Basic Triathlon questions from those who don't know

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totalbeginner Jan 2018 8:47pm, 16 Jan 2018 341 posts	0 totalbeginner Thanks ITG, that makes a lot of sense. If j get chance to swim before next Monday i will do. Amd are your feet and legs straight just paddling ? The first drills they said to start with crawl and breathe every 3 strokes, then to do a legnth breathing every 5th. I had to say i, can't do crawl full stop! If I can't master it quickly, would you reckon I would be ok to do all breaststroke? Are my times really bad for the swim??
HellsBells Jan 2018 8:51pm, 16 Jan 2018 23,396 posts	0 HellsBells Your swim time is quicker than mine and I do breast stroke
totalbeginner Jan 2018 9:13pm, 16 Jan 2018 342 posts	0 totalbeginner Had visions of me being the only one in the wave! It was a bit off putting as I was hyper aware people were coming past me, or wanting to. One lap I think I stopped part way down a legnth as I was aware that I was holding up their times. And will crawl be faster, or is that something that only gets fast when you are confident? Someone last night said crawl starts off being quite a bit slower then if youre confident with breast stroke but that seems counter intuitive if you are more streamlined? . Maybe I'm best sticking to breast stroke?
lammo Jan 2018 9:22pm, 16 Jan 2018 8,452 posts	0 lammo If you're doing an event you are unlikely to be the only one doing breast stroke. I think every time you go swimming you just need to keep practisung and it’ll come
Cyclops Jan 2018 9:47pm, 16 Jan 2018 3,321 posts	0 Cyclops Well done, tb. Your times are quicker than my first time trial! I found that, even after I had been learning crawl for a while, I still reverted to breaststroke when I was in any kind of event; I think it just felt safer - and my crawl was slower than breaststroke for quite a long time. It took about two years before I could just do crawl. You may (will) be a faster learner than me!
totalbeginner Jan 2018 9:58pm, 16 Jan 2018 343 posts	0 totalbeginner Cyclops, dunno about that! Feels good to be doing something different though.i have got totally in a rut with running and really conscious I'm not improving or really doing it enough to improve. Last couple of 10k I've ran I've almost been in tears at the 8/9 k point, as still feels really hard. I hope the swimming will give me something different to work on and maybe take the pressure of the running. Rather then get stressed because I am not able to train 5x a week at this point in my life. I need to work out a plan to maximise the time I do have
International Troublemaking Grouch Jan 2018 7:51am, 17 Jan 2018 5,027 posts	0 International Troublemaking Grouch See how your confidence is as you approach the event. There's no point forcing yourself to swim crawl if you are anxious about it. "Freestyle" also means you can chop and change - so start with breastroke till you settle your nerves, then do a couple of lengths of crawl and swap back. (However, this is only reasonable if you are roughly the same speed for both OR if there are not loads of people in your lane, or you will constantly be stuck behind someone or have someone stuck behind you). Yes, your keep your feet, legs and bum up. Your "kick" is only really for balance, not for propulsion (esp in a tri when you are "saving" your legs for the bike). You can try with a pool buoy to get the position right (it will also help you keep your head down). I suspect you are not flat on the water but at an angle, with the head too high and hence the bum and legs too low. As for training with limited time - 3 times is enough but maybe try to mix up - so cycle to or run to the pool and back; join a bike and a run together. That way, you make the most of your time (since so much is spend getting ready and then getting showered and dressed after).
g1ngerrevolution Jan 2018 12:11pm, 17 Jan 2018 2,810 posts	0 g1ngerrevolution There were people doing breast stroke at both the Vit and Holkham last year. Some of them were going as fast as I do when doing the crawl.
richmac Jan 2018 12:35pm, 17 Jan 2018 11,099 posts	0 richmac Your right TB about maximise the time you do have. You have to be realistic about what you can achieve with the time constraints and not stress about what you can't do. As long as you know you did the best with what was available to you on the day then overall position etc does not matter. don't put yourself through the ringer, it's supposed to be for fun right ? Right down when you have slots for training, then divide it up between run bike swim. Perhaps do one stamina session and one speed session alternatively of each. Whatever you want to do having laid out on screen or paper will help you make sense of it. Good luck.
totalbeginner Jan 2018 7:54pm, 17 Jan 2018 344 posts	0 totalbeginner Is 400m typical for time trial? Is that the time you give when entering events if asked for estimates?