Fit and no longer fat now to get FAST: Triathlon Terminology

I guess as I keep talking about half's and full's etc I had better explain triathlon lingo

Triathlon

Sport involving 3 legs, traditionally swim, cycle and run. They are done in this order as if you are tired in a swim you might drown, and tired on a bike you might fall off at speed, but if you get tired on a run it doesn't hurt as much is you fall. That's my theory anyway.

transition

what we call the bits between the swim / cycle and cycle / run. Involves silly things like running to your bike (which might be a long way - was about 800m in New Zealand!) Having special bike shoes so you can tie them to the bike and jump on then put your feet in and ride off. Not very good at this. I use a skoot and swing method, where I skoot with one leg for speed, then swing the other leg over. The other technique is a superman technique where you launch your body onto the bike. Looks great if you can do it and REALLY funny is you miss (everyone laughing except you). Same getting off the bike, shoes stay on and we are big fans of elastic laces (particularly fond of Etenex myself).

Enticer triathlon

Short event designed to try it out. Often only 200m swim, 5-10km ride and 2km run. Short and sharp and very achievable for many people. I wouldn't need to train for this. Often targeted as Women's or tri a tri events.

Sprint

You have to laugh at triathlon - we call 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run a sprint - takes me more than an hour - but hey it's all about perspective.

Classic or Olympic Triathlon

Often called Olympic before it was in the Olympics. It is a traditional length of 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run. Takes me just under 3 hours for one of these and at this point I probably need to do some training, Although a couple of rides, runs and swims a week is more than enough to finish and finish strong. Lots of great events like Noosa are this length. World championships in age groups is competitive for this and requires you to attend many events to gain points.

Half Ironman

This is the baby endurance event - 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and a full half ironman. Also called 70.3 events when badged by the international ironman organisation. There is a world championship that you have to qualify for but it is by "roll down". I will explain this later.

These take me about 5:30-6 hours depending on my fitness and the conditions. Best time is just over 5:32. This is what I am currently training for in Mandurah in November. The cut off to finish is 7:30.
Training often involves 10-14 hours per week (if you take it seriously)

Ironman

These are the real endurance events. 3.8km swim, 180km on the bike then a lazy 42.2 marathon to finish. Running the marathon becomes optional. You have 17 hours to finish the event. Pro male competitors do it in about 8 hours (just a day at the office). I am a half day girl. Best time was 11:57 but am usually somewhere between 12 -13 hours. It takes up to 20 hours of training a week and pretty much takes over your life!

Here is my collection on medals and a towel from 2008 Busselton half (my first half).

Roll Down

Each branded ironman and 70.3 event allows people to qualify for the world championships. Ironman is always in Hawaii at KONA. the half is going to be moving around but was in Las Vegas. So there are only so many spots up for grabs. Each age group gets one, then the biggest age groups get allocated more according to size. From here it is easy, First gets offered it first, then second then third and so on until they run out of people or spots. Any unused from one age group goes to the biggest age groups. There are a couple of rules but
1. you must be present at the roll down ceremony
2. you must accept and PAY for your spot at the time - no rain checks - no can I use it next year.

So IF everything goes to plan and I do really well at Mandurah I am planning to attend the roll down on the off change that others aren't that interesting in going to either
1. KONA (there are 20 spots to this) or
2. 70.3 Worlds (??? not sure where) - 40 spots up for grabs.