Newbie in need of guidance

First, welcome! You'll find a lot of great info here so take your time and have a look around.

Second, it's hard to say about your schedule without knowing your background and your current levels. I'd say since you haven't done any tris yet, what's the rush? You don't have to go big right away. Maybe make it a year of sprints and olympics and then work towards a half iron next year if you feel your ready - but don't rush it!! That's my opinion anyways!

Edited by VanCityJ 2008-02-13 9:21 PM

Thanks for the advice. I only feel rushed because I'm not sure when the age window will start to close in on me????

I will take it slow

Age is actually in your favour due to the mental strength that you develop with maturity. I regularly compete against a bunch of guys in the sprint events and the latest Olympic tri that are well into their late forties and even early fifties that beat me by at least 30minutes.

Being a marathon runner, you will have a good fitness base, the swim may be a challenge that's why any triathlete would suggest you mastering the sprints before moving on to the olympic, HIM and IM events.

Good luck

Hennie from Sunny South Africa

I understand the age window and you want to get into Half ironman's and ironmans soon but I agree with the others that you should ease into the sport and see how your body responds to the different length races. Start with bricks during training so see how your body reacts to doing swimming/biking/running in close intervals. Your background in endurance running will definetly help greatly with getting to the longer distance races faster than the average person.

I am by no means an expert as 2008 is going to be my third season in the sport, but I set my long term goal at increasing my race distance one notch per year so my first year I did only sprints. The in the off season I trained for olympic distance and completed in a few of those. Right now in the off season before my third season I'm training for a half and then if I do okay at that distance my goal is to do a full ironman in '09. I'm not shooting to make Kona but I would like to say that I've crossed the ironman finishline under my own power.

The bottom line is do the distance that gives you the most satisfaction.

And don't forget to have FUN!!!!!!!

Don't worry about age! Look at some of the winners of Ironman World Championships - mid thirties!! What other physical sport is there where the best in the world are that age? You'll do better to learn more about tri's than to rush into them.

Go slow in the beginning

Not only fun but exciting, I haven’t even completed my first sprint but I look forward to the training the next day and how and when what. Just learning to try and put this all together is a challenge. I am concentrating on the swim at this point and am in the pool 3 days a week and running 3 times a week as well. Not back on the bike but intend to start that on Monday and on the other swim days. I have never been to the gym but will want to start some strength training two days a week.

Looking at some of the training plans I want to do more on the run and bike but I am still trying to meet the minimum on the swim. So that is why I was looking at the Olympic and other more demanding training plans. I was thinking on the lines of taking the swim training from a sprint plan and moving it into an Olympic or more difficult plan. I understand the rule of not increasing by more than 10% a week and a rest week on the 4th week in order to prevent injuries.

Yes I will keep it fun I find it addictive and my wife thinks that I need a 12 step program.

You all have been great thanks for the advice and encouragement.

How do I feel about 5ks vs. marathons?

The weekends have always been regularly scheduled work days for me and I don’t see that changing in the near future. Most organized runs are on Saturday or Sunday and I don’t get into bed until 3AM. So I stopped allot of the 5k and 10ks years ago. The marathon inspired me. I set a goal enjoyed the structure of the training. I took days off from work to attend the races. On the day of the race and afterwards was very rewarding. So I did another one. I also had done one about 11 years ago it didn’t go to well but I finished. I guess I feel that races can be difficult to attend for me so I just chose the marathon.

Hey I need to run (litterally) almost time for work.

Thanks again