Fatman to Ironman

Splat a few of the folks on the thread me included signed up for a ironamn before we had done any sort of tri stuff. It can be done, I lot of us had done marathons and stuff before through so wasn't as hard as you might find it but if you believe you can do it you will trust me.

Go SgtLard! That's incredible.

I'm almost convinced Cake...but still not quite. The last time I cycled 100 miles was when I was 21. I went from Nottingham to Liverpool over the peaks on a 3/4 size BMX with a tent. I did it in 4 days. 40mi day 1, 40mi day 2, a day off and then 20mi on day 4. My commute is 10 miles each way. It takes me an hour to cycle - for some reason I go twice as fast on the bike at the gym. Most recently I cycled 30mi in a day taking 3:40h. I'm enjoying my running but I'm getting significantly slower as I increase distance - from 10.5m per mile at 5k to 13-15m per mile on my last run coming back from 3 weeks out with a calf injury. I average 11 - 12 mins over 5 miles. I know I can improve significantly - I'm just not sure how quickly...

splat - I joined GI Tri after meeting a couple of the coaches at a novice training day (I went to the novice training day as a result of entering a tri run by onestepbeyond (who do the outlaw and other tris)) and they encouraged me to join - they are very friendly to beginners and have taken me from not being able to do fc at all in april to being able to do it slowly now. where in notts are you based? I have met a few people from Mansfield Tri who seem nice.

I live near Newstead Abbey. My work is in Nottingham though.

SgtLard - I take my straw cowboy hat off to you and your plans!

With a nudge in the right (?!) direction from folks on here I signed up for Outlaw 2013...have never done a tri before, didn't even have a road bike, though I could run/swim a bit. 

Pick an event, find a plan and you'll be away...The sheer scale of the task is less scary if you have a goal and someone telling you what to do! I signed up, bought a second hand bike to get me on the road, got myself a mentor and spent the summer working my way through the base bit of Fink's competitive plan, wk12 last week. Now enjoying a light week before deciding where to go from here training wise (any hints or tips much appreciated....more of the same I guess...?)

Ducky .. depending on your goals for next year, given your recent cycling you could do a lot worse than look at a winter base plan which will give you good recovery time and a bit of structure to training

Meldy - would you point me to a winter base plan for cycling please? I have a marathon training plan I want to run to. I don't want to do anything intense on the bike so maybe base training is the way to go. What do you think?

Tortuga ... go to www.beginnertriathlete.com and look at their free plans, amongst them is a winter base plan and I beleive a bike specific one
Look at them all and take your pick
A lot of plans you will find start quite possibly too low in hours v distance, again dependant on where you are in your own personal journey you may want to start a few weeks in, if you are new to this lark dont jump too far ahead and if you do jump then repeat the weeks until the plans catch you up - this will all help with getting in to the habit of a routine and a structure if you are not used to it, if you are used to it the same rule applies and it will stop you from getting injured through over enthusiasm  

splat - Mansfield Tri is probably close to you then. GI tri who I train with are in Bingham - we swim on a Sunday night at 8pm - 9pm and on Thursdays there is a run session at 7pm - 8 then swim for an hour.

Thanks Meldy - font of all knowledge! I'm aiming for Outlaw as my A race. I'll have a looksee on beginnertriathlete.... bike plan sounds like a good idea to me, 

I bashed one out tonight . 6 mile run in 44mins. Wanted to get the legs moving a little after all the base bike and swim work towards Sunday`s first tri. A windy 18.5 miles on the bike last night, got up at 6am, it was lashing it down, went back to bed with my `i`ll do it later` hat on. 

Nothing today. Was going to swim, but couldn't be arsed! Have just realised I won't swim Friday night as Mrs is out.

Turboing tomorrow.

Racing sunday at the Dorney relays. Last OW of the year. Brrr! The 5km at the end will be my first for 1.5 weeks. I'll know if my ankle has recovered OK on Sunday.

Cat,

I`m doing the Oly at Dorney on Sunday. I`ll look out for you.  I`ll be the one stressing over everything.

Look forward to seeing you DOM. I don't have club tri kit so may pirate up, and I think the weather with require the v warm pirate jacket.

Are you local to Dorney?