total beginner. I'm looking to build lung capacity and cardio-vascular fitness rather than calorie-burning. I run on a treadmill rather than road, and it's part of my gym programme which mostly consists of resistance machines. I'm a non-smoker, 5

time, there's some evidence that human skeletal muscle switches fibre types from "fast" to "slow" due to training. But how's a beginner to know which race length suits their biology best? Probably a case of experimenting with different distances. I

, but only so I can get to the gym/race/work. I keep it as light as possible. If I could ditch the pack, I would. – coughie I'm training for a half Ironman, and I run once a week with my wife. She's a beginner and runs at a far slower pace than me, so

or you will injure yourself. I gradually increased the miles on my toes and gradually decreased the "heel" miles; whole process took about 10 weeks. The morning walk down the stairs took longer than normal, but it felt great running at my new race pace

bikes are for ponces, so you don't want to get one of those anyway. There are a lot of books with triathlon training plans out there, or you could try BeginnerTriAthlete.com. Also pop over to the IM 2007 training thread. A lot of people talk training