Have read a few threads over the years, and really fancy having a go in around 18 months time.

Couple of questions about kit etc (we all know the best way to prepare for something is to buy all the gear, right?)

Best book/plan? Have been told about Fink, and one called ‘can’t swim, can’t run, can’t ride’…I am looking for the best one to inspire me, and with a robust training plan

I need/want an HRM, and quite fancy the Polar V8000 . Maybe overkill, but I like that it’s an every day tracker as well as training tool. Link

I can’t swim properly, so going to take lessons. Is there a book/link/method Of learning should be looking at?

Anything else? Tri bars worth it?

A friend who has recently taken up tri got a lot from joining a local club and picking up tips from all of the people there. Might be worth looking if you have any local.

^^^

Join your local triathlon club.

Can’t help massively but one of my goals this year was to learn to swim free style. I’ve struggled all year until I found “Total Immersion” website. An hour reading on that site and watching a few videos I went from barely being able to swim 6 lengths at a time two weeks ago to doing 100 lengths at the weekend just past.

Have a look through some of Turboferret’s old posts, as he has done a few and written about them.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ironman-south-africa-race-report

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ironman-zurich-review

Yep, Black Country Triathletes up the road….can’t join until January though. At least I should be able to swim by the time they’ll have me!

Cheers – I’ll look up Total Immersion, and thanks Jamie…bookmarked for some night time reading

Me too! (mid life crisis)

Seriously thinking of Ironman wales 2015

Mung-chicks thread/write up has inspired me 🙂

and thanks Jamie…bookmarked for some night time reading

You might want to miss out his toenail thread, tho 😀

Swim smooth and TI seem to be the ones recommended. I got more out of Swim Smooth.

Another swim smooth fan here. I found the book worth paying for. I’m nowhere near doing a triathlon though, it just improved my swimming loads.

Get the watch … it looks sweet … got the garmin equivalent, it’s my most used bit of kit.

Get swimming lessons…. a had one or two with a TI coach then 18 months later went with SS … both are good, but I prefer SS now

Not only join a Tri club, join a run club too… run clubs are great!! Cheap as chips and if you go out with them twice a week, you’ll DEFO improve

Make sure you’ve got the support of those closest to you… this may not apply… but finding 12 hours training time around family life is demanding*, not only on you.

* I’ve only got up to 1/2 iron distance (HIM) and trying to fit in 6 hours is hard enough.

Good luck… let us know how you are getting on… and go out for a run tonight !!

It looks like torture.. Go and watch the last 5 miles of the marathon.

I have done a couple of ironman races, only got a few bits of advice

1) lots of intermediate goals/races, you will burn out if you go for 18months towards one race
2) your goal is to finish, anything else is a bonus! Really honestly and truly, 16hrs 59mins still counts
3) if it’s your first marathon consider a run/walk strategy. The marathon can be carnage and is all about how much you slow down compared to everyone else!

Have fun

Cheers all, good advice.

I have been kickboxing training tonight for a couple of hours…commute (18 miles round) and run at lunchtime tomorrow (8 miles)…

I have Brum half in a couple of weeks, and I have just entered the Wales trail half at coed y brenin in January…will build the running up.

I am in the lakes for half term with use of a 13m pool for a week, so will focus on technique up there.

Feel really excited. I take my 2nd Dan next year, so plenty of shorter term goals 😀

I’d recommend Swim Smooth over TI. Tried TI, but found it to be too much waffle about feelings and mindset. Swim Smooth just made more sense. The Fink books are great, I’ve got the half and full iron books and would recommend them. Can’t Swim, Can’t Bike, Can’t Run is a great book, and worth a read for the inspiration, but it’s not a training plan.

I’ve only done one so my experience is limited but here are my thoughts. I used Fink, it worked for me. Don’t train for 18 months. Count back from 30 weeks, just play at it between now and then.

I wasn’t much of a swimmer, I found coaching helped with this, books and videos didn’t help. As soon as I had any niggles, I saw a professional for help. Don’t try and train through it.

Trust your plan and stick to it but don’t worry if you miss a session or two. Trusting the plan meant that I got around without injury, or pain for that matter, not even a blister.

I did 3 tri’s last year, a half Ironman, a 3hr off road one then a full Ironman (11:45)

I’d done 3 marathons before, which helped a lot – I would definitely do 1+ if you are planning a 18 month build up. It was the hardest bit of the event due to the impact and weight-bearing.

My swimming is crap (1:40 odd for the Iman) but good enough. Practice enough to get used to open water, esp if it’s in the sea. I’ve enough miles in my legs to know I’d get round OK, and I did. I turned my seatpost round, which helped get aero.

Food is important, I am fairly tolerant and got on OK.

I don’t think I’d do a branded Ironman, getting punched in the water by 4000 middle managers ain’t myu thing. I chose a lovely wee event in Belfast with 20 entrants (and 140 in the half). It was great.

