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Can i get some really basic advice!
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Hello
I am running the London Marathon in April and am then looking to sign up for my first Triathalon later in the year to give me another target to aim at. Problem is I cant swim front crawl and I have a mountain bike - I think I can do the 10km run in under 60 mins but dont know how long the 40km on a bike takes a novice and how long it would take a crap swimmer to do 1.5km
Can anyone let me know what a basic target should be for each section please?
thanks David
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Comments
1.5k, anywhere around 30 - 40 mins I guess
Best way is to look at last years results
Hello,
Why don't you look for a sprint event first. Usually about 400-750 metre swim, 20k bike and 5k run. I think I'd go down that route first.
Everyone else will tell you to just get on with entering an Ironman
Chilliboy
Times are slower on mountain bikes so I think the previous suggestion of around 2 hrs is reasonable. You can hire road bikes for the triathlon season which could be worth considering? That's what I did and then I had the opportunity to either return or buy at a reduced price at the end of the season
Otherwise, get down the pool and get some lessons, you will be able to breast stroke for the swim but will take longer than front crawl, say 40-45mins, your be better off getting a cheep road bike even one thats on its last legs will go better that mtb.
Good luck with london and see you in Wales
Swimming - just get on and do it. A coach will help. It is possible to swim breaststroke, and some of the time lost is offset by the fact that you can see where you are going and will probably swim straighter. The way I did it was to start to putting one length of crawl out of every 4 breaststroke. I then gradually went down to alternating, then 3 crawl, one breast, and eventually just though sod it and swam the whole session fc. I now find fc is by far the easieast & breast much more tiring.
Timings I wouldn't bother about too much. As has been said, just concentrate on getting round, but I'd also add make sure you enjoy it!
Make sure you do some brick sessions in training (bike then run) because at first it feels like you are suddenly 90 years old when you try to run after the bike.
Don't expect your run time to be as fast - I did 52 mins in my last tri, when I would have expected to do a straight 10k in about 43-44 mins. Not one person in the race did the 10k in under 40 mins!
General standards in tri seem to be higher, I came about 140th out of 172, where as I'd expect to be top third in a running race. I've not checked but a big event like London Tri may have a larger bottom end than smaller races (same as FLM and GNR)
London is a ballot entry now.
Get with the program - why not go whole hog and do IM Wales with us? There's quite a few pirates who did an IM as their first ever triathlon.