looking to remotivate myself with some challenges in 2012, the first being a local short distance tri at the beginning of april.
400m pool swim, 15.5m ride, 4mile run.
my swimming is slow (even though i surf), i don't run... but i can ride a bike!
whats the best way to build up to it, bearing in mind that my main reason to take part is for the challenge, so there is a bit of a reason to go excercise and mainly to help shift some weight.
i don't want to win, i don't want to be last.
I imagine you won't be last! There is LOADS of stuff on the internet about training for triathlons and sprint.
http://www.triradar.com have a training section with sprint programmes and different swimming programmes.
Can you swim crawl? Swimming may be slow but like most people you probably don't swim regularly (like you do bike) so it's just a matter of slowly slowly. Getting your breathing and body positioning is a must, once you have mastered that it will all become super easy. Again there is lots of stuff on the internet to help you along. Then once you can swim a reasonable distance start doing sprints to vary it and keep it a bit interesting. Triathlons are awesome I get such a buzz from doing them, I did lots of sprints this year as I couldn't run further than 5k due to a foot injury. Next year I've entered an Olympic so come January need to start thinking about the specifics of training! GOod luck though you'll love it!
Bike I have done on those is 20 k and run 5k so a bit shorter .I find the bike to run bit hardest.I used the gym and swam then went on the treadmill
Just do some swimming and running. Couch to 5k and the like are good for building up the running, for swimming just build yourself up to 400m then work on pace. Can be beneficial to get some coaching (or at least look at a book or DVD), most people have a couple of decades of bad habits that can improve their swimming a lot if fixed.
I did an Olympic last month having not been swimming for over a year. Ended up doing backstroke as I couldn't get my breathing with all the thrashing about (first tri). Was about halfway down the field after the swim so wasn't too slow either!
Join a local club, or find out when/where they train and tag along. most would be only too happy to help and encourage you. Be careful though, its very addictive! email in profile, can see if i can find a few old training schedules.. am one of our local club coaches.
i can swim 400m no probs, in a crawl, just not that fast at all. however i did do a sesh with a swim coach and he corrected my tecnique... just hav'nt practiced.
is it literally a case of a swim or two a week, same with run, and a some riding? build a base then add some sprints nearer the event?
Bricks.
1) Check you can swim the distance without drowning.... if you can then that will do. Time spent training will probably not gain you an awful lot as the swim is the shortest bit.
2) Concentrate on the bike as this is the longest section so you can make the biggest gains by training
3) Run is the second longest but many people start to flag at this point so some training will help your time.
4) You can waste plenty of time in the transitions so do what you can to shorten them (i.e. replace your trainer laces with elastic so you can just pull them on and go..... brilliant!)
5) If possible practice doing the ride then immediately start running. At first you'll feel like you've got someone elses legs on but it will get better.
Sprint tri's can be hard work as you 'should' be able to go flat out all the way!!
Gav when you say "slow" what time do you think you'll do 400m in? Mate of mine took 20minutes!
yup definately do some brick sessions although they don't have to be long, as short as 20 mins hard on bike followed by 10min running is fine. If you want some training programmes I could send you some? E-mail in profile if you want a hand.
Good programme to start running is
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/beginners/get-started-schedules/30.html
My hubby is doing the same as you, and even got me into running using this way of starting, I even enjoy it now.
Good advice on the swimming, I wouldn't bust a gut too much, I'll give an example. A few years ago I did a similar tri; 400m swim, 25K bike, 5K run. A guy I worked with came out of the pool in about 5 1/2 mins, the eventual winner came out 4 mins behind him 
Gav when you say "slow" what time do you think you'll do 400m in? Mate of mine took 20minutes!
think when i tried i was around 12-14mins.
thanks for all the advice. cataoncarbon i'll pop you a line, cheers.
really i'm just looking for a loose purpose to my exercising with a specific goal in mind... if that makes sense!
pool swim?
push off the ends, and glide.
practise running with tired (or at least 'not fresh') legs.
gaffa tape a traffic cone to the back of your helmet - cos it's aero innit.
it's inevitable that when you get into a race situation you'll go as hard as possible, esp on the bike if you're a cyclist. not much prepares you for that kind of effort, other than hard intervals and I'd suggest 'brick' interval sessions to get your legs used to the transition from riding to running.
you will get addicted and it will take over your life lol
check the link out following they have some good base training programs.
practise getting of the bike to go on the run its a sod and thats the thing that may catch you out.
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