I have done some Olympic and long course races. Im a poor swimmer but found Swim Smooth to be better than Total Immersion. I really liked the little animation for use with the book. Best advice is join a tri or swim club too.

You know where to come if you want to put some bike miles in 🙂

Done a fair few. My thoughts:
Swim smooth approach has now been adopted by British triathlon as it’s open water focused. Mrs has used them and had improved beyond recognition, bit get a 1-2-1 rather than learning bad habits that need to be unlearnt.
Look more into run-walk strategies. You won’t run it all so start getting into the right approach now.
Have a look through the http://www.tritalk.co.UK forums for training and race advice. It’s a wealth of info, support and encouragement.
Join the ‘pirate ship of fools’ on runnersworld. Co.UK for the most friendly and supportive group you will find at any race.

swimsmooth or total immersion for swimming tips. I went from 4 lengths of a 25m pool thrashing about at christmas time to finishing an open water 10km event in 2:40 a few weeks ago. all learnt from youtube and the above.
Cant help with running as I hate it. but your local tri club will help for sure, you’ll get some tips from them re kit too before you waste money on anything unnecessary.

getting punched in the water by 4000 middle managers ain’t myu thing.

Yeah, if you’re not a strong swimmer then practise swimming in groups. When I did IMUK this year I hung back for a few seconds to let the swim get under way, trouble was the hundreds of people still getting in the water after the start hooter had gone off.

You won’t regret doing it, just be prepared for the training most days, dragging yourself of the nice warm sofa to go swimming in the depths of winter isn’t easy….

I’m no runner but running it all is perfectly possible. I ran at about 10:20 per mile and walked the feed stations. Running friend told me that if I started walking then I wouldn’t be able to go back to running at that point.

i’m too being drawn into trying a tri, feel I achieved my long term goal of doing a 24hr solo now I want to expand my goals a bit, swimming is my nemesis at the moment, first open water session tmrw, praying a wetsuit will help enough! aiming at xterra & 70.3 in 2015, full IM 2016

Celtman triathlon

Another vote for joining a club. You will need swimming lessons, form mates who do Tri’s and Iron Men the swimming is the biggest challenge in terms of something new. Also an ironman swim is done in open water and at roughly an hour is a significant challenge you will not have faced before. My mate said at Ironman Wales recently the water was particularly rough and people had to stop due to sea sickness !

I’ve gone through my middle-aged triathlon phase. It’s all behind me now thank goodness.

I limited the kit bought to a Garmin watch (mainly for the swim metrics and ability to count lengths for me), tri bars, wetsuit and tri suit, but even so, that cost a fair bit.

I found a free training plan online somewhere and set each day up on an online calendar, so that I could access it from my phone. So, running from about 40 weeks out from the IM I was working towards, I had some structure to my training.

I had a very good running and cycling base, so the main issue for me was my swimming. I did some coaching sessions, then linked in to a weekly Swim Fit class at the local pool all through the winter, switching to a weekly OW swim session near to Wigan once Spring arrived. I was still crap, but didn’t waste too much energy.

In the end, I found it slightly underwhelming. Sleep deprivation doesn’t come into it and, particularly on the IM, you have fully stocked feed stations every few miles, so there is no excuse for dehydrating or running low on energy. The ‘vibe’ was what put me off though. I hated the Ironman guff. It’s not a life-changing event, you are just running around with a bunch of middle managers, accountants and lawyers for a few hours!

The events I enjoyed the most were the couple of training races I did in the Lakes around Derwent Water (Keswick Tri) and the half-IM around Ullswater. In fact, the only Tri I did after the IM was the Helvellyn Tri, which was great fun with a nice swim, decent ride, then a beast of a run up Helvellyn.

Well. I have made a start.

Lots of running, a bit of cycling…and I bought the watch.

It was all going so well, then I went swimming. I was knackered after half a length!

I managed to do about 12 in total, gasping for breath at the end of each one. My hrm put me in zone 3 for most of the swim, while I was being overtaken by oap’s gliding up and down.

I can’t join the tri club until January, but have got a free 28 day pass for the local David Lloyd gym in this months Mens Health, so gonna ask up there for lessons.

I thought I was fit 🙁

Swimming – learn to do it properly, but slow. Then speed up.

Running – overdoing it = injury

All of it – overdoing it = overtraining

Think the long game…

I thought I was fit

Swimming is 90% technique, 10% fitness. I’d regularly get beaten by a chubby woman smoker when doing breaststroke at my swim group, she was just a lot better at it than me. I’d win at crawl, though.

Swimming is technique, not fitness.

Edit: too slow!

I’d win at crawl, though.

Would ya though, I bet she’s just frightened of getting her hair wet. She’d maul you really 😉