Triathlon Testimonials

This is the part where you can help others. Send me your pics, before and during if you have them, and tell us how your training is going, what has helped you, your routine and anything else you care to elaborate on. I will post them on this page. Hope to hear from you.

ron@beginnertriathlete.com

I am overcome with emotion after completing my first Tri Sprint today. I had a great time at 1:33+. 1/3 mile swim, 11.5 mile bike, 3 mile run. I cried when I completed the swim and I sobbed as I crossed the finish line. Several times I had to hoop and hollar it was so much fun. By the way- I am a 5'3, 185 pounds and I DID IT!

Thank to BT for the wonderful training program, the great tips on the forums, awesome articles, etc.

Keep Tri'n everyone!

Hi mate,
Just wanted to drop you a note to say that I completed the aggressive couch to 5km program yesterday and it has been an enormous success. I am 29 and a type 1 diabetic. After I stopped playing competitive team sport my weight got up to about 88kg before I finally decided to do something. I found beginnertriathlete.com through Google and decided your programs looked achievable even for a person like me who hated jogging.

I missed only 2 sessions over the four months and with dietary changes as well, I am now fitter than I've ever been. My weight is 72kg, my resting heart rate is down to around 65 (from somewhere in the high 80s) and best of all I've halved the amount of insulin I need to take.

I really wanted to thank you for the inspiration your website gives and for giving average joes like me exercise programs that work. I am now looking forward to continuing jogging and starting on the bike next week. I still hate jogging but I love the results!

Thanks again, cheers.
Mike
Australia

This is a great website. I am participating in my first sprint this month. It is one week before my 44th birthday. I started running late last year and in February of this year I ran a ½ marathon. After my ½ marathon I was ready for my next challenge. So, needless to say, I am jazzed about my upcoming tri and know that I will not be satisfied until I have made it and completed an Ironman event. I have planned to participate in 4 (sprint) triathlons this year and will train for a ½ Ironman for next year. I know I will visit your website many times and take advantage of all its resources.

Ken

I've been doing your 1/2 ironman training for 4 weeks now and have seen a huge improvement. I was an army paratrooper for 4 years, ran my butt off and have bad knees and whenever I tried training I always ended up with shin splints and hurt knees. Well, my knees are doing alright because I am only running on treadmills right now, but the big improvement is in my swim and bike. I started your training and on the first swim day I had to do a 200 straight and couldnt do it. Today I did a 1500 straight with no problem and am looking forward to a 2000 next week. My bike has also gone from shaky to rock solid for me, doing about 20-25 miles an hour. I just wanted to say thanks for supplying all the programs. I would never have been able to come so far without the plans. I will one day do the ironman in hawaii, but thats a couple years down the road probably.

Thanks for all the help.

Matthew

I just wanted to let you know how glad I am I found beginnertriathlete.com.
After having a semi-regular walking routine for two years and still being
100lbs. overweight I began a thirty minute treadmill followed by weight
training workout 3-4 times a week. I have made this routine a priority for
the last two months (minus a couple of weeks with a really bad stomach
virus) and have lost ten pounds. Last week the flyers went up at the gym
for a very short sprint triathalon
geared toward beginners on May 1st. While that's a little too soon for me
to get into shape I set the goal to race in 2005.

I started with week 1 of month 2 on your conservative run program this
week. Your site is helping me learn about the sport and the gear that I
will need. It has also helped me see that I have set a reasonable goal and
that I can achieve it if I am willig to put forth the effort.

Thanks,

Scott

Hi Ron, I just wanted to thank you for your awesome web site. Last summer I did my first triathlon in Kelowna B.C. and immediately became hooked on this sport. I have enjoyed running for years but have never experienced such friendly people and support in my running races as I did at this triathlon. My fiancé is also into the sport and did his first olympic distance the day after my race. We have now started training again for our first race of the season in March. Your website has proven to be very useful for motivation, training tips and training logs. Thanks again. Tanaska

Last July, I was sitting by the neighborhood pool, and decided to get off my fat butt and swim. One lap totally winded me. Feeling ashamed, I challenged myself to run the Reston Triathlon in 2004. BTW, I am a 41-year-old woman, 5'5", 200#, who has never been an athlete. 5 years in the Navy made me hate running.

