for Durbz70.3 back in 2017. I then biught a brand new one from him for PE140.6 and I've always had great service from him. Now imagine my surprise to find out that he has a full Tri online store... https://apexmultisport.co.za/Let's support the local boys who really do give service to us. silversonic and IceCreamMan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mecheng89 Posted December 30, 2020 Share Anyone ever heard of this? Do we have such things here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaws677 Posted December 31, 2020 Share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOu63-gvh4&ab_channel=GlobalTriathlonNetwork Anyone ever heard of this? Do we have such things here?https://fastestknowntime.com/route/braamfontein-spruit-south-africa Edited December 31, 2020 by Jaws677 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaper Posted January 6, 2021 Share IM East London 70.3 just been postponed to 5th September 2021 https://www.ironman.com/im703-south-africa?_ga=2.11610740.15015025.1578240042-1606872319.1559813198 IceCreamMan and ChrisF 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceCreamMan Posted January 6, 2021 Share Hey guys, I'm sure by now you have either heard of or dealt with Terry from Xterra wetsuits. I remeber renting my first suit from him for Durbz70.3 back in 2017. I then biught a brand new one from him for PE140.6 and I've always had great service from him. Now imagine my surprise to find out that he has a full Tri online store...https://apexmultisport.co.za/Let's support the local boys who really do give service to us. I still have my wetsuit from him, had it 6 years now more or less Still works. Brilliant to do business with. And on the beaches here its only saffas that recognise the brand and always strike up a conversation. Edited January 6, 2021 by IceCreamMan ScottCM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_ Posted January 7, 2021 Share The Iron Cowboy James Lawrence's next challenge... he's aiming to do 100 ironmans in 100 days, starting 1 March. IceCreamMan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottCM Posted January 7, 2021 Share Yeah saw this and all i can say is that he is beyond crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave303e Posted January 7, 2021 Share Anyone ever heard of this? Do we have such things here? many, grand traverse, if you like a spot of trespassing then the magallies traverse.Strava segment hunting is just the digital version of FKT's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave303e Posted January 7, 2021 Share The Iron Cowboy James Lawrence's next challenge... he's aiming to do 100 ironmans in 100 days, starting 1 March. After Eco Challenge he realized 50 ironmans wasn't nearly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaper Posted January 13, 2021 Share New Facebook page for all local multisport events - "Professional Event Organizers Group (PEOG)" https://www.facebook.com/proeventorganizers/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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