Starting Triathalon

Watch it Holgs!! I might be in the NE now but thats not where my main roots are from

I'm from the same county as young Holgs...

First tri I did (sprint, pool) there was one chap in the slowest heat doing a rather wonky looking breast stroke/doggy paddle mashup. And a posh looking lady doing a very sedate backstroke. If your cycling and running are as good as you say, you could probably turn in a fairly respectable overall time without bothering about mastering front crawl. In fact, I think you really should do it this way, just for the comedy value of being last out of the pool then thrashing past everyone on the bike and run.

Hi guys. Just an update for the people that helped me or anyone else who may be interested. 

I went down to the local pool today. It started off as a disaster. As it was my first time swimming front crawl since i was 5 years old i was very rusty. I was breathing evey 1.5 strokes and was building up so much O2 debt i couldnt swim more than 50m. I became very frustrated at myself but asked a life guard for advice. He told me to try breathing every stroke. I did it and it worked fine. I did 5 x 100m sets which killed me. I have no idea what a good swimming pace is but the life guard said the pace was good.

I kept getting water up my nose, any pointers? Also what trunks are best? Also considering full olympic now, is that too much for a first tri? 

I have also contacted the local club and will be joining next week. Been out running twice this week, not feeling too fit at the moment but i am hoping some of the running sessions with the club will help improve my pace. 

Any one else planning on doing liverpool Tri? First timers? 

FR13

for the swimming, joining a tri club and attending their swimming sessions has been really great for me. I started out at the point you were at, although i stuck to swimming breast stroke for a while, just upping the distance. For your breathing, be sure to exhale all the time, slowly breathing out will help get rid of that CO2, reduce the boyancy of your chest (which will raise your legs in the water) and make breathing in easier. Try a nose clip, I'm supprised how few people i see using them. Try upping the distance on your swimming but make a real effort to drop the pace and concentrate on breathing out, if you are the type who likes to read about stuff the swim smooth book is really helpful.

hilly, you frequenting FTC for swimming now? I need to get back into it as well but getting fat and lazy. Their 50M Aldershot gig on Tuesdays is good but I thhink I prefer the Farnham pool for technical enhancement.