I found your Conservative Program and started walking. I got up to 30 minutes walking. In September 2003, I ran 2 minutes, walking 28. I thought I was gonna die. I persevered, though. Today, for the first time, I ran 30 minutes nonstop at a 11:30-12:00-minute pace. I feel great.

I've tweaked the program a bit and have tied it into Steve Jonas' recommended preparations for his Ordinary Mortals program. After the new year, I'll learn how to ride the 15-speed mountain bike that has been collecting dust in the corner. If I finish Reston next year, my gift to myself will be a new bike.

Thanks for the website and the program.

I'm a runner now.

Jamie

Reston, VA

Thanks man! The race went really well. I was pleased with my time: 1.27.02
There's another sprint coming up in December that I'll be training for again! I'm pretty excited!
Your website has been extremely helpful! Thanks for having it!

Steve

Hi Ron,
I just wanted to say that I love your website and I find it so helpful. It is packed with awesome information and it is coming from just the right angle for someone like me who is entirely new to the sport and knows absolutely nothing. There have been a couple of days where I am just not feeling keen to train at all, so I have read the website and within minutes I am bouncing into my sports gear and hitting the road, freshly motivated.
I am a 23 year old New Zealand girl, and planning to do my first triathlon early next year. I have conviced a friend to do it with me, so I have a training buddy and someone to share the experience with. We have chosen the sprint distance so that we won't kill ourselves and can hopefully have some fun on the day!
I am moderately fit and run about 12 miles a week normally, but the swimming is a real challenge and I have dug my brother's old mountain bike out from the basement, dusted off the cobwebs and am trying to fix it up and begin riding for the first time in about 10 years! I'm already having a blast and can hardly wait for my first triathlon! Thanks for your help and inspiration.

Regards,
Anwen.

HI RON:

A FEW WEEKS AGO I BELIEVE WE TALKED ABOUT RUNNING AFTER SWIMMING. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT I DID MY FIRST TRI THIS WEEKEND I WITH THE HELP OF THE BEGINNER WEB SITE MANAGE TO FINISH IN A DECENT TIME, WILL LET YOU KNOW THE OFFICIAL TIME IN ABOUT A WEEK OR SO. I HAD A LITTLE FALL AT THE END OF THE RUN BUT ASIDE FROM THAT EVERYTHING WENT FIND. THANKS FOR HAVING THE SITE AND WILL KEEP IN TOUCH.

SINCERLY:

FRANCISCO

Hello Ron, Just a note to tell you what a wonderful resource your website is for beginners. I am a veteran triathlete who is dedicated to bringing people into the sport. Your website is a terrific asset in doing that. I learned of your site from the links on cooltri.com. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the sport. Gary Livonia, Michigan

Hello Ron,

I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your website. I actually just found it today. I am 31 and have been working on a healthier lifestyle for the last year. Recently, I decided I would enjoy doing a triathlon, however I have found limited resources for information. My local library has books on running, books on biking, books on cycling, but not on triath. then when I began searching the web I found many sites requiring a fee to participate.

So thanks for all the useful tips and information. How often do you update your website? (I did notice your workout journal is updated regularly) - Tami

Dear Ron,

I just ran across your site while looking around at tri material online. My wife and I have signed up for our first two triathlons (committment!) and are looking forward to our training.

I am a very busy guy and literally have to schedule time to train. I am in the Navy and am a flight instructor in Northwest FL (Pensacola to be exact). We are signed up for the 4th Annual My First Tri on June 28 and the Santa Rosa Island Tri on Sept 27...two attainable goals I hope. It's great seeing incremental gains, I have been swimming and lifting for around a month now and can already start to see some results. My wife has been swimming for around 9 months. She began after knee surgery sidelined her running efforts, but is now back on track.

I don't know if you would be interested in any kind of "busy guy's training journal" but if so, I could get motivated to give you guys a weekly diary. If not the kind of thing you would want or use, then I'll shut up and color. In any case, your website is great, and we spent a good deal of time there tonight and plan on learning more as the months progress.

Sincerely

James

Hi,

I thought as you have helped me in my swimming, my weakest event, however getting better weekly, I would let you know how I am getting on and maybe help others to see that what you write may help them also.

