A few questions about Triathlon Clubs

cunnins4

I know a lot of people here are very new to triathlons, but hopefully some will have some input on this. The last couple of spins i've been joined by other cyclists and got chatting to them and they're all of the same opinion that joining a cycling club would be of huge benefit to my pace, so I was thinking of joining Dublin Wheelers. Then I got looking at Piranha's website and I have to admit it looks like a better bet as they cover all three aspects. But I have a few questions:

• Does anyone know of any clubs on the Northside of Dublin? (a lot of Piranha's training seems to go on in UCD which is too far away pour moi)
• They seem to do a lot of swim training and they have a beginner's level-how much of a beginner would this be?(I'm pretty bad, but I did "improvers" lessons a while ago in Markievicz and the other "improvers" made me look like Ian Thorpe!)
• Would I be better off joining both the Tri club and the Cycling club?
• Does membership run January-January, or is it a year from when you join?

I think that's the lot, if anyone else has ANYTHING to say about Tri Clubs please speak your mind.

I'm a member of the college club, but it's still in its infancy with very few members and I think a bigger more experienced club would benefit a noob like me a bit more.

Thanks in advance,

Stepen

locteau

Hi Stephen

The TI membership is from jan to january.

regarding joining a club look at www.triathlonireland.com they have a list of clubs in dublin.

It is beneficial to join a cycling, running club to improve in triathlon, the only concern is that it is time consuming.

Regarding swimming, most of the Triathletes neglect the swimming technics, and the other problem is that swim technique and training are different from a pool swimmer or a open water swimmer. I do admit that basics drills and stroke is similar but there is a stage where it does change.

there is some good coaches in dublin who have Triathlon coach certificate BTA Level 2 or even NCTC level 1. Try to inquiry into the clubs

Sebastien Locteau

hunnymonster

welcome to boards Seb. For anyone who doesn't know him, Google him. He is probably the most experienced coach in Ireland. He is certainly the most qualified and personally, I hold him in higher regard than any other coach I've enountered, for any sport.


Take a look at the websites for each of the tri clubs. I'm a member of 3D. They have a mixture of some of the best triathletes in the country (Tim Dowling, Mark Risely, Brian Heffernan and co) and some of the worst;) I include myself in the latter group. They are very loosely based out of the phoenix park. But have a look at the other clubs and I'm sure you'll train well and make good firends in any of them.

The advantages of the tri club that immediately spring to mind are
- meeting like minded people
- training with people who are also training for multi sport events
- these are the people you will meet at races. As races are all over the country it's nice to know people.

The advantages of specific clubs for swimming, cycling and running are that they are specialised and the best at what they do.

My advice would be, if you are particularly weak at one discipline then consider joining a club for that sport but your main club should be the tri club.

Triathlon can take over your life if you let it. I did 30 hours training last week in preparation for a race in November. Add to that the extra time you need to sleep to recover from that intensity of training and it's almost equivalent to another full time job. Swimming (particularly open water swimming) is my achilles heel so I've joined a masters team and I swim with them as much as I can. I cycle on my own but I've heard some very strong cyclist recommending cycling clubs. Their reasoning is the good cyclists really make you work hard which helps you improve. Just make sure you always do some cycling on your own. Except for the elites at short distances, triathlon is a time trial not a peleton.



sorry about the ramble, I hope it gives you something to think about.

ceidefields

I'm a triathlon newbie as well so just wanted to tell you my experience so far - I haven't joined any formal clubs but via the web, I've found groups of people (some quite experienced) that I train with. So it's an informal network but serves the purpose of helping with training and providing a social network.

I do a large group bike ride (long) on Saturdays in addition to some shorter rides during the week. This has taught me a lot of very good road skills in addition to things like pace groups that improve speed. I'm a runner originally so I already had a group I meet regularly to do both long and short runs.

As for the swimming, I have joined a Masters Swim club which is invaluable for instruction and drills. If you're a weak swimmer I think that's well worth your while. You'll probably find other triathletes there too.

Bottom linen is my recommendation would be to go for a Triathlon club and a swimming class or club.