Any triathletes or wanna be triathaletes ?

I'm thinking about doing a beginner's tri later in the year. Weakest event by far for me is swimming, so will be working on that.

Racouol wrote: »

I have entertained the idea of doing a triathlon. Unfortunately I am a horrible runner and I don't know how to swim.

Find your local triathlon club and ask if they have a qualified swim teacher. Quite a few have coaches who can teach you to swim. If they don't they should know of a local swim teacher/class (they will get asked this all the time! trust me).
Once you can swim the tri club coaches will help you improve your technique. You might also be lucky and have a club that has an outdoor venue for swim training, so you can get used to swimming in a lake if you've not swum in one before (or the sea, very similar).

Don't worry if you aren't good at running either. That's what a tri club is for, to help you improve. You don't have to do all the training, just do the session you can (running and cycling for instance). Most clubs are separated into abilities and there will always be at least one person willing to run with you at your speed, keep you company and help you improve. You won't be the only slow/new/scared person there. Triclubs are usually super supportive and friendly, massive mix of people.

When i joined my local club it was so my husband would actually go along he really wanted to try it (he's incredibly nervous at joining things so i went so he wouldn't be alone and wasn't the only noob). I had no intention of doing a triathlon... i'm hooked! Unfortunately i HATE running on non-closed roads so i'm limited to which local ones i can compete in. My fave is blenheim but it's stupidly expensive now so I didn't do it last year .
Husband doesn't do tri's any longer (he hates running).
I used to just go to the running sessions, i then joined in with the swimming sessions, i've yet to join a biking session (potholes).

Your other option is to do a relay, so 3 of you enter as a team, each person does one part of the triathlon, you could do the run or the cycle (or if a team mate is sick you could do the run and the cycle - swim and run for me 3 years ago).

There are also duathlons (run bike run) you could try those?

There are also xterra triathlons (off road), if road biking isn't for you, they're relatively rare. I've not done one yet but it's on my list once i'm fitter and my mtb skills are better (not mtb'd in over 10 years, trips to Bike Park Wales is definately helping me sort that out!)

Tri it, or Du it :P

TinaBambinamfp wrote: »

I've done smaller distances but I've not really focused on fitness or nutrition. This year I am looking to focus on just that, and set a goal to tackle a longer distance this year. I still consider myself a newbie and it would be great to connect with people for some advice and support.

join a club best way to get all the advice and support you need, they'll probably also have club resources on training and nutrition as well as plans and logging tools. And possibly discounts to events and the pool/gym they use.

yearly membership for most tri clubs isn't horrendous considering you're doing 3 sports and there will very likely be at least 1 person who swim-bike-runs as your pace (not necessarily the same person for each thing, of course).

having online mates who do tri's isn't nearly as helpful as having a club full of like-minded crazies with you.