Is this a mad way to start?

hehe u mad bat!  brilliant tho, remember to swim like a seal and you'll be fine.  they are really good swimmers and we look like them abit (in a wetsuit).

really impressed!  but yes it is madness!

you'll be brill

Isnt Nice on the migration route of Orca's?

Nice with chips and lashings of salt and vinegar

Welcome aboard kittenkat. I think we might need to start a First Time IronMan Attemptee's thread soon. We'll all be asking the questions you need answered before long, I'm sure.

Its kinda gonna suck for you though if you find out you dont like cycling long distances...!!

Garr is doing an excellent job by email flyaway..... and I've just read Candy's trip to Ironman Austria - one of the funniest things I've ever read, the bit about swimming with the old lady and the pringles had me in tears!!!

well as long as the cut off points are quite generous........

I have got some really really numpty questions though....

and I've learnt a lot of new words, there are things for bikes that I never knew bikes needed to have!

KK you really cant be as numpty as me.  I have spent two years thinking my bkie had only 9 gears!  I ask a simple question on here about spinning out when doing London Tri and it turns out my bike has 24 gears not 9?!!! 

Its amazing what a difference all those extra gears have made to my riding!!

I'm just wondering silly things now but important, like do you wear knickers etc

I'm really confused about shoes and what I need.

I dont wear knickers under my tri kit. 

 And I have road shoes and clippy pedals (another cause for laughter if ever there was one!!) but sometimes I wonder how much of an advantage they are on the bike leg as to the time you lose changing into running shoes in T2.

But reckon at least if you look the part then you feel as if you know what you are doing even if (as in my case) you dont!

The expert is talking

Unfortunately I dont need to wear one of those either

I don't need a bra...

to be honest, I don't think changing into my runners at T2 is going to be a problem, just getting through it at all.......

a plea from the world of orthopaedics - please don't try training on it before have the alignment checked properly and you've seen the physio.

i know the consensus of most runners is that doctors are all miserable bastards whose sole aim is to try and stop people fulfilling their dreams and challenges, but it's really frustrating to see people who've rushed a recovery from an injury and then end up back in clinic with complications months or years later.