It's natural to want to do better. If you competed in your first triathlon with the goal of simply finishing, it is very likely you will improve next time with a bit more work. As you assess your situation and consider your goals going forward, the first consideration is the next race.

Are you planning another sprint triathlon with the goal of improving your times, or have you decided to move up to a longer race, perhaps Olympic distance? If it's the latter, there are a couple of considerations.

First, do you have enough time to train for the event? It would be unwise to try to go from a sprint distance to an Olympic-distance triathlon without at least a month to prepare, and that's just to finish. Forget about any time goals.

Second, do you realize what you are getting into? If you are a typical new triathlete, your sprint distance race probably took one to one and a half hours to complete, not counting transition times. It will take you at least double that to complete an Olympic-distance triathlon.

Numbers

Here is what you will be facing in the Olympic-distance triathlon: a swim of 1.5K, a 40K bicycle ride, and a 10K run. You will have to swim nearly a mile (.93), ride nearly 25 miles (24.85), and run 6.2 miles. Compare those numbers to your sprint distances, most likely one-quarter to one-half mile for the swim, a 10- to 15-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run.

It will pay you to be objective and realistic in assessing your prospects. It's great to have higher ambitions, but if you are not prepared for the next race it will not be fun, and the misery could be compounded by an injury.

If you were a nonswimmer going into your first triathlon, look back on how the swim went in your recent race. If it was tough, consider how much trouble you could get into by entering a swim that could be more than three times as long.

Forging Ahead

All this is meant to make you aware of the challenge in moving up in distance. Athletes with more experience and fitness probably will not be discouraged, nor should they be. Also, those with two or three months to prepare can feel confident they can try the next level without undue risk of blowing up or suffering injury.

If you came out of your recent triathlon feeling good and with all parts working well, and if you have the time to train for your new distance, refer to the intermediate training chart in Chapter 11. You are probably ready for the increase in the training load.

If you are graduating from a sprint distance to Olympic distance, add some time to the long rides and runs on the intermediate chart. Your long rides should be two to two and a half hours, and your long runs about one and a half hours.

Not so Fast

If you are so excited about your new sport that you have ambitions beyond the Olympic-distance triathlon, here's some advice: wait ‘til next year. See if you can get through a full triathlon season without injury or burnout before launching yourself into a race such as a Half Ironman, which will be very taxing and will require a lot more training than you have under your belt at this time or are likely to get in even a couple of months.

Here's a suggestion: enter and complete a half marathon (13.1 miles) and see how that feels. Now ask yourself if you would be ready to undertake a run of that distance after swimming more than a mile and riding for another 56 miles.

If you answer yes, think it over for a day and ask yourself again, with a reminder of how much more training will be required. If you still say yes, good luck — and be sure to pack lots of ibuprofen and muscle ointment for your trip.

Sense and Sensibility

If your goal in the near future is simply to improve your times in another short triathlon, you have an excellent chance to succeed. First, go to the website of the race you just completed and look at the results. Check your position in your age group in each of the sports. If you were about in the middle on two of them and, say, closer to the bottom in the third, it's clear where you should focus your attention in your next round of training.

If the results don't reveal anything significant, resume your training with a moderate increase in the intensity of your workouts. All steps in your first triathlon season should be small ones.