What do I do now?

Once you have pushed yourself to the limit and enjoyed it, you have to decide what to do next.  Do you continue to push yourself or is it time for a break?  Typically, I only work out for the first six months of the year, but this year, I have decided to continue to train.  I have had a set back for the last 2 weeks with some unscheduled travel, but I am ready to get back to it.  I need to put some miles on the new bike.  Some considerations for selecting the next race include: Race distance, proximity to home, and the race date.

Race distance is critical.  In a triathlon, you don't just look at the total distance, you have to look at the distance for each discipline.  You must train to make sure that you can cover the race distance.  If you are a weak swimmer, like me, you might want to focus on shorter swim distances or even races that are conducted in a pool.  My first triathlons were competed in a pool.  One of my nightmares has always been drowning behind the pack of swimmers and no one noticing me going under.  The Ironman distance is a huge time commitment and is for someone who has several hours a day, every day to train.  This distances are a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and it closes with a marathon distance run of 26.2 miles.  The officials give up to 17 hours to complete the entire race.  The next common distance is the Olympic distance race of a 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run.  These first two distances are standard.  There are also half Ironman races, you can do the math.  The sprint and super sprint distances vary.  Typical sprint triathlons have a 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile swim, a 9-14 mile bike and a 3-5 mile run.  You can select which race you want to perform based on your favorite or best discipline.  There are also races that are performed 'backwards' starting with the run, followed by the bike and lastly the swim.  Make sure you take a look at the race map, river and lake/pond swims are different than pool swims, which are different than open water ocean swims.  Make sure you are prepared for whichever swim your race is.  For ocean swims, I highly recommend attending a clinic if you aren't familiar with ocean swimming techniques.  You will also want to find out if it is an open swim or a wave start.

Where is the race going to occur?  I loved the Encinitas Triathlon because I could walk there.  I didn't need to get up a 5:00 am, I didn't need to stress about parking or traffic or hotel arrangements, and I was totally familiar with the race course.  I had done all three activities on the actual race course during my training.  I can assure you that this next race won't be as comfortable.  How far are you willing to travel to a race?  Do you want to combine it with a long weekend trip, or an actual vacation?

When do you want to do your next race?  The answer is different for everyone.  Some people bounce back right away, others need more time to recover.  There is a triathlon season and it is during the summer, so holidays and vacations may disrupt training and eliminate some races from the potential pool.  I did find a December race in Palm Springs, so maybe that's a possibility.  That's too far away for me to think about now.  It took me about 2 weeks to recover from the sprint triathlon, of course, if I was in better shape, that time would be reduced greatly.  Currently, I am looking at late July and August races.  My travel for work and family is up in the air right now, so we'll see.  I use these websites to look for races, trifind and beginner triathlete.

What else would you consider to help choose your next race?