It seemed like a good idea at the time...

..but I may be having some second thoughts. However the train is rolling and there's no stopping now.

I probably should rewind and start again. I'm in my early-mid 40s and mostly a distance runner.

Sometime in the summer of 2012, some of my running group got the idea of doing a bike and run as a different workout. So I dug my trusty mountain bike out of the shed and rode along with them and enjoyed myself immensely. This led me to buy my first road bike at the end of season sales, along with a couple of the folks from the group who were looking to upgrade. At the time, we decided to do some tris in two years. (With pie-in-the-sky notions of doing an Ironman someday).

One of the things we have heard about Ironman is that we'll likely need to plan 18months ahead, volunteer in the event we want and sign up for the following year. This is "The Plan".

Fast forward to 2013. Randomly browsing the web, I notice that registration has opened for that race. I also notice that there are still openings. I also notice that I signed up. I also notice that this isn't exactly "The Plan". I also notice that I haven't swam in 8 years.

Realizing I have a year to prepare, I sign up for my first tri... a 200m swim, 15k (?) bike, 3k run. This should set my baseline. My training for this is pretty intense:
Running - lots (I have a long race scheduled a week or two after)
Biking - 3 or 4 40km rides. Also, 2 bricks. I don't like bricks I decide
Swimming - This will be a nice surprise

Race day comes and off I go. I've prepared everything as well as I can, based on various beginner tips I see on the web.

The swim - it's open water. I make it about half way doing freestyle and start to panic a bit. I'm tired and it's taking to long. Breaststroke time. I don't drown. Success!
T1/bike - nothing major. My legs feel very weird running to the bike though. Biking goes well... I put everything into it, figuring it's only a 3k run
T2/run - I feel great until the 1k mark. I feel odd until 2k. I feel bad after that and end up rejecting the fluids I had taken in before. but I finish

Suffice to say, I didn't win my age group or anything.

Time to regroup. Another tri in 6 weeks. I get a couple of lessons/classes under my belt and a try it again. Things go much better this time. All the fluids stay where I put them. I also notice that if I gain just a few more pounds, I can be a clydesdale. I put this into my backup plan file.

After this, I realize what I've gotten myself into... and have been training hard since then. The first of my two 'tune-up' races is in under three weeks and I'm starting to go mildly stir crazy. Not enough outside miles on the bike is killing me. And I'm worried about burning myself out on the swim. So I'm looking around the boards, trying to look for other beginners/newbies like me, to either get tips or at least ease the pain.