Swimming has never been my strong point, I didn't learn until I was about 17/18. When I decided to enter a triathlon I thought the swimming would be my let down, but if could only get through it...

I started at with breaststroke, the only stroke I could do without getting laughed off the face of the planet (well thrown out of the pool for splashing everyone!). After a short warm up attempt half a dozen or so lengths (25m) with say 10second rest at each end. I would attempt this same routine 2 or 3 times a week before attempting the same technique but with two lengths (50m) between rests. Stepping up the overall distance by 2 lengths each week. In theory now I could swim the English Channel breaststroke.

However, it wasn't until I started reading Triathlon books/magazines/websites etc., that I realised that freestyle is most certainly the recommended stroke. I look like a bad extra on baywatch, arms flailing, legs flapping, water going everywhere, me going nowhere. But then I read your introduction to your swimming section and incorporated the idea of a ratio of breaststroke to freestyle lengths, in a similar way as you would speed/rest work with running. I have just returned from a lunch time swim where I have just completed my first 100m straight freestyle (I am currently doing 4freestyle to 2 breaststroke or as I call it 'reststroke). My first event (novice distance) is coming up in mid July I still have seven weeks to train, at this rate I should have no problem with 200m freestyle, who knows I may be first out of the water!

Thanks

Chris

Hello - my name is Becky! About 6 months ago I realized - hey, I want more energy, and want to feel better about myself. So, I began to eat better and workout. 6 months later, I am sick of running on the treadmill with no goal in mind. Thus, as of last week, I have made a commitment to myself to do a triathlon. There is a club at our college campus that is geared toward this, however, this is there last semester because it is not very organized and people are going there separate ways. I have recently stepped in to say - I will help with the organization - BUT, I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS SPORT besides the fact that I want a good ol' challenge. So - that is were things stand now. I wanted to write you and let you know that your web sight in giving me the encouragement to learn more, work hard and realize that I can do this. Even if I have little to NO direction to my training at this moment, motivating and informative web sights like yours is keeping me going. Thanks again! Keep it up!

thanx becky. you should set a date for your first tri, then giddy-up!!! all the learning about the sport you can handle. feel free to write about your experiences! we want to know. knowledge is power.

I would like to start by saying that your website is very informative. I am interested in Tri-training. I purchased a road bike in April 02 just to mix up my normal training which consists of running/walking and lifting weights. I have now got the bug to do a triathlon. I have been lifting weights for about 10 years and I competed at powerlifting for about 3 years. I got tired of lifting weights so much and that’s when I began to find other ways of staying fit.

Thank you, Brian

Thanks for the reply! I am going to start today after work on the new workout. I decided to do my running and swimming after I weight train. One question though,” How long should each cardio session last?” Should my goal be distance or time? I have been biking on Saturdays already and I usually ride around 21 miles. Also how do you keep from Burning muscle vs. fat when training in the tri exercises? I ran into this problem this past summer when I was biking at too high of a heart rate. I backed off of the intensity but I always seem to go over my target heart rate when biking or running. Just for your info. I live in South Carolina and the weather is pretty training friendly all but a couple of months per year. I go to a fitness center that has all the latest cardio equip so when time changes and daylight decreases I should be o.k. as for as indoor training.

I don’t mean to be a dope about this stuff but I am lost when it comes to getting the most out of training for an event like this and most books that I have bought just skim the surface or are geared for the pros.

Any experiences or advice that you think would be helpful for me would be greatly appreciated!!!

The best way to learn is from someone who has been there and you are the man at this.

Thanks again for your help!

Brian

Hi there,

I've just been on your internet page on triathlon and I really liked it. Your comments are great and encourage me to continue my training for my first triathlon. I have only started seriously thinking about this three months ago when I decided that my studies (I'm doing a PhD in economics) should not take up all of my time but that I should find a good balance between studying and having fun. Well anyway, keep up the good work and I hope you get lots more positive feedback.

Jacques 27, from Luxembourg

P.S.: although the background pictures on your site are great, I didn't find it easy to read the black text on a black-and-white background (I highlighted the text to read it) - maybe you should think about changing the colour of the text.

- Point taken Jacques, it is now easier to read (no more background pics). Thanx

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